Tag: blood sugar

Sugar Crash

My last two check ins with my weight loss surgery surgeon included a lot of talk about low blood sugar incidents. What triggers it, how to fix it, what it feels like.

Just the other day I was thinking about that subject and how it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve had a low blood sugar episode. I pondered, what is it that I am doing now that is preventing the issue that I wasn’t doing six months ago? Whatever it is, I am happy about it because going a long time without that particular side effect was making me happy.

Fast forward to today. I’m in the grocery store, grocery shopping and I started feeling a little foggy headed. My hands started shaking. I felt weak. Aw, damn it. I thought about it the other day and jinxed myself. My days-without-a-low-blood-sugar-incident streak is officially over.

I sat in the car and had something to eat and felt a little better. I still feel a little beat up but that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is I jinxed myself and that makes me sad. Maybe I’ll work on some music to cheer myself up. That would be both fun and productive.

Am I Sick, Tired, or Sick and Tired?

I’ve felt off all day today. I mentioned in a post not long ago that I am having occasional weird episodes that feel exactly like what my type one diabetic step son says low blood sugar episodes feel like. Today is different though.

I can’t tell if I feel like I am having low blood sugar moments, or if I am just really, really tired, or… somehow both? I had a decent night’s sleep last night, but not great. The previous two days have been better than most over the last couple of months, but still not great. Good sleep is an issue for me, no doubt.

Today though… is the fuzzy head feeling due to low blood sugar, or am I just really tired. I can’t tell. That’s why I think it might be a little of both. Every time it starts ramping up I have something to eat, but it doesn’t go away the way it usually does. Does the blood sugar problem go away and leave the exhaustion behind?

Does this post make any sense at all? I can’t tell because I am too tired to proof read. I’ll check this one over in a day or two and laugh at how bad it is. 

Until then…

Blood Sugar

November 13, 2015 was the worst day. It was the day Harry was diagnosed with type one diabetes. He was so sick that it was terrifying. Fortunately he recovered quickly and we went from being utterly terrified for his life to learning all we could about maintaining his health. That included all sorts of information on the signs of both high and low blood sugar. We learned that high blood sugar had few outward symptoms, but at some point it becomes life threatening. Harry’s initial problems were due to a sky high blood sugar levels.

Low blood sugar has more obvious symptoms. In extremes it is just as life threatening, but there are more signs of issues at much lower levels. They include shakiness and light headedness. Not long after my gastric bypass I started having quick moments of light headedness myself. I never got a specific reason why but among the possibilities were low blood pressure and low blood sugar.

This weekend I had a moment where it was clear that I was having a low blood sugar moment. I felt exactly the way the staff at Boston Medical Center told us low blood sugar would make you feel, and exactly the way Harry described when we asked him how he felt during a low. Light headed and shaky and weak. I had something to eat and felt better after a few minutes. Today, just before lunch, it happened again. It wasn’t as bad this time and again, having a bite to eat improved things quickly.

So my question to the universe is: Is this going to be a thing now? It’s just another reason to not forget to eat. I need to keep what’s left of my rewired, bypassed, tiny little stomach pouch from getting too empty. I can handle that. Bring it on, I guess.

Blood Sugar Keeps Me Up

I went to bed at 10:00. Harry’s blood sugar monitor woke me up at 1:00. He was high, but not terrible. I woke him up and told him he needed a correction. I think he over did it a little. I could hear his pump working, which I’ve never really heard before. I don’t know how much insulin is injected each time the pump gives a little click, but I know it’s a tiny amount. Still, with no frame of reference at all it seemed to go on for too long.

I tried going back to sleep but I was too wide awake. At 2:00 the low sugar warnings started. He wasn’t actually low, but he was dropping like a stone. By 3:00 he was definitely low and I got him up again for a snack. At 3:30 the alarm went off again but the numbers were trending up. It’s 3:52 now and his CGM has been silent. Good.

My alarm is going to go off in 68 minutes. I am equal parts exhausted and wired. I can’t fall asleep. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day. We are going back to Galaxy’s Edge though so I’ll tough it out. You’ll see.

On a side note, I typed this post on my iPad, in the dark, without my glasses, while too tired to think straight. I can’t wait to read it tomorrow and see all the typos and incoherent statements. It’ll be good for a laugh.