The High Blood Sugar Saga
Sometimes you can do everything right, and diabetes just throws you a curve ball. Why?
Because that's what it does.
I carb count everything, do the right amount of fingerprick checks, insulin doses- you name it I do it. I'm on top of this diabetes thing, and it was fairly smooth sailing.
But that's not how diabetes plays.
For the past week my levels have been rising way above the 4-7 target. I was struggling to get a level under 13 let alone 7. I've been up in the 20s for no good reason, taking double the amount of insulin I usually do, but nothing worked. There's not a nice way to say it, high blood sugar makes you feel like crap- beyond crap, crappiest crap to ever exist kind of crap. You're thirsty and nauseous and tired and grumpy and not even bothered to move because that would involve effort.
They stayed up despite correction after correction,18+ and not budging on Monday night. In a last ditch attempt to avoid a hospital stay I got up again and again during the night to check for progress. Since it dropped to 13 the evil hospital was avoided (have I mentioned I hate staying in hospitals for any extended period of time?)
I started developing ketones but my lovely educator called me and fixed my pump settings to give more insulin. YAY for educators.
Sometimes people give me a funny look when I say my blood sugar has been high, they assume I've been on a massive sugar binge. Two things:
1) I CAN EAT WHATEVER I WANT (except gluten but that's not diabetes related). This is because I have insulin. I could eat a family block of chocolate, take my insulin and have a level of 5.5 thank you very much.
2) High blood sugars aren't my fault all the time. Yes, sometimes I miscalculate carbs, or get the insulin wrong. But sometimes diabetes is just mean and decides that hey, this is too easy for you- time for a challenge.
This little adventure served as a bit of a reminder of how quickly this stuff turns nasty. Had my level remained high, more ketones would have developed and DKA (something that leads to a diabetic coma) was absolutely a possibility.
Have I mentioned diabetes sucks sometimes?
Because that's what it does.
I carb count everything, do the right amount of fingerprick checks, insulin doses- you name it I do it. I'm on top of this diabetes thing, and it was fairly smooth sailing.
But that's not how diabetes plays.
For the past week my levels have been rising way above the 4-7 target. I was struggling to get a level under 13 let alone 7. I've been up in the 20s for no good reason, taking double the amount of insulin I usually do, but nothing worked. There's not a nice way to say it, high blood sugar makes you feel like crap- beyond crap, crappiest crap to ever exist kind of crap. You're thirsty and nauseous and tired and grumpy and not even bothered to move because that would involve effort.
They stayed up despite correction after correction,18+ and not budging on Monday night. In a last ditch attempt to avoid a hospital stay I got up again and again during the night to check for progress. Since it dropped to 13 the evil hospital was avoided (have I mentioned I hate staying in hospitals for any extended period of time?)
I started developing ketones but my lovely educator called me and fixed my pump settings to give more insulin. YAY for educators.
Sometimes people give me a funny look when I say my blood sugar has been high, they assume I've been on a massive sugar binge. Two things:
1) I CAN EAT WHATEVER I WANT (except gluten but that's not diabetes related). This is because I have insulin. I could eat a family block of chocolate, take my insulin and have a level of 5.5 thank you very much.
2) High blood sugars aren't my fault all the time. Yes, sometimes I miscalculate carbs, or get the insulin wrong. But sometimes diabetes is just mean and decides that hey, this is too easy for you- time for a challenge.
This little adventure served as a bit of a reminder of how quickly this stuff turns nasty. Had my level remained high, more ketones would have developed and DKA (something that leads to a diabetic coma) was absolutely a possibility.
Have I mentioned diabetes sucks sometimes?
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