(4 times is bad. It's the hard alarm set at 55, telling me I'm pretty low).
I stared at it. It said my blood glucose was 50 and dropping. Not dropping super fast, mind you, but on the way down.
So guess what I did?
Ate candy? Drank juice? Tested to verify?
Nope. I did NOTHING. I hit the button, and fell back asleep.
That....was not the wisest decision I've ever made. I don't even know why I did it. I can only blame middle of the night fatigue plus "low blood sugar brain".
I know you're all dying to know whether I died or not.
SPOILER ALERT: I survived.
I just woke up later, feeling much much worse. The dizziness, the sweat, the absolute and total NEED for glucose fueling my every move. I grab my Dexcom, only to see the word LOW stare back at me. I was lucid, however, for which I am grateful.
Dug around, found the candy, and popped 3 Starbursts into my mouth. I did not eat the wrappers. Yes, I have eaten the wrappers in the past. Sometimes unwrapping is too much coordination for a low blood sugar shaky hand to handle. (Which is probably why I should buy glucose tabs). (blech.)
Meter and Dexcom both showed 48. Never have I been so happy to see a 48 on the Dex, because it meant the LOW word was gone, and I was now above 40.
And as I lay there - the chanting started.
"I've treated already. I'll feel better soon. I've treated already - I'll feel better soon. I'VE TREATED ALREADY- I'LL FEEL BETTER SOON!"
 |
| Even though I feel like I'm going to explode, I probably won't. |
I chant this to myself to avoid eating the entire package of Starburst, plus drink all the milk and juice in the house, plus make myself a sandwich and have a bowl of cereal.
There are times when I have lows where the chanting doesn't work - the fear is stronger. and I overtreat, knowing I will have insulin later, and not caring. All I want is to feel normal again, stat. There will be more of them, I'm sure. But sometimes this chanting works. Last night it did.
And then the chanting stopped, because I actually started to feel better. It is always a glorious feeling, when the low blood sugar tiger recedes into the background. When you feel like yourself again, when you take a breath of air after being under too long, if I may mix metaphors terribly.
Dex buzzed 3 times. 3 times means below 70, which means I am coming up, and sure enough, it says 56 and rising. This is nice, because often times Dex will take a while to register a rise from a bad low, it has some serious lag time there. But with that assurance, I fell asleep again.
Woke up to a lovely 109. Didn't even have a hanglowver.
But I have learned not to ignore the Dex again. Which, you know, is a lesson I didn't need. I already know this. I just need to tell my middle of the night self about it.
