The "Low" Part of my Life...

I don't very often talk about my diabetes publicly (blog). Once in a while I'll talk about it, but usually I either keep it to myself or talk about it to my close friends. Today, I feel like talking about it. Once in awhile I'll have a curious person ask my what it feels like to have a low/a high/ give myself injections, etc. While I won't get into everything else, I'll answer one of those questions: "What does it feel like to have a low?"



My Answer: Have you ever had to stand in front of a big group of people to talk or sing or just stand there? Maybe you've played in a sport and had hundreds of eyes watching you and your nerves got so bad that your heart started to race and it was almost impossible to concentrate on what you were doing... That's how I would describe a low (for me). I've been on stage (to sing AND to talk) and I get the same feeling. Being somebody with diabetes, it can be difficult to differentiate between nerves and low blood sugar(BS). Before diabetes came into my life I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I was on stage, it was nerves. Now I pretty much have to know what my blood-sugar is before I go on stage. It may sound strange, but the last thing someone wants to see is a girl pass out on stage (nerves don't do that to me: Lows do.) I've never passed out from lows, I can usually tell when they come on; like today. That's part of the reason I'm blogging it. It happened today, and I've been asked the question, so I figured I'd answer. I had a normal breakfast with a good sugar reading, gave myself the correct amount of insulin and about 3 hours later, I was unable to focus, my hands were shaking really bad, and all I wanted to do was sit still (low energy comes with low BS). I grabbed my handy kit, tested, and came out with a 67 reading. Even though I just wanted to sit there, I knew I had to do something. So, I forced myself to the breakroom and poured myself a cup of coffee with sugar rather than Equal (which is what I usually use). It's been about half an hour and my BS is back at a normal range (117).



These things happen. Ask anybody with diabetes; we have high days and we have low days, we just have to learn to deal with it because there are times that no matter what you do, you can't get your numbers down to normal on a particular day and there are times that you keep having lows. It happens. So yeah....One question down and about 100 more (or so it seems) to go. =0)