Always. Be. Prepared.

Happy 3rd of July!!
Welcome to my low-blood-sugar blog post. I do not have low blood sugar as I type, but am going to inform you of what it's like having low blood sugar. The same cousin who told me that dealing with diabetes would become second nature, also told me to NEVER go anywhere without something to treat low blood sugar (juice, soda, candy). That was by far the best advice I've gotten.

High blood sugar just makes me feel drained, and occasionally I'll have a headache; but a dose of insulin can fix that easily (consistent high blood sugar is very detrimental, however). Low blood sugar is a whole other beast. It can be treated quickly, but there is more 'panic' involved. I start to sweat, get shaky, and if it's really bad, my vision starts to get blurry/go black (that's REALLY bad if it's gotten to that point). It takes about 10 minutes for the sugar (Starburst, Twizzlers, etc.) to get into my system, and boy oh boy is it a very long 10 minutes. Luckily I've had only a few close calls, but having sugar to treat the lows prevents the scary moments. More often than not, my low blood sugars are because I've had an out of the ordinary meal and took too much insulin.

Exercising can cause low blood sugars too. Several times I've had to cut a workout short because I can feel my blood sugar dipping low, which is very frustrating (but necessary). Even just knowing that I have some sugar around is comforting, then I know I won't be stuck somewhere with a severe low blood sugar. Severe = passing out. Yesterday morning I went for a bike ride right after I had breakfast, which wasn't part of my daily routine, so I adjusted my insulin dose accordingly. All went well, and then before lunch I checked my blood sugar and it was about 400!! WOOPS! Even a pro like me can mess up sometimes and have a high like that. So I had some lunch and took an extra few units of Humalog. I was going to play tennis about an hour later, so I made SURE to bring some sugar with me just in case I went low. I played for an hour or so, and when I got back home I checked my blood sugar and it was 85. Perfection!

Bullet points:
--Check your blood sugar as often as needed, it helps to keep it in control.
--Always have some sugar-somethin with you to treat lows!!

Happy 4th of July (ok well it's still the 3rd, but... close 'nuff)!!