Diabetes

I am by no means a diabetes blogger. Yes, I blog almost daily, yes I read Six Until Me along with other diabetes blogs daily, and yes I have type one diabetes but my blog posts are not limited to diabetes related topics. Diabetes is a HUGE part of my life, so huge that some people without a chronic illness/disease may not understand. Diabetes is part of me and who I am, but it does not define me. Okay, rant over... :)

Lows are part of life with T1 Diabetes...they come daily usually and can be treated with a simple juice box or a coke. Thankfully most of my lows are able to be self corrected without help of people around me. They are easy to determine because the symptoms are easy to notice: dizziness, sweating, numbness in the mouth, irritability, hunger, and confusion...just to name a few. The problem is that sometimes...there are no symptoms!

For example: this morning while my husband was getting ready for work I got up to use the restroom. This is unusual for me, as usually I sleep fine until 7am. Keep in mind that I felt fine at the time, I just needed to use the restroom and climb back in bed as quickly as possible. I decide to check my blood sugar since I am awake at this time that is not part of my routine. So, I sleepily walk into the kitchen where my new pretty green One Touch is on the counter and prick my finger...5 seconds later I get the reading that alarms me so much that I gasp and my husband runs to check on me. My blood sugar was 27 mg/dl. if you are unfamiliar with diabetes care, 27 is LOW, too low-and I did not feel bad at all, no symptoms! I grabbed the strawberry juice (Nature's Nectar...love it!) from the fridge and started guzzling sipping the juice down with some peanut butter crackers. Twenty minutes later I retested and was up to 69 mg/dl and rising so I decided to go back to bed.

This whole experience was scary because well, what if I had been driving or alone shopping with no juice or snack when this extreme low snuck up on me symptomless? Thankfully I was at home where we are always stocked with items to treat lows, but I am not always so prepared. Events like this make me think a little more about getting a Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device (CGM) like the Dexcom even though insurance will not cover the costs because it is not 'medically necessary'. Maybe I can hold out just a little while longer since Animas is working on a combo pump and CGM :) Dear Animas and Dexcom, could you please hurry up on that project? Thanks!

Hopefully there will be no more lows today...we will see!