A new tool
I had a weird day today. Everything was normal until lunch, which I later realized contained around 40 grams of carbs – almost twice as much as I'd thought. My BG shot way, way up and stayed high for over an hour, then dropped over a hundred points in about 25 minutes. It continued to drop for another hour after that, to the point where I found myself scrounging around the office for leftover Christmas candy to get me high enough to ride home without crashing.
In the end I found and consumed three stale mini truffles (for a total of 7.5 grams of carb, according to the box) and rode only as far as the grocery store, where I roamed the aisles in a stupor, in search of something more appropriate than candy to get me the rest of the way home. That was when I ran into my friend J., a fellow diabetic and one of my personal heroes, a wonderful writer and editor and all-around talented, smart, funny and compassionate person who reached into her bag and commanded, "Eat these."
Well! I was in no condition to argue. I gulped them down. As I chewed she explained that each tab has 4 grams of glucose – no fat or protein (like in chocolate) to get in the way of absorption, which is what you need when you've got to get back to your senses as quickly as possible.
I knew about the tabs but always thought they were only for people with Type 1, whose blood glucose can drop low enough to kill them. That's not the situation with Type 2, at least not with me, because my pancreas still works. Well, sort of. What happens when my BG goes too low* is that my liver goes on red alert and starts pouring glucose back in (although it's actually a little more complicated than that – you can read more about it here), resulting in a sort of boomerang effect – most unpleasant, and supposedly very destructive to nerves and capillaries and other crucial body parts.
Now that I've tried the tabs I can't believe I never used them before. I'm still stunned at how effective they were, and how fast. Within just a few minutes I was feeling totally back to normal. It's cool to know there's such an easy way to raise my BG by a predictable amount in a predictable amount of time – definitely a cool tool to add to my "wellness toolbox."
* Someone wanted to know what it's like to be low. To me, it feels kind of like watching tv in the middle of the night with the sound off. Spacey, dreamy, easily distracted ... hard to concentrate, impossible to engage. I stood in the snack aisle for several minutes staring at the cookies I knew I wanted, and couldn't make myself decide to reach out and pick them up and put them in my basket. It's easy to understand how people who are really crashing could be mistaken for drunk – a good reason to wear medical ID, just in case.
Have you ever wondered if you too might have glucose metabolism issues? If so, I strongly encourage you to stop worrying and find out for sure. This company is doing a promotion right now where they'll send you a free meter and 60 test strips (that's a lot of strips, by the way) – so click the link and get a meter, and do the test. It's easy. Do it first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything. Wash and dry your hands, and then test. Normal is around 85. If it's much higher than about 100 you probably ought to talk to your doctor. If it's over 140, you definitely need to go in.
Really, though, if you have serious concerns about whether you might be diabetic, you really ought to talk to your doctor anyway. Just make an appointment and get in there and find out. It's scary to hear that the answer is yes. But the earlier you know, the sooner you can start working on getting it controlled.
The reason I bring this up is because ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I've been surprised at the number of people who've confided to me how scared they are that they might be diabetic, too. I don't know what people want me to say to that. Am I supposed to reassure them? "Oh, never! You look GREAT! I'm SURE that YOU couldn't possibly have it." (Most people still seem to believe that diabetes happens as some kind of punishment for getting fat.) Do they want my permission to Not face their fears and live in denial while they possibly suffer irreparable but mostly totally avoidable damage to their organs, nerves and capillaries?
I've offered to help people test their blood sugars and interpret their results, and never once has anyone taken me up on it. Mostly, I guess, they either don't really want to know, or would rather handle it privately. I can't blame them for that. I felt the same way.
The point is, if you're really worried – stop it. Find out what's going on, and then deal with it. It can be done.
[steps off soap box]
In the end I found and consumed three stale mini truffles (for a total of 7.5 grams of carb, according to the box) and rode only as far as the grocery store, where I roamed the aisles in a stupor, in search of something more appropriate than candy to get me the rest of the way home. That was when I ran into my friend J., a fellow diabetic and one of my personal heroes, a wonderful writer and editor and all-around talented, smart, funny and compassionate person who reached into her bag and commanded, "Eat these."
Well! I was in no condition to argue. I gulped them down. As I chewed she explained that each tab has 4 grams of glucose – no fat or protein (like in chocolate) to get in the way of absorption, which is what you need when you've got to get back to your senses as quickly as possible.
I knew about the tabs but always thought they were only for people with Type 1, whose blood glucose can drop low enough to kill them. That's not the situation with Type 2, at least not with me, because my pancreas still works. Well, sort of. What happens when my BG goes too low* is that my liver goes on red alert and starts pouring glucose back in (although it's actually a little more complicated than that – you can read more about it here), resulting in a sort of boomerang effect – most unpleasant, and supposedly very destructive to nerves and capillaries and other crucial body parts.
Now that I've tried the tabs I can't believe I never used them before. I'm still stunned at how effective they were, and how fast. Within just a few minutes I was feeling totally back to normal. It's cool to know there's such an easy way to raise my BG by a predictable amount in a predictable amount of time – definitely a cool tool to add to my "wellness toolbox."
* Someone wanted to know what it's like to be low. To me, it feels kind of like watching tv in the middle of the night with the sound off. Spacey, dreamy, easily distracted ... hard to concentrate, impossible to engage. I stood in the snack aisle for several minutes staring at the cookies I knew I wanted, and couldn't make myself decide to reach out and pick them up and put them in my basket. It's easy to understand how people who are really crashing could be mistaken for drunk – a good reason to wear medical ID, just in case.
Have you ever wondered if you too might have glucose metabolism issues? If so, I strongly encourage you to stop worrying and find out for sure. This company is doing a promotion right now where they'll send you a free meter and 60 test strips (that's a lot of strips, by the way) – so click the link and get a meter, and do the test. It's easy. Do it first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything. Wash and dry your hands, and then test. Normal is around 85. If it's much higher than about 100 you probably ought to talk to your doctor. If it's over 140, you definitely need to go in.
Really, though, if you have serious concerns about whether you might be diabetic, you really ought to talk to your doctor anyway. Just make an appointment and get in there and find out. It's scary to hear that the answer is yes. But the earlier you know, the sooner you can start working on getting it controlled.
The reason I bring this up is because ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I've been surprised at the number of people who've confided to me how scared they are that they might be diabetic, too. I don't know what people want me to say to that. Am I supposed to reassure them? "Oh, never! You look GREAT! I'm SURE that YOU couldn't possibly have it." (Most people still seem to believe that diabetes happens as some kind of punishment for getting fat.) Do they want my permission to Not face their fears and live in denial while they possibly suffer irreparable but mostly totally avoidable damage to their organs, nerves and capillaries?
I've offered to help people test their blood sugars and interpret their results, and never once has anyone taken me up on it. Mostly, I guess, they either don't really want to know, or would rather handle it privately. I can't blame them for that. I felt the same way.
The point is, if you're really worried – stop it. Find out what's going on, and then deal with it. It can be done.
[steps off soap box]
Labels: diabetes
1 Comments:
"Pop & Twist" is almost as good as the chocolate orange motto ("Whack & Unwrap").
I've never wondered if I might have diabetes. I'm pretty sure my doctor tests for that when I pee in the cup every year at my annual gyno exam. But maybe not. I'm going to ask when I go next time.
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