The Ever Fearful - Hypoglycemia

You don't like it. I certainly don't like it, and no one's spouse or loved ones like having to deal with it either. "It" would be the distasteful "Hypoglycemia". If you've had Type 1 diabetes for very long, then you've experienced some of these interesting/frustrating moments. A fellow blogger and friend posted on this subject and incited my thinking.

I think hypoglycemia has varying levels of intensity depending on, for example, how fast your sugar is dropping, where it started dropping from, what's in the tank, how fast you get some fuel in the tank, and what you're currently doing. Just remember I've had a BG of 24 mg/dL and was still walking around talking as if nothing was wrong. So, I'll arbitrarily make the following categories based on reaction type and intensity (I'm sure some clinical genius has already categorized these): (A) the "Hyper-Alert Genius"; (B) the "I'm Not Really Listening to Anyone"; (C) the "Conscience Paralytic" -AKA OBLIVIOUS; and (D) the "Long Road".

The Breakdown:

(A)Hyper-Alert Genius: Some of us have been here. Many hopefully haven't. This is the place where I think the brain is starving for glucose. It's outcome is a little different for everyone, but essentially it's the feeling of having these grandious ideas that seem to come to you - "Enlightenment". I had this experience while researching ideas for a certain piece of stained glass artwork. I was looking for a few small ideas for a portion of this project, but by the time I realized it was my BG and not my healthy running brain introducing these "never done before in history" concepts, I was already in the "GENIUS" zone. I corrected it, but it sure did take my brain long enough to realize what was going on and relay that correctly to my muscles.

(B)I'm Not Really Listening to Anyone: Those who love us and interact often with us, hate this category. It's very frustrating to them. In this category the individual is usally very ornery, unhelpful, and down-right stubbern. We know we should eat those crackers and drink that milk, that person keeps putting it in my face or asking if I've done it yet, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Why? That's usually the only question I can ask myself for the whole of this category. It's frustrating to me, after having one of these, to realilze I was so ornery. It makes dealing with me a lot harder. My wife gets so frustrated with me I know. I love her and I appreciate her putting up with it.

(C)The Conscience Paralytic - Oblivious: You just know something is wrong, but whether you know what's wrong or not, you can't seem to do a dang thing about it. Either you're staring out the window at a piece of grass profusely sweating (as if your using all of your being to try and get that blade to bend), or it takes 30 minutes to drown those crackers with a glass of milk. So, 30 minutes ago I was in the garage working on some project when I knew my sugar needed attending to. I started heading up stairs, but hey (in my head)"What's that on the rug at the garage door? I've never seen that there before." (Ten Minutes Later) "Oh, hey, I was headed upstairs to get a snack. I better get there." Four steps later, "Wow I've never seen the sun shine in the window like that before. Neat. I wonder how often I pass right by here and never see it like that? I was headed somewhere wasn't I? Snack. That's right." (15 Minutes Later) "Well, I finally made it upstairs. Oh, I should pet the dog. I've been in the garage for a while and I'm sure he's been missing me." (5 Minutes Later) "Hey Dufuss, get your mouth wrapped around some crackers would ya!" We can laugh at this, but it really can make the low even lower if we take too long to address it.

(D) The Long Road: The only name most people tend to give to this road is "siezure", and that's never a road we voluntarily go down. No one wants to be here...ever! It's only once you realize that you have gone down this road (you're usually blindfolded - seizing and unconscience while headed down this road) that you begin the long trek back up it. This is the road trip that takes so much energy it takes days to recover from it...to get back to feeling normal again. It's ugly and you usually end up with a tongue scar for going there. I haven't been down that road in years, but for those of us who have, we never forget how it feels. You never forget how your loved one explained what happened. Were you driving (I hope not - I was during one of these in college - scares the crap out of me even to this day. It's why I finger stick before I drive). Were you sleeping, or was it out of the blue? What did those around you do to help you get out of it? I know that my CGM is a huge relief to my wife because of the potential for these to happen during sleep. She actually sleeps at night now!


So, what are your thoughts? Can you clarify any of these definitions? Add to them? Share?

CAFFEINE

What does it do to you?

   Well, sure you get the wide eyed energizer feeling from it. But I get a little more than that from this stuff. I drank a home-made cold Chai latte this AM. It tasted great. I actually let the tea bag brew over-night -which might be why I felt the way I did this AM.

So the second thing it does to me though is more like caffeine over-dose, super high BG level feeling, restless leg syndrome, and A.D.D. - all wrapped in a rather unpleasant package. This toon pretty much says how I feel afterwards.

   Now, to be clear, this appears to happen with certain quantities of caffeine. For example if I drink a Mt. Dew too quickly, or that Chai this AM and the afforementioned is the result. If I slowly enjoy a cherry Coke, no problem. But I have to say I'm kind of affraid of feeling like I drank a Mt. Dew (x10) and knowing it's going to be hours before it gets better. All I can usually do to help is hydrate.

   So, do you drink any of those energy boosting drinks (say for a race)? How do they make you feel?

The Life of Mike

I'd like to say life is humdrum or hunky dory right now, but we all know that that's rarely the case for a perfectionist busy-body who never has enough hours in the day to get all of the things done rolling around in his head. That's me in a nutshell. So, I'm checking off project after project as I complete them....buuuutttt, I swear that list isn't getting any smaller.

On the other side of that sheet of paper though are some things that are a little more important to me. Like running, cycling, and co-leading a team of folks to the Tour De Cure this year.

RUNNING: I love it. It clears my head and calms me. I continue to do the basics for right now...a 3.3 mile very hilly trail run done 2-3 times a week. Call it maintnance running. When I can check off a few more items on the other side of this sheet, or after the tour whichever comes first, I'll start longer runs again.

CYCLING: I've got a nice hill training route I do almost every Friday. It's about 13 miles and has an elevation gain of about 1300 feet. And the ride back to the house ends with a nice large hill too, so this is not a slacker ride for sure-(at least for this pup). I'm also doing more training rides with the group little-by-little and getting in mileage on my own also. The best thing so far to happen to me is that one of our local gas stations agreed to allow me to do a fundraising event at the gas station. We're going to advertise in advance and the day of, and provide full-service for all clients (pump thier gas and wash front and back windows) for the price of the regular fuel. We'll be taking donations for the American Diabetes Association for this service. I don't know about anyone else, this station use to have a full service option, which is gone now, but there is nowhere locally that provides full service anymore. So,I'm excited to see how this works. We'll do this on a Friday in about two weeks.

And then there is mowing the lawn, powerwashing the pool deck, planting, getting the irrigation systems up and running again this year, finishing the rain water barrel collection system, getting the facsia and soffet repairs finished, getting a new pool liner installed.....yadda yadda yiippa yappa...ackkkckaa. Anyway, to put it generically "I'm awefully busy".

Those Winter Days

That is "those winter days" that are almost gone...for we in the south at least. I'm finding myself low on the need to write in the blog right now. What can I say, I'm running a little, and ramping up my cycling a bit for a metric (maybe century) in May....Tour De Cure calls again. So, 8 of us escaped for an Olympics/Valentine cabin long weekend get-away. Man, if you can't take a real vacation and leave the country or head out a few states, then a long weekend near home is always a good thing. We got snowed in the night we got there, so my run the next AM was rather cold, peaceful, and beautiful. Good time - good friends. The next weekend we had sunny weather in the 50's, so you couldn't pass up a bike ride in weather like that.

...and life goes on.