I have been *honeymooning type 1 diabetes* for a year now and I have yet to start on any insulin. My doctors say that it could take six months or as long as two years before I am officially diagnosed as type 1 and taking insulin daily. It’s pretty frustrating at times because I have undergone A1C testing, glucose tolerance tests and hemoglobin checks but unfortunately, I am still in the normal range after a year (I say unfortunately because being the “Honeymoon” faze is so hard to deal with). My problems lie in the ranges at which my glucose levels fluctuate. On any given day I can range from 286 (my highest recorded) on down to 42 being my lowest. For those who don’t know level normalcy, a normal person without any type of diabetes stays within ranges of 90-135, but no higher than 140 about seventy minutes after eating.
I think that the hardest things I’ve dealt with thus far are the low-lows. From my experience; going as low as 42 on the glucose meter is no joke. I literally eat anything I could get my hands on (if I don’t have any jelly beans or glucose tablets on hand). The feelings that take place in your body wile you have a major low are scary and most times, unbearable…anything from frantic feelings of not knowing what’s going on to shaking, sweats, and sometimes near unconsciousness.
This is actually one of the reasons why I haven’t posted in a few days (so sorry). I have been dealing with these lows more often than I can count and care to deal with!!! Yesterday was a constant battle to keep it up above 76. No matter what I ate, drank or did, my levels kept dropping below 70; a few days before that I went through a bad *hypoglycemic* moment. It was too close to dinner to snack but I felt the need to eat something so my girls and I ate a small bowl of frosted flakes. Two hours later and about 20 minutes before dinner was ready; as I was bathing my girls, starting laundry and cleaning up a little in the kitchen the feelings came over me. Right away I new what the problem was and I also new how fast these levels could drop. I went to the kitchen counter and pulled out my handy meter and sat down. The problem was that the feelings were coming over me so quickly that it was pretty hard to test. I went from knowing everything that was going on to falling into a frantic state of losing control. It only takes seconds to check my levels. As soon as I saw the result I went into survival mode in search of something sweet and quick to eat (my level was a 42 at the time and was dropping fast). Luckily my husband had just bought a loaf of lemon bread from our local store the night before and had been hiding it form our sweet vultures in the house (my three kids…LOL). Now again, for those that don’t really know too much about the numbers, if the glucose levels get too low you can have seizers, go into a comma or in some cases death can occur (anything below 40 is very serious and should not be taken lightly). After eating six slices of the lemon bread smothered with cream cheese frosting and eating a meal; it took about one and a half hours of feeling horrible to finally get up to 125. The rest of the night left me feeling tired and sluggish.
Are there any diabetics out there that go through problems like this? What ways have you taken care of the problem? Chime in and let me know. I always welcome opinions and suggestions on how to deal with this problem.
NOTE: Now, I’m not a doctor or in this profession so what I write about is based on what I’ve been told and what I have personally experience. Please do further research and seek medical attention if you think you might have similar problems.
Honeymooning type 1 diabetes= information can be found at: islets of hope
Hypoglycemic= Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar or low blood glucose, occurs when your blood glucose (sugar) level drops too low to provide enough energy for your body’s activities. In adults or children older than 10 years, hypoglycemia is uncommon except as a side effect of diabetes treatment, but it can result from other medications or diseases, hormone or enzyme deficiencies, or tumors…more information can be found at: islets of hope
barb
