Hello, diabetic dear ones!
This is my first post here, so, first of all, GREETINGS.
I’m a 27-year-old type I (since age 9) in fairly good control. I’m writing today out of frustration for a weird, unnerving (in fact, downright scary) constellation of symptoms that descended upon me this morning. I am extremely grateful that this has only happened once before, three years ago, but I’m wondering if anyone else has had this experience.
These were the circumstances this morning; the previous occurrence 3 years ago was very similar. I woke up a bit later than usual (not too much), with a very high BG…490! (This is extremely unusual for me, thank God.) Not surprisingly, there were some trace ketones going on too. I was a bit nauseated, but nothing too bad. I drank a bottle of water, pumped in 5 units and went back to sleep. An hour or so later, I woke up at a greatly improved 277, and felt good enough to take a brief walk outside, feed my cats, do a bit of laundry. After my walk, I was 160, with small ketones. I was getting hungry but decided to shower before having breakfast. BIG MISTAKE. Halfway through my shower, I became very nauseated and too dizzy to stand, but it wasn’t low BG-dizziness - it was somehow scarier and different. I was scared I would throw up, pass out or need to call a friend to take me to the hospital, and scared of the fact that I had no idea what was going on. I sat down (yep, in the shower) and prayed intensely until I felt steady enough to get out, then went to the bathroom and had some diarrhea, then lay on the couch with one of my cats (the one in my profile pic - such a sweet little nursemaid, she was!) until I felt a little stronger. Just a little, though.
I was able to walk three or four steps before getting super-dizzy again, so gradually crawled my way to the kitchen. A BG test revealed an unspectacular BG of 150, so my dizziness was clearly unrelated to that. It wasn’t until I’d eaten an English muffin and drank a can of diet soda that I started feeling vaguely human again. I’ve taken it VERY easy today (thank God it’s Sunday).
My BGs have run high (200s) all day, and I’m not dizzy or terrified anymore, but I am VERY frustrated that this happened and would really like to prevent it! The “perfect storm” seemed to consist of: high BG, ketones, having my period and having diarrhea. (It might also be worth mentioning that it’s been a spectacularly stressful - in entirely good ways, but still stressful - week.) I don’t think I was dehydrated, but I imagine it could have played a role.
Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this? Any wisdom in preventing this scary stuff? As you know better than anyone, there’s nothing quite as scary as feeling yourself losing control. I’m used to the sense of oncoming loss of control related to hypoglycemia, but this…this is something else. It may not be diabetes-related, but I have to think it is, somehow.
Much love and many prayers,
Angie
