Gee…you’re in quite the situation. I have had seizures in the past due to low’s and afterward, I was scared to take insulin. Have you ever had a bg <200 in any circumstances? What I would do is some night, when you have nothing big planned, get a good movie for you and your husband to watch, and while your watching the movie take insulin to correct the high bg. Have some juice near by in case you do go low and tell your self, I am going to be ok. You can even have your husband say it to you. Now every time you feel an impulse to eat or “treat” that dropping blood sugar, do something else. Squeeze a pillow, sing a song to your husband or tell your husband how you feel. Or you can do something else of your choice. Good luck. Let us know how you make out.
You know, you can have a fear of low blood sugars and a fear of high blood sugars and that can have a terrible effect on your blood sugar management. Here is a review of fear of hypoglycemia, you are not alone. That study suggests that Blood Glucose Awareness Training (BGAT) and Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is helpful. I think a key thing is when you have some really “bad” hypos early in your diabetic career, it can scar you terribly. It is like post traumatic stress disorder.
I hate to say this, but perhaps the key to overcoming this is to walk right into the fire. Perhaps you need to deliberately go through the training and walk right into a very public situation with your blood sugar at 50 mg/dl and just confront things. If you never confront a hypo, you will never be able to convince yourself that you are competent enough and brave enough to deal with it.
ps. More information on BGAT can be found here in Scotts post.
On here I have heard some people use Glucogon for illnesses…where they just give a small amount when they can’t keep anything down carb wise. Just wondering… if when you are fighting a low that isn’t getting fixed because of the gastroparesis…if a “mini-glucogon” shot would work? Ask your doctor… it might make you feel more relaxed if you had another way to bring yourself up to a good number that didn’t involve you eating something.
wow! Awesome…you have NEVER gone unconcious! My son…well they took him off the pump because he would over correct to get to the the lower numbers he felt good at… and well… he went unconcious once already. And… strangely enough… guess what… his own body kicked in and released sugar from the liver and he came to on his own and got up to 80 w/out ANY carbs given at all… The paramedics told the people who were with him at the time NOT to give him anything because he hit his head very hard when he fell. They had no glucogon shot to give him so they just stayed w/him till the paramedics came…he came to all on his own. I have since talked to people and this hapens alot… your own body shoots out sugar to fix the low! Not that this makes us less worried about a low…but is is comforting to know that this phenomenon can happen all on its own. My son has only been T1 for a little over a year now.
Yes our bodies are very good at making sugar to save us. The problem is it lags; it won’t make sugar until it needs it. When it needs it, it’s in trouble. I’ve slept through many a hypo and have come out just fine, soaked through and shaken but fine. But while hypoing I wouldn’t want to be driving a car or operating machinery. Other times I’ve fallen out of bed, convulsed and kicked the bedpost until my foot was nearly broken. I’ve gotten up and stumbled into and over furniture knocking down lamps and pictures. I once headed to jump into the pool because I was so hot. We don’t have a pool. That 12 foot drop onto the lawn would have been fun if my wife didn’t stop me.
My body won’t save me from a big snafu, only the minor and moderate ones. My first 911 I bolused 16u of Humalog and fell asleep watching TV before I ate. I woke flying out the front door on a stretcher.
Thanks for sharing your fears with us. 10.7 would make me feel exhausted, too. And, of course, after living at a high glucose level for so long, even small drops are likely to FEEL like hypos until some time is spend in-range. Important to keep in mind if you do choose to tighten your management.
The fear of becoming dependent on anti-anxiety meds or anti-depressants is a lot like the fear some people have of going on insulin (of course, no needles with the mental health pills!)–the thought of being dependent on something lifelong, the expense, the possible side effects. But what is best? The life you currently know or the life that could be?
If your body doesn’t make or properly use some hormones, has faulty wiring, and/or is affected by early, untreated trauma–a little pharmaceutical help can be life-saving, whether mental help or insulin help.
Studies of diabetes and depression (mainly type 2) show that a three-part combo of talk therapy, meds, and exercise/healthful eating have the greatest chance of success.
Also, another useful tool is a medical alert service dog. Not easy to find reputable trainers, but definitely a support “technology” that some people find useful. Very best wishes!
Higher mean levels make control very complicated. You shoot for normal but the likelyhood of overdosing is very high. This can lead to steep descent rates and wild swings. The feelings associated with these rapid changes of blood glucose are not very nice. The mean glucose of my meter reads 102 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) for the last 21 days. Being very often at normal levels makes me sensitive to exceptional numbers. At higher numbers I feel not well and with lower number I will most likely catch it at 60 mg/dL. Being in the normal range has not reduced my awareness for lows. Most importantly wild swings will not happen daily but more weekly and I can handle them very relaxed and rational. You need to get there too. Your axienty interferes with the actions necessary for better control. It is driving your numbers right now. You need temporary medication and / or therapy to find some peace of mind. Just imagine you would find a way to be more rational about it. You could consult your endo and with him you could develop a strategy to approach the situation: basal setting A for week one, basal setting B for week two etc. All that with the focus to bring you down step by step to normal levels in one month or more. If possible stay at a hospital for one week. Maybe the security there and the tight schedule of testing (day and night) can be helpful. The alternate is to stick to your current way of life but I am sure your future quality of life is worth the effords.
Stories like these are what scares me to death.
Surely on a pump, because there is still basal insulin going in, if you are unconscious the insulin doesn’t “run out” like if you were on shots?
I agree. I take medicines for both anxiety and depression and they are a blessing.
but on shots… your basal is a long acting 24 hr insulin…it would stil be there too… I sure wish they could make a long acting…“smart insulin” that would just adujust as the blood needs it. To me …if they can’t fix the pancreas…that is the next best cure.
What is the lowest you have gone? My son was concious at 37… not sure how low he went when he went unconcious cuz the first “test” after it he was in the ambulance and was up to 60.
My son even likes to go skiiing…scares the hell out of me…but he just puts skittles in his pockets and eats 5 at the bottom of the slope each time. Maybe because he is only 16…he doesn’t seem to scared… even after his “incident” which was just on the 27th of Dec. I think I worry enough for both him and me so he doesn’t have to. My niece…who is newly diagnosed too… only 3 months before my son… just started her first year in college…away from home. She was a 8.4 last A1C and I think she keeps a bit high to be safe… My son was a 7.0 two times in a row but recently went to 7.9…but he was on a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Now his 14 day average is 194. TOO HIGH and they are working at finding a better level but slowly. I am worried when he goes back on a pump that he will “seek” the “high of a low”…he loves the way he feels when he is at about 100… and wants to get there fast if he is high. Diabetes is crewl…it not only effects your body…it effects your mind. I haven’t slept though the night since the 27th because I am always testing him at 3 am. So…I don’t have it physically…but it sure effects me mentally. I am taking Lorizepam when needed and it really does help. I need to be calm for him. I need to make him feel safe and comfortable. How old were you when you got this? Was it easier when you were younger??
I too have lived with this disease for many years and as a younger person I was always fearful of losing limbs or my eyesight. Although many years ago the Diabetes information that is available today re: how to have tighter control wasn’t available to me I did what I could to manage. I didn’t manage well and have some complication as you do but have been able to reverse some of them. The one thing I’ve learned in all my years living with this disease is that I don’t want to die the slow painful death that Diabetes will cause. It is within you to help yourself that’s what I have found will help to live a healthier life.
Has anyone heard of Smart Insulin? Sounds like it may help!
Dee, I can remember being a bag of nerves over my Insulin and drops. I had 3 little faces always next to me, as I was injecting and them all saying Mommy are you ok, that made fear run through my body. I feared lows every min of every day. It overcame me at one point. The stress I put on me bogged my Adrenal Glands. At that point I could get the kids in there swim suits, well they did, take them over to the pool, and let the lifeguard watch them. My Baby took a nap on my chest. I felt dead…
So I sat one day and where this thought came from I haven’t a clue, I was too worried about if I caved to a low. Well I said how would I help another Insulin dependent person that expressed my same concerns. I wrote and wrote and then read and read. I needed to start eating better, and when I knew my Insulin was going to cause a problem I needed a snack. It really came to all of this. Be prepared and use you Meter, and get rid of the fear, it is damaging my body and doing no good.
And as time went on my Adrenals healed and my fear was replaced with trust and healthy eating, and being prepared.
Try to give up the fear, it is kepping you from so much happiness. You take care, Debbie
Hi Debbie, it’s good to know someone has been through and out the other side!! At the moment I feel like I’ll be like this until they put me in a wooden box!!
Can I ask what you mean by “bogged my adrenal glands”. What we the symptoms of this?
I’m going to sit and have a good talk with hubby - its just picking the right moment - and I have a check up at my GP soon so will get things off my chest there and see what happens next.
Thanks for everyone’s input on this,
Dee x
Dee - thanks for this info. I’m untyped yet and all this diabetes business seems so complicated. These type of posts are so enlightening and are much appreciated by many people you never hear from. I plan to go back and study posts like yours when/if things get more advanced. Thanks to all you veteran D’s for sharing your info with the rest!
Dee, what I meant was when we stress alot, and worry we can cause our Adrenal Glands to get Fatigued. I was worried you night be doing this to yours. You can goggle this, it will be easier to understand:)
I think you should read Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution. His approach can help you achieve flat or nearly flat blood sugars. When I used to follow his plan (well I’d say I 90% followed it) my bloodsugars were ALWAYS between 90 and 97. There were times that I’d test at ten minute intervals for two hours after meals and I was always in that 90 to 97 range. I think my fasting bs was lower but it wasn’t low. And I was running at the time and was able to run w/o having lows. I would think it would be possible to choose a bloodsugar to aim for and then keep it at a fairly consistently within a few points of that bloodsugar. So maybe you could pick 150 instead of 95, kwim? I think you should at least read it bc even if you don’t decide to follow all of his recs, I think there’re principles in there that may make you feel more in control.
I totally get why you have the fear, btw. I remember the day after I got out of the hospital when I was first dx’d I had my first low. I was at work – waiting tables – and it just so happened that one the nurses was at the hospital when I was there was eating at the restaurant. She totally took care of me, thank god, bc I was floored. And I was SHOCKED! I think when they were telling me about lows while I was hospitalized I just didn’t realize that it would actually happen and would happen often. I thought they were saying maybe someday there’s an off chance this could happen to you. And when it happened that first day out, it all the sudden really hit me that my life had really changed in a bad way. And I still think that lows and the fear of lows is the worst part of it all.
Ok thanks, I’ll go and google it now!
I have avoided Bernstein in the past because I thought it was like Atkins which I consider a dangerous way to eat. But I am willing to have a look at it anyway so I have checked online if it is available at my local library and it is so I will get it next week.
Thanks,
Dee
It is similar to Atkins, but not in any way dangerous. You should read it before you dismiss it. You know Dr. Bernstein had advanced kidney disease when he developed his way of taking care of diabetes and has reversed it.