I woke up yesterday early morning, woke my daughter up for school and while getting her ready I got that awful burning,naseau feeling. I tested my blood and was 300 and then checked for ketones even knowing I had them and yup they were there. I immediately did a shot. After getting my daughter on the bus I stood over the toilet and luckily nothing came up. I changed my pump and must of checked my blood and ketones at least 5 times in the next 2 hours. Now my 2 yr old is up and an hour into play time I am feeling better and my blood sugar is 140 but then an hour later I feel like I’m going to faint, now my blood sugar is 40, I eat breakfast and just as I feel ok Im then at 240 and have to lay down,luckily my son is laying with me watching a movie. Finally 2 hours later I feel good enough to go outside and enjoy whats left of the day. It was one of the worst days Ive had in a while. For some reason my pump didnt work and I havent had that low feeling in years, I can usually handle blood sugars at 50,60. I woke up today at 115 but I feel like my body’s been beaten up, Its exhausted, is that normal? Do you think those episodes “damage” the body because it was hours long? I worry about that.
Sorry you’re having a tough day. I have read here in the forum that over 140 causes damage but don’t recall where that number actually comes from. not much you can do about it now - except try and make sure the pump is working right and hug your kids extra tight
I’m sorry, that’s the worst kind of day. I think that, as a whole, one bad day probably does more damage to the soul than the body. It’s never ideal to exceed the kidney threshold, but it happens to all of us and I’d be surprised if you could detect any long-lasting damage from one bad day.
Sounds awful, Priscilla. I can’t even imagine having to be there for children when you feel that bad. For better or worse I don’t feel bad when I’m high, aside from some lethargy which I only recognize after I test. But I think Tom said it very well. Prolonged time spent over 140 can accumulate and lead to complications. So not to worry (worrying won’t help) but just make sure all is well with your insulin, and your pump and if you have any idea what caused it, make the necessary changes. (Basal rate? Insulin? Site? etc) and hope you don’t have another day like that anytime soon. Oh yeah and hug the kiddies.
I’m sorry you went through that, but like Tom, I don’t think one bad day will do lasting damage.
I’ve had days like that myself (in fact I had one yesterday when I forgot to bolus for breakfast) and for me the worst part is correcting the high only to go low. It’s hard to get off the roller coaster. To avoid dropping so fast if you’re on MDI you can eat a piece of fruit or slice of bread with your bolus. If you’re pumping, extend your bolus for 30 minutes or so.
Each day is a new day. Obviously you don’t want to string a whole lot of days like yesterday together, but it will only drive your crazy to fret over one of many, many, many days.
Terry
Seems that when things go wacky on us it’s way wacky. Normal to feel utterly exhausted after these episodes & it’s a strange kind of exhausted. Up & down is a lot for our bodies to deal with. Steep drops really take their toll on me. When correcting highs or lows, I eat a small amount of protein to try to keep things level because I usually over kill the highs.
One days like this, I remind myself that it’s only one day out of many.