A small breakthrough just happened for me.
I’m sitting here, low (64 mg/dl, for the record), and feeling every bit of it. I’m shaky, panicked, jittery, hungry, unsettled, and a bit scared.
I have treated, with a few of those bite sized candy bars (Snickers and Milky Way) from my neighbors cube (yes, she has the best candy dish in the office, and yes, she would just HAVE to be MY neighbor).
Now I’m supposed to wait. I’ve never been good at waiting, and in fact often over treat. Now I know a little bit better why I do what I do.
My thoughts were working through this low, and hit a crucial question.
“Ok, I’m low.” and “I feel scared” and “I’m safe. There’s food and people around, plus I’ve already treated.” and “Don’t freak out” and “you can wait it out”.
Then the killer question; “But what if it’s not enough?”
The panic hit me so hard that I could literally feel it. The urge to pour my neighbor’s candy dish right down my throat, wrappers and all, was almost unstoppable.
What if it’s not enough?
I need to figure out how to work through that question and arrive at a solution my brain won’t sabotage the next time I’m low.
Hi Scott,
My solution to this (which everyone else above me may have already said…if so, sorry), is I just try to test often. Every 15-20 minutes. Good luck…it took me a long time to figure out that it does get better, and if it doesn’t, then I can treat more.
Las night I woke up at 12:35am and felt funny. Got up and poked the finger 57 so I got out the OJ and a small 3 ounce glass. I filled it up and thought boy that sure was good. I thought to my self sould I have another which is what I would normally have done but instead I waited for 10 minutes and checkied it again and it was at 67. I poured another half a glass drank it and went back to bed. No problem the rest of the night. Checked the BS at 6 in the morning and it was 85. Sure glad I didn’t do what I normally did and the get a very high result in the morning. Learning a little self control I guess.
This is such a tough one. With the help of my husband, I have figured out exactly how many fast-acting carbs (glucose tabs, life savers, etc) I need and pre-arranged them in mini baggies. This way I no longer have to worry about “thinking” when going low and remembering how many carbs I ingest. Sometimes I DO need more, than my pre-measured servings, but usually I am on target. My body is not going through some changes due to kidney failure, so I am recalibrating all over again. I know it’s a moving target. Best.
Low blood sugar impedes logical thinking. For sure.
I think it’s a repition thing. Try waiting it out once. Then try it again. Then again. Then again. After the 10th or 15th or SOMTHINGth time, it’s just what you do without having to think about it.
You could also try meditating on it while your bg is normal. Repeat it as though it were a mantra. (OK, maybe that’s going overboard!)
I really smart blogger told me on several occasions that when we are low our brain does some funky stuff.
I don’t know if there is a way to work it out. When you get low you can’t think correctly. Or at least, I can’t!
What’s interesting to me is that in addition to being a diabetes issue, this is a constant food addiction issue (for me). You’ve mentioned some food issues before – mind if I ask if you think you’d have the same “what if” reaction if you were eating glucose tabs rather than candy bars? I mean, is it purely a Low issue or is it also a “I want more candy” issue? I think the way you address it in the future depends a lot on which it is.
Talking ourselves down from a low can be so difficult.
It’s like the clock stops and the carbs can’t kick in fast enough – staying calm, cool, and collected is difficult.
Thanks for sharing!
k2
Y’know, when that wolverine takes over, I don’t know how to stop it either. Marvelous that our brains have such a strong survival mechanism, but it can be ‘major suckage’ to quote a blogger I know 😉
One thing I tried over the weekend was Jelly Belly Sport Beans …mostly because I bottomed out in a sporting goods store. They seemed to work pretty fast compared to my usual standby (Skittles). Don’t know if that’s the solution, but I liked not having to chase a high 2-3 hours later.
Hang in there, dude!
Scott,
I hear you.
I guess my low brain doesn’t understand “wait.” I want to eat until I feel better. Waiting is the hardest thing. It’s smart to try and figure it out. I need to find the patience to figure it out.
My daughter is 8 and I feel that way when she’s low. However I was in the Marines for 20 years. In flight crew training we were put in a mock helicopter 20 feet above a pool, blindfolded, dropped into the pool and flipped upside down. We had to learn to just wait a moment, maybe even up to a minute, but we knew we could trust that if we remained calm for that minute we could get out easily and make it to the surface. I ask my daughter to do the same, basically, trust the instruments. If you’ve treated you know it will work and it was enough. If there’s others there (there were in the pool for our crash test) you’ve probably told them what can help you if things get worse, trust that they will do something.
I hope this helps, your post definitely helps me as a father of a Type 1 child.
Oooooo Scott that is soooo me and I have yet to figure it out, but I do know this (and I know you know it too), that juice or something quicker(not the slow acting chocolate) works faster and gets you out of that funk quicker, but…….it still does not fix the fact of whether it is enough carbs to get you where you need to be. I thought the CGMS would help, but the lag time was huge and just made my panic and fear worse. I tend to fix a low with the snicker fix as well as it holds me steady better than juice, if I get to the magic bgs number.
Hope someone responds with the magic pill/formula for us.