What’s That Thing on Your Arm?

Yesterday I didn’t get into the gym until around 8:30 PM.  I had been in the car all day.  As I was getting close to the gym I started really feeling excited about lifting weights (I know, weird, right?).  I felt strong, and I was probably just feeling pretty antsy from being cooped up in my car all day.

My blood sugar was in the low 200’s, which is not where I wanted it.  I had some insulin working from a bit ago, and was a bit worried about dropping too much while exercising.  Well, sure enough, after warming up and doing about half of my workout, I was dropping fast.  I had my Navigator CGM with me and was watching the action on the screen.  Not too long after I hit 120 mg/dl with a straight down arrow, I knew I had to stop and get some glucose into me.

I headed down to the locker room and did a blood sugar test.  63 mg/dl.  I treated the low and thought about going back upstairs to finish my workout.  But I was really wiped out.  That low had come fast and furious.  It couldn’t have been more than 30-35 minutes of exercising.  Maybe because I dropped so fast I felt wiped out?  Who knows.  I just didn’t have the energy, mentally or physically, to go up and finish.  I wrote the rest of the workout off to the “win some lose some” scorecard of diabetes.

I was heading to the showers and one of the other guys passing by was looking at my arm with the Navigator sensor.  He asked “Hey, what’s that deal on your arm?”.  I said “It’s my first day out of the Level-5 Max prison in Stillwater — they’re trying to keep an eye on me…” and kept walking right on towards the showers.

I thought it was pretty sweet how my CGM helped me be safe in the gym and also provided a little slice of entertainment for me in the locker room.