I’ve always been aware of emotions and stress affecting blood sugars. I’ve always thought to watch for it and try to “do something”, but it’s always been a very vague thing. Vague things are hard to deal with on an action level. Vague things are… vague. Action things are very specific.
Yesterday we celebrated my mom. Cancer took her in April of 2005. She would have been 60 years old today. My dad wanted to throw a celebration of the wonderful person she was. I can’t imagine how hard it was for him to push through all of the hurt involved, but the party was incredibly healing, happy, and full of love. My sister and I are so proud of dad, and so thankful for all of the family that came.
My great-uncle, Father Jim Schoenberger, used colored pencils to draw this incredible picture of my mom.
I didn’t feel stressed or emotional, but one glance at my CGM, showing 198 mg/dl with double “UP” arrows, proved that I was feeling it. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, but my CGM was showing a line straight up, and rising, with matching finger-sticks to back it up.
I hit that upward trend with with every weapon in my diabetes arsenal (short of exercise). Multiple doses of symlin, couple with aggressive doses of insulin, typically a recipe for a nasty low blood sugar, seemed to do nothing.
It was a hard afternoon for me. Both emotionally and physically. By early evening I was drained. I went to bed for the night around 8:00 PM, and except for the two lows I had to treat, didn’t wake up until about 9:30 AM this morning.
The celebration for mom was really a beautiful thing, and I’m glad dad thought of it, and that so many people could come to celebrate the wonderful person she was. There was a lot of healing that happened, and it was good for everyone.
It was also a very strong example of how stress and emotion can have a drastic effect on our bodies, and how hard that can make managing blood sugars. There’s no mathematical formula for that.
How not fun to even have to deal with diabetes on a day when you really shouldn’t have to think about it. It sounds like it was a beautiful tribute to her. I’m so sorry you lost her.
That’s great that you were able to celebrate her life. That’s an amazing drawing! A shame that stress/emotions ruined the BG’s part of the day, esp. since you didn’t feel particularly stressed. I think that’s the worst part. If I feel stressed and my BG goes up, fine. But when I feel fine in a stressful situation and it goes up, it’s very stressful. Almost like the chicken and the egg – what came first, the BG or the stress?
Thanks Scott for posting this. Like George, I must admit it was hard to read initially.
Indeed though, when strong emotions (of any kind) arise for me, all bets are off. I tend to be fairly emotional in general, which is why the freelance, backyard “meteorologist” has a better chance of predicting the weather with his weather kit (box of wine, cracker jack box, and toothpick) then I do effectively determining the outcomes of my decisions.
Certainly a lovely tribute to your mom, and a wonderful reminder of all the things parents do (without hesitation) for us after diagnosis.
Thank you Scott.
A great post, and point. So many things play into this d-game, and some days you just have to forgive yourself when you don’t win. Tomorrow’s a new day, and we’re all here supporting you. Type 1 is a team sport, right?
Sending you positive thoughts.