For the last 9 years I’ve always ALWAYS run high with my blood sugars. I think I could count on one hand the amount of hypos I would have in a year and the same went for the amount of times I would test my sugars. Terrible I know. I’m shocked that I’m still here, I must be like a cat with 9 lives.
Really it’s down to the fantastic teams at my local hospital (A&E, MAU and the diabetes clinic) that I’m still alive to tell this tale!
In the last 11 months I’ve tried so hard to pull it back, to
get on track, to come to terms with my diabetes and to try to accept it as part
of my life. As such I have had to start from scratch. This meant taking my
insulin 5 times a day (like I should have always done), testing my blood sugars
three times a day, getting my hba1c done (though I must admit that I have only
had this done once in the last year), learning to carb count and how to
calculate corrective insulin doses. There are many more techniques that I still
need to master, and I’m sure I’ll be a pro one day, but one step at a time for
now.
So anyway, the result of being a “good diabetic” has completely
thrown me! I feel fantastic, I have heaps of energy, I bounce around like an
excited puppy, I want to be active all of the time and generally feel a lot
better in myself!
This has come with a small price though, which is having
hypos. Being a newbie to carb counting and correcting high blood sugars had
left me having hypos left right and centre, however they have calmed down a
HUGE amount in the last few months. To be honest, they don’t bother me too much
as it’s a brilliant excuse to munch on a cheeky chocolate bar, and who doesn’t
love that?!
They really didn’t bother me until last Thursday (5th
April) at around 8:30pm . Now I’m
still unsure about what happened, if I did anything wrong, why it happened and
how I can avoid it happening again. See I’d eaten at about 8:00pm , half an hour later the symptoms started. I was
light headed, shaky, confused and slowly turning into the hulk (I didn’t rip my
top off though). I went and found my bag and munched on some dextrose tablets….nope….that
didn’t work. I wandered into the kitchen and ate a kitkat….nope....that was no
good either. I ate another and that was the last thing I remember.
The next thing I knew I was being held up by a paramedic, I
had a mouth full of blood (very attractive) and
a thumping headache! Then I passed out again! I woke up at the kitchen table
with 2 more paramedics there and a tube of hypo-stop being forced into my
mouth. The funny part is that I can remember thinking to myself “wow that guy
sat opposite me is really good looking, I wonder why he’s here, and why is he
staring at me?” I’ve always liked a man in uniform!
The rest is still very hazy, I think this was because I had
gone face first into the floor and had given myself a concussion. I can
remember glimpses of the night….being in A&E with people fussing around me,
having blood taken and a cannula put in, ECG, tuna sandwich, shivering,
friendly faces, tea etc.
The next morning I woke up with a big yellow bump on my head
and a sore swollen tongue from biting it as I hit the deck.
I was confused about what had happened as I could remember
very little, but the doctors assured me that I would be fine and that I was
good to go!
However I wasn’t really fine, I was scared angry and worried
and that is very unlike me! I’m usually a very confident person who is strong
and in control, but all I wanted to do was run back into the hospital and be
looked after by people who knew what they were doing. I think I stood outside
A&E for about 20 minutes, dithering, just to be sure that I wasn’t going to
pass out again.
I’m not 100% back to myself yet but I’m feeling a lot calmer
about it now. My confidence has been knocked by what happened and I am being
very cautious all of the time, possibly over cautious. I just need to build my
confidence back up somehow.
I’m sure that won’t be the last time that my diabetes will
catch me off guard, I just need to be prepared for when it happens again.
I don’t know how to end this blog, but I am still smiling,
and I am still alive.
Ninjabetic
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