Thursday 21 June 2007

The homing diabetic

When I have a low blood sugar or feel I'm going to have one, I become like a pigeon. I get an overwhelming urge to get home. In the most direct line possible with no distractions.

This afternoon I went to get my blood tests done at the hospital for my review in 2 weeks time. When I left work at 2.45pm my bg was 13.0 (234). I didn't correct because
1. I was about to drive,
2. I was going to be walking to the hospital in about half an hours time, and
3. My bloods tend to fall later in the afternoon anyway. (I need to recheck and sort out the basals).

At 3.15pm it was 10.1 (182). I walked over to the hospital and had the blood taken, and then checked again. 7.5 (135). A drop of 5.5 (99) in an hour. Although I wasn't hypo I started to feel very anxious and took some Lucozade. I just wanted to get home, before the hypo hit if it was going to. How MAD is that?? I was INSIDE a hospital, and I wanted to get home. The hospital was full of doctors and nurses and I was 50 meters from the diabetes dept. My house was a 15 minute walk away and empty! But I left, and headed home. Part way I went in to collect a prescription in the supermarket pharmacy, and checked my bg which was now 8.7 ( 157). Good, going up.

What is this urge to be at home? I guess I see it as my "safe place". I am in control there, and know where everything is, and that it is mine. And my husband is usually there too. But to rather go there, than stay in a hospital for a quarter of an hour longer, what is that all about?

That is an interesting word though - control. I shall revisit that at a later date.............

4 comments:

Caro said...

Hi Dee,

I think it is very natural for us to want to feel safe when we're low and there's no place quite like home. Remember too that both hypoglycaemia itself and also fear, of hypos or something else, can make us act a little illogically - hence going home to an empty house!

I'm terrible for not wanting other people to know that I am low, even if telling others would be a much safer thing to do.

Hope your blood sugars are doing ok now

LORI said...

Hi Dee,

Thanks for your comment on my blog today. Welcome to the Diabetes OC! Be sure to add your web address at www.diabetesdaily.com so that we'll all know when you've updated your blog!

I'm the opposite - I find that I want to get home when my blood sugar is HIGH? How strange is that? I don't know why it is - maybe because it usually takes so much longer to come down than to go up and I want to be somewhere comfortable.

Anyway, I will be adding your blog to my page. Look forward to reading more from you.

Lori

Donna said...

Hi Dee,
Yes, I agree with you. I would much rather be home when I'm going low. I don't want other people to know that I'm going low either. (I have a little social anxiety thing going.) But there's no place like your own home to help you feel better when you need to take care of this sometimes frightening situation.

I noticed that you signed your name as Donna on Lori's blog. My name is also Donna. My blog is called Donnabetes. Check it out if you get a chance. I look forward to reading more of your blog. Have a great day!

PS. I tried to post this earlier & got a weird message. So hopefully, this won't post twice. Sorry if it does.

Minnesota Nice said...

Hi Dee,
Thanks for the note on my blog.
Sorry you've got so many ongoing problems.

In response to your question, the injection on my finger, 6 days out, has worked well. The pain is gone, but I still have stiffness and swelling. The practitioner implied that the cortisone results might be "only temporary", but one can always hope.

I knit about 90 minutes a day, but try to break it up - on the bus on the way to work, on the way home from work, and then in the evening.
I am not about to give it up.

I actually think the surgery would be the best straightforward way to deal with it, but, I have had 3 eye surgeries and one broken ankle surgery in the last 5 years and don't feel like facing another at this point.