Error

Last Friday's blog made reference to the fact that I had experienced two low blood sugars the day before and had not felt either of them. It freaked me out.

Friday was a bit of a down day in terms of blood sugar. You know the kind I'm talking about? When you have no idea why you're going low over and over again and you overtreat the lows desperately trying to stop them and feeling crappy from all the food you're forced to eat but you still go low again?

No longer confident in my ability to feel lows, I checked my blood sugar obsessively all day. Like twenty times obsessively.

I went to bed Friday night feeling a little off. I checked and I was 3.4 (again!). I had 8 Dex4s which is twice what I should have had. Fifteen minutes later I was 2.1 (and hardly felt it). I had 6 more Dex4s and fell asleep. I woke two hours later and I was 20.1.

Fabulous.

I took a conservative correction bolus and fell back asleep. I woke up at 7:30am and was 3.4. I had a fig newton and lounged around in bed for a while enjoying a day with nothing on the calendar except a run.

My goal for Saturday was to run 10k. My first real 10k run in months. I was excited but, after my two days of blood sugar craziness, I was also a little apprehensive.

I pulled out my running belt (which I wouldn't normally wear for 10k) and I stuffed it with boxes of raisins and emergency gels. I popped my glucometer in with four test strips. My plan was to run an out and back course and to check my blood sugar every 2.5k (which would translate into every fifteen minutes or so). I normally wouldn't check at all for a 10k run I was not taking any chances.

I had a gel and a Larabar before I left and waited fifteen minutes for them to kick in. That is 45 carbs which, without insulin, should make my blood sugar spike.

I ran 2.5k and then stopped to check. I was 6.2 which is a lovely number if you're sitting at your desk but pretty damn low considering I had just eaten and had 7.5k left to run. I ate my box of raisins and decided to run 500m and check again. If I was dropping, I would turn around and head home. If I was climbing, I'd continue.

I stopped, popped the test strip in, drew blood, waited the 5 seconds and saw "error" on the screen.

What!?!

If I'm too high or too low, the glucometer will say "Lo" or "Hi". If it's too cold or too hot and not working properly, it will say error as soon as I put the test strip in. The only time I've seen error after a test was if I didn't have a big enough blood sample but I knew I did.

I very very carefully tested again.

Error.

Bloody hell. I had four test strips with me and had already used three by the time I reached 3k. I didn't trust my ability to run on 'feel' so I turned around and headed home. At 5k, I tried again using the last test strip.

Error.

I ran home and tested with my regular glucometer. My BG was 7.6 which was fine. I decided I still wanted to try for 10k but that I needed to play it safe. So I played it safe...and boring. I ran up and down and up and down the short streets in my neighbourhood. I was never more than 750m from home and figured I could walk if things fell apart.

I finished my 10k (running!) and my blood sugar was 5.4.

I then tested with my uncooperative running glucometer and it confirmed that I was 5.4, looking proud of himself, like nothing had happened.

Asshole.

Good news: I ran 10k in 63 minutes and my foot felt great before, during and after. My blood sugar didn't tank during or after the run, although it did hang out on the low side all day.

Bad news: my sleek little running glucometer that fits so nicely in my running belt is no longer trustworthy. I'll have to ask the Diabetes Centre for a new one the next time I'm there.