Insulin Works!

It's so very easy to forget how essential insulin is. How much of an impact it really does have. How we are one missed bolus away from big problems.

When things are going well and my blood sugar is doing what I expect it to do, taking insulin feels kinda like taking vitamins. You are pretty sure they're important but you don't really know if they are doing anything. You know you should take them so you do but you don't really feel any different for it.

Then there are those other days. The ones that teach you, without a doubt, that insulin ranks up there with oxygen and water in terms of importance.

Like yesterday. When I woke up to a lovely blood sugar of 6.4. When I had a date and then ran my fastest 8k in months. When I got home to a blood sugar of 8.0. When I bolused for breakfast, waited fifteen minutes and ate. When I showered, dressed and headed to work.

Here is what yesterday looked like.

I'll let you guess what which point I realized the importance of insulin. 

If you look at the graph you'll notice a little gap towards the left. That's when I left Dexter at home while I went running. I came home, bolused, ate and all hell broke loose. 

After breakfast I climbed quickly and steadily upwards. In less than an hour I was 17. Usually after a run and my regular breakfast, I'm pretty steady. I knew something was up and guessed that my infusion site was not exactly infusing. So I bolused two units and held my fingers against the site as the insulin went in. I pulled them away and they were wet and smelled like insulin. 

Yep, faulty site. 

Most or all of my breakfast insulin never went in and, in my sweaty clothes, I didn't notice the extra moisture on my skin.

I headed home for a quick site change, bolused again and you can see for yourself how nicely I dropped down and how steady things were after that. 

Insulin. 

Looks like I do need it after all.