A Spoonful of Sugar

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster in terms of blood sugar (mis)management.

Roller-coaster doesn't even begin to describe the dramatic ups and downs.

18 and climbing an hour after breakfast for no apparent reason.

3.5 and dropped two hours after that, again for no apparent reason.

Four lows between lunch and dinner. Each treated with plenty of carbs. Each sending me up to 10 and then straight back down again. All with no insulin on board.

Rose beeped during dinner (which I did not bolus for despite many carbs worth of potatoes) to say that I was 3.1 and heading down again.

I got up from the dinner table, sweaty and shaking, to down two tablespoons of maple syrup.

Ten minutes later I felt fine again and was up at the sink drying and putting away the dishes.

"You don't have to help you know?" Doug said gently.

"I know. I felt awful a few minutes ago but I'm fine now that the syrup kicked in" I replied.

And that's when it hit me.

Diabetes can be pretty annoying sometimes but it sure doesn't take long to recover from the ups and downs of it. At least compared to some other things that cause us to feel crappy.

Strep throat? That sucks. Here, take these pills and hopefully you'll feel better in a few days.

Seasonal allergies? Too bad. Here, take these pills and eye drops and hopefully you won't feel too bad for the next three months.

Stomach bug? Yuck. Well, once you throw up a bunch of times and spend a few hours in the washroom, you might be ready for a few crackers and some ginger ale.

Low blood sugar? Here, have a spoonful or two of maple syrup, wait ten minutes and then get on with your day.

High blood sugar? Take some insulin and I bet you start to feel better within half an hour.

Highs and lows can be pretty dramatic but so can the recovery of those highs and lows.

One minute I'm shaking and sweaty, pale-faced and pretty much useless. The next I'm chatting away as I dry the dishes feeling no worse for wear.

Maybe that's why I get so impatient when I'm real people sick. I can't fix that crappy feeling with a spoonful of yummy tasting maple syrup.