1980s than they are now. You had to wait a while for the number to show up on a little screen, although it now takes all of five seconds to get the reading. I canât remember for sure what his reading was that time, but it gave us all the information we needed to get the juice into him.
The amount of sugar, more properly called glucose, in his blood was low because he was injecting insulin daily, and had evidently miscalculated. The insulin drove the sugars out of his blood and into his cells, and did an overly enthusiastic job of it, and so he found himself trembling and disoriented. I know the feeling. Since I developed diabetes, I have had this experience many times. Let me tell you what it feels like: the life is draining out of you. Your bodily energy is like a sink filled with water, but somebody has pulled the plug and your very vitality is slipping away. You may feel melancholy. You may have the shakes. If youâre sufficiently low, the shakes can be so bad that you have trouble pricking your fingertip to squeeze out a drop of blood so the glucometer can tell you just how low you are. Sometimes you feel so wretched that it does not even occur to you that you are low. But eventually you figure it out. I know all the numbers. Let me tell them to you. If you are eight or above, youâre definitely too high. Not good. High blood sugar levels can lead to nerve and organ damage. If you are between six and eight, itâs not so bad, but not optimal. When you are fasting, if your blood glucose reading lands between four and six, youâre spot on. Where you are supposed to be. Where a healthy person with a healthy, functioning pancreas would be. Although for me, I start feeling bad at anything under five, and distinctly awful if I am at a four. If I am at three, I would probably be shaking so badly that I could not prick my own finger. Under two, and I would not be conscious. Iâve had one or two readings over the years between 2.9 and 3.1, but thankfully theyâve become rare as Iâve become more adept at anticipating what food, exercise, and insulin mix I need to stay in a better zone.
I usually guess my blood sugars before I take them, because Iâm that kind of guy. Make a game of it, run the numbers in my head, try to guess â by what Iâve eaten, how much I have exercised, how many metformin pills I have swallowed, or how much insulin I have injected â just exactly what my levels will be. What I most like doing is guessing how much my blood sugars have dropped over the course of exercise: say, after going out for a one-hour jog. In my case, they can easily go down five points. I could start a run with a blood glucose reading of ten, and finish it at five. That would be quite typical for me. Sometimes I drop more, or less. Sometimes I finish a run higher than it was when I started. Thatâs either because the liver kicked in and drove some glycogen into my bloodstream, or because I drank too much Gatorade in the course of the run. Thatâs the other thing. I donât like to be anywhere without access to two things: my glucometer and some apple juice, in case I am having a low. If my blood sugar is going to betray me, I want to be prepared.
I donât mind watching my blood rise and fall over the course of a day. Doctors and nurses tell me that keeping close track of my blood glucose levels is one of the best ways to keep it in a healthy range. Youâll know very fast if youâve been eating too much, or injecting too much insulin, or failing to hit the right balance of food, exercise, and drugs. Other things, of course, can throw you off track too. Stress drives up the blood sugar count. So does being sick, such as having the flu. Although there is no cure for diabetes, millions more people would die or be incapacitated had it not been for the work of the Canadians Frederick Banting (who won the Nobel Prize for his life-saving research), Charles Best, and other
The amount of sugar, more properly called glucose, in his blood was low because he was injecting insulin daily, and had evidently miscalculated. The insulin drove the sugars out of his blood and into his cells, and did an overly enthusiastic job of it, and so he found himself trembling and disoriented. I know the feeling. Since I developed diabetes, I have had this experience many times. Let me tell you what it feels like: the life is draining out of you. Your bodily energy is like a sink filled with water, but somebody has pulled the plug and your very vitality is slipping away. You may feel melancholy. You may have the shakes. If youâre sufficiently low, the shakes can be so bad that you have trouble pricking your fingertip to squeeze out a drop of blood so the glucometer can tell you just how low you are. Sometimes you feel so wretched that it does not even occur to you that you are low. But eventually you figure it out. I know all the numbers. Let me tell them to you. If you are eight or above, youâre definitely too high. Not good. High blood sugar levels can lead to nerve and organ damage. If you are between six and eight, itâs not so bad, but not optimal. When you are fasting, if your blood glucose reading lands between four and six, youâre spot on. Where you are supposed to be. Where a healthy person with a healthy, functioning pancreas would be. Although for me, I start feeling bad at anything under five, and distinctly awful if I am at a four. If I am at three, I would probably be shaking so badly that I could not prick my own finger. Under two, and I would not be conscious. Iâve had one or two readings over the years between 2.9 and 3.1, but thankfully theyâve become rare as Iâve become more adept at anticipating what food, exercise, and insulin mix I need to stay in a better zone.
I usually guess my blood sugars before I take them, because Iâm that kind of guy. Make a game of it, run the numbers in my head, try to guess â by what Iâve eaten, how much I have exercised, how many metformin pills I have swallowed, or how much insulin I have injected â just exactly what my levels will be. What I most like doing is guessing how much my blood sugars have dropped over the course of exercise: say, after going out for a one-hour jog. In my case, they can easily go down five points. I could start a run with a blood glucose reading of ten, and finish it at five. That would be quite typical for me. Sometimes I drop more, or less. Sometimes I finish a run higher than it was when I started. Thatâs either because the liver kicked in and drove some glycogen into my bloodstream, or because I drank too much Gatorade in the course of the run. Thatâs the other thing. I donât like to be anywhere without access to two things: my glucometer and some apple juice, in case I am having a low. If my blood sugar is going to betray me, I want to be prepared.
I donât mind watching my blood rise and fall over the course of a day. Doctors and nurses tell me that keeping close track of my blood glucose levels is one of the best ways to keep it in a healthy range. Youâll know very fast if youâve been eating too much, or injecting too much insulin, or failing to hit the right balance of food, exercise, and drugs. Other things, of course, can throw you off track too. Stress drives up the blood sugar count. So does being sick, such as having the flu. Although there is no cure for diabetes, millions more people would die or be incapacitated had it not been for the work of the Canadians Frederick Banting (who won the Nobel Prize for his life-saving research), Charles Best, and other
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