[lo-fo-bee-uh]
noun
1. An excessive fear of low blood sugars in a person with diabetes. This may cause them to do questionable things to avoid letting their blood sugar go low.
Example: Michelle’s blood sugar was perfect before going to bed, but her low-phobia kicked in so she ate unnecessarily to raise her blood sugar.
Okay, I admit it. My name is Michelle and I’m a low-phobic. I have an uncontrollable fear of my blood sugar being low. Why, you ask? Well, like most phobias, it doesn’t always have a clear answer. Could it be because I hate the shaky feeling I get as my blood sugar starts to dip? That I can’t stand the weakness I feel when my numbers teeter down? I don’t know. But for some reason, when I see my numbers trending down, I automatically feel the need to correct it. Even if admittedly, it might not really need correcting. At all. So I say ‘oops’. Over and over again... and never quite learn my lesson.
So what are some things I do because of my fear of going low? Well, I don’t go to bed unless my blood sugar is over a certain number. I run my blood sugars higher than average on purpose so that I don’t come close to going low. If the worst happens, and my blood sugar does go low, I eat just about everything in sight. I don’t have it in me to eat 15 fast-acting carbs and then wait 15 minutes and “wait and see” if it went up enough like we’re supposed to. Nope. If it was in edible and in sight 5 minutes ago, it is now in my stomach.
And sometimes this is where a rollercoaster begins. A yo-yo, so to speak. Because I overtreated my low, my blood sugar goes really high. So I frantically give myself insulin to fix the damage and bring it down. But then... I start teetering toward that uncomfortable level again that is just a little too low for my liking. So I think to myself that I better eat something to prevent it from really going low again. But alas... I didn’t need to eat anything. And high my blood sugar goes once again.
So that is the day in the life of someone with a word I’ve completely made up, ‘low-phobia’.
Do you relate to this? Do you suffer from low-phobia? What are your tricks to fight the fear? I’d love to hear.
My daughter is 14 and you literally described her in your post. She checks herself constantly because she can feel any change in blood sugar. I thought she was alone in this and was unsure how to help her. We're in the process of getting her a CGM.
ReplyDeleteLive it the way you have been living it till date- in phases. There will be stages and seasons and being teaches you how to weather them.
ReplyDeleteThe first year was most small, fantasy and exasperating year. You'll have new days awaiting you, with so many days and likely ahead. You, in your excited self, would set out on a pursuit, making plans and goals, but do not you put out on something new
the second year, the most unruly, angel prone, training year. Suddenly the feeling of superiority gives you wings. You feel wiser, but way too much, you feel higher, extremely superior. Boys to men are the logo, and the manly world awaits you, and you step into it. Freedom gives you wings, but do you know how to fly? Are you flying or are you doing? Was this the way it used to be? keep in mind, it is a stage, and it will go by. When it does, the manliness would turn into loyalty,
The third year and life's half gone. Really? Half gone? No. It has been the way it has been. The thought provoking year, the career building year, the nonsense shunning year- the third year. All crap. Career building had begun the day you stepped into school. Take the breakdowns, take the mistakes, and forget about them. Two years hence, you'll still be building your career, and all around would seem like nonsense, it's just a phase. Do not change, you'll be good.
The final year, the buzzer goes off, knell rings, and it is chaos- do or dies. If you had not done no matter which and still live on how do you think doing nothing now would kill you? The knell is eternal, you are not. It always rings, but only once for you. Oh, and yes, the moving year- the year if farewells.
How do you make the best of your life? By living it! Same goes for college as well. Longing is a dirty fraud. It makes things of the past appear more beautiful than they actually were. Never let it control you. You were living then, you are living now, and you’ll die someday. At all comes in between is just a time.
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