Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Voice

Have you ever been lying in bed when all of a sudden your subconscious starts talking to you?  Maybe it's reminding you to do something or is stressing you out to say that you have things to get done soon, or maybe for most diabetics it is telling you that you need to take action. I don't know how many times I have been tossing in bed when a voice tells me that I should check my blood sugar.  Sometimes it takes all I can to talk myself out of it, am I hungry? no.  Am I shaking? no.  Am I sweating? no.   But, still the persistent voice is telling me that I should check my blood sugar.

It's that voice that gets me up and checking, untucking myself, pricking my finger in the light of my pump or meter and testing.  Often praying that I am not low because I DON'T WANT TO EAT! Often times the voice is masked by a desire to eat or to want to go to a store to get food or order food despite it being the middle of the night.  Often at that time there is a voice thinking it's possible to just order something or if only I could go to the bulk barn to stock up on some candy.  That diabetic subconscious is full of wonderful ideas when you're low.

It's crazy to think that some people don't notice their lows especially when sleeping. A crazy and scary thought that diabetics are sleeping through lows or doing other activities while not realizing that they need to act on their blood sugars.  I am thankful that I feel my lows under five.  Although, I dislike getting lows like every other diabetic, it's nice to know that I can still act on them without going too low to the point where I need assistance.

That voice has saved me a few times I like to think.  Begging me to check my blood sugar while I am asleep, forcing me to get up despite feeling sleepy or comfy and walking me through the steps of getting better.

Kayla

6 comments:

  1. You are VERY lucky in that you can feel your lows when sleeping. I cannot, I have never been able to. Not even as a child, before the meters. I'd often wake up because my dog was licking the sweat off of me, or she was whining. My dog, Liebschen, was a good diabetic dog. If she was in bed with me, she alerted me to my lows before I began to sweat.

    It wasn't until menopause began for me, that I had more night-time lows. My doctor doesn't think I need a CGM even though I've asked. Because of the cost of the supplies, my husband will not allow me to get one if I could convince my doctor to get one.

    I wish I could tell my lows during my sleep as well as I do when I'm awake. Maybe after menopause, then it'll be back to how it was with infrequent night-time lows.

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  2. Over time, I've learned to test my blood sugar any time I wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. I don't always feel the lows, and I've had enough cases where I've awaken wanting to do nothing but go back to sleep. But there's a reason I woke up, and usually that reason is a low sugar.

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  3. Jon used to feel his lows at night and wake up, but within the last year something changed and he isn't as aware as he used to be. He dipped to near unconsciousness a couple times and down to where I had to help him much more often. Fortunately Jon's doctor recommended a cgm and that has alerted him/us of when he is getting low before it's scary.

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  4. YES! And just like Scott E. said, if I'm awake and don't have a good reason why, I test because I'm usually low. Even if I don't want to admit it because of all the stuff you talked about (untucking, etc).

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  5. I have to say I'm very released to read this I thought I was going crazy or god was talking to me. I to have had the voice warning me plus more like some unseen force takes over your body and gets you to get sugar into you automatically without you having control over it. It makes sense now and could be tied to some regressive hypnotic sessions I did.

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  6. You are for sure not alone with the 'voice' in your head! It seems we all have that little voice!

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