Monday, April 16, 2007

Swing low, sweet chariot

Yesterday, by the end of the day I started humming the above song to myself in an attempt to keep my humour intact after a long day of lows...

(Just a reminder to multiply my readings by 18 to get mg/dL - my lows are anything under 4.0 mmol/L).

9:02 a.m. - 4.1 mmol/L
12:39 p.m. - 5.0 mmol/L
2:09 p.m. - 3.3 mmol/L
3:16 p.m. - 3.4 mmol/L
4:21 p.m. - 3.6 mmol/L
5:46 p.m. - 4.3 mmol/L
7:20 p.m. - 2.9 mmol/L
8:10 p.m. - 6.6 mmol/L

I had set a temp basal rate at 60% of my regular rate for the afternoon, but even that didn't help. I don't think I was any more active than I am on most weekends. It was really bizarre.

I've never had to use glucagon before (i.e., never become unconcious from a low). But has anyone used glucagon to help combat a string of lows? The nurse at my diabetes clinic suggested it once. I thought about trying it yesterday, but couldn't remember exactly what she had told me (I'm pretty sure she said to inject about half of the glucagon).

5 comments:

Drea said...

I have a friend who is an ER nurse - said once she was having multiple lows, and there was a trauma coming into the ER - so she took a shot of glucagon to ward off the lows for a few hours while it was busy.
It worked for her....but I have never tried it that way!

Annie said...

About two weeks ago, I experienced a low (27 - I think that translates to 1.5 for you) and became disoriented. Luckily, I was at my doctor's office, they called the paramedics, and they injected glucagon right into my veins. When I came to, my mouth felt like I had just eaten an entire bottle of molasses. And I still have a bruise on my hand where they took the vein.

I keep emergency glucose gel in my nighttable drawer. It's called "Gluco Burst" and comes in cherry flavor. You take it by mouth. In my opinion, it has a better aftertaste than the glucagon injection.

Carey said...

Wow, that's strange. Hey, thanks for visiting my blog and for your comments. So far, I'm pleased with the direction of our "fresh start."

Anonymous said...

Hey, just droppin by to say 'hello!' :-)

Hello!

Of course you can add me to your blogroll, you're on mine! In 3 years, will you have lived for longer with the D than without, without any complications? :-)

LORI said...

Tom - Believe it or not, despite about 10-11 years of not taking care of myself, no complications to speak of. :)