The Hill and the Hypo

Last week this happened but I was only just getting back into the swing of things and so only writing about this week. Jetlag day 4 and feeling like a functioning human being again. I must have slept really well because all my aches and pains subsided. See last week's depressing post.

It's also Day 2 of the kids being back to school and day 2 of me getting back into my walking regime. I was feeling so good and my ankle was feeling so good that I decided to try that hill. The one that I haven’t tried in about 3 months due to injured accilles tendon. And go that bit further.

When I reached the top I felt like Rocky!!! I almost did an air fist pump but that would have looked sad - it’s not a very big hill :-S

Anyway, I was well on my way home when I felt my insulin pump on my hip start to buzz to alert me to the fact that my blood sugar was 4.1 mmol with a ↓ Then I remembered that I really should have factored in how much insulin I took for breakfast the previous hour and how I didn’t know then that I was going to go that bit further. Oops!

Luckily, I always carry glucose in my meter case. And I always shove my meter case in my coat pocket. I grabbed a couple of the glucose tabs but I could already feel the river of sweat streaming down my forehead, down my back and down my front. And I knew it wasn’t the moderate workout I I had hoped for. My arms and legs felt like they belonged to Raggedy Ann or Andy. A little further on I took another couple of glucose tabs because I knew this was a serious hypo.

I was still thinking clearly, surprisingly, because I felt that I wasn’t at the point where I needed to call for backup. I felt I could still make it home, shakingly, and flopsy-mopsy style(cos that’s what it felt like) but I could make it.

And I did! I got inside my front door and sat on the stairs, laid back and just wait for the intense heat steaming from my body to stop.

The lesson I hope I have learned from this experience is that I need to factor in previous insulin dose into spontaneity.

However, the likelihood of that lesson sinking in and popping out immediately when needed is doubtful. One can only hope!