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My rollercoaster diabetes weekend:

I have to say, 90% of the time diabetes doesn’t really get in my way. I’m aware of it, of course – what Type 1 diabetic isn’t? – but day to day I’m lucky enough to feel well and healthy and full of energy. Most of the time my numbers are pretty stable, higher than some perhaps, but I made the decision to aim slightly higher so that I didn’t have as many lows (which I hate so very, very much).

Anyway, that’s most of the time. This weekend I had an absolute rollercoaster of a weekend with diabetes. Allow me to explain:

  • Friday: I resigned from my job. The rush of adrenaline hit me in the evening and gave me high blood sugar. What a nice gift!
  • Saturday: the day was pretty unexciting, the evening was my sister-in-law’s 30th birthday. Which meant lots of dancing, some chocolate birthday cake, and a high when I got home at 2am. I left it, knowing how much I’d been dancing, and went low at 8am.
  • Sunday: Foolishly, foolishly, went back to bed at 8am, after correcting my low, without taking my morning dose of long-acting insulin (I was sleepy!) When I woke up for real at 10.30am and had breakfast, I took my long-acting insulin. I usually take it around 7.30 to 8am, so the late injection didn’t do me any favours – I was high all morning, despite going for a long walk on the mountain.
    Then it kicked in. Alll afternoon, no matter what I ate, I kept going low. Until I over-corrected, and went high before dinner. Perfect after dinner. Super-low at midnight, when the late dose of long-acting combined with the normal dose of night-time long-acting.

Crikey moses! What a day.

This morning, thankfully, I woke up feeling fine (upside down blood sugar has been known to give me migraines in the past) and I am now determined to have the most boring food week of my life. Normal food, normal bedtimes, normal blood sugar (I hope!)

Have you had a weekend like this before? It makes me appreciate stability!

– Bridget McNulty

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3 Comments

  1. From Facebook (Diabetic South Africans):

    Yes, i had alot of days just like your weekend! Mostly high sugar! ]: I know how you feel! Horrable! My highst sugar was 44.9 last year!

    To be honnist, I rather have high sugar than a hippo! My lowest was 1.8! That is much wors than the 44, or maybe not…
    – Ane Greyvenstein

  2. From Facebook (Diabetic South Africans):

    Ane i have never had low sugar my lowest has been 13 my highst has been 49 and that landed me in hospital. Today was the first time in 3 years that my sugar was 7.9 this morning and a hour later it was 17.9!

    Yip it is not a good feeling when it gets that hight.
    – Elaine Boshoff

  3. From Facebook (Diabetic South Africans):

    hmmm the constant high blood sugars are causing you so many complications. try and take the plunge and make the effort to keep your sugar levels as normal as possible!
    – Shirley Desmond

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Sweet Life is a registered NPO/PBO (220-984) with a single goal: to improve diabetes in South Africa. We are funded by sponsorships and donations from aligned companies and organisations who believe in our work. We only share information that we believe benefits our community. While some of this information is linked to specific brands, it is not an official endorsement of that brand. We believe in empowering people with diabetes to make the best decisions they can, to live a healthy, happy life with diabetes.