I never thought I’d complain about a good blood sugar. But as I write this, I’m fuming a bit over my current reading of 132 mg/dL.
Why? It’s a Sunday afternoon, which translates to the prime time for this college student to go to the gym for a weekend workout. It’s a nice distraction from homework that doesn’t make me feel guilty because I’m doing something good for my body. Plus, I try to get in an hour of exercise daily to help control my blood sugars.
However, it seems like my blood sugar has a mind of its own today. I woke up around 9:30 this morning at 77. I fixed myself a breakfast consisting of eggs, toast, and some fresh mixed berries. I gave myself 5 units of insulin to compensate for this. Normally, I might’ve given myself 6 or 7 units, but exercise was in my plan for the morning and I didn’t want to have a terrible low mid-workout.
I kept an eye on my CGM as I went through my morning routine. I went up to 193 and stayed there. I figured I should test my blood sugar again to confirm this, and was slightly surprised to see that it was 140. In the past, my endocrinologist and I have discussed when I should and should not have a snack pre-workout. We determined that if I am 150 mg/dL or lower, I should have at least 15 grams of carbohydrate to stabilize my blood sugar for a moderate intensity workout. I ate a banana, thinking it would be more than sufficient.
Over the course of the next hour, my blood sugar did not budge. I stayed right in between 130 and 150, which isn’t bad at all. I’m just annoyed, because I know that if I try to exercise any time soon then I will start to plummet. And I really don’t want to eat or drink anything else, because I feel as though that’s almost defeating the purpose. I’m trying to be more health-conscious by maintaining an exercise routine and balanced diet, so when uncontrollable things regarding my diabetes happens, I get frustrated.
At a time like this, I have to take the good with the bad. At least I have a steady blood sugar reading at the moment. My CGM is now displaying a line that has far fewer zigzags than it did yesterday. And it’s still relatively early in the day, so maybe I can have a chance to get my exercise in later. Living a busy life with diabetes will be full of these ups and downs, so I think it’s important to reflect on instances like these and turn the negatives into positives.
