I don’t often make music references in my blog, but as I sat down to write this, the classic 2007 tune “Low” by Flo-Rida popped into my head. This nearly 10-year old song is one that I probably last heard in full in middle school, where I most likely looked like a fool alongside my friends as we danced in a group to it.
So besides being a song featuring truly poetic lyrics (Shawty had them Apple Bottom Jeans/Boots with the fur/The whole club was lookin’ at her/She hit the floor/Next thing you know/Shawty got low low low low low low low low), it is also a song that has described what my blood sugar has been doing the past 24 hours. This is pretty unusual for me, considering my CGM often helps me prevent lows…but sometimes you just can’t stop them from happening.
The first offense happened right in the middle of my Zumba class. One minute I was salsa dancing my little heart out, and the next I was noticing my CGM vibrating like crazy. When the song ended I stopped to look at it and was dismayed to see a down arrow and red dots on my graph, both indicators that I was dipping into the hypoglycemic zone. I really didn’t want to stop dancing, but I knew that I had to before my blood sugar got dangerously low. I sat on the sidelines for the next four or five songs as I suspended my insulin and waited for my glucose tablets to do their job. I happily rejoined for the last fifteen minutes of class, shimmying with greater energy than before thanks to the burst of sugar in my system.
After Zumba, I went home and got ready for bed. Mercifully, I was able to go to sleep at 122 and have an uninterrupted night of rest. I woke up at 157 and bolused for a breakfast consisting of two hard boiled (and beautifully dyed Easter eggs, if I do say so myself) and two slices of toast. I gobbled up my meal and went about my morning routine.
45 minutes and one shower later, my CGM was buzzing. I was going down, again. I cursed myself for not doing an extended bolus. I know that bread/toast can sometimes take longer than other foods to have an effect on my blood sugar, but I thought that waking up at a slightly higher blood sugar would cancel out the need for an extended bolus. Begrudgingly, I went down to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of orange juice, chugged it, and sat down while I waited to come back up.
The rest of the morning was fine. I made it to work, got started with the day’s tasks. Lunchtime came and went. At 2 o’clock, I left for the gym on my break like I normally do. When I left the office, I was 173 and steady with a couple of units left on board from my lunch bolus. Determined to avoid another low, I suspended my insulin AND ate a small box of raisins (10 grams of carbs) for good measure. I arrived at the gym, changed into my workout gear, and hopped on a treadmill to do my walking.
It was just walking. Not intense exercise by any means. But a mere 16 or 17 minutes into it, I was dropping AGAIN. No, not dropping it like it’s hot…shawty had low, low, low blood sugar. I had to cut the workout short and eat, which was especially frustrating because I probably gained back any calories that I may have burned from my short workout.
Needless to say, I’m kind of over the low blood sugars. But I am grateful that I recognize when it’s happening, and that I have some awesome technology to help me in the process. And at least when I go low, I don’t have the whole club looking at me when I hit the floor.
