Jun 14, 2007

Checking Makes My Blood Glucose Feel Lower?

Andy Stuckey

When I feel like my blood glucose is a little low and then check it and it is, let's say, 82 mg/dl like it was the other morning, all of a sudden the shakiness and low-blood-glucose feeling that wasn't so dramatic to begin with immediately heightens. It's as if a trigger has been pulled telling my body that, yes, the levels are off. What started off as a routine check all of sudden becomes a scrambling panic to raise my blood glucose level.

For instance, before I check my blood glucose at the beginning of the day I feel fine, but I know it is time to eat a little something for breakfast. So before eating, I check. The number shows up as 70 mg/dl. Just thirty seconds ago, I didn't feel the same as I do after checking my blood glucose. I'm all of a sudden much more aware of the shakes and feel a sense of urgency about handling the situation. It's like after checking and seeing the number 70, my body instantly feels like it's at 50.

What amazes me about this phenomenon is that in the minutes before I checked my blood glucose I don't feel nearly as panicky or shaky as I do once I see the number. It's weird how our brains work, and it often makes me think about how much of diabetes is knowing when, why, and how you feel. If I hadn't checked my blood glucose and seen the number, how long would it have taken me to feel low? Would I have blamed something else? Very unlikely.

That is my diabetes thought of the week.

In other news, a sketch video that Murray and I put together has been going crazy on the Internet. In the last five days, more than half a million people have watched it on various Web sites. Will Ferrell's site, www.funnyordie.com, put it on their homepage, and the people at MySpace caught wind and the word has spread from there. If you want to watch it (PG-16 as always) you can see it here.

Well, my nephews are coming to town and we are going to see The Lion King this Saturday, then Murray and I are performing at the UCB after the play at 7:30. I'm looking forward to some quality time with the little boys and I'm excited to see how they react to their first trip to New York. I can certainly remember mine, and I wonder if I can make this one a memory for them. Until then.

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