Really now…what other chronic illness can say that?
Type 1 diabetes can make you have low blood sugar when you are not feeling well. If my son is about to get a stomach bug, once the bug finally hits, I can usually look back at his glucose numbers and see a bunch of lows before he actually came down with the illness.
Type 1 diabetes can make you have high blood sugar when you are not feeling well. If my son is about to get a fever and sore throat bug, once the bug finally hits, I can usually look back at his glucose numbers and see a bunch of highs before he actually came down with the illness.
Type 1 diabetes can make you have low blood sugar when you are active in sports. When my son swims all summer at the pool and beach his sugar will drop. Drop. We have to give lots of carb snacks throughout the day to keep him nice and even so he can swim the day away.
Type 1 diabetes can make you have high blood sugar when you are active in sports. When my son used to play soccer, for that very brief moment in time, his sugar used to run really high, like in the 400s, for a few hours after he actually played. Corrections would drop him like a brick because it was all adrenaline.
Stress can drop my son’s sugars really low. If he is worried about spending time away from me for too long we have to cut his basal a bit so his sugar doesn’t drop too low.
Stress can push my son’s sugars really high. If he is worried about taking a standardized test in school his sugar will skyrocket. 400s are not uncommon when a test is on the horizon. We have to tread lightly with these types of highs because as soon as the test is done, the number seems to drop.
Type 1 diabetes makes my son’s sugar drop when the weather is too warm. We have to lower basals a bit when we are about to hit a big warm spell, and make sure we have lots of glucose drinks for the longs summer days.
Type 1 diabetes makes my son’s sugar rise when the weather is cold. We have to raise the basals and give corrections throughout the day to keep his sugar in range. Unless of course he is playing in the snow. See swimming above.
Type 1 diabetes makes my son’s sugar rise when the school year starts. I have many sleepless nights whenever we go back to school because many adjustments have to be made to pump settings to keep his sugar as close to range as possible.
Type 1 diabetes makes my son’s sugar drop when we are on school breaks. I have many sleepless nights whenever we go on break because many adjustments have to be made to pump settings to keep his sugar as close to range as possible.
Yeah. See where I’m going with this? Diabetes…the great overachiever.
It does it all. No illness, sport, stressful event, standardized test, season, school year, or school break can be free of Type 1 diabetes. It is always there, showing off. Puffing out it’s chest making sure we know he is the ultimate eager beaver.
I was never a fan of the overachiever, so diabetes isn’t impressing anyone.
Yeah, that’s the thing about diabetes – no matter how long you live with it, it always remains an unpredictable disease – the only thing you can predict is that it will inconvenience you at many steps you take in life. We can deal with it as best we can, but as long as it remains a chronic disease (without a cure), we will have to put up with it – but in a way, through our advocacy, it is up to us to change that.
Jennifer,
Thanks for reading. It sure does keep you guessing. Yes, we are pretty strong. We have to be, right? Good luck to you and your son. Diabetes has nothing on you guys.
Leslie
I so completely understand and well said. My son who is 6 has been doing a roller coaster of highs and lows the past few weeks with no explanation. It keeps you guessing/stressing 24/7. Apparently we are tough parents to be handed this trial of a disease.