Monday, December 13, 2010

What's the worst thing a low has forced you to do?

I am curious, because I had a low today and I was so desperate (2.3mmol/L, 41.1mg/dL) that I stole someone else's orange juice.

OK, so had the person been present, I would have asked. But they weren't, and I took without asking (probably without being able to ask, if I am honest! I could sort of think clearly, but I couldn't talk properly).

It's the last week before the office shuts down for Christmas break, and one of my colleagues brought in this neat toy:
Xbox Kinect. I played soccer, and boxing. TKO!
We have a video lab at the training institute where I work (art dept), so it was hooked up to a large projector in a darkened studio. Very cool. Before I knew it I had spent half an hour punching and kicking and victory-dancing my blood sugar from 16 down to 2.3. That is a very quick drop.

I looked in my bag: no juice boxes, no muesli or fruit bars. Nothing in the secret draw of emergency food either. Dumb. So I toddle down to the communal kitchenette that the whole top floor uses. I knew there was at least white sugar there. So I start making a cup of tea with about 10 teaspoons of sugar in it. Waiting for the jug to boil. Waiting, waiting, can't wait - need sugar NOW!

I look in the fridge - oh, there is juice! Two big 4L bottles, although one of them looks like it has been there since the beginning of time. Orange juice isn't supposed to be green, is it? :P

So I drank the non-green juice. And I am glad I did, and I would do it again if I needed to. It tasted awful. I hate orange juice! After a few minutes the jug had boiled and my brew was so sweet the spoon *almost* stood up by itself in the cup :P haha. Another 10 minutes and my blood sugar had slowly climbed to 3.3mmol/L. Talk about a close call.

Maybe I should write a note and stick it on the bottle, thanking the person and offering them a new bottle of juice.

What's the worst thing you've had to do to get sugar when you've been low/hypo?

4 comments:

  1. When I was first diagnosed, a doctor told me about some kid who was so low-blood-sugar-crazed that he ate a plant. The longer I live with low blood sugars, the less I believe it. Unless it was a strawberry plant or something.

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  2. Haha, or maybe a sugarcane? :P

    I sometimes find myself eating the "wrong" things to treat a hypo, because my brain says "eat food" and so that's what I do, no matter if what I'm eating is totally slow and inappropriate for a low!

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  3. I've stolen juice before!

    My worst low story though was, aged about 6, punching a teacher in the face when low. She had a black eye the next day!!

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  4. Oh my gosh! Haha poor teacher! :S

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