Recently I spoke at a camp for athletes with type one diabetes in Pennsylvania. Since I was there for a couple of days, I noticed a common theme among these athletes after talking to them. These kids didn’t care about the stress, the management, or the countless needles that was a part of having type one. What bothered them the most was how there were no guarantees that they could go to practice and competitions and actually participate. There was always that chance that they could have a high or low blood sugar and they would have to sit out and watch others do what they love. After realizing how that was everyone’s biggest fear, I began to think of how many times my blood sugars had stopped me from doing what I love. And it was more than just a few times. For many diabetics, it’s not the disease itself that scares us, but the true fear stems from the chance that diabetes may stop us from doing the things we love.
I’m not writing this to say that diabetes does stop us, but it can if we let it. I got the most reaction out of these athletes (and their parents) when I said that if you can turn diabetes into something good, you can accomplish SO many incredible things. Similar to what I wrote about in my first blog ever, diabetes taught me to work hard in everything in life. Diabetes has turned into something great because of this motivation that stemmed from having it, but it hasn’t come without hardships along the way.
Just this passed week I suffered from more low blood sugars than I would normally have in a couple of months. It seemed like no matter what I did, I was feeling weak and shaky almost every hour of the day. I would eat and my blood sugar would go low. I would workout and my blood sugar would go low. I would go to sleep and my blood sugar would go low. I was even giving way less insulin than I normally would to try to counter this, but it didn’t help. What should have been an hour long workout turned into two because my blood sugar was 35 during the workout. Just to put this into perspective, normally you would be passed out and potentially having a seizure at this point.
When you have so many low blood sugars in a row like I did last week, you start to not feel when your blood sugars are starting to go low. That’s why when it started to go low during my workout it didn’t hit me until it was dangerously low. This can especially become really scary during the night. For example when I’m in a deep sleep, I don't wake up with a low blood sugar until it gets very slow. Once I even put an alcohol swab in my mouth thinking it was food when I woke up during the night with a low blood sugar. Last week I woke up and I had the most intense feeling of hunger I had ever had. I was so out of it that I was thinking in my mind that my family was starving and that they had to steal food to help with our starvation. The next morning I woke up feeling confused about what I was thinking and full from eating a whole bag of popcorn a few hours earlier.
Why was my blood sugar so low all of the time suddenly? I’m not sure and that’s just how it is sometimes. It could be because I’ve been working out a little more or that life itself has been busier. I called my doctor who works with athletes and he helped me tweak a few of my insulin rates and experiment with giving less insulin before and after my workouts. And it worked. No more constant low blood sugars and now I’ve learned something new. Times like these can be frustrating and it may temporarily slow you done, but once you determine how to fix the problem you can only grow from it. Like I said, diabetes, or any other disease does not have to stop you unless you let it. You can do anything.
Whether or not you have a disease, almost any athlete's greatest fear is to sit out from what they have worked so hard to participate in. Do everything you can to stay happy, healthy, and stress free. And always learn from your hardships, it makes a difference in the end.