Testing, Testing, 1, 2,3, Testing (….and 4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

I realize that initially I was going to post about the new diabetes app I got for my Android phone, dbees.com, however I had an incident at the pharmacy this morning that was both upsetting and frustrating and I feel the need to express a specific issue it brought up (in case you were really looking forward to hearing about the diabetes app, I will post about it sometime in the next 2 weeks for sure!)

Last night I called in my prescription for test strips as per usual, with the plan to pick them up this morning before commuting to school for my 10:30am class. Since it usually only takes about 5 minutes to pick up the prescription, I only left about that much earlier than usual to allow time to pick up my prescription.

When I arrived at the pharmacy, the pharmacy assistant told me that the prescription wasn’t ready because my order was too early compared to usual. Apparently I usually take 2 months to fill my prescription, and this time it had only been just over a month. What was upsetting was the way the pharmacy assistant was dealing with the situation. First of all, she seemed suspicious that I needed to refill my prescription so soon:

“You shouldn’t have to refill you prescription so soon.”

“Well I do. I need test strips!”

 I could not believe that this lady had the nerve to tell me when my prescription should be refilled. I’m a type 1 diabetic. I need test strips or bad things will happen (…such as high blood sugars, low blood sugars that go undetected etc.) I was clearly exasperated, but also adamant that I needed those test strips (Because I did! It’s not like I was stocking up to sell the test strips on the black market…I doubt a black market for test strips even exists! It's not like you can get high off test strips.) Yet the pharmacy assistant still didn’t seem to believe me:

“You would have to be testing about 10 times a day to fill out your prescription that fast.”

“Yes, that makes sense. I do test that much.”

In fact sometimes I test more than that. And the past month has been holidays so I’ve been testing more frequently than usual to combat holiday desserts. This isn’t a sin. I shouldn’t be made to feel bad about testing a lot. What really upset me about this encounter was that it’s the same sort of attitude I get from the nurses and my endocrinologist, when I visit my diabetic clinic. As if testing many times in one day is a bad thing. Do they really think I enjoy testing my blood sugars a lot? That poking myself with a pin is just the greatest feeling in the world? (It's not, in case you didn't catch the sarcasm. It is actually rather unpleasant.)

To  all the endocrinologists, nurses, diabetic health care practitioners, and apparently pharmacy assistants out there: the more times a day you test your blood sugars, the better idea you have about what your blood sugars are at any given time in the day. Makes sense, doesn’t it? I don’t have a continuous blood glucose monitor, so testing my blood sugars 10 times a day is sometimes necessary to achieve good blood sugar control. It’s the opposite of a bad thing, it’s a good thing if it helps me control my blood sugars.

So please don’t tell type 1 diabetics that we test too much. We don’t. We test just enough. 

A Scary Story

I have thankfully never passed out from a low blood sugar, nor have I ever been rushed to the hospital due to ketoacidosis, and my A1C has never been over 8.1 mmol/L, so I often get told that I have good blood sugar control.  But before it sounds like I’m bragging, I should say that I’m nowhere near perfect, and the following diabetic horror story about a “scary” low is more than enough proof of that.

A week ago I arrived at Chris’ house (the boyfriend) and I think my blood sugars were already dropping because his housemates’ loud jamming session was really irritating me while we tried to make dinner (I tend to get very irritable and emotional when low).  I tested and sure enough I was dropping, though I had not yet dropped into that range classified as hypoglycemia.  I had forgotten to bring juice or fruit to gos (one of those chance occasions that rarely happens, I promise!) and Chris didn’t have any quick sugar (or really much food at all) at his house as he had not been grocery shopping in awhile (oh the woes of student life) so I decided I would take the 7 minute walk to the convenience store. Naturally Chris didn’t like the idea of me going by myself and tried to stop me, but he was also unsure whether it was the loud music that made me want to get out of the house, and since I rather rushed out, he couldn’t stop me (and the dinner on the stove made it hard for him to follow me).  It was obviously a poor decision on my part to go walking by myself in search of sugar when I was dropping (mistake #1), but I was irritated by the loud noise, errr music, and I was in that low blood sugar survival mode where all energy is focused on getting sugar, quickly, and so none is left for reasoning. 

So I set out to the convenience store on my own, and I remember being conscious of my walking speed and thinking that walking too fast would make me drop faster, but walking to slow might mean I might not get to the store in time (it’s funny, the things that become important when my brain is lacking sugar).  I got to the store fine, but as I only had $1.50 in change, (and my sugar lacking brain decided that it was important that I not use my debit card) I debated over which single candy had the highest carb count. I chose a pack of Cherry Blasters (48g for the pack) which cost me $1.45 and immediately started downing them (which was a little hard to do since they were sour).  I headed back to Chris’ house immediately (mistake #2, I should have sat down to let my blood sugars rise) because I knew he’d be worried about me (mistake #3, having my phone on silent).  I was still walking slowly, but it was no longer deliberate, I now felt that I couldn’t possibly walk any faster. Uh oh, that could only mean one thing.  I tested, and yes I was still low. But this wasn’t a normal low at 3.6 mmol/L, or 3.1 mmol/L or even 2.8 mmol/L.  My meter told me I was 1.3 mmol/L (24 mg/dl).  You don’t have to know much about blood sugars to know that once you get to 1, there isn’t much farther you can drop. 

At this point I was about ½ way to Chris’ but decided to turn around, go back to the store, and buy an overload of sugary things (mistake #4, I didn’t call Chris to update him about this dangerous situation I was now in).  I headed back, thankfully made it to the store okay, bought a bottle of juice and two packs of candy for good measure (of course this time I had to use my debit card).  I paused for a moment (at least I had enough sense to do that) and downed half the juice and a whole pack of candies.  At this point I checked my phone, which was still on silent, because I had been gone for about 20mins and thought Chris might be worried.  Sure enough, I had 3 missed calls from him and 2 texts asking me where I was.  I called him back right away and told him I was almost to his house and I was okay.  Once I got to his house and he knew I was okay, he was understandably upset at me. He had his shoes on and said that right when I called, he had been ready to go searching the streets for my body.  I’m sorry he ever had to feel such worry on my account, especially when I had caused such a dangerous situation for myself.

I made a lot of mistakes that day, from my initial mistake of heading out on my own without first eating any type of carb, to not calling Chris to update him.  But everybody makes mistakes, that’s life, and life as a diabetic means that sometimes those mistakes might be life threatening.  Yes it was scary, but on the positive side, both Chris and I learned from it.  He decided to buy juice for his house for my lows that he would refrain from drinking (which is very thoughtful and sweet of him). And I was reminded of the importance of having quick sugar on me at all times (you won’t catch me without juice or fruit 2 gos anytime soon, that’s for sure).