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OK, so I am now on some medication (not for diabetes) that has a side-effect of possibly lowering blood sugar... but it's a 'rare' side effect so I hadn't been too worried about it, especially since I constantly liver-dump keeping my sugars much higher than I want...
However, over the past week, maybe 10 days now, I've been thinking I can avoid liver dumps and get better glucose control by reducing my glycogen stores, so I've been REALLY limiting my carbohydrate intake, now under 90g daily and normally 30g-60g daily.
Today I was shopping with my wife - it had been about 5 hours since a ZERO carb breakfast (we were really busy and I didn't have lunch yet - were almost done shopping) ... There was an event at Safeway (Grocery store here) that gets me 250 Air Miles for spending $100 ... so I was doing a mental 'tally' as we went to ensure I spent $100 but not much more... (I'm poor, can't fall into the merchandising traps, LOL.)
I noticed I was a little dizzy and unsteady - I thought it was perhaps due to some blood pressure medication they put me on... so didn't think about my blood sugar... I just held onto the cart. Took my blood pressure over at the Pharmacy section - it was 121/84 - yay, amazing number for me... I used to be mid to high 150's over low 100's at best, so I think it MUST be the lower blood pressure, and I just need to get used to it...
Then I started getting confused -- I couldn't actually keep track of the mental tally of amount being spent. I had to keep trying to re-count it in my head... That's NOT like me, I have no problems with numbers/math, etc. EVER. Then, I couldn't even add, or remember the prices of the items. Then I couldn't remember where items on my list were found... Finally my wife and I figured it might be blood-sugar related.
Stupid me - no testing kit with me. I decide I'll go across the parking lot to Mr. Sub and get a coke and a cookie - the wife thinks this is a good idea. I think I probably looked drunk walking there, between my back problems and how I was feeling physically, I think I barely made it.
I get there and can't remember what I want
. I ask for a small turkey sub on wheat bread. Brilliant. Something with as little sugar as possible, LOL...
????? How's that for confused ?????
Then I remember, "NO - get sugar". So I remember 'cookie' and I go over near their cookies, and they have BAGS of 12 on the counter, so for some unknown reason instead of buying one or two cookies, I grab a bag of a dozen.
Then I say "I'm eating one NOW, hope that's OK..." while they make my sub. I eat two.
I also order a Diet Coke - habit, I guess - plus not being "all there" enough to realize a DIET coke won't really help low blood sugar...
I pay for it all and head out the door back to the car - starting to feel a little better barely 2 minutes after eating the cookies (47g of carb in the two I ate, 29g of it sugar) ... Oh, I'm guessing on the 2 minute figure - I wasn't paying attention close enough, but it was remarkably quick, considering how I'd been feeling. At the car I gobble back the sub in about 2 more minutes, thinking this bun is HUGE (yeah, 36g of carb in the 'small' bun...).
By the time my wife gets through the checkout and to the car I'm feeling much better.
I decide I'll wait 45 minutes from when I ate the cookies and test - my highest spikes after sugary or bready (I guess 'bready' isn't a word) foods is 45 minutes. I test at a whopping 8.5 (153) which isn't overly high for something like that.
I looked up their nutritional info: the meal I ate was 90g of carbohydrate and 37g of it was sugar. WOW.
I don't eat that much carb in a DAY most days, let alone at one sitting. And I NEVER, EVER consume that much sugar (Maybe 5-6g tops). And knowing that nutritional info is allowed to vary by up to 20%, it's likely more carbs and more sugar than what's posted...
Based on my own experiences over the past 10 months with diabetes I know that a meal like that would raise me a MINIMUM of 5-6 points (90-110 points on the US scale), say from a 5.0 (90) to about 11 (close to a 200 on the US scale)... so topping out at an 8.5 (153) means I was anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 (45 to 63) - at the most - at the time my symptoms kicked in.
So, I guess the life-lesson here is to start carrying my testing kit... And to eat regularly even if busy... AND to pay attention to symptoms...
I gotta admit it scared the crap outta both me and the wife. She wouldn't let me drive home from Safeway, in fact...
However, over the past week, maybe 10 days now, I've been thinking I can avoid liver dumps and get better glucose control by reducing my glycogen stores, so I've been REALLY limiting my carbohydrate intake, now under 90g daily and normally 30g-60g daily.
Today I was shopping with my wife - it had been about 5 hours since a ZERO carb breakfast (we were really busy and I didn't have lunch yet - were almost done shopping) ... There was an event at Safeway (Grocery store here) that gets me 250 Air Miles for spending $100 ... so I was doing a mental 'tally' as we went to ensure I spent $100 but not much more... (I'm poor, can't fall into the merchandising traps, LOL.)
I noticed I was a little dizzy and unsteady - I thought it was perhaps due to some blood pressure medication they put me on... so didn't think about my blood sugar... I just held onto the cart. Took my blood pressure over at the Pharmacy section - it was 121/84 - yay, amazing number for me... I used to be mid to high 150's over low 100's at best, so I think it MUST be the lower blood pressure, and I just need to get used to it...
Then I started getting confused -- I couldn't actually keep track of the mental tally of amount being spent. I had to keep trying to re-count it in my head... That's NOT like me, I have no problems with numbers/math, etc. EVER. Then, I couldn't even add, or remember the prices of the items. Then I couldn't remember where items on my list were found... Finally my wife and I figured it might be blood-sugar related.
Stupid me - no testing kit with me. I decide I'll go across the parking lot to Mr. Sub and get a coke and a cookie - the wife thinks this is a good idea. I think I probably looked drunk walking there, between my back problems and how I was feeling physically, I think I barely made it.
I get there and can't remember what I want
????? How's that for confused ?????
Then I remember, "NO - get sugar". So I remember 'cookie' and I go over near their cookies, and they have BAGS of 12 on the counter, so for some unknown reason instead of buying one or two cookies, I grab a bag of a dozen.
Then I say "I'm eating one NOW, hope that's OK..." while they make my sub. I eat two.
I also order a Diet Coke - habit, I guess - plus not being "all there" enough to realize a DIET coke won't really help low blood sugar...
I pay for it all and head out the door back to the car - starting to feel a little better barely 2 minutes after eating the cookies (47g of carb in the two I ate, 29g of it sugar) ... Oh, I'm guessing on the 2 minute figure - I wasn't paying attention close enough, but it was remarkably quick, considering how I'd been feeling. At the car I gobble back the sub in about 2 more minutes, thinking this bun is HUGE (yeah, 36g of carb in the 'small' bun...).
By the time my wife gets through the checkout and to the car I'm feeling much better.
I decide I'll wait 45 minutes from when I ate the cookies and test - my highest spikes after sugary or bready (I guess 'bready' isn't a word) foods is 45 minutes. I test at a whopping 8.5 (153) which isn't overly high for something like that.
I looked up their nutritional info: the meal I ate was 90g of carbohydrate and 37g of it was sugar. WOW.
Based on my own experiences over the past 10 months with diabetes I know that a meal like that would raise me a MINIMUM of 5-6 points (90-110 points on the US scale), say from a 5.0 (90) to about 11 (close to a 200 on the US scale)... so topping out at an 8.5 (153) means I was anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 (45 to 63) - at the most - at the time my symptoms kicked in.
So, I guess the life-lesson here is to start carrying my testing kit... And to eat regularly even if busy... AND to pay attention to symptoms...
I gotta admit it scared the crap outta both me and the wife. She wouldn't let me drive home from Safeway, in fact...