What is it, anyways?
Way back in sixth grade, my homeroom teacher taught me that “to assume makes an ass out of you and me”.
For a few weeks recently, I found myself in the midst of panic attacks at work consistently around mid-morning. And then, for a few weeks, I took a preventative anti-anxiety pill to combat said panic attacks because I felt I was turning into a total biatch towards co-workers, and yet still felt somewhat anxious.
Yesterday morning, I found that my assumptions may have been way off base. You see, I tested at 63 mg/dl for the “random” fingerstick blood glucose test at a routine endocrinologist appointment.
As someone with type 2 diabetes managed by diet/exercise/metformin, it never occurred to me that perhaps I was facing borderline low blood glucose each morning at work. Unlike weekends where there is a strict regimen of breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner-snack, weekday mornings have been a busy mess at work for a couple months now. I often forget to grab a snack until close to lunch time.
Could it be that I’m dropping below 80 mg/dl often in the mid-morning rush? And that the assumed panic attacks are actual physiological symptoms telling me to eat something, like NOW?
Time to bring the meter to work to track the trend, and to make sure some kind of snack stays in the purse at all times.
Yeah. From now on, I assume nothing without the meter.
Posted on February 1, 2012, in Anxiety, Diabetes. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
For months, I found myself in front of a vending machine at about 3 o’clock on Wednesdays. At last, it occurred to me to do some testing. And sure enough, my BG’s drop precipitously at that time of day. Now, many days anyway, I have peanut butter crackers instead of something way worse for me. I hope your discovery helps.
That makes so much sense!
Hope it is the answer and that your mornings get easier.
…and the insurance companies insist that T2′s only need to test once a day. Some doctors even encourage T2′s to only test once or twice per week! Argghhhh! I’m glad you figured it out.
A few years ago my boss (parent of CWD) told me to go test because I must be low – I was angry and frustrated with something. I knew I wasn’t low, got my meter, brought it back and showed her the results – “see, I’m not low, I’m just MAD!”