09/24/02: Hypoglycemia

[juju]

I got a new toy today: a blood glucose meter. I'm not diabetic, but I am hypoglycemic. If I don't eat at least every 4 hours, I get tired, weak, shakey, confused, and very irritable. All I have to do to fix it is eat. Food is my medicine. About 5-10 minutes after I eat, I get a warm tingling sensation somewhere in the top of my body, which then rushes down my spine in a great surge of energy, Then, I feel great, as if i've snorted cocaine or meth. It's really weird to feel high just from having eaten. I've never been tested by a doctor, but my symptoms are so obvious that i've self-diagnosed myself.

So, i've seen these little gadgets in Wal-Mart that monitor your blood glucose level. It's supposed to be for diabetics, but I figured I could use it, too. They give you this little pen-looking thing to prick your finger. You cock it, and press the button, and this little needle shoots out of it and pricks your finger. Then, you put a 'test strip' into the device, and sqeeze a drop of your blood onto this little square on the strip. Your blood then reacts with a chemical in the strip, causing a chemical reaction that gives off tiny bits of electricity. The device then reads those electrical signals and figures out how much glucose you have in your blood. Then, your blood glucose level is displayed on a little screen. How cool is that?? The device was around $8, and the box of test strips was $20.





When I first tested myself, I was 80. Normal is supposed to be between 80-120, but each person is different. My wife scored a 134. After i'd been playing with this for about 30 minutes, I started feeling queasy, and I knew that if I didn't eat, within an hour i'd be freaking out. I tested myself again, and I had dropped to 74. I had dinner, and tested myself again: 82. I hope it got higher than that eventually. I think I tested myself too soon after eating.

Today, I tested a 92 before dinner, and a 109 afterwards. I had been snacking on doritos before, and I guess those really helped a lot. Yesterday i'd been at work and hadn't had a chance to eat anything.

Seeing how fast I dropped within a 30 minute period (from 80 to 74) tells me that I sometimes get a lot lower.. probably in the 50-60 range. I think it's really neat to be able to quantify it like this. I was doing okay before just going by how I felt, but this really appeals to my scientific nature.



Also, my wife bought me this killer leather chair tonight. Isn't it cool?? Much better than my old one, which was around 10 years old, not leather, and falling apart.



It was made in China, lovingly, by 12 year old amputee Chinese kids. I'm always glad to contribute to a worthy cause, whether it be killing cows or helping support kids. Won't someone think of the children?