Low Blood Sugar – Positive & Negative Interactions with Others

Diabetes is something that I have to live with. It’s always with me, no matter how often I try to forget about it. I’ve had a lifetime to understand how it effects my body. People who are close to me and spend a lot of time with me learn these things too. With regards to knowing and understanding my type 1 diabetes, each person is different.

Some people ask a lot of questions and want to learn as much as they can, others don’t give it any thought. Anyone with type 1 diabetes will experience all sorts of people during their life. Sometimes people can make your life easier and others can make it more difficult.

Setting the Scene

This post shares two stories of how different people can act towards diabetes. It takes place on a trip that myself and two friends took to visit one of our other friends who had recently moved to Santa Cruz, CA. This trip consisted of seeing our friends new place, exploring the city, and also going on a two-day, one-night backpacking trip. It was a great trip! We debuted our animal onesies and enjoyed an afternoon at the beach.

My diabetes is always in the back of my head, was making sure I packed enough of my diabetes gear and carbohydrates. Everyone else on this trip knew that I’m diabetic. And everyone except my recently relocated friend’s boyfriend understood what diabetes could do to me. These stories are both about my blood sugar number goes low. It showcases how other people can make it a positive experience or a negative one.

Positive Experience

It was the first night we arrived and we were all sleeping in our friend’s house. The three of us were on the couch and floor, while our friend and her boyfriend were in their bed. We were all getting ready for bed, when I check my blood sugar number. My blood sugar number was low, I can’t remember exactly what it was at this time, but I needed to treat it.

I was complaining about it because I just wanted to go to bed. The friend who’s house we were in told me she would stay up with me until my blood sugar number went back up. I have never had anyone do this for me before. It was the nicest thing, so nice and unexpected that I didn’t know how to respond at first. We moved to the small kitchen while everyone else was trying to sleep. I drank a capris sun (before they changed their recipe) and we waited.

She had me check my blood sugar number every 5 minutes so we could track its progress. At the time I could not think of a time that I check my blood sugar number this frequently. I know that the continuous glucose monitors (CGM) give you a reading much more frequently, but at the time I didn’t have a CGM. After all of this checking we learned that it took 30 minutes for my blood sugar number to get high enough that I felt comfortable going to sleep.

Why did this go so well?

To this day, no one has done something so thoughtful and supportive when I had a low blood sugar number. It was something so simple, and it touched me so much. This friend is a particularly kind one, she always goes above and beyond for those she cares about.

Not only is she a kind person, she was informed about what type 1 diabetes is and how dangerous low blood sugar can be. She’s worked with me and gone out on research cruises with me. She has experience with traveling with me. Not only this, but she is one to always ask questions and want to know what to expect and how to react.

Thankfully she is in my life and will always have my back. Whether that be diabetes or anything else in my life. You will find people like this in your life, hold on to them. I try to emulate her in my life. I know what it’s like to have someone do and say the right things and I try and be that for others in my life.

Negative Experience

The following day we all drove to the trailhead to begin out one night backpacking trip. Our packs were full with our tents, sleeping bags, pillows, and food. Everything you need for backpacking.

We began our trek up the mountain and after a couple of hours my blood sugar number went low. It’s common for blood sugar numbers to drop during exercise. Hiking up a mountain with a 20 lb. pack definitely counts as exercise. I actually remember what my blood glucose number was, it was 42. This is dangerously low! We all stop and I take some glucose tablets and a capris sun. This is more glucose than I would normally take. I take extra glucose because I am still going to be active and don’t want to go low again.

We are all standing around on the trail chatting and waiting for my blood sugar number to go up. My friend’s boyfriend keeps walking ahead and walking back. After only a few minutes he impatiently asked why we were still standing here. Negative thoughts immediately jumped into my head. “I’m ruining this hike. I’m bothering everyone. My disease messes up everything!”

Luckily for me, his girlfriend jumped in and told him we had to wait. After my number went back up, we headed on our way and made it to the top and had a lovely rest of our trip. My blood sugar number didn’t drop low again this rest of the trip!

Why did this not go well?

His reaction is a very common one. I have experienced this kind of reaction more often than the positive experience explained above. Most of the time it happens because people don’t fully understand type 1 diabetes. They don’t understand how dangerous low blood sugar is, and how long it takes to treat. His reaction definitely upset me at the time, but I did not hold onto these feelings. I knew that he didn’t mean to hurt me, he was focused on something else.

It helped that his girlfriend and myself were able to explain the situation further. To be safe, we could not continue on until my blood sugar number went back up. All he was thinking about was getting to the top, and nothing else. It does get exhausting to have to continue to explain this all the time. Even though it’s exhausting it is important and necessary a lot of time.

This is an indirect example of one of my travel tips. “#6 Be Ready to Justify Your Supplies”. It isn’t justifying my supplies, but rather justifying my disease. Being able to calmy explain the situation and circumstances tends to help. Not all people respond as graciously as he did. This is something that becomes easier the more it happens. Be strong and know that you can travel, and you can hike, and you can do it! No matter how other people feel.

Conclusion

To this day, all of us are still friends, although we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like. I am lucky to have these friends in my life who will stand by me and back me up when diabetes gets in the way. The only way they were able to help me was because I shared with them the dangers diabetes can bring. They listened and remembered and stepped in when the time came. Educating people and staying calm is the best way to help others understand the disease.

Thank you to my friends and to my other friends and family who have helped me out along the way. I like to be independent and do everything on my own, sometimes to a fault. But my life is always better when I let people in and share who I am. Due to my stubbornness it is hard to let people in to how I feel about my diabetes and how best to help me. Since I want to be able help myself, and not accept help from others it can make it more difficult for others to step in and do what needs to be done. (Don’t worry, I’m in therapy)