Pour some sugar in me

In the days leading up to my diagnosis, as I inched nearer to Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), I felt some things like my sugar was high and some things like it was low. Of course I didn’t know what the problem was so I couldn’t associate the feelings with anything. At one point, Linda commented that it sounded like my sugar was high. She was using Dr. Google to figure it out. I was lethargic and weak. I was thirsty. The urination was more frequent than before but not by a lot.

Then there was one key component that threw it all off. I couldn’t stop drinking sugary drinks. I was buying armloads of Gatorades from the hotel shop. When I was too weak to make it downstairs, I went to vending machines for Dr. Pepper and anything else. Every sip was so good and such a relief. Cool sips of clear water from a cold spring with the Mojave at my back kind of relief. I wanted to chug it, but also just sipped it so slightly to get the icy relief.

I told Linda, my sugar must be low that’s why I need this. She disagreed based on the symptoms but admitted that high sugar and sugar cravings didn’t add up. I physically could not stop myself from drinking it. As it turns out, we were both kinda right. Most people don’t understand how sugar really works.

You eat carbs. Over time they break down into sugar, which your body uses for energy. It happens slowly so you have energy for a long period of time. It’s why marathoners load up on carbs. It’s extended release power. On the other hand, you eat candy bars or drink soda and there’s no extended release. Sugar goes right in and you have a sugar high. It gets spend really quickly and you have a sugar crash. But the key catalyst here is insulin. Your pancreas creates and secretes insulin which turns blood glucose into energy. My pancreas was busy losing the great war. I imagine the beta cells in the pancreatic islets were like the Spartan army in 300.

Upon its death, I had no insulin being produced. So sugar wasn’t being broken down into energy. That explains the lethargy. It also explains the cravings. I had no sugar getting to my muscles. It was free floating in blood. And that’s why our BG gets so high.

When I was in the hospital, I had this explained to me. My hospital doc told me that was why it felt so good. What I did made sense, given I was unaware of what was happening. But I was, of course, killing myself. And that, my friends, is when high blood sugar masquerades as low blood sugar. Add that to the list of things I’ve learned about the human body in the last 3 months.