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So, this I found out is a thing… A cleaning hypo. I thought it was just me. Not long after picking up a mop, running the vacuum cleaner or even just sorting and tidying my closet I get the tell-tale signs. Skin crawling, thoughts scrambling, confusion and an overwhelming sense of fatigue. Doesn’t everybody feel like that when they clean? Apparently not!
I’ve got friends who tell me they get high on the buzz of a hoover and the sweet smell of lemon floor wax and don’t get me started on how Marie Kondo and the Konmari craze has taken over everybody’s households.
But seriously…having to stop and drop a glucose tab in the middle of my cleaning foray is super inconvenient. Like who wants a low when your packing and tidying for a trip away? Or worse at the storage unit when you’re supposed to be a helpful hand to your husband?
It wasn’t until I happened to see my diabuddy Christel Oerum’s post about having to treat a hypo in the middle of vacuum session that I realised, this happens to everyone. According to Christel, the reason why vacuuming affects blood sugar so much is that it’s basically steady state cardio. The heart rate comes up a little and you end up moving around quite a bit even if you have a small place. She suggests making sure not to have too much insulin on board ( IOB) before cleaning.
My problem is that I’m in such a routine with my insulin dosing that I have trouble planning ahead. I.e cleaning in the morning when I have dawn phenomenon would be better than an after lunch declutter session.
The other thing I’ve noticed with a cleaning hypo is it lasts for hours. No other form of exercise seems to do that for me. If I was keen to clean I could actually use that as a great form of blood glucose control.
Move over Yoga, lets scrub, mop and vacuum the sh..t out of everything right?
Fuggedaboudit! I’d rather roll out my yoga mat, do a leisurely sun salutation, cross my legs and meditate.
Wishing everyone a super wonderful start to September
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It started just like any other day. Well not quite. I still hadn’t experienced a low low blood sugar even though I’d been taking Insulin for almost two years. To be honest I was terrified of the unknown. I’d hear the horror stories. People fainting, not being able to talk, brains not functioning. If you’ve ever had a low blood sugar you know exactly what I’m talking about.
But here’s the thing; having never experienced a hypoglycemic event I actually had no idea what people were talking about. I mean I could imagine it being awful, but I had never actually felt it for myself. So my fears weren’t based in fact. But that didn’t mean I didn’t have them.
And then it happened!
So randomly and for no reason. It wasn’t about over injecting, it wasn’t about exercising too much. I just started to feel really anxious and shaky and itchy all over. I assumed I was having an overdue panic attack. Except I was just standing over the sink, lost in quite a pleasant thought so what the F…ck. What was there to freak out about? I went over to my husband and mentioned I was feeling a rush of panic. He suggested we go outside and talk it through.
I didn’t think to check my blood glucose levels, forgot my glucometer, didn’t bring a juice box with me. NADA
For the next 15 minutes or so while my sweet husband talked me through my ‘anxiety’ nothing budged.
Luckily I decided to check my levels. Casually, well not that casually because I was shaking from the inside out, I pricked my finger. The number that stared back at me was nothing like I’d ever seen before.
2.7 mmol!
Seriously? 2.7?
The strange thing was even though mentally I knew that was way too low and I was itchy and shaky and wanting to eliminate everything from my body with a good trip to the loo, I wasn’t frightened. I felt frustrated and curious instead.
Even though I’m sure it was only a matter of seconds, the walk from the living room to the kitchen to get some juice, felt like a lifetime.
Photo by Pâmela Lima on Unsplash
It was only while I was waiting for my levels to come back to normal that I started to feel the terror. Why didn’t I check my blood sugar sooner? Why did I think it was something else? Why didn’t I do the most obvious thing? Where was my rational mind?
Umm… yep, that’s a low blood sugar event. You don’t think properly.
After my blood sugar came back to normal and in the subsequent years, I’ve had so much gratitude for that first scary low blood sugar. It helped me to face my fear and to lessen my anxiety about my levels in general. I was able to watch my blood sugar rebound and to see that I was okay. I learned subsequently to test how many grams of glucose I need to bring my blood sugar back to a safe range.
As someone who lives with LADA ( Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) and still producing a tiny amount of insulin I can get away with ½ a glucose tab, sometimes even a ¼ when I am just below where I’d like to be. I love the idea of sugar surfing keeping my levels in range with a little bit of sugar and a little bit of insulin.
I’ve also become more vigilant about checking blood glucose levels regularly especially when I feel slightly off. I.e. itchy around my tummy or vague in my thinking. And I’ve learned to let go of expecting perfection with my blood sugar management.
So if I’m about to teach a yoga class and my blood sugar is at 4.3 I don’t hesitate to treat it. I’d rather not be checking my levels in the middle of demonstrating down dog.
Another super cool tool I use for soothing anxiety and settling the nervous system during and after a low blood sugar event is mudra. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know how passionate I am about mudra for diabetes. A user-friendly tool which is literally at our fingertips.
In a recent interview with Lesley O’Brien from Ayurbotanicals, I go through mudras which help engender fearlessness, increase circulation and give pause for self-reflection.
Join me in the practice below
with great respect…
Rachel
P.s I’ve tried these gummies below and they work effectively to bring up my levels fast 🙂
