Hyper and Hypo, High and Low Blood Sugar

High and Low Blood Sugar

If you don't know a diabetic or are not one this probably makes me sound like a clown. But let me tell you, this here is no joke. Hyperglycemia and Hypoglycemia are real things I promise. They are just fancy names for high and low blood sugar. Hyper is for high blood sugar, while hypo is for low blood sugar, here are your Greek and Latin roots at work my friend.

You'll be surprised to know that some of the symptoms of hyper and hypo are quite similar with minor differences so you have to be really in tune to your body to figure out if you are high or low (I don't mean that in a recreational drug usage sense, in case anyone was confused). You feel tired and sleepy during both episodes.

Now everyone's body has different types of symptoms so this may not be true for all diabetics but this is what happens to me during these episodes.

While having a high, I often get irritable and angry. I am hungry and thirsty. One would think that having high blood sugar wouldn't cause hunger so that you can actually get your numbers down but our bodies don't work that way. They don't care if you have diabetes, all they want is food traveling to other places to be changed into energy and when that doesn't happen, boom hunger pains. 
I also have to use the bathroom more frequently. Now I am notorious for holding on to my bladder for extended periods of time, I guess it came from a fear of public toilets as a kid that developed into a resistance in frequenting the John as an adult. I mean let’s face it, public bathrooms are disgusting and gross. Many people don't know how to clean up after themselves, which I find shocking and kind of sad. How do you become an adult without the knowledge of using the bathroom properly? If you sprinkle when you tinkle, wipe the darn seat, it's not rocket science. Back to the point, I can usually tell there is a problem with my blood sugar when I have to use the bathroom more so than usual.

Unintended weight loss is another symptom of having highs for an extended period of time. It might seem like a great thing if you have weight issue, but trust me it’s not. Looking back at my childhood, I was a chubby kid. But as I got a bit older maybe around seven years old, I became quite skinny. Thin to the point where my sister would make fun of my protruding shoulder blades. I guess it makes sense now that I think about it. I probably developed diabetes and was experience highs for longer than I thought. Stomach aches and nausea are another symptom that I have experienced during a hyper episode, it not very common for me but it does happen. It usually occurs during the times when my blood sugars have been in really great control for a while and I suddenly get a high, not a good time at all. 

Headaches are another culprit. I've been plagued by headaches for longer than I care to admit. Some of it migraines but quite a few of them have been due to either high or low blood sugar. I think having a migraine is probably the worst experience ever, and for those of you that don't think migraines are a real thing well I've got news for you buddy. My personal migraine episode starts off with a blinding headache on both sides of my head starting at the temples radiating towards the back. Then comes forehead and eye pain, so blinding that it actually hurts to keep my eyes open. All this followed by sensitivity to sound, any noise makes my ears hurt during this time. The best remedy for me was usually to take a pain killer and sleep it off in a dark, quiet room (which is probably hard to find in NYC, but you do what you can).

My biggest symptom of a low has to be shakiness and being lightheaded to the point that I probably look like a drug addict to an unknown person. This is when I know for sure, without a doubt that I am having a low and I need to stuff my face with food, juice, and basically the entire fridge. I know that you probably need only 6 -8 oz of juice and maybe some complex carbs to sustain a normal level of blood sugar but when you are in a low state of mind, anything to get you to stop shaking is the only priority. Often during lows, I know in the back of my mind that this cup of juice is probably enough but the shaking doesn't stop after the cup has been drained. So I reach for the next available thing and this continues for maybe 5-7 minutes of standing in front of the fridge and gorging on food and finally the feeling of your body breaking down stops. By than its too late, the damage of possibly experiencing a high in the next 30 minutes becomes an undeniable truth.

A lot of times, the hyper and hypo episodes are cause by your own miscalculation or over calculation of how much insulin is needed. I mean as diabetics we should try to understand how our bodies react to certain foods and how much medication we need. However, sometimes our bodies do weird things and some foods can effect us differently from one day to the next depending on a lot of factors. A lot of the times these factors are unavoidable, like being sick, being on you period, having a stressful day, not having time to eat a proper meal due to work, or eating unhealthy food because these are the only options available, and so on. The best remedy to any of these symptoms is to treat a hyper or hypo as soon as it happens.

There you have it, the highs and lows of the wonderful world of diabetes at least for me.

Disclaimer: This is not intended as medical advice, just sharing my experiences as a diabetic and what I have done in the past to deal with it. If you are experiences frequent hypers, hypos, or any other symptomms consult your healthcare professional.