FUDiabetes

Sitting in my parked car waiting for low BG to come up

#1

It seems that at least once a month I find myself starting to go low just as soon as I get to my car to drive somewhere. So I just treat and then sit and wait impatiently till it comes up… and people give me weird looks for just sitting here on my phone instead of starting my car and rushing off :sweat_smile:

Does this happen to anyone else? Or are you guys just a lot better at planning than me?

(I suspect one culprit is that it’s a bit of a hike to get to the student parking lot at my school, so any IOB gets a bit of a bump on the way there)

#2

You should get some magazines or books to read when you’re low in the car! Call the stash “low light reading.”

Only read them when you are in the car, low, waiting for your sugars to come back up. If the books are really good though you may be sabotaging your sugars just so you can get to the next juicy part. Lol

#3

Totally happens to me. I have to really watch the transition time from leaving work to jumping into evening activities w the kids. I had a Horrible tank in Target doing Back to School shopping right after work w my kiddos back in July. That was a two juice box check out as fast as I can and sit in the van kind of low. I’ve had it happen several times at school registration nights which are typically right after work, as well. Little League is a bit of a wild card for the same reason. But no activities? No problem.

#4

Kudos to you @glitzabetes and @T1Allison for not driving. Big props! You are both a real Mensch in my book. :grin:

#5

If it’s not happening to me for real, I’m pretending it is. :grin:

#6

My son just came back walking from his run because he was too low :slight_smile:

#7

That’s the worst. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

#8

I’m sitting on a chair looking at my phone waiting for my BG to come back up so I can go to sleep …

#9

Too bad I can’t store books in my bike. Sometimes I eat a carb-rich meal and significantly reduce my bolus insulin, but when I get on my bike I still go low after 10 minutes. Which then makes no sense to me. Often I’m too impatient to wait for my BG to go back to normal after swallowing a ton of glucose. At those times I should have something to read or other stuff to stop me from getting on my bike again.

#10

Before I learned about using temporary basal reductions (here on FUD! :smiley_cat:), I had a doozy of a low after yoga one day and had to sit in my car for 15 minutes waiting for my BG to go up.

Me, too!

#11

I went low mid-workout last week. I got some funny looks as I was shoveling skittles into my mouth as I was walking on the treadmill :joy:

I take a lot of public transportation so haven’t had the waiting game in my car much, but I’ll definitely get angry looks if I’m in the quiet train car and am rustling candy wrappers :woman_shrugging:

#12

Pre-kids, early T1D, Lantus shots/Humalog shots…joined a gym. I swear everyone in that gym (and I went three times a week) must have thought I was confused and didn’t understand what exercise was for. It seemed like I had a buffet set up on the treadmill and spent the whole run eating. Definitely got weird looks. Like I was Mork and didn’t understand human activities…

#13

HAHA

#14

I feel this way when I go to the gym too.

I bring a gatorade with me to the gym, but it seems like everybody at my gym is a health nut that doesn’t eat sugar. They’ve got all the fancy $5-$10 muscle-milk type drinks for AFTER their run.

I can see them thinking, “What’s the point in working out if you’re going to have any of that god-awful sugar-filled gatorade while you do it???”

Obviously I try to avoid the gatorade… but it needs to be there.

The key is to ditch the car :wink: No, but really. It’s awesome to live in a place where you don’t need one. I walk and metro everywhere, and if I start dropping low, I can just have a little gatorade as I walk. No planning necessary. Because I walk often and consistently, lows don’t happen as often as you’d expect. I think long-acting insulin handles walking a bit better than short-acting basal does too. My basal is likely a bit lower than it would be if I had a more sedentary life.

I had some annoying lows when I used to have a car, but my targets were set higher. I feel like I felt my lows sooner than I do now (unless I was asleep…).

I wonder if you could have a few nuts or some kind of fat/protein 15 min before you hike up the hill so you can avoid the low?

#16

I sit in my car messing with my phone regardless of what my blood sugar is

#17

I do too! At least it’s not just me? I can’t blame D, in my case, I just want to wrap up texting or finding a map whatever before I head out.

EH had an episode the other day where he went low in yoga (despite suspending prior to exercise) and laid there for 40 minutes of the class. Then he went high directly after, so he went rock climbing at the same gym, then he went low as he arrived to dinner, drank some coke, and went double arrow up again. Not a fun day. We sat at the restaurant for a loooong time while that ironed out. Although, I will say that he never cares what people think, so it’s easier for him. :wink:

#18

:joy::joy:

#19

I am loving these comments. Thank you for the giggles. Although, we are no where close to him driving, I am terrified when that time comes for my 9yr to get his license. I often wonder how often the lows hit while driving or just before driving…

#20

My son has just finished the defensive driving course, and will be taking his license exam in a couple of weeks. The good news is he is a good driver with about 100 hours behind the wheel. But it is a little frightening to think about the diabetes stuff and driving.

#21

In general, diabetes has not had a big impact on me while driving, other than these times where I impatiently wait for a low BG to come up before starting the car. It’s just an extra thing to be mindful of, and I think as a T1, being mindful of BG is a background activity that’s kinda happening all the time anyways.

In my mind, there’s a rule I hold for myself: I will not drive with a low BG because it could be a danger to myself and others

Sure, I usually feel fine at like a 64 but… If I’m not keeping an eye on a 64 it could easily head lower, and I don’t think it’s a gamble worth taking while behind the wheel. (Thus far, nobody has argued with me about a low blood sugar being a valid excuse for being late)