Symptoms

Recently my levels have been going low just before I go to bed and then when I wake up the next morning my levels have been running a bit high. This gave me the idea of writing a post about the symptoms of high and low levels and what causes your levels to go low or high. When your levels go high or low it makes you feel unwell and it can also wear you out for the rest of the day.

When my levels are low I feel really shaky, find it really hard to concentrate and my skin goes pale but everyone has different symptoms when their levels are low. The most common symptoms of low levels are feeling sweaty, feeling shaky, feeling hungry, tiredness, blurred vision, lack of concentration, headaches, feeling tearful, stroppy or moody or going pale. Everyone gets different symptoms because everyone’s bodies are different so we all react in different ways when our levels are low.  Your levels can go low because you have had too much insulin, you have missed a meal, you have done a lot of physical activity or other reasons. However sometimes there is no obvious cause of your levels going low. Sometimes people worry that their levels will go low in the night and they won’t wake up and realise; I worry about this a lot too. The hospital told me that I will only wake up in the night if I am having a bad low because my symptoms would wake me up, so if my levels weren’t very low then I wouldn’t wake up because I don’t need to. I don’t worry as much about it now after what the hospital have told me.  

When my levels are high I get stomach pains, headaches and I get really thirsty. Everyone gets different symptoms when their levels are high. Your levels can go high because you may have missed an insulin dose, not given enough insulin, been snacking on food, over-treating a hypo, stressed about something or being unwell with an infection. When your levels have been running high this can make you feel really tired and wear you out for the rest of the day.  

Sometimes it can be hard to work out what symptoms you get when your levels are high or low. Having low or high levels can make you feel really rubbish and unwell but you will be able to get through it, I know you will.  You are stronger then you think you are.

Bad days

We all have bad days where are levels are really high or really low. We sometimes have  days where our levels are really low and we struggle to get them back up to normal and stay there without going low again. We also sometimes have days where our levels are running really high and we can't get them down no matter how much insulin we give ourselves. It can make you really upset and unhappy because you have done nothing differently to what you normally do but for some reason your levels are really high or really low. 

Yesterday I had a bad day because my levels were really high. When I woke up my levels were 14.2. I did my paper round, got ready for school, had breakfast and went to school. I felt fine in my first lesson but in my second lesson I started to get a stomach ache, headache and was finding it really hard to concentrate. So after my second lesson we had a break so I went to the medical room so that I could check my levels. When I checked my levels I was 26.1 so the school rang my mum. My mum said that my line to my pump was probably blocked but it could only have been blocked like for 2 hours as my levels hadn't gone up that much from the morning. My mum said to give myself a correction to see if my levels would go down and she said she could pick me up in half an hour. When I got home I checked my levels again to see if they had came down. When I checked my levels I was HI (33.3+), so I changed my line to my pump. When I changed it I looked at my line and there was a kink in the line so I hadn't been getting any insulin. After I had changed my line to my pump I put a Temp basal of 150% and gave myself a correction. I felt so ill that I just slept the rest of the afternoon. I kept checking my levels every hour. By dinner time my levels were a bit high and I still didn't feel that well. I was so annoyed and upset because I just wanted to feel better again. When I woke up this morning I felt a bit better than yesterday. I really didn't want to go to school though as I was so tired and felt a bit dizzy. My mum told me to go to school and see how I felt. When I got to school I started to feel a bit better and by the end of the day I felt so much better.

When I felt really ill yesterday I felt like giving up but I realised that if I gave up it would make me ill for longer. If I tried to sort it out I was more likely to feel better tomorrow. Please don't ever give up because you are stronger then you think and you will feel better sooner if you don't give up

Where i am today

Through the last 8 months I have changed so much and I have  became more independent. At the beginning of the year I decided I didn't want to have diabetes anymore and I made myself really ill. My hba1c went up to 13.1. However now I am proud to have diabetes and I have looked after myself more and now my hba1c is 8.7! I have made a massive step forward in the last 8 months and the hospital and my mum are so proud of me.

A few months ago I started seeing a psychologists at the hospital to help me with my diabetes as I was going through a really hard time. While I was talking to the psychologist she explained to me how having consistently high levels, it makes you feel ill, makes it harder to concentrate at school and it makes your hair and nails grow slower. This made me think about my GCSE exams in year 11, if my levels were running high all the time it would make it harder for me to concentrate which would mean I wouldn't  Hey very goo GCSE results. I really want to get good GCSE results because I want to get the job I would like when I am older. I also realised  that I am going to have diabetes for the rest of my life, so if I try and get my levels and diabetes under control now it would make my life easier when I am older.

The next step was getting my Hba1c down. If my hba1c was lower this would mean my levels would be lower because a hba1c is your average blood count level. So I started to check my blood count more and when my levels were high I used to think that my levels would just go lower but it never worked so I started giving myself a correction instead. This helped bring my hba1c down because my levels are lower then they used to be. This made me feel generally happier and it made me feel well again. Also I wasn't having as much time off school anymore because I didn't feel ill anymore, this meant I was more like my friends at school and me having diabetes didn't stand out as much as it used to. I was more independent.

Then I started my own blog. I thought if I shared some of my experiences with other people it would help other people understand what people who have diabetes go through everyday. Also I hoped it would help people with diabetes to show them that they aren't alone, there are other people going though the same stuff they are. There are always people to talk to and  help them alone the way.

I have changed so much and I have achieved so much too. I am a happier, more independent person. I can't believe how much I have achieved. However I would not have been able to achieve any of these things if it wasn't for my mum, friends, the hospital and people on the Facebook groups, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me and supported me along the way. I wouldn't be where I am today without you.