This morning I made the epic mistake of taking my fast acting insulin, Humalog, in place of my long acting insulin, Lantus.
What does that mean? It means that I have given myself an accidental overdose of insulin. It means that I now have to consume 150 grams of carbohydrates this morning when I typically eat 25-60 or else I may suffer from extreme blood sugar lows that can result in shakiness, crankiness, coma, or death.
Why this is so frustrating for me: My family had plans today. I had plans today. And now, we have to rearrange stuff because I’m not sure how my body will react. In addition, I am making efforts to lose weight, exercise more, and be better at my eating. I have to take added quick sugars to this morning’s meal. Added sugars equals added calories. In addition, because working out can lower my blood sugars, I will have to table my plans and wait out the result of my stupid mistake.
Another frustrating thing, I just wasted about 20 units of precious insulin on a boo-boo. Costly.
I was making breakfast at the time. Waffles. So now I have added every syrup we have in the house and am drinking a glass of orange juice.
So when someone looks at a plate like this and labels it, diabetes, they may be right. But this plate of sugary waffles will probably be what saves my life today.
Ok, I know that I will probably bounce back from this setback by lunch and can work out then. I am just extremely frustrated with myself and quite frankly, I’m embarrassed that I’ve made this mistake. (I’ve had diabetes for almost five years at the time of this post.)
As embarrassed as I am to make this mistake, I cannot keep it a secret. This is one of the many reasons I fundraise and work to bring awareness. I know will be ok. I know what I have to do to get myself to baseline. But there are others out there who will not be ok due to these accidental overdoses and complications with diabetes treatment.
I’m hopeful that one day I won’t have to worry about making mistakes like this.
Cut the B.S. 