A stomach bug has now knocked down my household, and I'm sure my husband is EXTREMELY grateful he's off at training and missed out on this illness.
It all began with a bloodsugar of 501 during the night Monday-Tuesday. By morning I got my bloodsugar back down, but by 10am, it was up to 500 AGAIN. I thought my pump site was bad (changed it 3 times) and then thought the tubing was bad. Nothing worked, so I planned to head home after my students finished their exams at 1pm. Initally, I planned to return to work after changing out my insulin but by 12pm, my plans completely changed. I became more and more nauseated and began to wonder if I had a stomach bug. I did some research online about diabetes and stomach bugs and learned that sometimes our bloodsugar levels can increase while the body begins to fight a virus before the virus symptoms begin. I managed to make it home before the throwing up (a few years ago I threw up in front of a neighbor because I couldn't make it inside fast enough). It was a FUN afternoon involving my bloodsugar going low (I managed to get it up by swishing coke in my gums--though the coke itself only stayed in my stomach for about 10 minutes). Thank GOD I can suspend my pump! I know that had I been on a long acting insulin, I would have likely had to use the glucagon gun my guardian angel recently gave me (a former student has a diabetic sibling and their mom is a godsend) or I'd have ended up in the ER. My parents picked up the kids from school for me and my mom stayed the night to keep an eye on them and on me. Unfortunately, Gavin began throwing up around 2am and is having to stay home with his Poppa today. Thank God for family nearby!
This morning I woke up exhausted but as the day progresses, I have begun to feel better and better--I even was able to indulge in our school's end of year luncheon from Dickey's. I am hydrating like crazy to make up for yesterday. Now I'm wondering how long I will have to take off from working out. I've done some research and it sounds like you have to wait until you feel 100% and are eating like normal. Even then it says to start out at 50% and work back up to normal stamina. THAT SUCKS! I was doing so well and was planning to run yesterday--obviously that did not happen. I remember training like CRAZY for cross country the summer before senior year only to get a stomach virus the weekend before we began working out with the team. I know it took weeks to build back up the stamina. I had been running around 4 miles, 5 days a week when that happened, and I remember barely being able to do 2-3 after getting sick.
The one good thing though is that I know this illness could have been significantly worse. Every other time I've gotten a stomach bug as an adult or kid, I threw up for at least 12 hours. This time, it was only 5, and the nausea only lasted about 7 hours. I attribute a lot of this to the fact that I'm physically fit, that I exercise regularly and that I make a point to stay hydrated. While this is the first stomach bug I've gotten since committing myself to fitness, I have had a few colds/sinus infections and I've noticed that the duration of those illnesses has been cut in half since beginning to work out regularly. While research already has claimed this, it's nice to experience it myself :).
XOXO,
