What Journaling Forced Me To Realize About Lows

Journaling and Type 1 Diabetes

IT’S 9:45PM, fine, closer to 11PM (friends will point out that 11 is still an early bedtime, but I don’t care because I love mornings more than everything, including Netflix) and I start jotting down thoughts. Whatever comes up. Sometimes insightful, sometimes forgettable, but nonetheless I enjoy the ritual.

Periodically, an entry will start off with, “Man, today was pretty smooth until…”, “Things ended up turning out alright today after…”, or “What would today have been like if…” Each of those sentences usually end in one of the varying manifestations of a low blood sugar: strange conversations, funky moods, bad workouts, or disrupted flows. When a low BG introduces turbulence to my day, it receives deference in the writing. Why? Probably because low blood sugars tend to trigger strong emotions–hypos aren’t known for producing stable mood states. (more…)