Several years ago I set off for an insurance appointment about 60 miles from my home in Carlsbad, CA. I had eaten lunch and felt pretty good so I hit the road. It was a rainy day in Southern California and when I was finished with the appointment I headed home. After a few miles I started to feel a little light headed began to sweat a little, but I didn’t think anything of it. I kept driving.
Rain was coming down as I traveled south on HWY 5 in Orange County. It was that dreaded time of day so the freeway was crowded. I was driving fast and soon didn’t know where I was or what I was doing. Ever have that happen to you?
Well folks, I ran into another car and went off the freeway. When the police came I seemed OK, but I knew my BG was low. Luckily no one was injured and the person I hit turned out to be friendly and not outraged (he knew it was raining and in California the roads get very slippery because of oil on the roads). So, no charges were filed and luckily, my insurance covered everything except for the usual deductible. Lesson learned.
You’re probably asking “WHAT’S THE MORAL OF THIS STORY?” Here are a few times of lessons learned from this accident.
- Always carry your BG monitor with you and check frequently.
- Make sure your BG is in a stable range before you hit the road.
- If you have a low BG (most people usually know when it’s dropping), STOP and wait until you get your numbers up.
- If you’re wearing a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), keep an eye on your numbers.
- Do your best to understand this disease. Did you know that most PWDs don’t really understand this everyday, ongoing condition?
We’ve all been there at some point in our life. Shoot us a comment below if you would like to share a similar story.
Always good information, to remember.
I referred your blog to the TUDiabetes.org blog page for the week of August 1, 2016.