When Insulin Doesn't Work

I was following my Tay-dar into school Monday. I was wearing flip-flops and she was wearing her boots. Well, I walked into the back of her boots while she was taking a step forward. My left toenail caught her shoe and it split down the middle (but only about half way).

Autumn had some band-aids on her, so I wrapped up my toe because it was bleeding like crazy. I took some ibuprofen too. She was testing and we were waiting on her, so it was about 4 hours later that we actually went home.

Usually that kind of thing will send my blood sugar sky high and leave it there until my body heals. I was very blessed on Monday, because the highest I went was about 220. I was able to keep my sugar mostly under control. The ibuprofen must have helped quite a bit.

That's one of the unknown truths about diabetes. Any kind of physical pain can cause my diabetes to go crazy. The small injury on my toe usually leads to at least a few days of high blood sugars that don't respond to insulin. I have to take care of the injury before insulin will help me. If I am sick, I have to remember to take medicine to keep my sugar down. Otherwise insulin is useless. The same applies to emotions. If I am frustrated or stressed out, diabetes responds to my situation. Unless I can calm myself down, insulin will not help. Yes, insulin is amazing and it is a complete game changer in this war with my little monster. But the game changes eternally more when my body doesn't respond to it. That's something that people don't often think about. Insulin is not a cure by any means. Sometimes, depending on the situation, it doesn't even work the way it is supposed to.

Insulin isn't completely helpful when....

• I'm sick, as I mentioned above.
• I'm emotionally distraught, as I've mentioned above.
• there is some kind of physical injury on my body, no matter how small. 
• the insulin is weak, warm, or out of date. 
• there are air bubbles in my tubing (the insulin could be working fine, but I'm only getting air). 
• my site is getting old.
• my cannula has kinked (once again, the insulin could be fine, I'm just not getting any). 
• it has been through several temperature shifts (i.e., the pharmacist didn't put it in the fridge, but we did when we got home. Yes, that has actually happened before).

Please don't assume that I am fine, just because I have insulin. It saves my life everyday, but it isn't a cure and it shouldn't be treated like one. There are still some things I have to work around when it comes to diabetes.