Living with Hypo-WHAT?!

In 2001, I started getting multiple headaches a week. Throughout the year more of those headaches were progressing into migraines than not. It was a busy year so there wasn't a lot of time devoted to figuring out the cause of my headaches. In May of 2001, Greg and I finished our Junior year at OSU in Stillwater and then moved back home to finish our Senior year at OSU-Tulsa while planning our wedding for the following May. I also started a new job at a credit union that summer and joined a new soccer team. Life was busy and good!

On the afternoon of my first day at the credit union one of my co-workers said she was going next door to Sonic to get drinks so I ordered a Cherry Limeade Slush, my favorite! By the time I was leaving work to drive home, my head hurt so bad that I knew it was already a full blown migraine. The drive home was rough and I wasn't sure that I was going to make it due to the severity of my headache. Without any warning, while sitting at a red light, I vomited all over myself and my car. I was shocked! I made it home, cleaned up, and went to bed for the rest of the day. The following morning I knew something had to change so I called my doctor.

After some discussion and lab work, my doctor mentioned testing me for Hypoglycemia. Hypo-what? Hypoglycemia is a condition that occurs when your blood sugar (glucose) is too low. Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low, and anything at or below that level could harm you. My doctor also mentioned some symptoms to see if I answered yes to any of them (here is a list that I currently found online): Double/blurry vision, Fast/pounding heart (YES!), Feeling anxious/nervous (YES!), Headaches (YES!), Hunger (YES!), Shaking/trembling (YES!), Sleeping trouble, Sweating (YES!), Numbness of skin, Tiredness/weakness (YES!), and Unclear thinking.

Obviously I answered YES enough to take the 5 hour glucose test. At one point during the test, I was really feeling bad so the nurse had Greg take me outside to walk around and get some fresh air. We later found out that my blood sugar level was 55 at that time (70 being low). No wonder I felt like I was about to pass out. So, after getting the results of the 5 hour test, I was diagnosed with Hypoglycemia.

The months to follow consisted of many things: visiting with a dietician, completely changing my diet, cutting out all pop and sugary drinks, cutting out all sweets, eating 6 small meals/snacks a day, losing over 20 lbs (and I didn't have that much to lose), and just trying to make sense of it all.

Since that time, over 10 years ago, I have my Hypoglycemia completely under control. It took about 6 months to a year to get things back to a "new" normal and to get myself to a stable weight so that I was healthy and my headaches were gone. I'm proud to have my sugar levels under control with a healthy diet so that I don't have to depend on medicine/insulin to get by. Never fear - I still enjoy sweets, but I have to be careful of when to eat them and how much to eat. :)

The only thing that throws a wrench into all of this is, you guessed it, Pregnancy.

• During my first pregnancy I took the 1 hour glucose test at 28 weeks like everyone else does. I failed. I then took the 3 hour test and I failed that as well. I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes (which is diabetes only while pregnant and it basically goes away after you give birth - ok, so it's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the easy version). I was sent to a dietician who basically told me everything I already knew considering I had been dealing with Hypoglycemia for so long. For two weeks I had to record everything I ate and drank, check my blood sugar 4 times a day, pee on a stick each morning to check my sugar levels, and go to the hospital once a week for fetal monitoring that lasted 1 hour per visit. This was loads of fun - no, it wasn't! After those first two weeks, the dietician allowed me to go back to doing things the way I had always done them since I had such a good handle on my condition. I still had to check my blood sugar twice a day and continue the once a week hospital visits, but overall the rest of the pregnancy went well. When Bailey was born, her sugar had to be checked multiple times while in the hospital to make sure her levels weren't too low. She was fine. Praise the Lord!
• During my second pregnancy, I took the one hour glucose test early at 22 weeks. I failed. I then took the 3 hour test, and I passed! What? I passed! Praise the Lord!
• During this third pregnancy, I was registering high blood pressure at the doctors office (which could be related to my blood sugar levels) so I had to start taking my blood pressure twice a day at home starting at 19 weeks. My blood pressure was great so at 21 weeks I was told to only check it once a day at home until delivery. Along with that excitement, I took the 1 hour glucose test early (again) at 22 weeks. I failed. I then took the 3 hour test, and I passed! However, one of my numbers was off by more than 30 points (per their scale) so I was told to take the 3 hour test again at 28 weeks. I took the second test yesterday morning. A nurse called today with the results of my second 3 hour test ... I failed. I have Gestational Diabetes again. I have to admit, I was pretty upset at first. The frustration came from knowing what this means and how much I will have to do the next 12 weeks to keep myself and Parker healthy. It's a doable process, but it takes work. So, here we go again ...