I was so scared!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
I was so scared!!
26
Fri, 11-16-2007 - 5:26pm


Ok, so I've been doing really well at watching my carbs for the past few weeks, and then today, I went out with my son to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Stupid me, I figured, "What's the harm...just a small popcorn won't hurt anything", so I got a small popcorn for myself and one for my son, and a diet coke for myself (water for him), and we went in. About one hour into the movie, I had finished my small popcorn, which was a good sized bag, and then it happened. The room started to spin. My head went all tingly, and my vision got a little fuzzy. I felt my pulse increase, and I could feel my heart beating harder and harder. I looked down at my hands, and they were shaking. I leaned over to my son and whispered, "I don't feel so good right now...", to which he responded, "Tummy ache?", and I said, "No, dizzy....very very dizzy...", which had him scared, naturally, because the poor kid is only 9 years old. I tried putting my head down between my knees, which is what I thought I was supposed to do for a dizzy spell, but everything got worse, and I thought, "Oh God NO....I'm going to pass out here in a dark theater and my son won't know what to do! If I go to the hospital, what will happen to HIM!?!" My husband is in Nashville, and I'm down here in Boca Raton, FL, and we just moved here and know almost no one that I'd trust with my son. I finally figured that I'd have to go to where it was well-lit and where people would see me if I passed out. I was so scared. I was feeling so "off" that I was scared that I might die. Maybe that sounds silly, but it was really that scary to me. I walked outside the theater into the sunlight and stood there....still dizzy, heart pounding, hands shaking, and trying my best to look calm for my son's sake. I told him I couldn't drive, so we'd just wait where we were until I felt better. So that's what we did...for about 20 minutes or so until I felt it was safe enough to drive the five minutes back to my house. I apologized to my son and told him I'd take him back to the movies to see the movie again so we could see how it ended. I just had to get out of the theater at that moment, and I felt so bad about that. We'd both been wanting to see this movie for so long. When I got home, I went right in and checked my blood sugar, and it was 174. Oh my gosh....my sugars had been doing sooo good...98, 97, etc. This one bag of popcorn caused this much trouble?!?

I'm not on insulin, so I just quickly got a pitcher of water and started drinking it. I'm going to the bathroom like crazy, but my level is going down now. It was 174 when I finally made it home (about 30 minutes after I started feeling bad) which makes me really wonder how high it was when I was sitting in that theater and feeling like I was going to pass out, and now it's been 90 minutes, and I'm down to 158. I'm not as shaky, and my pulse has calmed down, but the tingly/fuzzy feeling in my head is still there, although not nearly as bad, thank goodness!

No more popcorn for me. Man, that was scary. I know my sugar could have been a lot higher than it was, but it still felt awful and rotten.

Are there any other ways to help it come down other than water and time (and insulin which I don't have since I was controlling things with diet...until today's cheat :-/)

Thanks!

Patty

Pages

Avatar for cl_coldfingers
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 11-16-2007 - 6:13pm

That would really be scarey!!!


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
Fri, 11-16-2007 - 7:00pm

My blood sugar level is down to 97 now, at 6:53pm, so it took a few hours to come down. All of this testing and changing of eating habits is so new to me. I've been at this for less than a month. I talked to my husband, and he said he'd go back to the theater with us tomorrow so we can try and watch the movie again...but this time without popcorn for me. :-D
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2003
Fri, 11-16-2007 - 7:43pm

I just have a sorta strange hunch here.

Avatar for cl_maryfrances40
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sat, 11-17-2007 - 1:15am

Patty,


The serving size for popcorn is one cup, I believe. I do know that theater popcorn has enough calories in it for a whole days worth of carbs and fats, so it is really a no-no. It is okay to eat popcorn at home where you have better control.


Forcing fluids will help to wash out the blood sugar. The other things that you can do is eat some protein which will help smooth out the blood sugar and get some exercise which will help you use up the blood sugar.


I hope you can take your son back soon to see the remainder of the movie. He needs to do these kind of normal activities with you so that he isn't frightened by your diagnosis.


You learn something everyday with this disease. If you had your meter with you, you could have tested at the theater to see what was happening. How you feel for the most part isn't accurate in determining what is going on.



Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

follow me

Avatar for dovie2000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 11-18-2007 - 1:09pm
When I took the diabetes education classes, they said air popped popcorn, (without the butter and no or little salt) was ok for a snack, and said 3 cups was a serving.


Image hosted by Photobucket.com


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
Mon, 11-19-2007 - 2:01pm


Just an update. I have an appointment with my doctor at 4pm today to discuss what has been going on. Since the problem at the theater, my sugar levels have been really good--I've been working hard at keeping them that way. However, my blood pressure is dropping from time to time and causing similar feelings to what I had in the theater, and I need to find out why. I'm on Diovan HCT for hypertention, but my blood pressure was 98/54 last night before I went to bed, which is far too low when you consider that 120/80 is normal.

The nurse I spoke to said that the doctor would check me out and see whether it's my sugar levels or my blood pressure dropping that is the culprit, perhaps both. I can't wait to find out what the doctor says. My sugar levels are diet-controlled, and the only medicine I take is the Diovan HCT. I'd love to be able to get off of it. A savings of $25.00 a month--$300.00 a year! That would be so great.

Thanks everyone! :-D

Avatar for cl_coldfingers
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 11-19-2007 - 2:05pm
I am glad to know you will be seeing the dr about this.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-25-2005
Mon, 11-19-2007 - 9:39pm


I saw the doctor this afternoon, and while he says I still need to watch my sugars because my A1c is on the high-end of normal, he feels 100% certain that my problem at the theater was caused by my blood pressure dropping suddenly. He said that he could remove the blood pressure medicine part of my regimen or the diuretic part to see if that helps things....and the diuretic part of my blood pressure medicine can cause sugar levels to go high (hydrochlorothiazide is the name of it), so he took me off that part of the medicine. So now, instead of Diovan HCT, I'm just on plain Diovan. I start it tomorrow morning, and he wants to see me in one month to judge how I'm doing on that, and then in January to redo my A1c level test.

He said if the holidays become too hard with trying to count carbs and such, especially at parties where there's a buffet or pot-luck meal being served, he told me to just stay away from sweets and foods that are clearly made with lots of sugar (pies, cakes, etc), and eat small servings of anything else that I want. That way, if something has a lot of sugar, I'll only end up taking in a small amount of it. I might just use that idea :-D

Avatar for cl_coldfingers
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 11-19-2007 - 11:43pm

Thanks for letting us know how your appointment went.


Avatar for cl_maryfrances40
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 11-20-2007 - 10:02pm

Also be

Pages