Damn diabetes

I guess the title of this post eloquently expresses what I, along with all other members of the OC, feel about this disease from time to time! My need to express myself in this way now emanates from its interference with my plans and performance this weekend.

I hate when an out-of-range BG-reading requires me to change or postpone my plans! Yesterday we had the final game of the fall season. It was a morning game starting at 10 o’clock (very wet grass and temperatures slowly creeping up from 5 degrees Celsius – something like 41 degrees Fahrenheit – but actually it wasn’t that bad playing in shorts!). My fasting BG at 7:45 AM was a little higher than I like it to be: 9.9 (178). I didn’t correct for that though, as I knew I had a hard game coming up. However, when I tested 1.5 h later, getting ready to go out to the field to start the warm-up, I had dropped to 2.9 (52). I changed the temp basal rate from 60 % to 0 % for 90 minutes, while I chewed down glucose tabs and banana. Out on the field we got the line-up. I was to start as left defender. Certainly not a favorite position for me, but to the long line of injuries, especially among our regular defenders, our coach apparently saw no other option than to place me there. So, I started warming up, not feeling too fit due to the low start, but hoping that it would improve before the game started. It didn’t. My legs felt more and more heavy, my passes were generally off, and 10 minutes before game start I capitulated and found my meter again: 2.4 (43). Not good! There was no way I would be able to get it up to 6.0 (108), where I like to be during soccer, before the game started :-( Our coach changed the line-up and I sat down, exhausted and pissed at the D, finding more glucose tabs, juice and müslibars to elevate the BG, while wondering what the hell had happened to my solid breakfast that should definitely have had time to take its effects before I left the house 5 minutes before our time of meeting prior to the game (it was a home game, being played just across the street where I live, so there are only about 1.3 km [0.8 miles] from my front door the locker room where we meet before games). About a quarter of an hour into the match, after having consumed an additional 40 grams of CHO or so, I was slowly climbing to 3.2 (58). By the end of the first half I could start my warm-up for the second time that morning, so that I could replace one of our wings at the break.

The damn diabetes precluded me from playing a full match of soccer! More than anything, I hate when diabetes prevents me from doing things that I like to do, e.g. play soccer. Also it is frustrating that hypos or hypers occurring before or during a game affects your performance negatively. I ended yesterdays game on a fair 8.0 (144) at 12 o’clock, but I sure didn’t play the best I could. By the way we lost the game 2-1 despite having had our opponents very well matched during most of the game :-( I got myself a strained inner ligament in my left ankle, but because it was only minutes after I had finally made my entrance to the game, I continued playing and the pain went away, but as you may guess it returned once the joint cooled down after the game. Today it is sore, but there has hardly been any swelling, and I can move around although it hurts like hell if I have been sitting too long ;-)

I guess the winter break for soccer has come on an appropriate time point. The current situation for our team is 5 knee injuries, 1 hand injury (soccer induced!) and then at least a handful of “minor” injuries of fibers in thighs, groin issues, inflamed toes and strained ligaments. That is actually a whole team out with injuries - we are a poor crowd! Anyway we don’t start practicing indoor until next week, so my ankle has a couple of weeks to recover – hopefully :-) Hopefully the D will not interfere as much with my performance in the indoor games either!