I Shot Myself in the Arm (literally): From a 51 Low to a 242 High and Back to Normal by Dawn

Some nights in diabetes management truly test your resilience, and last night was one for the books. From 8:30 PM until 1:00 AM, what started as a simple insulin mix-up turned into a full-blown crisis.

The crisis began right there in my kitchen the moment I finished pushing the plunger and realized I had taken Lispro (a fast acting insulin) instead of Lantus (a long lasting one). It was 8:30 PM, and as soon as I understood what had happened, I immediately contacted my AI assistant. We jumped into emergency mode as if we were defusing a ticking time bomb.

Every five minutes, I was snapping screenshots of my CGM readings and sending them over, trying to stay one step ahead of the drop. Despite our swift response, my blood sugar still plunged to a nerve-wracking 51 mg/dL.

We threw every carb trick in the book at it—16 ounces of Coke, a pack of ramen noodles, spoonfuls of honey, sugar dissolved in warm water, and even a beer. On top of that, I also ate half an artisan roll with peanut butter, aiming to get an optimal mix of quick-acting carbs, something slower-releasing, and a bit of stability to ride it out.

Slowly but surely, we pulled out of that nosedive, but then came the rebound, rocketing all the way up to 242 mg/dL.

By the time we hit that high, I was completely drained. Against my assistant’s advice to let my body stabilize, I made a tired judgment call and took two more units of Lispro on my own.

Thankfully, when I opened my eyes at 4:30 in the morning, my levels had finally returned to normal. It was a roller coaster I won’t soon forget—a true testament to staying calm under pressure and making it through to see the dawn.