Just Like Clockwork

Some people I know think that this whole hypoglycemia thing just sort of appeared out of the blue in my late teens. In truth, I’ve been dealing with it since I was a little kid. When I was younger, my mom looked after me; she made sure I didn’t eat too much sugar and ate regularly. As I got older, I took responsibility of it myself.

I wasn’t too good at it.

I was pretty moody. The kind of swings that’ll throw you over the top of the swing set.

My blood sugar dropped at random times because of what I ate. Because of what I didn’t eat (I wasn’t doing the vegetarian thing correctly) I had a rough go with anemia (it beat my butt for a while). And while I wasn’t fat by any standard, I wasn’t exactly happy with how my body was beginning to look.

So probably junior and senior year of high school, I worked to cut out all the things I’ve mentioned on this blog.

In doing so, I realized life was a lot more fun when I didn’t lose control of my emotions every other minute. I also enjoyed getting back to my regular, active, hyper self when I finally started overcoming my anemia. Also, I’ll definitely admit that I didn’t mind getting back in the gym and losing about 30 lbs.

I felt good going to the gym, even just playing outside wasn't so much of a chore anymore. I felt more muscle; I saw more muscle. 

But besides the physical changes, my mind was more active, I had more confidence. I also learned how to control and live with my hypoglycemia. No longer did I have to continually fight my body. 

However, my hypoglycemia became extremely sensitive. Every two hours on the dot, I HAD to eat again.

My doctor said it probably had to do with all the changes I’d put my body through and a lot to do with my age.

Annoyingly, my blood sugar had put me on a pretty strict schedule. While now, at 20 and a sophomore in college, it has loosened up a bit, it’s still pretty straightforward.

9:00am - Breakfast.

11:00am - Lunch

1:00pm - Snack

4:00pm - Dinner

(Usually with an after dinner snack or second dinner around 6pm.)

For an even better description, think of a hobbit.

Obnoxious as it was, I realized that it helped a lot. While sometimes hypoglycemia can be unpredictable and there are those days when it’s just a struggle to keep my blood sugar up, it’s basically always foreseeable.

Which, for me, is like the best gift God could give. I like to plan almost every detail and I was frustrated at it’s sensitivity. What if I’m somewhere and I can’t eat anything?

THEN! The light bulb went off.

(Typical Hannah moment.)

My hypoglycemia works like clockwork. Follow the pattern. Go wherever you want to. When your travels fall over a meal or snack, pack it.

It sounds so simple and upfront as I type it out. But believe me, in the middle of the situation, it was a dream come true to realize.