It’s been my year for exploring and prioritizing health and fun. I’m no longer “pre-diabetic” and have changed my diet significantly this year because I am very sensitive to sugars my and carbohydrates. For the most part, I am happily succeeding and sharing what I learn along the way. Another big Ah-HAH lesson coincided with the harvest supermoon eclipse.
When I found myself tired and achy all over on Monday evening after what had been a normal day, I wondered what was going on. Maybe I’d pulled something during my workout? Perhaps I picked up a bug at the fun weekend retreat I attended in Lakeside? I’m rarely sick, so decided to take an Epsom salts bath and go to bed early. The bath helped, but I tossed and turned all night because my body was so uncomfortable.
In the morning, my Fitbit revealed that I’d had a poor night of sleep (DUH) and that my body temperature, breathing rate and heart rate were significantly higher than usual. A ditgital thermometer confirmed my temperature was 100.3 F. Yes, I had a fever. I take fever seriously, surrendered and decided to rest all day. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much on the schedule and people understand when you cancel due to illness. I also immediately took some ibuprofen for the aches and from there on I was comfortable enough to read and rest.
Here's where the lesson set in for me. I was also wearing a continuous glucose monitor throughout this experience and was shocked to see my morning fasting glucose at 139 mg/dl when I’m typically at 95 gm/dl on waking. Over the next few hours my glucose continued to rise, and I found myself getting very hungry, craving bread of all things (something I rarely eat). I found a bagel in the freezer and made a scrambled egg for some protein to hopefully blunt the glucose response. I had been drinking water all day, so dehydration wasn’t part of the problem. After eating, my glucose spiked and additional 65 mg/dl and remained high for about 2 hours. I felt fine but wondered if I should be concerned. By 6 pm my glucose as back to a more normal 112 mg/dl and I was feeling more like my normal self. I had a light dinner and even went out with George to walk the dogs. I went to bed at 8:30 because I figured I might make up the sleep I lost and had no trouble sleeping deeply throughout the night.
Now that I felt better, I went back to the internet to see what I could learn. I went first to Levelshealth.com app which has an excellent blog to support people who aren't diabetic, but curious about health and fitness.. Nothing on their site responded to keywords fever or flu. Next, I went to Google and there I found the answers that made sense. I learned that fever is stress and stress results in a release of extra glucose to fuel the immune system response. Phew! Everything I went through was a normal response. I also recognized that someone with diabetes could quickly be placed into a life-threatening condition when fever strikes. According to one source, if glucose rises and stays above 240, immediate medical attention is advised. My numbers fortunately never got that high.
A good night’s sleep and a day of rest have me feeling 100% again. I even did a 1-hour Jazzercise class today. I’m grateful for this little lesson about fever and will continue to be very curious about metabolic health and the many things I can choose to keep this body in balance so I can keep having fun. I missed the Harvest moon eclipse but hope to
stay up to catch its energy tonight.
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