New Year, New "Gift".

It's almost a new year, and I've got something to adjust to besides writing a new date:  a new diabetes issue.

I've noticed it happening here and there over the last several weeks, but didn't think much about it as a pattern until recently.  I've reflected on why it's happening, and it's a reasonable guess that it is a result of my recently-tightened blood glucose control.  I'm also coming up on a quarter century with the worst roommate ever (because diabetes and I live together in this body, you know), and I guess I was bound to lose some of my magical diabetes powers at some point.

I'm discovering that I'm not always able to feel my lows anymore.

A little help, here?

Every time I'm at the doctor, I get that same question:  "Are you still feeling your lows?".  I had always thought of it as a silly question - how could anyone not notice that eating a horse, on a rollercoaster, while drunk feeling?  But as I interact more and more with the DOC, I'm discovering that it's apparently fairly common, especially when you've had diabetes as long as I have - which is frightening.

If I didn't have a CGM to alert me otherwise (Thanks, Jim), I'm sure that more than a few of these episodes would have gone on a lot longer than they did.  Walking to dinner the other night, I had a ridiculous low of 35 mg/dL that I hardly felt.  This morning, I woke up to a surprising 51 - which felt completely ordinary.  Which is a scenario that is entirely unordinary, for me.

A part of me feels a little bit defeated.  Having 24 years of diabetes with no major complications is something I've been proud of, and I feel like that's slipping away, bit by bit.

Where do I go from here?  It's scary to think that taking a break from my CGM now is risky, rather than just inconvenient.  And it's even more concerning, knowing that I tend to sleep right through the low alarms while sleeping.  Even though the feeling of hypoglycemia may be unpleasant, I'd rather feel that than feel nothing.

It's a "gift" I'd rather not receive.