On the road

I race a car for fun on weekends, in fact I started my other blog, the GT Campaign, first. This last weekend was an away race in Sonoma CA at a track called Sears Point and so I had my chance at more than a few firsts. I had to tell everyone about the diagnoses since I was skipping the BBQ, snacks and sundry goodies everyone brings to share. I was controlling my diet. Also I was testing my glucose level a bit more often, a blood sugar crash combined with the adrenaline of driving a race car is a bad combination. Turns out I need not have worried about it going too low because it shot up thru the ceiling instead.

After a week of very good readings in the middle eighties, on Saturday my reading shot up to 184. Why I had no clue. So I went to the American Diabetes Association web site, looked up stress and blood sugar levels and got this:

Scientists have studied the effects of stress on glucose levels in animals and people. Diabetic mice under physical or mental stress have elevated glucose levels. The effects in people with type 1 diabetes are more mixed. While most people's glucose levels go up with mental stress, others' glucose levels can go down. In people with type 2 diabetes, mental stress often raises blood glucose levels.

Of course racing isn’t a form of bad stress, its fun, but the butterflies start racing around my gut before I start racing around in the car. What to do about it is another question, but I’ll be out of the car for a few months so I’ll have plenty of time to figure it out.