The High Price of Adrenaline

Morgan tries very hard to keep his blood sugar 'in range' for his basketball games. He knows that he plays much better when he does. But sometimes that other hormone called adrenaline rears its ugly head. For Morgan adrenaline causes a major rise in his blood sugars. We can always anticipate an increase in his blood sugars when he plays basketball. Always. We have found that if he goes into a game in the very low 100's he will typically have decent numbers through his game. Last night was very unusual for him. He started his pre-game at 116, in 15 minutes climbed to 170, 30 minutes later 295 and climbing finally reaching a high of 343, in 1 hour. Needless to say, he did not get to play the second half of his game. At all. He was frustrated and giving insulin to counteract the rapid rise in blood sugar.

We discussed what we could do to help him get those high's down faster. So we decided to try a new insulin, Apidra, which is marketed to work faster than his usual insulin. We will have it on hand for his next game, just in case.

As to what could have caused that adrenaline rush of high blood sugars? It could have been that instead of the brake, he stepped on the gas pedal of the van as he was trying to park the car before the game. I know I had an adrenaline rush!