Just over a week ago, I was returning from a dog walk when I encountered a neighbour. Our dogs barked at each other. Her medium-sized dog, on a flexible leash, circled me a few times, and my legs became completely restrained by the cord. I fell, which put my face at the same level as the barking dogs.
“STOP! STOP!” I yelled.
The neighbour didn’t seem to know what to do, but another neighbour came and unwrapped the cord that restrained me, and I was able to get up. I wasn’t upset, maybe mildly annoyed. I muttered something about how flexible leashes don’t control dogs and went home. I did not shake or feel trauma, really — but my body registered the event. A few hours later, my glucose started to rise. I had to boost my pump from the usual .6Â units/hr to more than three times that amount.
My demand for insulin stayed high for a full week, and then began to drop. I kept having night lows as the resistance faded. Now, eight days later, I’m finally back to the pre-trauma levels.
I know I bury stress, but I am surprised at how quickly my body said, “Oh wow, this is a big deal!” It stopped the glucose from entering my tissues, so I’d have enough energy to run from the lions and tigers pursuing me. Nothing I could do consciously reduced the resistance — it was a steel door, saying “NO!” to insulin.
The name of my blog is Emotional Diabetes. This is exactly the kind of experience that reinforces the belief that things that happen to us can make us sick, even if they don’t consciously register. Have you had a similar experience?
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