Night Terrors

2:30 AM:  I am wide awake.  Why?  What I am now going to call night terrors - words which have taken on a whole new meaning for me.  I used to think of night terrors as bad dreams.. you know, where monsters are chasing you or something horrible happens in your life.  You dream it, you wake up, you realize you were dreaming and you can smile, and then you roll over and go back to sleep.  No, that's no longer what I will call night terrors.

Night terrors to me now are waking up with a low blood sugar - of course, I am thankful to wake up because otherwise I would die, but waking up in this state is a horrible feeling.  I do not know about everybody's feelings as we are all different, but for me it is waking up feeling like my body has been set on fire.  I am burning all over.  I am sweaty.  I am nauseated.  I am lightheaded.  I am confused and disoriented, knowing something is wrong, but not quite sure what at first.  It takes a minute to register that I need to check my blood sugar.

With hands shaking so hard I can hardly do anything, I have to open the strips container and insert the strip, put the lancet in the machine,  tear open the alcohol swab, wipe my finger, stick my finger, get the blood in the right spot for the strip, and wait those 5 seconds to see a number.  It is almost a relief to see a low number sometimes so that I have a reason for those horrible feelings I am having.  Then, I get to drink the juice or eat the sugar and wait for the terror to be over.