Only In Your (Weird Diabetes) Dreams

I have a history of very vivid and weird dreams. I’ve heard of others with diabetes having strange diabetes dreams and even stranger dreams when a low blood sugar is involved. In more than 6 years with type 1 diabetes, I hadn’t experienced a diabetes dream… until the other night.

I woke around 2:00 a.m. to my Dexcom alarming low, so I checked my blood sugar and it was 66 mg/dL. A little low, so I treated with a marshmallow from the bag on my nightstand (don’t judge what you don’t understand) and ended up slipping back into sleep. I can’t remember everything about the dream I had next, but here’s what I do remember…

My Dexcom sensor needed changed and I wanted to put it somewhere new. Apparently for the dream version of myself, “somewhere new” meant my face! In the dream, I inserted the Dexcom sensor into my right cheek and it hurt. I felt legitimate pain in my face as the needle pushed through the fleshy part of my cheek, then through the muscle then hit my cheekbone. It was possibly the slowest insertion ever, and even through that pain I persisted in placing the sensor and snapping in the transmitter.

When I woke again the right side of my face hurt and even now I can still remember the feeling. My Dexcom buzzed low again and I ate another marshmallow. Then I went to the bathroom to inspect my face in the mirror and make sure it really was a dream.

I went back to bed and woke up the next morning with a high blood sugar and felt very unsettled. Could you imagine walking around with a Dexcom sensor in your face?

For reference, your face is not an appropriate site for diabetes devices. I know this consciously, but in dreamland I must be an idiot.