Blog about diabetes

Hi. In the past we have had many different discussions about how a lot of things can raise our blood glucose level. Thought I’d share my experience today. Dentist office called and they had an opening sooner for my teeth cleaning. (Have missed the past two appointments and next app. wasn’t till last of November). I was lucky enough to have my pre-med on hand that I have to take for my heart and so was able to go ahead and take the appointment. I knew it was going to be more harder than normal, due to not having it done for too long. It was a ruff one, and while she was scraping I could tell I had developed a cavity at the gum line (could feel it when she was scraping it) also when she was working on a tooth that has bothered me for years (dentist has checked it out before). Both teeth have had bad tooth aches in them that last for weeks or more. The newest one has only been within the past couple months. The upper one has been for at least 4 years. She stuck the probe into
the tooth that has been bad for years and said there was a “soft” spot. When the doc came in for the exam part of it, he verified the cavity at the gum line and she told him about the upper tooth. He said he had time to fit me in for fillings. Which was good, as it saved me having to do pre-med again for dental work on another visit. I have been hard to get numb for many years (at least 15 years) and it was not unusual for me to have 12-15 shots in the past to be able to drill and fill a tooth. It takes a lot to numb it and then it wears off faster for me. Today I was lucky. Only took 4 shots. The first one was for the gum line cavity and it worked fine, the next shot was for the upper tooth. The doc stuck a probe into that one and I about jumped out of the chair (thank heavens I had went pee just before he started working on me!!!!!). He gave me another shot and waited about 5 minutes, probe again, about peed my pants. So he resorted to what he has had to eventually go to
for getting it numb. He went into the roof of the mouth on that side with a major shot into a main nerve for that side of the face. Bottom of face was numb from the shot for the gum line cavity, now the rest of that side of the face was numb. Half across my ear, half one side of my nose, bottom eye lid, and so on. That shot they do into the roof hurts so bad. Even though he puts a topical on, it still is painful. Not just the needle going in, but the injection of the numbing solution itself. All the teeth on that side hurt (until they finally go dead), the sinuses hurt, and the feeling of pressure makes your sinuses feel like they are going to explode, the teeth feel like they could explode and so on. But at least the teeth themselves were finally numb. Drilled, filled, shaped the filling and sent me home. I hadn’t ate anything for the day yet either at that point. Got home and no way could I eat, and drinking was like a hole in my mouth that the water just ran back out. So
I decided to take a nap and hopefully all feeling would be back when I woke up. It was back when I woke up, but I was so sorry it was. The aching could be felt. Both teeth are like major toothaches. Of course will have to wait till they settle down from the work and then should be ok. NOW, my glucose. It was 161 when I tested it this morning, before I took my insulin shot and before the dentist called. Tested it after getting home from the dentist to see how the “stress” of the whole experience had affected it (now remember, by now the insulin should have brought it down and not eating should have made it drop also) it was close to 280. The stress of what all I had been through raised it that much.

And that is one example of how stress can and does affect a diabetic’s glucose levels.

Love and best wishes,

Sue