X Factors - Red Eyes

Travel is pretty much unavoidable during the holiday season; especially when you and your significant other's family lives on the opposite coast.  Historically, changing time zones has been one of the most difficult variables to manage for my blood sugars.  Usually heading east I'll go low and heading west I'll go high. So last night it was with great trepidation that I tried Ambien for the first time.

I'm not a good flyer, even though I flew close to 100k miles during my time at Keas, I freak out just about every time my flight takes off.    Bumps make me break out in a cold sweat and god forbid the flight has more than a moderate amount of turbulence.  I can tolerate flying but frequently have to close my eyes and imagine I'm on a bumpy road riding my bike.  So I was excited to try anything that would take the edge off. 

But taking something that makes you stay and fall asleep has its consequences.  What if I encountered a low and did not wake up to the normal warning signs?  What if the effects of the medicine made me go extremely high or extremely low.  I'm nervous anytime I introduce a new variable into my system but was especially nervous to introduce Ambien to my system in an environment that I quite frankly hate.

So I got onto my Virgin America red eye, opened my bottle of water and swallowed the blue pill thinking of Neo.  About 20 minutes later I noticed a tingly feeling in my lips, took some food and then was out for the count!  For someone who hates flying this is a miracle drugs, bumps were met with the smile of a child on a roller coaster and the 5 hour flight felt like 45 minutes.  I did however sleep the entire van ride to my parents house and continued to sleep for another 4 hours once I got home!  But best of all my blood sugar was perfect!

When I got onto the flight my blood sugar was a slightly low 78.  I ate a kashi protein bar to up that a bit before passing out and landed with a beautiful bs of 98!  Upon getting to my parents house I tested again and was greeted with a 91 and haven't crested 125 all day.  Traveling and especially red eyes have always been met with blood sugar difficulty, I try and eat as cleanly as possible in the days leading up to them and get a bit of extra exercise but its never easy.  Good luck controlling those blood sugars as all of you travel home to your families!