Fainting on the Highway

     I couldn't drive five miles out of town on Wednesday without feeling like I might crash my car. In Vermont, they call it anxiety. Here they say it's hypoglycemia but maybe not says the endocrinologist. I say it's post Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday-I ate a quart of Moose Tracks low fat ice cream.) Diabetic malaise. The heat was on and I didn't get a good night's sleep. Lack of sleep can trigger insulin reactions(even though I'm not diabetic according to blood tests. Blood tests show I have hypoglycemia. But the endocrinologist says women can often have false readings on the test.)
Anyway on the side of the road I ate trail mix and drank water(Splenda sweetened cranberry juice). My husband never answered any of my distress calls to his cell phone. After several stops:  The Great Outdoors RV Park and Golf Course,  The Cathedral Pines subdivision and CVS, I made it home.  The endocrinologist says I should have a blood test when I have this attack.  The GP says go to the hospital.  I don't do either.  My husband who had finally arisen and heard all my distress messages didn't insist.  So I didn't.  Oh the ear doctor says I should have a situational (Event Monitor) and to tell the heart doctor that's what I need.  I haven't.
     I ate my second thin turkey and mayo sandwich of the day and went to sleep.  Later I felt pretty darn good.  At sunset, I took a walk around the block.  I'm fine today after lots of small protein meals made by my husband yesterday and a good night's sleep because I turned off the heat.
     It's classic diabetes-extreme thirst, hunger and drowsiness.  But I never qualify on the blood tests,MRIs,echocardiograms,EKGs, PAD,mammographies(except 1992 when I had to have a 2.5 centimeter breast cancer tumor removed ),etc.  My husband and everyone I know have blood pressure,diabetes,thyroid,and cholesterol prescriptions not me.  They drive all over America-not me.  I sometimes can barely make it to the corner.  It's been going on since 2005when I had my first problem driving on RTE 6 in Cape Cod.  I drank water,Coca Cola and some food at the 7 Eleven in Yarmouth,recovered and drove to Orleans and back to Falmouth.  
      My next attack was on 495 the next year near Boston.  I stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn in Wellesly and could drive to Burlington, Vermont.  Feeling better, I climbed a small VT mountain on a warm day.  The next  day I was shakey while driving.  I went to the Ethan Allen Hospital.  The nurse had the same problem-anxiety.  She hadn't driven long distance for 8 years.  She went to a support group and was driving to her best friend's wedding in Maryland-her first long car trip in years.  I told her to fly.
       Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys gave me all kinds of tests.  Nothing showed up.  So they told me it ws an Anxiety Attack and to stop on the highway and breathe,relax etc..  Then keep driving.  So I did.  I made it back  to Cape Cod via the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut and  was fine for another year until it happened to me right in town in Florida.  It used to only happen on the highway.  Actually it happened on the way to Viera on RTE 95 from Titusvile.  After food,drink and AC  at the Viera Mall, I made back to Titusville via US1.  So I gave up highway driving and went to a zillion doctors especially after I fainted and fell fully clothed into my pool after doing Yoga breathing.
     Anyway all the cardiologists,endocrinologists,neurologists and GPs couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.  While writing this, my left leg started to ache and I couldn't remember the word neurologist.  I didn;t eat breakfast.  So Sayonara.  It's time to eat said the Maybe Yes, Maybe No Hypoglycemic.  It affects your memory.Oy Vey.  Sincerely, Madame Bovary, Emma and any other woman with the vapors!
     The moral of this story:  Be Aware of Anxious Hypoglycemic Drivers..   Got Guard Rails?  Oh I forget the MRI showed brain blood vessels bursts(Kind of TSIs) according to the Neurologist but the Cardiologist said it was not bad.  So who knows.  The GP who diagnosed hypo seemed the best.  The endocrinologist started yelling at me:  Get a blood test when it happens.  Did I?  No.
    I biked 9 miles in the cold on Sunday so maybe that triggered it.    I do have an Actonel prescription for bones that are supposed to crack at any second with a slight blow-especially my lower vertebrae.  It's supposed to cause a domino effect and ruin my vertebrae.
     John Tesh just confessed that Mr. Healthy had to have a back operation a few months ago.  So who knows?
     The Shadow