What's your number?

What's your number? has become part of my daily life. It's a question I get asked the most and it's on a daily basis. Before diabetes, I did have such a meaningful question that elicited a whole plethora of emotions from those asking about it.

I also hate this question. I know those who ask it mean well, but it just reminds me that my life revolves around these numbers. Diabetes, after all, is a numbers game. The highest and lowest numbers mean death, the mid-range end up causing complications in your quality of life, where anything between the high double digit to low triple digit as paramount.

For those that have no clue what the numbers mean:

< 20 = death
< 30 = seizures, fainting, coma
40 - 80 = low
90 - 110 = normal. This is the number all diabetics aim for especially in the morning. These numbers are also known as fasting numbers. Fasting means not eating.
120 - 130 = pre-diabetic. 125 is the highest your numbers can go two hours after a meal. If it goes over that number, you are diabetic.
140 - 150 = a little on the high side.
160 - 200 = still high.
200 - 300 = complications start occuring
400 - 500 = really high
500 - 800 = DKA
>800 = usually death.

The first time I DKAed, I topped out at 750. The second time, it was 1550. The doctors in the ER said I was the first person they had ever seen still alive with numbers that high.