I'm trying, trying really hard to figure out how this Glyburide stuff works. I understand that it works to stimulate my pancreatic beta cells so the lazy buggers produce insulin that binds with the glucose floating around in my blood, allowing the pair to waltz into my cells and be used for energy. I get that part.

What I don't get is how does it work. Because frankly, it's working too well.

A few weeks ago, my doctor put me on 5 mg of Glyburide twice a day. One pill later I came crashing down from somewhere around 200 to the 60s. The next day, he said wait until your blood sugar goes back up and take one-quarter of a pill twice a day. He later called in a prescription for the 1.25 mg tablets, but I'm only taking them once a day. I've since had to break the 1.25 mg in half and I'm still going low at least once a day.

I just don't understand how these little pills work. I don't understand how to eat and exercise around them. At least with insulin, I knew to just take less if I was going to exercise. But what do I do with this stuff?

I'm trying to exercise daily. My new goal is to exercise for 30 minutes a day. Since its still winter for a few more weeks at least, I try to get to the mall before it opens to walk at a brisk pace without shoppers getting in my way. Without fail, it seems, my blood sugar plummets before I'm done and I need to slurp down a juice box or Smarties or glucose tabs so I can safely drive me and my baby home. The other day, I felt fine, but decided to test before driving just to be safe and I was 54.

Today I just feel like I've reached the breaking point. It's actually warm out, so instead of heading to the mall, we walked around the neighborhood. We got a really good, 45 minute walk in. The babe fell asleep half way, which I was hoping to parlay into some quality me time once we got home. Not so.

Before I left the house, I tested at 100. I'd eaten a healthy breakfast about an hour or two before the walk, and considering my recent track record of exercise-induced lows, I figured a handful of dried papaya might be a good idea. The stroller is also stocked with glucose tabs, just in case. I felt fine throughout the walk, but when I walked in the door, I started to feel shaky. The babe was waking up, so I quick grabbed some more papaya and started tending to him.

The baby starts howling, I look at the clock and realize it's been exactly three hours since his last meal (you could really set a clock by his appetite!), so I set about making him a bottle.

Still feeling shaky, I decided to test, only to waste three strips and have blood gushing out of my finger all over the kitchen. Trying to contain the blood while quickly warming the bottle, the baby is just screaming, screaming, screaming at the top of his ever-growing lungs.

I finally get a reading on the meter, 64 (and this is after eating dried fruit) so quickly choke down a Kashi bar, wrap my finger in a paper towel and take the bottle to the screaming boy, who proceeds to suck down the bottle, then spit most of it back up down my shirt.

A few minutes after that mess was cleaned up, his exploding diapers returned making a mess all over the nursery. Once that was cleaned up, I finally got the boy down to sleep and was able to clean up the blood and test strips in the kitchen.

I blame this chain reaction on Glyburide, and today, I hate it.