Buried In Nightmares
On a recent weekend night in the darkened confines of my own home, I watched the movie Buried.
Those in the Diabetes Online Community may be aware that this 2010 movie is the brainchild of Chris Sparling, screen-writer extraordinaire and husband of Kerri over at Six Until Me. The movie was released in limited spots in September and October, and the one location in Central Indiana didn't present an opportunity for me to attend at that time. So, I've been eagerly anticipating the DVD release date and subsequent appearance on our home TV network's On Demand roster.
That time finally arrived.
As I couldn't convince or bribe my loving wife to watch with me, I turned off the lights and settled in for the solo movie-watching experience in my comfy green chair upstairs. Just by reading a synopsis of the movie, anyone knows that the premise is that a U.S. contract truck driver is kidnapped in Iraq and buried alive in a coffin. That's all I am going to say, as to not spoil anything. But let me say: I'm a fan, and it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat and I felt the anxiety and fear and confinement to some degree that actor Ryan Reynolds was going through.
[\Begin Digression: From a guy who calls himself a "writer" and has always fantasized about one day writing a novel or screenplay, I must now stand up from my blog booth and just applaud. Well done, Chris! /End Sucking-Up-Digression.]
But the movie experience isn't the end of the story here. No, not by far.
After the end credits scrolled and I tried to get a night's rest, I found it difficult to fall asleep. Every time my eyes closed, I envisioned scenes from the movie and the blackened confines of a coffin, so some instant coffee kept me awake for a bit before the sleep finally set in.
In bed, that's where the nightmares began.
As you might guess, I was buried alive. In a coffin. Groping around in the darkness, I found my insulin pump in my pocket but no infusion set connected. The pump back light provided a dim glow inside the coffin, and that's when I saw it.
A small hole near the bottom left corner of the coffin. With creepy spiders clawing their way inside. These weren't normal spiders though - they grew larger when they got inside. And the infusion set that wasn't attached to my body was, to my horror, part of the spider legs that clicked across the wooden coffin floor towards me.
Oh. My. Lord. Oh my. Fear doesn't even describe what I felt. Horror.
Though it seemed like hours, I'm not really sure how long this horror lasted. But the sight of these Infusion Set Spiders click-crawling towards me seemed to last forever in slow motion, and they didn't seem to ever get to me. All I knew, I was buried alive with little oxygen and surrounded by a growing supply of these creepy crawlers invading my new home.
That's when I woke up. For real, in my own bed. A vibrating pump next to me revealed that my infusion set was indeed connected to my stomach (and no spiders to be seen), as was a nearby CGM sensor. That is what was alerting me that I was hovering in the 400s - had been for several hours post-dinner, and just couldn't get it down.
It was 3:30 a.m. I was as High as a Kite, but in some weird way, I was somewhat relieved that I wasn't Buried with those scary sci-fi D-Supply Spiders clicking toward me. Rather, my post-dinner time snacking and SWAGing led to high BGs that in turn led to the some scary dreams, fueled in part by the movie-watching that evening. Not to mention I was likely starting to see the effects of an approaching sickness.
A few days later, a thread surfaced over on the Children With Diabetes forums asking whether nightmares actually caused high BGs or whether the Highs caused the nightmares. My experience has always been the latter, but some opined that the adrenaline rushes during nightmares raised the BGs. So, I pose the question now to the rest of the Diabetes Online Community:
What caused these D-Supply Spiders to enter my dream world - the outstanding screen-writing of Mr. Chris Sparling, the High BG levels alone, or a combination of those puzzle pieces?
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, and whether you've experienced any nightmares and high blood sugars and pondered the relationship between those two.
Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: I may have to avoid watching these kinds of movies by myself, in the dark, late at night, just before bed, while having High BGs. Just to be safe and make sure I don't again get Buried in Nightmares.
Those in the Diabetes Online Community may be aware that this 2010 movie is the brainchild of Chris Sparling, screen-writer extraordinaire and husband of Kerri over at Six Until Me. The movie was released in limited spots in September and October, and the one location in Central Indiana didn't present an opportunity for me to attend at that time. So, I've been eagerly anticipating the DVD release date and subsequent appearance on our home TV network's On Demand roster.
That time finally arrived.
As I couldn't convince or bribe my loving wife to watch with me, I turned off the lights and settled in for the solo movie-watching experience in my comfy green chair upstairs. Just by reading a synopsis of the movie, anyone knows that the premise is that a U.S. contract truck driver is kidnapped in Iraq and buried alive in a coffin. That's all I am going to say, as to not spoil anything. But let me say: I'm a fan, and it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat and I felt the anxiety and fear and confinement to some degree that actor Ryan Reynolds was going through.
[\Begin Digression: From a guy who calls himself a "writer" and has always fantasized about one day writing a novel or screenplay, I must now stand up from my blog booth and just applaud. Well done, Chris! /End Sucking-Up-Digression.]
But the movie experience isn't the end of the story here. No, not by far.
After the end credits scrolled and I tried to get a night's rest, I found it difficult to fall asleep. Every time my eyes closed, I envisioned scenes from the movie and the blackened confines of a coffin, so some instant coffee kept me awake for a bit before the sleep finally set in.
In bed, that's where the nightmares began.
As you might guess, I was buried alive. In a coffin. Groping around in the darkness, I found my insulin pump in my pocket but no infusion set connected. The pump back light provided a dim glow inside the coffin, and that's when I saw it.
Oh. My. Lord. Oh my. Fear doesn't even describe what I felt. Horror.
Though it seemed like hours, I'm not really sure how long this horror lasted. But the sight of these Infusion Set Spiders click-crawling towards me seemed to last forever in slow motion, and they didn't seem to ever get to me. All I knew, I was buried alive with little oxygen and surrounded by a growing supply of these creepy crawlers invading my new home.
That's when I woke up. For real, in my own bed. A vibrating pump next to me revealed that my infusion set was indeed connected to my stomach (and no spiders to be seen), as was a nearby CGM sensor. That is what was alerting me that I was hovering in the 400s - had been for several hours post-dinner, and just couldn't get it down.
It was 3:30 a.m. I was as High as a Kite, but in some weird way, I was somewhat relieved that I wasn't Buried with those scary sci-fi D-Supply Spiders clicking toward me. Rather, my post-dinner time snacking and SWAGing led to high BGs that in turn led to the some scary dreams, fueled in part by the movie-watching that evening. Not to mention I was likely starting to see the effects of an approaching sickness.
A few days later, a thread surfaced over on the Children With Diabetes forums asking whether nightmares actually caused high BGs or whether the Highs caused the nightmares. My experience has always been the latter, but some opined that the adrenaline rushes during nightmares raised the BGs. So, I pose the question now to the rest of the Diabetes Online Community:
What caused these D-Supply Spiders to enter my dream world - the outstanding screen-writing of Mr. Chris Sparling, the High BG levels alone, or a combination of those puzzle pieces?
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, and whether you've experienced any nightmares and high blood sugars and pondered the relationship between those two.
Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: I may have to avoid watching these kinds of movies by myself, in the dark, late at night, just before bed, while having High BGs. Just to be safe and make sure I don't again get Buried in Nightmares.
Comments
Thanks again. :)