Because Everybody Else Is Talking About These 2 Things

I'm a little late to the party, I guess. But everybody seems to be talking about 2 things: MTV's True Life: I have diabetes, and Paula Deen.

I watched the episode online. It was hard to watch. It was hard to see someone dealing with diabetes and pregnancy, someone who in all likelihood was misdiagnosed as a Type 2, and then got lectured because she couldn't keep the sugars down with diet and pills, and eventually got told she was a Type 1. All at 19. Holy cow. Did they not run a GAD test? Just because you're over 18 does not mean you can't be a Type 1.

It was hard to see someone trying to be a normal college student. It was hard to watch him look at a 277 and say "not bad", even though it was infinitely better than the 405 he had. It was hard because if there is one thing I am truly grateful for, it's that I did not have this in college. Even though I am not a drinker, I think managing this and college at the same time would have been a nightmare of epic proportions.

I bet they had to search far and wide for someone who has a hard time with the expense of this disease. I mean, everybody else can handle it so easily. And to see her working 24 hours a day and with an A1c running at 8.9%, I could just feel how exhausted she was.

It was a good episode. It showed things how they are,the friends being curious and helpful,the exhaustion and the frustration, the doctor's visits and comments, to the disease being forefront and trying to dictate everything.

And switching gears completely: Paula Deen. People are railing on her that her food caused her diabetes. 'She's a poster child for how "not to eat."'

Sometimes I think diabetes, especially Type 2, is a lot like hair. Let me explain. There is such a thing as frizzy hair. There's a large genetic component to said hair. There are products and lifestyle changes that can help prevent it, but for many people, eventually the hair will frizz out. Once the hair is frizzy, there are ways that can calm it down, essentially making it look fine, and 'reducing the symptoms' of frizzy hair, but deep down, the hair wants to spazz out. And for some people, those products never really work all that well, and who knows what will cause a flare? Humidity is just one thing that will wreak havoc, after all.

Judgie folks will see these people, and blame them completely for the frizz. After all, don't they know it's ALL THEIR FAULT? They've never heard of conditioner???? They shouldn't have used that round brush when they were kids. Poor losers, bringing it on themselves, tsk. tsk. Look at that frizz. Often, the judgies saying stuff like this have no idea what it's like to look in the mirror day after day trying to tame the frizz. They very likely did the same things to their hair that the frizzy people did. They're lucky, and they pride themselves on their good luck.

Paula, your hair got frizzy. I don't blame you for the frizz. I hope you find a way to calm it down, whether that be a new product, or washing less often, or massaging your scalp, or very likely a combination of all of it. You go, you deal with your hair your own way. Hair is different for everyone, and don't let anyone tell you differently.

I KNEW Mornings Were Evil

So if there's one thing I have learned in the first week with my precious, it's this....

Getting out of bed is bad for diabetes.

I was really excited to see what I did at night. Apparently, I hold steady. (yay!) But the second I wake up and get out of bed, the sugars start slowly climbing. The earlier I get up, the worse it is. And if I have to set the alarm for something especially early, forget it.

Stupid non-girly hormones, working to get me out of bed and spiking my sugars. At least I know my "fasting sugars" don't usually reflect where I've been all night.

Yesterday, I had lunch, and I swear to you, my sugars did not budge for about 4 hours from the minute I bolused. I started at 110 and didn't go above 116 (cured!). I took a nap - hey, don't judge, it was a rough emotional day. Getting up from that nap sent me climbing, and even through dinner and correction boluses, I never fully recovered from that climb.

Clearly the best option is to stay in bed all day.

I knew it.

First day with My Precious

Ah, my precious. I have been trained, I have been stabbed, and now I can tell you at any given time what's going on with my blood sugar. I can be cool and post pictures of my Dexcom. (But I won't, not just yet). (I can't find my camera, and I'm lazy).

I went low that afternoon. My Precious buzzed and booped. Ooh, the first buzz. What does it mean. Under 80! Meter says no. Under 55! DEXCOM NO-LIKEY UNDER 55! Meter said 68, so I treated. I kind of love peppermint bark, btw.

Then I had a lovely dinner and watched my sugars climb. It almost hit that high threshold, but not quite. I was fascinated, and I think I am easily amused. However, going to bed at 175, I decided to take a half unit of insulin. My correction value has been changing, and I decided that half would probably get me to around 140-120, which is all well and good. (Sometimes 1 unit drops me 80, sometimes 50. Consistency, thy name isn't diabetes.)

ALL NIGHT LONG. (Cue the Lionel Richie soundtrack).
Buzz. Buzz. BUZZ. LOW!!! UNDER 80!!! LOW!! UNDER 80!!! 3 times it did this, and I checked my meter. 97. 102. 96. Please be quiet, my precious. I'm fine. I'm sleeping.

LOW!!! UNDER 55!!!! At that point, I just grabbed a candy and popped it, figuring I probably was low, and maybe it would make precious be quiet. LOW! UNDER 80!

My husband "Did something beep? What's going on?"

Sorry, babe. Diabetes apparently is a loud disease.

And on it went, until I was coherent enough in the morning to change the low alert from 80 to 70.

I have been longing to know what my blood sugars do during the night. Spot checking isn't really helpful. Why would I go to bed at 90 and wake up at 140? When did that rise happen? Right in the morning, or have I been rollercoasting all night? Going to bed at 160? Waking at 160? Did I really do NOTHING at night? So I was longing for that lovely graph, that lovely telling of what my body was going through while I was unconscious. Apparently, I have to be conscious to see it. It stayed pretty consistent...ly low. And it did start to rise around 7:30 in the a.m. So that's good to know.

It seems to be more accurate if I'm above 100. Otherwise, my precious runs a little lower than the meter. It's in my abdomen right now. I will try my arm as the next site, see how that goes.

And despite the buzzing, I love it. I love it very much.

Insurance Makes Me Laugh (it's either that or cry)

It's time to renew my 3 month supply of Novolog. Every time this happens, my insurance wants to remind me that Humalog is cheaper. Did you hear me, patient x? CHEAPER!!

(Also, they keep sending me letters telling me to check my A1C. I think the fact that they've paid for most all of my A1C's should stop these letters. It doesn't.)

So, today I got a letter about the relative cheapness of Humalog. And a friendly little lecture about why most patients choose the lower cost option. Smart patients. Financially savvy patients. Patients who care about their health and their pocketbook.

Behold.

(Click to embiggen.)

I guess 0% of their patients are smart and savvy. I could be the first.

One More Thing

Get training on the Dexcom on Jan. 4. Hee hee.

I forgot to mention last time that my doctor has contnued to use me as a guinea pig. He put me on some heartburn medication to see if a ppi (proton pump inhibitor) response would help me. He says there is data that a ppi response can stimulate beta cells.

It took a week or so, but now I am having more lows than usual. He may be right. It's kind of exciting. I definitely need to lower my bolus rate a tad. So we'll see about that. In the meantime, "my precious" (dexcom) will help notify me of those lows.

Fun times at the endo. Plus CAPS. LOTS OF CAPS.

So, I went to the endocrinologist last week. He still loves me, thinks my attitude of "I want more beta cells and I don't care what I have to do to get them" is great. My a1c is still 6.3.

It's a nice rhyming number. (A1C! 6.3! There's a cheer in there somewhere.)

My LDL is also down to the 150's, so that's better, but we're still treating it. HDL still high, so that's good.

He also did some kind of sensitivity test, and my cardiac risk is low. I'm not sure what the test is called, because they DIDN'T SEND ME A COPY OF MY RESULTS, even though I ask every time.

I swear that nurse/tech/whatever her title is doesn't like me. I also left without a follow up appointment. It was weird.

"OK, I think I need to make an appointment for 3 or 6 months out."
"He didn't say. When you get your lab work then he'll tell you."
"It's never worked like that before. Can I just make an appointment now?"
"No."

OK, I'll leave now.

So, the real question I had for my doc was regarding my Dexcom. CGM. The Golden Ticket. WHY didn't I get one last time? Denied? What can I do now?

"Huh, I never heard back. Let me check on that."

Then he said he could trial me for a week, but they one they have cost him $800 out of his own pocket, and it wasn't charged, and I would have to BRING IT BACK because it cost him so much money, and I would have to be careful, and the nurse that usually educates on it isn't here, and it was pretty clear he didn't want to hand it over.

And...as it turns out, they never sent the request. That could be why I didn't get one. If my insurance or the Dexcom people don't know I want one, they don't magically send one out randomly. Funny how that works. So this time I stayed there until the request was faxed.

Then I went to lunch with my husband, after being scolded for wanting follow up care.

At lunch the Dexcom people called me. YES. They aren't in-network, but they know people who are, they will be calling me in the next couple of days.

Yada yada yada.....a bunch of phone calls and nagging of my doctor's office later.....IT'S HERE. TODAY. I AM JUMPING UP AND DOWN.

Did I mention that my deductible is met and it didn't cost me anything? 2 weeks later, that would have been quite the different story.

Did I also mention I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing? I guess I will be calling tomorrow to go meet with the nurse to have her show me what to do. While there, I'm going to schedule a follow up appt. You know, if they let me.

"Cause I've got a Golden Ticket...."

How Was Your Thanksgiving?

Diabetes can make Thanksgiving challenging. Which is surprising, you know, because it makes everything else SO EASY.

Anyway, this year we went over to a friend's house, which was lovely, because then I didn't have to clean. I still had to cook some stuffing, but that's OK, because it's one thing I can cook, and it's divine. Really.

Well, I bolused and ate the main meal. (and by "bolused" I mean "guessed completely" because I wasn't about to ask people exactly how much sugar they put in their yams and apples. Turns out: a lot).

An hour later they brought out the pie. Often I skip the desserts completely, because the GUESSING! Oh, the GUESSING, which leads to the SWINGING, which leads to the MIGRAINES, and leads to ALL CAPS, and my husband has to put up with my WHINING. But this is Thanksgiving and pie is required. The end. Well, I checked my sugars and saw slightly over 200. Oy. I guess the mealtime bolus was what we call "not great."

A GOOD diabetic would have waited until her sugars came down, or politely declined. A BAD diabetic would have just bolused more and attacked the pumpkin chiffon pie.

And as I ate piles of sugar with a starting bg of 204, I thought "May God have mercy on my kidneys." And He did. Because an hour later, I was 103, and the sugars stayed stable the rest of the day. But for the record, I have never taken more insulin in one day than I did this year on turkey day for one meal.

Pie. It's what helps. Who knew? How was your day?