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?

News Since Thanksgiving

For a couple of weeks, my ear and throat had been hurting. Ear infection. Oweeee. No wonder babies cry when they get these. I went to a Walgreens walk-in clinic and they prescribed a z-pack of antibiotics the day before Thanksgiving.

(For the record, I am now a fan of walk-in clinics at Walgreens for minor medical problems. SO much easier.)

Thanksgiving was easy, the sugars were really stable. And then, that night, the lows began. I was really surprised, because hypo events are fairly rare for me. And I kept going low for a few days for no inconceivable reason. I wasn't even exercising, because, hey...Thanksgiving. Family in town. It was very weird, and eerily similar to a few days after the first infusion.

I couldn't think of anything that was different, except for the antibiotics. I couldn't find anything online that said antibiotics lowered blood sugars, but maybe they do? I briefly started getting excited that I was getting a bit better. But you know, if a z-pack cured diabetes, I'm pretty sure people would know about that.

And so, I (shhhh!!) lowered my Lantus dose once again down to 8. It's been a few days, and the sugars have been fine so far, so that's good, I guess. I'm a little cautious, because last time I went to 8, I ended up going back to 10 pretty soon afterwards. The control was just SO much easier at 10 - premeals below 100, instead of btw 100-120. (Not to mention the a1c was better.)

I'm going to wait and see. Pretty much par for the course with this disease, I guess.

Just for the record.

That anxiety I mentioned? (I did mention it briefly, it's OK, you don't have to look through old boring posts.) Turns out, it's a possible side effect of the study drug (teplizumab). Who knew?

It's gotten much, much, better. So that's good.

Oh, and the burning feet? Also a possible side effect. Fabulous. And that hasn't gone away. It's hard to know, though, because nerve damage is also a side effect of diabetes.

(I just had Thanksgiving dinner. It was yummy. I hope I managed to dose accurately.)

I am so putting up Christmas tomorrow.

Thanksgiving and Diabetes

I am currently about an hour away from eating my first Thanksgiving meal as a diabetic. I have no idea what the carb count will be. Heaven help me. I am not kidding - divine intervention would be very welcome.

Let's face it. You can talk all you want about gratefulness, family time, etc., and that's all there. It IS. But when push comes to shove, Thanksgiving is about the food. And anything that's about food means it's about diabetes as well. It's always there, nudging you when you look at the stuffing and mashed potatoes, chastising you for even THINKING about that pie. Is it worth another shot hours later for it? Yes? No?

Frankly, diabetes is always an unwelcome visitor, and I'm tired of it. And oh yeah, I have decades of this ahead of me, if I'm lucky. So I guess I better get used to it. Gah, that's a depressing thought.

Ok, breathe. One day at a time. I can do this.

I may just have to resign myself to having a weird blood sugar day. But frankly, I can't stand weird blood sugar days, not only do they make me feel awful, but I know they are damaging to just about everything in my system.

I am snapping out of my self indulgent whining now (but...but...this disease sucks, and I want everyone to know it, all of the time....whine, whine,SMACK) and focusing on the fact that we've had fabulous friends here this week, and it really has been fun. I am thankful for that. Also, cheese has no carbs. Awesome.