Tasty

I ate a chocolate croissant today at lunch. (not FOR lunch, just AT lunch.) Well, half of one. My husband brought home samples from a bakery and I kind of NEEDED it. Apparently, though, I did not guess right on the amount of carbohydrates, because an hour after lunch I went low.

So then I HAD to eat the other half.

Bummer.

Dream A Little Dream

I've really been getting into this whole exercise thing lately, and Jillian Michaels has been on my TV a lot. Last night I tried her "yoga meltdown" which was less "breathe and stretch, just go as far as you can" and was more "Rep it out! Come on! You can do this! Sun salutations - FASTER!" which was a little jarring when it wasn't what I was expecting. It was still a good workout, though, and hey, expectations can shift. It's all good.

Except then last night I was dreaming that I was hiking with Jillian and some other nameless, faceless people, when we reached our destination and I asked Jillian for some juice because I was shaking pretty badly and thought I was going hypo. She of course reached for the juice, and poured me a glass, but I couldn't get to it, because, you know, it was a dream. Since I couldn't get the juice, I tried to get to the candy in my pocket, but it too was not cooperating. (You know those dreams where you have to pee in your dream, but you can't go? It was like that.) Then I woke up. I wasn't still shaking, but my heart was racing, and I thought I had better check my sugars just in case my body was sending me a message. Yep. 60s. This time the candy was available, though, so that was comforting.

This is the second time I've had a dream when I'm low. I wonder if that happens often to other people.

So - doing a hard workout before bed - not the best idea in the world. I often do yoga at night, it's very relaxing, but I suppose I'll have to stick with the calming, soothing kind. Jillian can wait until morning.

Still Alive. Take THAT, Nature!

2 year anniversary has come and gone. I'm still alive. Bummer that it costs so much to keep me that way, though. My insurance keeps sending me letters about how Humalog is cheaper than Novolog. I'm not super comfortable with switching insulins though, so too bad, baby.

Also, ONCE in a while, can I Google a disease and NOT see diabetes as a risk factor? Just once. I guess I just need to stop Googling.

In other news, my dental hygienist's assistant (oh yeah I am a priority there, baby) hates that I have wisdom teeth. "They're so hard to floss." she whined as she violated my mouth. Sorry, honey, I should have thought of your job when I decided not to have them pulled. How inconsiderate of me.

Latest Utah Trip

First of all, the weather was the worst I've ever seen it. The inversion and the smog was so bad, you could barely see or breathe, with warnings posted everywhere (DRIVE LESS) and people telling you not to go outside if you don't have to. I'm sorry, but how bad does the summer have to be before you say "16 degrees with no breathable air is better than this."?

In other news, the a1c was 6. It's been better, but that's not bad. Not bad at all.

Warning. May Cause....

(Back to 10 units of Lantus. That lasted a week. I really think the z pack lowered my sugars. I have no other explanation.)

Years ago, I heard a famous nutritionist (I know he was famous because it was on TV) - I can't remember his name - say something to the effect of "if the benefits of exercise could be put into a pill, it would be the most prescribed medication of all time. Just think of it as a pill that takes 10 minutes to take." (or something to that effect.)

So, like any medication, exercise has its side effects. And so, I give you the small print:

Side effects of this medication may include, but are not limited to:

- increased thirst
- increased hunger
- weight loss
- weight gain
- fatigue
- irritability
- lowered blood sugars
- raised blood sugars
- muscle pain
- joint pain
- injury
- dehydration
- nausea
- increased sense of "self-righteousness"
- homicidal thoughts, often directed towards the trainer
- may induce thoughts of entering "marathons"

Please be aware that all of these side effects are considered "normal" and you should continue to take this medication as dierected - i.e. every day for the rest of your life.

Wouldn't it be great if they had to list these on commercials for gym equipment/memberships and exercise DVD's the way they have to for all the medications they promote? Nobody would do a leg lift ever again.

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.

Diabetic Blogging. Cool.

So apparently it's dblog day. I really need to get more involved in the diabetic blogging community - but somehow this blog doesn't like me to add links. I keep trying, just to people I know, (non-diabetic) and some diabetes blogs I read occasionally. It always freezes - but I will admit I haven't looked into it too much - I just go "AAAA! It froze again!" and move on.

So the topic is: 6 things I wish people knew about diabetes. It will be Type I specific because that's what I deal with. Here goes!

1. I DID NOT CAUSE THIS. IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED BY A BETTER DIET, MORE EXERCISE, ETC. I get asked by a lot of people if I used to be fat, and that's what caused this. Nope. Just "lucky". Even with Type 2, there is often a genetic link, and while some of Type 2 is definitely lifestyle, that never tells the whole story. NEVER. Do not assume someone has diabetes because they were lazy or ate too much crap. We don't like it, and it's not true.

2. I am thinking about diabetes basically, all the time. That's what we do. It's not always in the front of my mind, but it's always there. I have to plan my meals, my exercise, pretty much everything around my blood sugar. If someone says "hey, let's go here" I have to think about how that disrupts my routine. Will it mean I have to skip a meal? If so, I better bring plenty of snacks - does it mean I will be exercising more? If so, I have to adjust my dosages accordingly. I don't mind disrupting my routine, and I'm happy to "go here" with you, but I have to think about it. It's annoying.

3. The enemy is not sugar. It's ALL carbohydrates - and not all carbohydrates are created equal. Handing me a piece of "sugar-free" cake means you're giving me something filled with refined flour and Splenda. Refined flour = carbohydrate = sugar. Sugar= I need insulin to eat that. People don't get this, including medical personnel - I've been in the hospital where they gave me food but wouldn't let me take insulin because they wanted to administer all my meds. Fine - this meal would require 2 units - can I have 2 units of Novolog please? They wouldn't give it to me, either, because my pre-meal sugars were fine. Well, OK then. I can't eat this. Carbohydrates require insulin. Period. Even fat and protein eventually require insulin - but not as quickly.

4. Yes, technically, I can eat what you eat. But I don't. This will vary from person to person, of course. Some diabetics will bolus (take extra short acting insulin) for whatever. I find that most desserts do not warrant the pain in the tuckus it requires to eat them. I have to give myself an extra shot, or take extra at the meal and then make sure I eat dessert while the insulin is still in effect, and then monitor my sugars carefully. If I go too high, I have to give myself another shot later to bring them down, or if I gave too much insulin, and go low, I have to eat fast acting sugar (candy, juice, etc.) to bring it back up, and then hopefully I didn't eat too MUCH candy and send it too high, causing a horrible cycle. But yes, I can do that. I've often heard people say "so what if you go high - can't you just give yourself a shot and you'll be ok?" Well, yes and no. Because the blood sugar swing is bad, and I hate the way it makes me feel. Going high and then dropping quickly is not a fun sensation. Going low is terrifying. It's so much easier - for me - to pass on the brownies, thank you.

5. Things that raise blood sugar: too many carbs, not enough insulin, stress, adrenaline, certain medications, hormones, sickness, the list can go on and on. One thing I have definitely learned is that nothing in the body exists in a vacuum. Everything is connected. Things that lower blood sugar: insulin, and exercise. Exercise is great because it makes you super insulin sensitive, they call it "invisible insulin" and it can help you control your sugars better, as it continues to boost your insulin sensitivity for hours afterwards. (Some people can go high with exercise, though, and then drop. It's weird.) However, since exercise can lower sugars quickly, I must be careful about when I exercise (I try to do it 2 hours post meal, if possible) and how much I exercise, and pay close attention to how I feel while doing it.

6.This disease makes no sense. We try, and try, and try, to force rationality onto it, but a random high or low reading can show up when things have been completely normal. It makes me really really mad, since I am working my butt off to keep things as close to normal as possible, but nope. Weirdness. I am trying not to let the bad readings tick me off too much, and I am failing miserably at it. However, I am always willing and happy to talk about it. Questions do not bother me. In fact, you might get an earful when you weren't looking for one. I am still relatively newly diagnosed, so there's still quite a bit I don't know, (i.e. I don't know a lot about pumps - I've never had one) but I like to talk about it - let people know what it's like living with a disease like this.

And finally - if I ask you for candy - give it to me NOW.

There are so many other things I could talk about, what going high feels like, what going low feels like, the emotional adjustment, the increased doctor's visits, the cost, but hey. I've got to stop somewhere, right? Happy diabetes awareness month!

(Other blog posts can be found here.)