The best way to change the world with diabetes? Is to BE diabetic.
Did someone say something ignorant to you about diabetes? Correct them.
Did someone post an offensive joke about diabetes on Facebook? Tell them why it sucks.
Does someone have questions about your insulin pump? Answer them.
See someone staring at your pump site? Explain to them what it is.
Need to take your injection? Do it.
In a world where the world views so ignorantly, the best way to change it is to raise awareness. No, not that “wear a ribbon” or “share this on Facebook” kind of awareness. I mean, REAL awareness. Wear your diabetes on your sleeve. Don’t hide it in your pocket. Don’t run to the bathroom so other people feel more comfortable. The only way we are going to get the things we deserve is to make the world painfully aware of what diabetes is like. Let’s tell them. The world would be a much better place if more people just GOT it.
The other day I was trying to explain to my husband why I love World Diabetes Day so much. This is the best way I could think of to describe it… It’s like Christmas. Not the gift giving part of Christmas. The hopeful, world peace, group hug part of Christmas. For this one day I feel like we all come together and embrace each other. It’s wonderful.
Something that has really changed over the last few years is that this day is being embraced by all of the “nons” of the world as well as the people living with diabetes. It is truly magical. It feels so good to have your friends and family support you in this small way. It’s awesome to spark so many conversations about life with diabetes.
This year was even more special.
This tattoo serves as a medical alert as well as a tribute to my camp family.
A few weeks ago I casually mentioned to my friend Al (who owns an AWESOME pizza shop/brewery near my house – Al’s of Hampden/Pizza Boy Brewing) that my diabetes camp is struggling for money and could really use an awesome fundraiser. I asked if he would be able to do some small event to raise a little bit of money to get more kids to camp.
Al & Terry telling us about the beer
His response has blown me away. Al and Terry (the brewer at Pizza Boy Brewing) have made a blueberry sour ale aged in Chardonnay barrels. They will be selling the beer starting December 1st and all proceeds of this beer through the month of December will be donated to send kids to diabetes camp!
Yesterday, World Diabetes Day, Al invited me and some other craft beer lovers (many of who are my friends) over to the brewery to try a sample of the beer. While the beer isn’t totally done yet, it was pretty freaking tasty! Not as sour as I expected. Very well rounded and universal. The kind of beer that everyone will love!
The good stuff!
It was so lovely to have everyone dressed in blue! And it was really exciting to have everyone talking about camp and diabetes and how important this fundraiser is. I am beyond thrilled!
It was like one big group hug!
This is a very popular camp song! We keep joking that when we check in this beer on UnTappd or when we talk about it on Twitter that we’ll tag it #MooseJuice!
On this World Diabetes Day, I’d like to talk about the thing that has truly made me the way I am. Diabetes does not define me, but the way I handle my diabetes does. There is one thing in my life that has contributed so much to my outlook on life and on diabetes.
Diabetes camp.
It is honestly the greatest thing my parents could have ever done for me. Diabetes camp has given me a whole ‘nother family. People I can relate to and who can relate to me. People I can call or text or email or Facebook when I’m upset about something.
Because of diabetes camp, I have always been exposed to new and interesting treatments and devices for people with diabetes. It has inspired me to always want the newest and the best things. I love trying out new things so that I can figure out the best way for me to be healthy.
It has also given me a purpose. There are few things in this world that I love more than my campers. I love being a role model. I love showing them, not only how to take care of themselves, but how to live life the way they WANT to without diabetes getting in the way.
You know how when you love something so much you feel like you were put on this earth for that reason? I feel like fate has given me diabetes so that I can use to help others.
Camp is an undeniably important piece of growing up with diabetes. It saddens me that there are kids out there who can’t go to diabetes camp or who’s parents don’t think it is important.
I credit it as the number 1 reason why I am so comfortable with my diabetes and why I have lived this well for this long.
So a week after starting this journey to bring my numbers down, I decided to plug in my Dexcom. When I saw the results, I was nearly in tears. My goal is get my A1C to 6.0 or lower. I want to be as close to “normal” as possible.
Once my Dexcom was plugged in, I went in and changed the date range to 7 days. I wanted to just see the results of the changes I made over the last week. I knew that I had improved things, but I had a few moments that I didn’t like. I had gone on a booze cruise over the weekend and I ran a little higher than I wanted. I had birthday cake for my mom’s 50th. There a few things I just wasn’t thrilled about. I mean, I wasn’t kicking myself or anything but I knew that those things could prevent me from reaching that 6.0 goal. Well, apparently despite those things, my week went the way I wanted it to.
My average blood sugar for that week… 127mg/dl!! That equates to a 6.0 A1C!!!
I couldn’t sleep after that. I was so jazzed. I can DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS! I’m so proud of myself and excited to keep moving on. I’m excited to bring that number down a little bit and to make that standard deviation smaller. Because I CAN DO THIS!
It sounds funny right? Everytime someone mentions a super bolus I picture a pump with a little red cape. I’m a dork. I know. But in all seriousness, I never really paid a lot of attention to this concept even though I know a lot of people have spoken about it.
Ramen has frustrated me for years. I love Ramen for many reasons: it’s cheap, it’s easy to eat at work, it warms me up when i’m shivering in my cold office, I put some cayenne pepper in it to clear my sinuses, etc. I try and try and try to get an acceptable post-pranidal number. I pre-bolus. I wait a half hour. I sit and watch my Dexcom until I can’t go any lower before I have to eat. No matter what I do, I still spike to 200. With my current goals and guidelines, that is unacceptable.
I declared I was going to eat low carb, but I was having a little trouble planning out my lunches with what was in my cabinets at home. So, I did some poking around and came back to this concept of the “super bolus.” It sounded like a good idea. And guess what? IT WAS!
Here is what I did:
I figured out what 80% of my basal would be (my current basal rate was 1.5u/hr so 80% of that is 1.2)
I multiplied it by 3 (so 3.6u)
I figured out my meal bolus for the carbs (my lunchtime ratio is 1u:6.5g and the ramen is 52g so that’s 8u)
I added the 3.6u and 8u to get 11.6u
I set a temp basal rate to 20% for the next 3 hours
Which there in itself proves that diabetics are awesome at math. The point of all this math, is to punch those carbs with a huge dose of insulin up front and get more insulin working at one time. Then to prevent your blood sugar from crashing, the basal is decreased and everything “equals out” in the end.
It really did work wonders for me:
To say that I am happy with the results would be an understatement. I am ECSTATIC! I’m stoked to be able to use this when I need to.
Now, I’m not going back to eating loads of carbs all the time. But it is really nice to have this in my pocket if I need it.
Since I’ve been experiencing tighter control, and generally lower numbers, I’ve also been experiencing… well, lower numbers. I’m so grateful to have my Dexcom to catch these lows and really figure out how my body is working right now.
Something I have discovered- most of the time, 15 carbs is way too much for me. If my blood sugar is 64 mg/dl, 15 carbs worth of juice or glucose tabs will SHOOT my blood sugar up to over the high end of my target range. I did not know this was happening before I was on my Dexcom. And I guess I didn’t really care. If I was 180 I was ok with that. But not anymore! I’m taking this more seriously!
This morning my Dexcom woke me up because I was 60. I ate 2 glucose tabs that were 5g a piece (so 10 carbs total). I’ve been hanging in the 120s ever since. BOOM!
So, already in my low carb journey I have had a moment where I had to break the rules. It was my mom’s 50th birthday. How could I not have a little piece of cake? It did not bode well for my blood sugar. I had to chase it most of the night. However, that was really the only thing I had with dinner that had carbs in it. So, it was easy to catch the highs real quick and bring my number down nicely.
Totally worth it! It was delicious, and I don’t feel guilty about it at all.
So… I think I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way I’m going to reach my goals is to improve my postprandial blood sugars. I have tried and tried and tried everything to fix my numbers without changing my diet and nothing seems to work.
Therefore, I am officially going low carb. Not like, Atkins zero carb or even really following the Bernstein Diet, but I’m going to make a conscious effort to eat less simple, white carbs that are extremely high on the glycemic index. This means, no more ramen, potatoes, white bread, white rice, or anything like that.
I’m kind of easing into it. Mostly because I have a lot of food at home that needs to be eaten before I start this new diet. Yesterday was my first day really doing this. The results were undeniable. I ate a banana for breakfast (I’ve heard some people can’t do bananas but they really don’t make my BG spike much at all as long as I bolus for it well in advance). Then for lunch I made myself a little taco salad with meat, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and hot sauce. It was really tasty and had very little impact on my blood sugar. Dinner wasn’t as bad as I expected either. We had chicken and rice (which is made with one of those rice-a-roni boxes) and I had a small bump but my BGs came down nicely.
I’m really thinking I can do this. For real this time. I’m cutting my carbs, and I’m going to lower my A1C. I’ve even told my family so they know what I’m trying to do and they can support me and/or nag me if need be. This is happening!
A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with hypothryoidism. I guess that’s the way to put it. Back in the summer before I started college I was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease, which is a form of hyperthyroidism. My doctor says that my current under active thyroid is a result of having an over active thyroid for so long. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like a big deal. It actually is a bit relieving. Now I know that I’m not just getting old, but that my thyroid wasn’t giving me the energy needed to feel awake and ready to go everyday.
So… the treatment for hypothyroidism is synthroid (Levothyroxine Sodium) everyday. Which again, isn’t a bid deal. You have to take it on an empty stomach with at least a cup of water and can’t eat anything for 30-60 minutes after you take it. Normally this isn’t a problem. I take it as SOON as I wake up. I even have a little alert pop on my phone so I see a reminder as soon as I pick it up. So far, it’s been going really well. I’m looking forward to it “kicking in” and hopefully feeling a little more energetic.
Today was a bit weird though and it was a situation that I hadn’t really thought of before. I woke up and took my synthroid like normal. Then all of a sudden I heard the buzzing of my Dexcom… 70. Crap. Well, I don’t want to eat anything because I want to get this stuff working. So I decided to just take of my pump/suspend my insulin for a little to try to bring up my blood sugar until I could eat. I jumped in the shower and went about my business. By the time I got out of the shower I was shaking. Dexcom read 56. Only about 20 minutes after I took my synthroid I had to eat something. I felt really defeated. I hope that it was enough time for my body to get what it needed from the pill. I hope that my diabetes doesn’t ruin the treatment for my hypothyroidism. I really didn’t foresee this being an issue and I have to say it is quite frustrating.
Anyone other insulin dependent folks out there on synthroid? Have you experienced a low like this? What did you do to treat it?
The past 2 days have been frustrating. Only once have I been able to get my blood sugar into a decent range, and it was only after I took 17 units of insulin (which is a lot for me). I have changed my set twice. I’m so hesitant to toss an open bottle of Humalog though. It’s just so expensive. Even with insurance. I mean… it’s WORKING but I’m thinking it’s just not working enough.
I’m going to have to bite the bullet today. Sigh.
I really need to get my life together here if I want to reach my goals. I have no one to blame but myself for these terrible numbers. If I want reach my goal by May, I have to get on track now.
Sweet Colleen 