Category: Blog

She’s keeping me on Protonix, 40 mg twice a day.

She added Reglan, 15 minutes before meals and Carafate 1gm at night.  Reglan is to aid stomach mobility.  The Carafate is in case it is bile acid and not stomach acid.  According to the drug information on the web it’s also for healing ulcers.

I get a sonagram of my gall bladded a week from Friday and get scoped the Monday after.

Another insulin pump on the market? 

Globes [online] is reporting that NiliMEDIX, a manufacturer of disposable insulin pumps from Israel, has filed a 510k fast-track application for FDA approval to market its devices in the US.

Source: NiliMEDIX Insulin Pumps – Medgadget – www.medgadget.com

Choice is always good.

My primary care physician and I are fed up with the pharmacy service (Medco), so he’s sending me to a gastroenterologist tomorrow.

My heartburn is actually worse before meals these days.  I still wake up sometimes at night.  I also have trouble with it after some meals.

I did best on Propulsid, but of course that is not an option.

 David just wrote about his wife’s death on his blood.  A very lovely love story and very sad.  My sympathys’ David.

My wife, Catherine Lee Nord, died Tuesday morning of liver failure. It was a complication of her diabetes. She was 69. We had been married for 11 years.

Source: Diabetes – In Memoriam

I found something that REALLY helped this year.  I went to bed an hour earlier.  Had to take sleeping pills to do it, but it helped.

It also helped that DST started the weekend before spring break.  I thought I was going to have trouble today, but it went fine. 

Daylight Savings Time

Source: Sleep Disorders: Information and advice on narcolepsy and insomnia symptoms and treatments

Yeah, I’m going to spring for a new pump.  It doesn’t give THAT many new features, but what the heck.  I do use it more than anything else.  I think I’ll change colors though.  Blue or Silver? 

The description is out on their website.  It looks like the basal/etc dosing is a bit more flexible.

Also more memory and records the carbs, etc. which will make logging a bit easier.

So I’m calling tomorrow and getting on the list.

 Or maybe, just remembering to code your meter whenever you open a new vial of test strips.  Seriously.  Especially since the Bayer meters are at a higher copay than the meters I use.

Blood glucose values that the 116 study participants got from their miscoded meters showed an average error ranging from plus 29 percent to minus 37 percent. “The autocoded meters used in this study gave BG values that results in the lowest risk of insulin dose error,” was to me the most significant result of the study. I know that if I used insulin, I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment before switching to one of these new meters.

Source: Diabetes – Misdosing Insulin

 It’s Lori’s original post that got me on this.  And she makes a very good point.

I’m not sure what to think about finding out that I am, at nearly 42, still so naive and hopeful to think that a person with diabetes can receive good medical care without being beaten or tasered or blamed for poor diabetes self-management.

Source: Very Old, Very Healthy Diabetic

Frankly, every time I treat a potential low, someone makes me feel guilty that my diabetes self-management requires me to eat a bit of sugar. 

The good news about the Portland incident, is that it is getting BOTH sides to think. 

I don’t think that the police officers involved did anything wrong UNLESS it is already addressed in the policy and they acted against the policy.  However, I do think that policy DOES need to be thought about a bit harder — I used to help with that sort of thing when I did K9 stuff, so I know that side.  

On the other hand, I hope it is a wake up call for the patient.  If you know you get combative when you go low, you owe it to everyone around you to make sure you don’t go low.

Oh, course, this is from the viewpoint of a Type 2 on an insulin pump.  Someone who hates to go low and treats a 90 blood sugar reading as a low.  However, I feel that I owe that not only to myself but everyone I’m going to encounter on the way.

I am not accusing anyone of bad diabetes management — I’m just saying that perhaps her own procedures need to be reviewed.

Having been trained as a police officer — this is a really tough call.

First, let’s be honest, the police officers and other responders do have the right to make it through their shift uninjured.

I’m not sure what their options are.  Are the responders comfortable with waiting until the woman passes out and then treat her?  A review and perhaps policy change is in order.

The woman, who went into diabetic shock and lost control in her home Saturday night, claims police used excessive force when an officer used a stun gun to make her stop struggling. She said she is afraid to call 911 again.

Source: KATU – Portland, Oregon

Of course, the best solution is to find a way to keep the hypoglymicia from happening.  Easy for to say when I’m a Type 2 and I have been able to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

First, I’m thrilled to read that the snatched baby was found so quickly.  Something I don’t get, but then again, I choose not to be a mother.  Or maybe I just never got around choosing to do it.  I have no idea why someone would take someone else’s baby. 

I took Friday off and did a three day agility trial.  My blood sugars were better than ever, but my blood pressure has been high.  Maggie Qed and took a first place on Friday and again today.  Finished her Novice JWW title.  Marcie and I continue being a few seconds short.  That isn’t going to change until my physical condition gets better.

Next week is spring break.  I’m seeing the cardiologist on Monday and fixing the blood pressure is top on the list.

Also working on my physical condition.  I’m not sure where to go — I’d like to find a personal trainer for one day a week, or maybe every other week.

I did miss one cardio and two weight workouts last week.  Both for dog agility.  I took an extra class on Wednesday and yesterday I was just too wiped out. 

And yes, the time change is doing me in — one of the reasons I skipped yesterdays workout is that the only way I knew I could handle the time change was to make the change on Saturday so I would get more sleep on Saturday night.  I think it helped but I am exhaused.

I’m ready for a break!