Living with Diabetes

Blog

  • First day

    This is going to be an interesting 4 days because most of the time I eat prepackaged food. I use a service called Diet Gourmet in Dallas, and they list nuition information on every meal. This trip I decided not to take it, especially since we pick up on Friday.

    I went out to a local restaurant, with a “local”, and a couple of Dallas agility friends. It was a very Louisiana style place with lots of fried food. In fact, Hush puppies were on the table.

    I had 3, and I had baked catfish with a cheese sauce which was out of this world. Probably as much fat as if I had fried, but at least I avoided the breading And I had no-carb veggies for the side and a salad. I ended up taking 4 units of insulin for the meal and was at 170 2 hours after the meal, which is fairly typical of evening meals, in fact a bit low — with the carb counts, I had ended up at 220.

    My TDD is going to be under 40, which has been typical of the past 5 or 6 days, so that again, shows I’m doing well.

    iShape has upped my cardio — they do something called periodization, and I’m up to 65 minutes of cardio most days. I can do it, but then I wear the boot the rest of the day.

    In the morning, I’m going to try to get up, take the girls out to pee, leave them in the room in cages with breakfast and cheesy toys, and go to the fitness center and do my 65 minutes. They do have 3 different cardio machines, a treadmill, a bike (yeck) and an elliptical trainer — I love them but they give me heel spurs.

    Marcie and I are in the ring at about 9:30, and Maggie will be shortly after. Then we wait a while for Marcie’s next run and then all day for Maggie’s. It will be long.

    I’m hoping that the concession will at least have hot dogs tomorrow.

  • In Monroe

    If you are traveling and need a place to stay, so far Jameson Inns is good (or is that are good?).

    I will have to see what their breakfast is like, it sounded pretty high in carbs, and mostly fast carbs but the high speed internet access is working well.

    Have been running a bit lower than I like and also a bit sleepy, which worked out well, I ended up stopping about every 45 minutes. It’s difficult to travel with dogs — and that is the point — this time of year, because you can’t leave them in the car.

    So it’s, stop somewhere, run in and do what you have to do and get back out as quick as possible. Also, being diabetic, I need frequent bathroom breaks, so the 45 minutes was pretty reasonable.

  • Almost packed and ready to go

    I’ve got to get my morning stuff out of the car and some shoes and I’m ready to go. Have dentist appointment first.

    Took the open box of cartridges, open box of sets, and box of IV-Prep — and added some Uni-solve, so I should be good to go on pumping supplies. Plus refilled my “emergency” carry around set. Infusion sets and cartridges can’t just be picked up anywhere, and who knows if there is a pumping CDE in Monroe, LA. Hopefully I only have to do one set change, but I have been known to rip out a set while trialing. Several times during runs.

    I LOVE having the new CPAP machine, as packing that is always stressful and I have to do it the morning of. Plus when I get back, I have to re set it up. No more, now that I have the old machine and spares. I set up the old machine yesterday afternoon and packed all the new stuff. The old machine is different — it just blows where the other one matches my breathing somewhat. It’s a different sensation. I also used a slightly different model of mask, but I think I slept okay. Anyway, all that is packed in and the car.

    I’m also looking forward to the three sets of crates, and I’ll drop one set off when I get to Monroe. Since it’s a four day trial, it makes sense to have a set of crates at the show site, a set of crates in the car and a set of crates in the motel. Now I can do what I normally do, which is leash the girls to move them instead of having to pack and unpack crates constantly.

    I’ve got a bottle of Aprida that I just opened, and am taking a bottle of Novalog just in case. I wish I could store them in two seperate places, but because of the heat, that won’t work out. They are in a bag I will remember to keep with me and not leave somewhere hot. Also have a Novolog pin and plenty of pin needles (I keep a bag of them in the car, along with lancelets, just in case).

    Turned in one assignment that is due this weekend. I’ve got another one done that is due Monday, and hanging on to that. And I backed up all my CECS files to a CD-RW just in case the network server goes down. Plus it is a hassle to upload and download. I should just have to do discussion posting for both classes.

  • New pictures of the dogs

    I have pictures from the USDAA trial we went to a few weeks ago at Dog Pictures

  • Losing weight and the pump

    I have been conducting my own scientific study with a participant of one, and probably using very questionable research methods. But I have “figured” some things out when it comes to losing weight and the pump that work for me.

    This is primarily for me, so I can go back and look at it. However, it would be interesting to find out if other people have had similar results.

    Here’s what I have figured out (in the second person but it does apply to me).

    You can eat whatever you want and control your blood sugar while on the pump. You also gain weight when you do that, and it doesn’t take much to push the envelope on controlling your blood sugar. You have to constantly track your corrections and blood sugar because eventually your TDD (Total Daily Dosage) of insulin will go, causing your carb ratios and/or basal rates to go up.

    If you drop carbs you will drop insulin usage. Dropping carbs can often stabilize blood sugar, at least it does for me.

    If you exercise, you will drop insulin usage. Strength seems to drop basal rates for me over a long term. I have stopped strength training occasionally and see my basal rates rise.

    Cardio exercise only affects blood sugar temporarily. However, doing it every day, drops blood sugar and insulin usage every day.

    Too much fat and too much protein does affect blood sugar levels and does affect weight loss. Just not as much.

    When I am able to drop insulin usage down to a certain amount, I tend to lose weight. If my insulin usage is higher than a certain amount, I tend to gain weight. Weight gain tends to be faster than weight loss.

    When I do drop insulin dosage, I tend to be able to decrease carb to insulin ratios. It tends to take several weeks to stabilize the insulin dosage, and I tend to go low then. It’s important to test more often, sometimes hourly to prevent the low.

    By the way, you can’t play these games as easily with injections. In particular, you can’t fix the basal rate as easily — nor can you fix lows as easily. When I get the starts of a low (I try hard not to go low enough to be truly low), I turn on the temporary basal AND do two lifesavers. With shots, you have to wait until the next day, decrease the dosage and then correct all day.

  • Tarsal Tunnel & Other Update

    I went without the boot most of the day on Sunday, and the pain was back but not as bad this morning, so except for treadmill time, I have worn the boot today.

    It’s not bad to walk in as long as I wear a shoe with a decent sole height. Sandel works well.

    This is definately overuse and weight related. When I double the treadmill mileage it started and running agility made it worse.

    Thus, Saturday I weighed skipping the treadmill and giving it a rest. Giving it a rest won but I think I’ll make it up tomorrow. Tomorrow is a scheduled off day but I think getting some weight off will help more than resting will.

    FYI: Blood sugars have been low for the most part but weird. It might be a mild effect from the depo provera shot on Friday, but I’ve been either normal or slightly high all weekend. Today was even weird, as it was higher after lunch than usual, though I’d done my cardio in the morning, but after dinner was low. It just means I have to keep watching.

    Master’s classes are going well. I got my first grade back on one class, and haven’t seen any grades yet on the other, but I think I’m doing well since it consists mostly of discussing reading.

  • Traveling

    I’m taking the girls to a 4 day agility trial in Monroe. We went for 2 days last year. This is the first time I’ve traveled since I tried to go to Monoco and the first time alone, probably since the trip last year.

    Today, I made sure that my laptop worked and had the right software. I haven’t touched it since school was out. I also installed Firefox on it. If it weren’t for the fact I’m taking two online classes, I would be very tempted to leave it at all. The hotel is supposed to have wireless access in the room. I brought network cables and phone cables just in case.

  • DLife

    DLife continued with their improved format which is MUCH better than the old.

    They covered issues I’m not concerned with. I never drank much before I was diagnosed and have never done recreational drugs.

    The depression aspect was also good. I struggled against that myself since diagnosed, but as of now, haven’t felt the need for clinical help.

  • DLife

    DLife continued with their improved format which is MUCH better than the old.

    They covered issues I’m not concerned with. I never drank much before I was diagnosed and have never done recreational drugs.

    The depression aspect was also good. I struggled against that myself since diagnosed, but as of now, haven’t felt the need for clinical help.

  • This research helps after my Depo decision

    The Well-Timed Period: Bone Density and Depo-Provera

    Bone Density and Depo-Provera