No Resolutions just goals.

Be kind

Start Sweatabetes

4:45 or faster at Fargo Marathon

4:30 at Chicago, steep but why not?!?!

2:10 Monster Dash Half

60 minute or less Get Lucky 10k

199.9 or less. 

36 waist

Start MBA

A1c of 6.0

FTW!!

Pre blood sugar: 127

50% basal 30 minutes 

Active insulin on board: 1.525

Post lower body: 65 blood sugar 10g  quick stick, 1 hour temp basal 25%. 

11 minutes left on temp basal, .2 onboard, 10g carb

Finishing blood sugar 89!!!

Warm up:

Minutes speed      BPM.      Actual

0 - 2      3.5/1%.   83 - 125 116

2 - 4.     4.3/1%.   125-135 145 

4 - 6.     4.7/1/%.  135-155 157

6 - 8.     5.1/1%.   155-160 166

8-10.     5.5/1%.   160-175 173

Stretch:

Weights:

Intervals:

4:00 zone 3 169-181. 174@5.9

1:00 zone 1 142-154. 161@4.0

4:00 zone 3 169-181. 178@5.9

1:00 zone 1 142-154. 157@3,5

4:00 zone 3 169-181. 179@5.9

1:00 zone 1 142-154. 157@3.0

4:00 zone 3 169-181. 178@5.9

1:00 zone 1 142-154. 161&3.0

4:00 zone 3 169-181. 180@5.9

1:00 zone 1 142-154. 170@3.8

5:00 cool down:

147@3.3

135@3.2

End at 130. Total distance 2.49 total time 30 minutes. 

89 final 

The Gold Medal or Blood Sugar, same thing

You ever watch the Olympics? Could be summer could be winter, both have great events. Lets look at Winter Olympics in this situation. I've seen some great single and some great double ice skating routines, I mean these skaters are GREAT! They'll have an announcer and they'll say "oooh, they made a mistake that's going to cost them a point" but the rest of the world is saying "OMG you're totally going to win this!" A lot of the time its when the TV Announcer looks at the video in slow motion and they say - oh ooh they're going to lose a point because their toes aren't exactly lined up like they should be.

When it comes to diabetes I believe other diabetics are the crowd and non-diabetics are the judges. Very quick to say "oh you can't eat that can you?" or "are you supposed to do that?"

Here's a story to prove my point:

Earlier I read the following Facebook post from my sister. Said this "Christmas blood sugars: 112, 84, 59, 130, 86, and 100..not bad  huh Douglas Scalia?"

I responded: "Way better than mine!"

Some other person responded: "That 59 isn't so good for you or baby"

Chris Carter says it best, "C'mon MAN, COME ON!" 59 is low or bad? C'mon Man! I didn't say my blood sugar was 30, 45, 300, 225, 56, and then at bedtime was 100" I said it was 112, 84, 59, 130, 86 and 100!!!!!" C'Mon Ma'an that's an average of 106!!!!!! FUCK ME! What else do you want from me?

I'd fucking kill for my blood sugar average to be 106! I was going to post on the string of Facebook comments but decided to take my anger out here instead.

One little blip and we're judged, unfair but a fact of life. I shared it on my blog because I know only people with Diabetes read it or people who care about me so either way its people that understand. If someone finds this blog on accident and they don't know jack about diabetes, c'mon man, learn something and educate yourself on it. Someone tells me their blood pressure is 150 over 300 I don't say "holy shit that's fucking high" mostly because I don't know what the fuck it means!

If you don't know what you're talking about don't comment, maybe ask "Is that good or bad?" and let me explain to you how the average works out. Don't ask if you don't want to know, I'll tell you if you ask so be ready for an explanation. If you don't care, and there are things I don't understand and I don't care to understand, shut your mouth.

And with that, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Portion Control

Had Christmas with my mom and siblings today. My mom made lasagna and it was delicious. I told myself today I could eat it but also knew I had to have some self control and not gorge myself. I think I did pretty well but wish I did better I told Sarah Hankle that I ate half as much as I could have but also ate twice as much as I wanted to. In the end I'll consider it a win. 

Looking at the meal I could have made it better by having a salad first and a nice veggie choice such as green beans or broccoli. The salad and veggies would have made me feel fuller earlier and maybe I could have cut half the carbs out that way too. 

Eating with others you have a lot less control so you have to just make due. I did see a pile if cookies that I avoided though! Big win skipping those!!

I started using myFitness pal based on a recommendation and I only have 260 calories left for the day but I also have a interval run to do this evening. 

Photo of lunch. 

Dawn phenom

Dawn phenomenon is when blood sugars rise in the morning for no apparent reason. Woke up at 109 and suddenly 140, could a shower alone cause the rise? I bolus'd a half unit prior to my shower. Some things are just not explainable. 

Knock on wood

Today at the Adults with Type 1 Diabetes meeting put on by JDRF there was a newly diagnosed woman named Haley Doyle. Haley was very upbeat and positive about her diabetes even though it caused some serious concerns towards her long term goal of graduating from the Naval Academy and making all the requirements the government has on its military personal.

Beyond the speaker other things came up such as Ketoacidosis (KDA) - I'm not even going to try and explain what it is but I have a link here from the American Diabetes Association for your review:

http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/ketoacidosis-dka.html

Diabetic Retinopathy - Diabetic eye disease, damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. Loss of vision may result.

Dawn Phenomenon - the early-morning rise in blood glucose level (4 - 8 a.m.)

Low Blood Sugar -

Diabetic Coma -

Man - all these things are SCARY but they need to be talked about. Unsure if I've ever been through KDA and I'm 100% sure I haven't gone into a diabetic coma, they're both scary to think about. I remember my early years as a diabetic I would go to bed with my blood sugar high because I was afraid of dying in my sleep. Enough time went by where I trusted what I was doing and wasn't afraid to die in my sleep but now the worry for me is what about other complications? By having these early fears did I create a long term problem by running high?

Diabetic coma, phew, big sweat drop off the eye brow on that....could be a literal and figure comment because I've been quite sweaty on some of my low blood sugar instances. If I sweat I worry, that's an extreme low and a "oh shit, I'm around Doug and I know he's not ok" type of feeling, this feeling sucks too. I feel very fortunate that I haven't ever passed out due to a low blood sugar. The lowest I have read my meter and been awake for it was 15, true story.

In the end I wonder to myself and out loud on this blog "Am I a bad diabetic?" Shouldn't I know everything that can go wrong with me, shouldn't I know what it feels like to have KDA or not? I should at least understand how to read a test strip. I've had diabetes since 1999 and I didn't know the difference between Basal and Bolus until I went on the pump almost 2 years ago, almost 15 years of being a diabetic and the first 13 I was clueless.

The thing I've found most helpful in the last 2 years has been the diabetes online community and support of the JDRF adults with type one group. Early I wish I had come to some of these JDRF Meetings, their are a lot of great people who know exactly how you feel. It sometimes sucks to try and explain how a high or low feels but its amazingly wonderful to sit in a room and listen to someone such as Haley Doyle explain how she goes into survival mode wanting to eat everything in site to recover from a low, talk about BEEN THERE DONE THAT!

I hope you've enjoyed this post, please share with a friend if you learned anything or enjoyed the read. Time to test and go to bed!

Sitting in the locker room

As I sit in the locker room I'm reflecting on the difference between a diabetic and a non diabetic and how simple things like working out create so many things to think about. 

When was my last bolus?

Do I have active insulin on board?

Should I temp basal?

Should I partial dose for dinner or work out before and dose after?

Will my blood sugar go up or down this work out?

Do I trust my cgm or test throughout? 

If I trust my cgm do I trust IT more than I trust myself?

I was riding low all afternoon, my cgm read me in the 50'd but I was usually in the 80's when I tested so I knew I was ok. 

Going into the workout I was 112 and I started with a weight routine. My doctor and everyone else I know says blood sugar goes up during this type of activity so no temp basal. I wasn't sure the mood if be in for cardio or not so I tested after weights and was 166, cgm read 141. 

Jumped on the dread mill and a mile in I had double arrows up in my cgm but I didn't correct because I know the cgm is about 20 minutes behind. Post run I'm 196 and the cgm is 240. I'm still not going to correct but rather going to use this as part of my long term science experiment. 

Lots to consider vs changing, working out, changing and going home. 

What 112 pre and double arrows up looks like:

Confused

Here are my readings today:

4:17 pm 59

2:57 pm 61

2:27 pm 75

1:44 pm 99

1:06 pm 46

12:04pm 71

9:35 am 129

6:57 am 175

5:55 am 116

12:00 am 66

Bolus info in the day = 18.8 units 

Fruit at breakfast. 57 carbs in a mocha. 15 carbs in some other thing. 30 grams in quick sticks. I shoveled twice but really don't understand the lows. Plan mining a hour run later so I may set a temp basal at 5:30 and run it 50% for 3 hours and see where I end up. 

Two for one!!

Light hearted or serious story first? I'll give you the light hearted story which is the reverse order on the day....

I met withy wife for lunch and we were discussing where to eat lunch. She wanted tacos I wanted panera for a salad or samwhich so we went to taco johns. 

I ordered the #7 which looked about the healthiest in the menu but really who knows with anything fast food?!  Bolused for 80 g carbs as a guess because I couldn't get their website to work in my phone. 

While eating the potato oles, Stacey found a hair in their! Gross, but I took a shot dammit, now what?!?!

Mcdonalds is across the street so I figured I would get a cooler or something sweet. Now that would be a good idea if I got a small but even a small was 75 g carbs. I got a large but oh no it doesn't stop there!!! Yes sir ma'am or whoever I got chocolate chip cookies too, yes ies, so here is the original math for you...,

Original bolus = 80 carbs

Needed to cover what I actually ate was 45 carbs

New correction 110 cooler and 63 cookies. Grand total of 218 carbs!!!! Funny earlier in the day I was telling some others I wished to cut my daily carb intake down to less than 150...I doubt that possible. 

PART TWO

 So I was with customers for all three if these calls until I finally figured out "this might be Becky" so I explained to my clines I needed to quick check the voicemail and upon discovering it WAS my sister I again excused myself to call her and see what's up. I thought, she would call 911 and not me if there were an emergency right? It wasn't as big if a deal a I thought. I called and quick gave an answer and told her I would call back after my clients left. 

The issue:

4 blood sugar readings within minutes of one another that varied between 150-210. I asked "why did you test 4 times" and a cry legit response if "I'm usually low at this reading". My sister is in her first week or so if diagnosis and she's really on top of the numbers, more than I was when I was diagnosed. I'm sure the doctors are also looking for patterns at this stage so I'm Glad she's catching on. 

I drove to her work since she's close enough because I wanted her to use a drop of blood on her meter and in mine so she could see they'll be close but likely never the same. I the. Did the same with a drop of blood from me. Here are her results:

 Here are mine:

Here she is, happy:

H

Week 1 for type 1

So it's probably been about a week now since my sister went into the doctor for an issue if some type. They put her in insulin, Nph and Humalog. They didn't tell her if she was type 1 or 2 though. The doctors wanted to wait for some blood tests too before making the final diagnosis. 

It started in Wednesday, my duster and u started texting blood sugars to one another. Wednesday night we we chatting in the phone and I suggested she go but some glucose tablets incase she had a low. Upon explaining the severity her husband went to walgreens, make it known, I would have gone too for her. 

Friday was the day she was supposed to find out and wouldn't you know it that Friday was the day. I sent her a text in the morning saying "thinking if you today" she replied "thanks I love you". Later in the day I got the text "it's type 1"

I thought "this sucks hit she can do it." My sister and I have always had so much in common and now god threw something else to bring bus even closer. 

I've been really impressed with the readings she's been getting, I haven't seen one over 200 and other than the one 56 she hasn't gone low that I've seen. Her being diagnosed really makes me think about my diabetes and the attitude I've brought to the table regarding it. 

I've always had a thing against "you can't eat that because you're a diabetic" that I've come to realize "just because I can doesn't mean I should" this very phrase has been my argument for a poor diet telling people "I eat what I want and take insulin to cover it". I should be thinking "the less carbs I eat the less insulin I have to take, therefore creaing a more stable blood sugar. 

I'll leave you with a photo of our text exchange tonight. If you're reading this blog I believe you'll agree, 100 should always be posted on Facebook or twitter. 

Oh and a reminder, she's pregnant! Quit wearing glasses as a result of her diagnosis and the baby is doing well. 

What I remember

I remember the doctor doing a couple of tests and leaving the room and coming back a bit later saying "I've got good news and bad news, the bad news is you've got diabetes and the good news is you were right about your self diagnosis that you've got diabetes"

I remember my mom couldn't go to St. Louis Park with me later that day but my brother Andrew could and did.

I remember talking with my grandmother and she says "I've done nothing for you but give you diabetes" - God rest her soul, she did more than that.

I remember being so wasted I did a bolus but unsure for how much and scared the shit out of some of my family, that was a scary day, I use the word remember loosely.

I remember the first time I stuck myself, the syringe was empty and it was a practice run.......stuck that sucker right in but pulled it right out.

I remember the first situation I encountered diabetes as a non diabetic, it was a teen drinking situation and this kid said "no, I can't drink, I'm diabetic" and all I remember is being puzzled and wondering what is diabetes and why can't you drink. I even remember exactly where I was but unsure of who all I was with.

I remember a girl friend of mine, her step dad was diabetic and she let me eat his emergency candy because I had a sweet tooth.

I remember when I would go to bed with a high so I wouldn't worry about dying in my sleep.

I remember one time an employer called me 100 times because they were worried I was dead because I was late to work and that wasn't normal.

I remember eating dinner at my aunts and wanting more to eat and her response was "you can't do that" - remember, grandma was diabetic? I wonder what other things they didn't know back then

I remember the text from my sister saying she has a type of diabetes

I remember talking to her giving her stories and saying "do you even want to talk about this" she still doesn't have an official diagnosis though...

I remember working at Perkins and losing weight, peeing, and being thirsty thinking I was a diabetic but I didn't have insurance, one of my managers was diabetic but he was positive and told me "I'm sure you don't" I also remember his kit he carried his insulin/syringe kit in.

I remember changing my lancets every time I tested, haha that's kind of funny(also remember using a new syringe every time although if I were on shots still I would recommend a new one each use, they can really get dull quick.

I remember my meter taking 30 seconds for a reading but I also remember the last test thinking 5 seconds was a long time

I remember a becoming aware of JDRF and all the good they do

I don't remember the day they found a cure

What do you remember?

This post is inspired by my sister Rebecca whom I love very much and don't know the answer to her situation quite yet. Talking with her has made me remember lots of things and lots of stuff I wish I knew along the way. There are many other things I remember that aren't posted here but my hopes are my diabetic friends and family will post a comment about something they remember about diabetes. 

I wish I knew someone with diabetes when I was diagnosed, I'm extremely thankful for the #doc #pwd #dsma #jdrf #insulindependence #ada #twitter #facebook and any other source, its been so nice meeting and getting to know people with similar situations. 

Don't understand

This morning I woke up with a blood sugar 92 in my meter. I set a temp basal of 0% for 30 minutes and tested again an hour later before I got started for my run. This next test I was 125 and I usually burn a shit ton if carbs during a run so I did another 30 minute temp basal. To keep me low for my run. I only did 2 miles this morning as I'm trying to focus in keeping cardio alive but not ware myself out before official training starts. So anyway after my run I was 121. FTW right? Wrong 😞

Here is a pic if my numbers this morning:

I had to bolus 5.6 with a recovery rate if 1:25. The part I don't get is my basal rate is 1.5 from 3:00 - 8:00 a.m do at most I missed out 1.5 units, what's with the 5.6 recovery? 2 hard boiled eggs and a package if mixed nuts, that's maybe another unit....

At least I have the cgm and the body awareness to help tell me I'm going up. 

Monday confusion

Woke up at 282, how is that possible? I went to bed at 127, had a small mixed seed snack with a 1.5 bolus...I should have been fine, right? Anyway to correct I only took 3 units even though weight training is supposed to make you go higher I wasn't sure how active insulin would impact things. I had two hard boiled eggs and headed out of the house. 

I set my alarm for 4:30 thinking I could go to the gym in the morning but I asked my wife to set hers for 6:00 as a back up. I hit snooze a few times but then decided, let's go!

Started off with the normal stretch and worked my wY upstairs to the elliptical for a 5 minute warm up then moved to weights:

Bench assist 3 sets 15

Dumbbell thingys 3 sets 15 (12 last set)

Lat pull down 3 sets 15

Stand up row thing 3 sets 15

Moved into core and then elliptical. Prior to elliptical I was 275. Post elliptical I am 220. Correction bolus if 3.95...too much? Considering a shower with no insulin I should be on. Going to have a protein shake and get to the day. 

Update the day

Well this morning I let you know I was playing in the Sunday 11:00 $30 buy in. Somehow I outlasted 142 players and tied for 1st. $30 into $750 or so. 

Regarding food, I had the two eggs and nuts I mentioned earlier and only had coffee and water from the time I started playing until minutes ago. I ate Panda Express for dinner though, pretty sure I caught up my caloric intake for the day. I'm hoping to be full until bedtime but the Sunday night football game looks like it should be pretty decent. 

Blood sugars in the day are as follows:

255 @ 8:30

168 @ 9:44

191 @ 11:26

140 @ 2:40

108 @ 6:10

120 @ 7:10

Hopefully I read the nutritional IMHO correct. Rice, peppered chicken, some beef. Counted at 130g and bolused 15.5. I guess we will know in a couple hours how things wrap up. 

199.9

Last week I made a proclamation in Facebook indicating I would give up poker as of January 1, 2014 until my weight started with a "1". Crazy thought, I know. January 1st 2013 I started at 242. Today I am 238.9, 39 lbs to go. For those whom know me, life with out poker is almost like life without diabetes. 

Here is a photo of one of my 

weaknesses. 

It's not just this type of candy but any kind if candy really. I may have to address candy the same way I address drinking and just take it one day at a time. Funny how it's the same as drinking though "one is too much and all of it is too little" 

This morning u woke up at 250, hour later 168, and now I'm having two hard boiled eggs and a pack of mixed nuts. 8 g carb not going to bolus for it. I plugged in a new sensor just a bit ago and thinking I'll be 130 when it comes time to calibrate. 

Guess where I'm getting in the car to go to? Yup! Running Aces to play in their $30 Sunday morning tourney. Have to take advantage if 2013 and my fatness today ;) 

JDRF Reach & Teach

Great event today put on by the MinnDakotas JDRF at Minnetonka High School. I've hot a few pictures to share and I'll do my best to recap the day. 

First, the keynote speaker and reason I signed up for today's meeting, sixuntilme:

Kerry Sparling is hilarious, real, genuine, and a great speaker regarding diabetes topics. I love her "log book" and childhood stories of how things where when she was young. Fortunatelyg for me I was 20 when I was diagnosed, I'm sure if I had it since I were a kid it would have been pretty intense but glad I couldn't relate to those stories. 

After the keynote presentation we were able to hear what's in future for diabetes care or treatment. Here is what I took notes on: 

Artificial pancreas

Smart insulin 

Encapsulation

 There two others but I didn't write them down :( 

A couple other things I really liked were type one becoming typenone, I also enjoy less until none. Both seem like great concepts to me. 

The third presentation was about "burning out in diabetes" here is a photo if a great room full of diabetic and parents with kids with diabetes. Truly beautiful. 

 After this break out Kerry posed in a photo with me, look mom ok famous. 

 

The last presentation was on exercise and diabetes. Only comments I have are the photos I took of a few screens. Unsure if I learned anything or not. 

Twin Cities Goal - 4:55:00, unsure it can be done

So my dad did the Twin Cities Marathon in 4:59 or so when he was 50 and I've felt like I need to beat his time and I can't seem to cross that barrier. What's wrong with wanting to beat your dad, I don't think there is anything wrong with that goal? Well I've run 4 marathons, Twin Cities twice and Grandma's twice and my fastest time is 5:11:21, I really need to figure out how to get the last 10 miles of the race at a faster pace.

Last week I did some interval training and this week I did some hills. I'm going to do a interval/hill rotation for the following 8 weeks of training which is really 6 weeks of training when you calculate in taper time. This means I've got 3 interval sessions left and 3 hill sessions left, 6-7 mid week long runs and 7 Thursday short runs.

My 17 mile run I averaged 11:24, some miles more some miles less but overall averaged 11:24. I looked at a pace chart and 11:30 gets you done in 5:01:31 so that extra 6 seconds per mile will actually get me done in less than 4:59 but not quite the 4:55 goal. I've got the following long runs left (18, 13, 19, 12, 20, 12, 8) I figure on the 18, 19, & 20 I need to average 11:20 and my 13, 12, 12, 8 I need to average 11 minute miles. In the final run I need to average 11:16 per mile to hit 4:55, I'm not sure its possible but I also know I can't hope and pray for it happen, I'll have to work my ass off to make it happen.

True test will be in White Bear Lake on 9/14, they have a great practice course that is 10 miles with twice around, great price, good water stops, and enough people to be running in a crowd. My goal for that run is to be DONE with 20 after 3:45, this seems SO DAM FAST but that only gives me 1:10 to get done with the last 6.2 miles, I just don't know if I have enough time to get it all in. Part of me wants to cry right now and part of me is motivated to get it done, I'll have to readjust my goal after my 20 mile run on 9/14. My biggest problem in previous years has been unrealistic finishing times. I'm really going to need family and friends to push me along the Twin Cities Course this year.

English Please

I commented on Facebook earlier that my blood sugar was 99 with 4 units active insulin and a comment that my correction rate is 1 to 25 and someone said "English please" so here you go:

I have something called diabetes, there are two kinds, 1 and 2. I don't know much about Type 2 but I can tell you that my type is 1 and there currently is NO CURE! There are TONS of medical advancements and diabetes is a lot easier to manage today than even 10 years ago. People with type 1 diabetes are completely capable of living a normal long life if they manage things to the best of their ability. You'll see I say "to the best of their ability" because there are lots of outside influences that make your numbers vary. Today I volunteered and did some painting, I was up and down a ladder and doing physical activity, this activity caused my blood sugar to go low.

So the first comment, how's it work:

Basal and Bolus. Basal is your background insulin, your pancreas constantly monitors your blood sugar by secreting little bursts throughout the day, my pancreas doesn't do this, my pump does. The doctors help monitor my blood sugar by me writing all the stuff I eat and activity I do and help me come up with a Basal Rate. Different times of day can have different basal rates, currently I have the following basal rates:

1) 12:00am 1.35
2) 3:00am 1.45
3) 8:00am 1.05
4) 12:00pm 1.15
5) 10:00pm 1.35

Total intake for basal in a day is 29.7 Units of Insulin

Next is your bolus rate, bolus is the amount of carbs you eat, I have two bolus rates depending on the time of day, those are 1 unit of insulin to 7 carbs or 1 unit to 8.7 carbs. If you take a look at the nutrition label of your cereal you'll see something like 43g Carb per serving. For me this means 43 divided by 7 or 8.7 = 6.14 or 4.94 depending on the time of day. If I were on injections I'd have to decide if I wanted to take 6 or 5 units because you really can't gauge a half or quarter unit in the syringe. With the pump I just tell my pump what I'm eating and it knows the time of day and what my bolus rate is and calculates how much insulin I need all on its own.

For dinner tonight I told it I was going to eat 72 Carbs of which was a guess because it was a banana(usually 30g Carb) and strawberries(i didn't look up but guessed at 40 and probably was that which was my mistake) Later I had popcorn and the label says 18g Carb per serving but 2.5 servings per bag so I did a bolus at 45g Carb

My blood sugar at dinner was 305 and my correction rate is 1 to 25 so I took 8 units as a correction and 7.2 to cover my food. With out testing I ate the popcorn and did the bolus for it. Could be one of the reasons I am thinking I'll go low later but some other things to take into consideration.

Lets say I eat something like jolly ranchers and I take a shot to cover for that. Chances are I'll go high because the jolly ranchers will quickly absorb into my body and blood stream but the life of the insulin is longer so I'll be high for a few hours. On the flip side, lets say I do something like eat pizza. Pizza has cheese, cheese is fat, fat slows down the absorbsion of carbs into the body so I may go low early but then high later because I'll have to eat something to cover the low. You can program your pump to give you part of the insulin now and the rest of it later, the problem for me is I'm new to the pump and its still a big game of guessing right how to set those different timing ratio's.

Maybe the next post we'll talk about temp basals and that game. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Meters and test strips

Goofy story here. A while back I got a notice from Medtronic telling me I'm eligible for a new meter. I spoke with them about the test strips thinking "they're coming in the mail, I'm good. Plus I get other supplies from them so why wouldn't this be ok ?" We'll easier said than done, opening my mail I realize I have a bill from Medtronic for $750 plus!!!! Eeek. 

I called into Medtronic to discuss the issue and they owned up and waives the bill, thank you Medtronic! Into the second problem that started last week. I reach into my overall supplies and realize I'm out if test strips! I go ahead and refill strips on my other meter since it was the weekend and I never actually got a prescription for the new meter. Called my buddy Jeff who is a T1D and he lent me some strips to get me through. 

Pull out test strips from Jeff and put into old meter and it doesn't work?!? New batteries? So I have AAA battery's laying around because if the pump but it doesn't work still...go to target and get the same kind it had before, still nothing. 

Now what? Cancel the order on the way or get a new script for new meter?  Supplies left already so I get to get a new meter. Good thing it's on warranty, that could have gotten expensive. 

Moral if the story is to have a 15 day supply somewhere other than the regular supply to allow enough time for mail order to get the info, process, and ship. 

My diabetic problem this week. 

Stupid Diabetes

So here is my day :

1:53 a.m. 220

5:10 a.m. 167

6:21 a.m. 141

6:54 a.m. 119

9:02 a.m. 150

9:50 a.m. 134

11:00 a.m. 80

4:19 p.m. 113

5:41 p.m. 109

6:25 p.m. 134

Dinner I take one unit to cover dinner of 50 carbs so I could trend up for my run.

6:50 o.m. 134

 

7:11 p.m. 168

On the way I down 30 carbs to keep pushing me up. 

7:35 p.m. 90

Two miles in I test since I took off my cgm. Down 60 carbs because I'm only half way done

7:45 p.m. 65

Run a mile more and see where I'm at. Start to walk. 

7:52 p.m. 79

Keep walking. 

7:56 p.m. 90

Coming up, I can run again. 

8:03 p.m 73

FML. On my way down again and call it quits. Walk out to car, sit I. Parking lot and start typing this up. 

8:17 p.m. 146

Seriously?!? 15 minutes and I'm here? I recall saying I would go high later in the night. Did a 5.7 bolus 1.7 correction with 4 extra because I'm heading that direction. 

3,6,12,24

Sometimes it amazes me how a 3 hour line can look so flat until you change it to the roller coaster 24 hour line....

The Dilemma.

Good evening. I tested my blood sugar around 3:00 pm and it was 147 so I did a small correction bolus. A few hours later when I had zero insulin on board I went ahead to test and I was 105, I'd say this is a win for the doctors and for the pump for knowing how to calculate my correction rate along with how to squeeze out .6 units if insulin to come out. Normally all this would be great except I don't understand basal rates and how they affect me yet. I'm looking to go on a seven mile run but obviously don't want to leave the house at 105, easily I would pass out. N

ow for "the dilemma" 

1) how long should I set a temp basal for?

2) should I eat anything and not temp basal?

3) if I eat, how long after until I leave?

4) how long do I wait on a temp basal to be not be impacted with my activity? 

5) how much in carbs do I need during?

6) how high will I spike my sugar after the run? 

Any advice or suggestions? 

Here is a photo of how it went....

Finished my run at 220 and had no carbs since and in 265. Temp basal was 3 hours at 50% and when I was 98 I ate 12 x 4 carbs for 48 total carbs. Left the house at 180 with double arrows up. About mile 4 the arrows stopped and blood sugar stabled out at 237 for the last 3 miles. Got home and tested and also did a bolus to correct and have been high the past two hours with another correction bolus before bed. Will see in the morning where I end up.

Sweet dreams. 

To temp or not to temp, basal

Left work at a reasonable time today and checked my blood sugar from the car, 115 so I set a temp basal for 60 minutes at 20% thinking a 3 mile run should mesh well with that. This was at 4:30 and when I was at home stretching I tested again. This next test I was 89 so I decided to turn off the temp basal, eat 40 carbs and see where my sugar was an hour later. I then saw my wife eating some skittles so u asked for a handful and ate those too. 

Cgm is reading 96 at 5:30 and now reads 119 with one up arrow. Going 3 miles ill probably burn about 100 off my current reading, off to my hair cut and test with meter after that. 

Here is the before shot: gross, way too long. 

Ok, haircut done and blood sugar now 234. Hair looks great again and off to the treadmill. 

Post run blood sugar is 175, it was 4 miles not 3....good thing I double checked while on the dread mill. 

Cgm graph

Run tonight

Went to the gym tonight for a few reasons, first it's HOT and I don't want to run outside. Second because I wanted a controlled environment with speed. So here's the run:

5:00 at 5mph to get started

1:00 at 6.8

1:00 at 5.0

Repeat x 7

5:00 at 5mph to end 

Total time was 34 minutes and total did stance was 3.2, just under 11:00 per mile. Best part if the run was no temp basal with a pre run sugar of 240, to end with a 133. 

I'm not sure what brought me to 240 pre work out but I could have done a bolus to correct it or get active and burn it off. If I was running after dinner I would have used less insulin to make me go high or burn during run. 

Have a great day. 

Why I test.

Today I was pulling out my meter and a woman at work asked "how many times a day do you test?" And I replied "8-10" her response was "oh wow". I then told her I also wear a continuous glucose monitor and that hives me a reading every five minutes. "Why do you test so much then" simply because technology fails and my cgm may have me at 140 and I'm really 190 and that's a chance for me to bolus and correct my number. 

I mostly wear a cgm so I can see the trend while running. Case in point was yesterday when 2 miles in my sugar went low but I didn't feel it, also to tell me when I'm going back up. I like a cgm reading if 150-250, never like double arrows down and rarely see double arrows up. If I tested 3-4 times a day I would run higher for 25% of my life instead of 5-10%, worth the finger prick to prevent a high or low. 

Test often, your meter is one if the best defense systems you have to prevent long term diabetes related problems. 

Coma or regular oversleep?

You ever have one of those days that you have a feeling something is going to happen and you set two alarms to be safe?  The oddest thing today, I looked over at my alarm to see how much time I had left to sleep and the clock read 6:58!!! Noooo good! Tested my blood sugar in the car and it was 67, reviewing my CGM it was in the 40's most the night. Did I go into a mini coma or just oversleep? I guess we will never know, I am alive and kickin' though. 

Hope the week improves off this Monday. 

Sunday long run

So it was a long weekend, I had to work on Saturday and I also got some things caught up from home on Sunday. I was going to skip my run all together today but I saw a post from another friend with diabetes and she had biked 20 something miles so I was inspired to get my run done. 

Starting my run I was an hour into a 50% basal and thought I was on track to have a good run. I tested prior to the run and was 148, the correction on that's would have been 2.25 and u had one unit on board so I figured I was high enough to get going. I had 6 bee stinger gu packs at 29 carbs each and I had 50g carbs sports drink powder called heed. 

Stretch and Stewart running, first mile is a crazy fast pace at sub 10:00 first mile, slowed it up mile two and had my first gel pack to see a "predicted low" at 2.5 miles so I had another gel pack and walked. Set my basal to 25% and started running again around 4 miles. Cgm read 66 but the double arrows down were gone and with the cgm bring 15-20 minutes behind I figured I would be ok to get moving again. 

Aside from the walking I had a pretty good pace, finished at 10 miles instead of 12 and check out the photo of my final readings. I was pretty satisfied , always am when I get done and see that! 

That's right! CGM says 94 and the meter says 88 #ftw right? Well it's about 90 minutes later and I tested and my sugar is 347?!?!? WHAT?! 

The diabetes life I guess. One day ill figure it out. 

Make it a great week folks!!

Up/down days - not blood sugar

Today started out pretty decent, I had a good nights sleep and woke up to go potty around 2:30 a.m. and thinking I must be high because I don't usually have to get up and use the bathroom in the middle of the night but my blood sugar was 91. A bit later at 4:20 my low alarm woke me up and i tested again and still was decent at 88. My overnight target is 100-120 and my daytime target is 80-100 so I'd say another win. I do have a bit of a dawn phenomenon so I tested again before breakfast at 7:30 and was up to 131. I wonder if this is because of the disconnection time of being in the shower or if it is a actual dawn phenomenon issue?

I'm a poor writer and don't really know when to start a new paragraph but that last one was looking long so I'm going to start a new one here. At 9:10 I did a post breakfast test and I was 79 and my pump told me I had a couple of active insulin on board so I did a 15% temp basal for 45 minutes and when I tested at 10:00 my blood sugar made its way up to 106. Onto the afternoon and lunch.....

Pre lunch blood sugar is 166, unsure exactly the amount of carbs I had but I do know it was a lot of pasta and a cookie, I did two separate boluses for these. I guessed on carbs for both the pasta and cookie and here are my next few #'s: 159 @ 2:20, 146 @3:45....The day started to get stressful and when I get stressed I eat, I don't eat carrots and strawberries like the rest of America, I eat candy or other food that is bad for you. I had a bag of skittles and some gummy sour worms, either one of those usually do the trick. I did a bolus for both but at different times and my 5:30 blood sugar was 198 and 193 at 6:30. I currently have no active insulin on board and am planning on a six mile run at 8:00 after Big Brother. I'm going to leave my temp basal alone, test before the run and make adjustments accordingly. I hope to eat one or two gel packs on my run, each one is 29 carbs.

I've often wondered the stand alone effect they have on my blood sugar so I'm considering a fasting test on Thursday or Sunday. The plan is to only eat the gel packs once every 45 minutes w/o a bolus and testing every 15 minutes so I can see how long it takes to raise my blood sugar. I know running and managing your levels it would be ideal to have glucose tablets or rapid acting materials but have you tried to eat 40 - 80 glucose tablets in a 2-5 hour period and you'll understand this test. Then another day I'm going to put myself on a 50% basal rate and do a 50% bolus to cover the gel packs to see how that impacts my numbers. Going to run the test in the same manner as the previous, I'll take the gel packs every 45 minutes and bolus as I take them but still test every 15 minutes. Length of either survey will only be 3 hours tops, that should build a long enough graph on the CGM to compare to actual results.

Have a great 4th of July, enjoy your Independence

Mobile post

I'm sitting at Noodles & Co waiting for them to bring my food out so I thought I would do a quick blog post through the mobile system. 

So I was thinking the other day that googles circle club or social networking In theory is a great idea. I would like to post some comments to just work friends and other things to my new found #doc

What I'm feeling

I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1999 and over the years my family and friends would say "Doug, how is your diabetes going?" and most of the time I would say "good" and not really elaborate on things. So now I'm going to go ahead and make up for the past 14 years........

There's this overwhelming stress of thinking life needs to be lived 100% spot on and you have to manage your blood sugar to be 90-110 to avoid any problems long term. I lived scared for so many years, I recall the first five years I was afraid to go to bed at night if my blood sugar was less than 200 because god forbid I go low in my sleep and die, I was doing my body no good by feeling this way.  During one of my appointments with my endo I brought up my concern of long term issues and how not managing your diabetes well can impact long term health implications. She took out a piece of paper and said "based on managing an A1c of X you're risk of complications are as big as this piece of paper, if you bring it down to Y your risk is cut in half as she tore the piece of paper in half, she then said if it is Z it is cut in half again, and if it is B your chance of long term problems is cut again in half.

Pretty clear here, you have to do your best to manage diabetes to maintain an average blood sugar and the closer to an A1c of 6.0 the better. When I was originally diagnosed I took two types of insulin and those were NPH and R. The program worked initially, I would take NPH at bedtime and in the morning I would mix my NPH and R depending on what I was thinking I would eat for lunch and what time I would be eating lunch.

Fortunately I worked at a place where my schedule was relatively flexible and I could eat lunch at the same time every day, the problem, I may not be hungry or want to eat the carbs discussed in that plan when the time came. Eventually we switched to Lantus and Humalog and I really enjoyed this combination. I could eat what I want, when I wanted or I could skip food all together. I can't recall if this is when I started gaining all the weight but either way I look at it I am glad I was able to do things this way. One problem is both insulin bottles looked the same and I am/was a bit of an OCD Freak and I would get scared wondering "Did I take Lantus when I was supposed to take Humalog or visa versa" Eventually I was on a pen for my Humalog and a vial for the Lantus so it was quite easy for me to distinguish between the two and not have a concern which I was taking.

I never was a fan of the idea of a insulin pump but as the years went on I decided it was something I wanted to try and I'm very happy I did! I've learned more in the last 16 months on the pump than I did the previous 12 years on insulin injections. Here are a couple words I had no idea existed "Bolus" and "basal" how did I make it to the doctor for 12 years and never get informed of these two things???!!!! I'm still trying to get a handle on how they play in together but I have a big understanding vs a year and a half ago.

A continuous glucose monitor is also a huge difference maker for someone with diabetes, even if not on a pump I would highly encourage talking to your doctor about getting on one. You really can see how your sugars are effected on a more immediate impact if you take a bolus injection just before you eat vs. 15-20 minutes before you eat, the long term effect on that bolus is pretty huge.

So to my family and friends that are wondering how I am doing with managing my diabetes I would like to give you an honest answer and say that I'm pleased with how I've been managing things the past 5-8 years and most happy with the past 1 to 2 years. I'm unsure what damage has been done based on how I treated things in the beginning but as my endo said the quicker you realize what you're doing and change the habits the longer normal life you'll have.

I'm most pleased with lowering my A1c from 8.6 to 7.0 in my last doctor visit. I look forward to getting it below 6.0, I'm even more excited about the #doc and all the support that is out there. I'm also excited to be the Chapter Chairperson for Insulindependence for the inaugural years of the Twin Cities Chapter.

Also for those that ask "how is your diabetes" be prepared for an answer. I once saw high level employee of the bank and asked "how's business?" and I got a 15 minute answer. Be prepared if you're going to ask me "how is your diabetes going?" to get an educated answer on how things are going and what the challenge of the day may or may not be!

Who ever actually read all of this you are a better person that me, I would have been bored at the second paragraph.

Don't forget to test!
Sincerely,
Salguodmai