Friday, March 26, 2010

Snack Time!

Snacks have become a part of my everyday life....i NEED to have an afternoon snack and an evening snack. It's a must. Now that I'm on a pump, I might not actually NEED a snack, but that's just the way I feel. After being on NPH and regular insulin for that one year, I was so trained to having snacks, I can't even break the habit. Even so, sometimes I do need snacks to prevent blood sugar lows.
The reason I'm talking about this is because of a discussion I had with my roomate today. She went home last night and just got back this afternoon around 5:00. She was telling me she want to go to dinner soon because she was starving....she got up at 11:00am and only had coffee, a muffin, and an orange all day. I was in complete shock. If I ate that, my blood sugar would be soooo sooo low and I'd be uncomfortable and starving! Usually, I forget that I even have diabetes...I feel relatively normal. It's times like this when I realize how much planning I do everyday without even noticing. If I have an early breakfast, I always make sure I have some type of mid-morning snack. If I'm going to the gym, I make sure to only bolus half my meal. If I leave my house or room at school, I always make sure to have my meter and glucose tablets. These are things most diabetics probably start doing automatically out of habit, but once you stop to think.....IT'S SO MUCH! I can't even believe I remember to do some of it!!
Anyways, the fact that my roomate ate so little without any thought behind it shocked me. I can't even remember being able to do that. I'm not trying to feel bad for myself or anything....I'm just totally surprised at how accustomed I've atually become to this disease. Wow.
Besides that, I just got the result of my last A1c....8.7! Yeah, that's still really high...but it's down from 9.7 and my blood sugar's have been pretty good lately. I've been really good about accurate carb counting and bolusing. My next appointment's in June....hopefully I can get it down to a last 8.0 or 7.7!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

FOOD

Yesterday I was reading Scott Johnson's blog from dlife about diabetes and eating disorders. This is a topic that really hit home for me because I understand the preoccupation a lot of diabetics have with food.

Scott said, "I grew up using Regular and NPH insulin. These two types of insulin had some pretty nasty and awkwardly timed peaks that forced me to eat at certain times of the day, rather than when I was hungry."

I have the same problem...I was only on multiple injections like this for a year, but I feel like it really messed up my hunger instincts. I still feel as if I always have to eat snacks, even when I'm not hungry. I remember having to eat 80-90gram of carbohydrates at lunchtime that first year....that's a lot of food! I still feel like I have to eat that much food! It's so hard!

Another problem I have is knowing so much about everything I'm putting into my mouth. I'm constantly looking at nutrition labels, so I see everything fact about the food- the calories, the fat, the sodium........it's enough to make you crazy. Once you know so much about the food you were planning on eating, it almost makes you not want to eat it anymore. Thankfully, as I'm learning more and more about nutrition in my nutrition classes, I haven't really been having this problem as often. I'm eating mainly healthy foods now as opposed to processed junk.

The fact that diabetics are so capable of developing eating disorders scares me! Food is such a large part of diabetes management and shouldn't become an unhealthy habit. Although this is a scary topic, I'm happy that it's finally being talked about. Hopefully we can find a way to help diabetics, specifically teenage girls, better deal with it!

Monday, March 22, 2010

It's been one of those days.....

Spring break is officially over....and the semester is as hectic as ever.
Today was not the best of days. I can't concentrate on anything, my feet are swollen, and I've been downing water bottle after water bottle all day long.
It all started when I had to get up super early this morning for a two hour drive back to school. I tested my blood sugar around 8am while we were in the car....still fasting....and it was 250. Why? I corrected before I went to bed and it was only 180 then. I managed to get it down to about 130 by noon.......but that's when all hell broke loose.
I went to lunch and asked for the special salad with couscous.....bad, bad decision. The guy scooped probably over a cup of the stuff. I wasn't exactly sure how many carbs were in it.....and I knew I probably shouldn't be eating a whole cup of it, but I just couldn't resist. I definately under-bolused for this tastey meal. By 3:00, my blood sugar was 358......i corrrected....3:45 it was 323. What?! I knew something was wrong when I was literally falling asleep during the discussion....like falling to the side and struggling to keep my head up. I had another class from 4:00-8:00 so I decided it was best to go back to my room, change my site, test for ketones, and hope for the best. Turns out, I DID have ketones. I corrected, drank some water, and walked back to my class, but I felt so sick and I was completely out of it for the rest of the day. On top of all that, for some reason my feet and ankles keep swelling up like giant sausages. It's disgusting. I don't know if this is an allergic reaction or diabetes-related...but it's been happening at least a couple times a week. I don't think I have any foot infections either. I've been checking them and keeping them elevated...but this never seems to help too much.
It's times like this when I can't wait to learn more about this god-awful disease and be able to help others better manage it. What really makes me upset is how hard it is to manage at school. I'm on a different schedule everyday and I can't always accurately measure my food at the dining hall. When I was home for spring break, I was able to keep my numbers within a much better range....but as soon as I get back to school, everything goes down hill! I try my best to balance food, insulin, exercise, sleep, homework, and rest, but it's so complicated! I wish there was an easier way to do this!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Hellooooooooo Spring! =]

Helloooo everyone!
It's been so beautiful out these past couple of days! It's officially spring and I couldn't be any happier!

So I made Rachel's "Greek Spag" on Thursday night and it was so great! It was literally just whole wheat pasta, green olives, black olives, tomato sauce, and feta cheese.
My blood sugars have been great too. I ate that dinner around 8:00 and then tested an hour later...it was an amazing 132! I couldn't believe it. I haven't seen a post-meal number like that in probably a couple of years now! I've been keeping some detailed food and blood sugar diaries and am going to fax them to my nurse next week. Hopefully I can continue to see more numbers like this with some changes in my basal rates!
Last night I went to UCONN to visit my friend Emily. I had a great time....maybe too much fun. The thing I've been struggling with this past year is drinking. I know....diabetics really shouldn't drink but I find it so hard not to. I always thought that peer pressure was stupid and I would never give in, but it's not that easy. Even when I know the consequences, I can't seem to resist the temptation. Luckily, I didn't get too bad last night, but in the past I haven't been so luck. In October, I ended up in the hospital because of a drinking incident at school. It was a mixture of high blood sugar and alcohol that caused me to get so sick. The hospital didn't really do much to help me...just gave me some meds to stop the vomiting, a little insulin, and fluids for the dehydration. I was fortunate and did not suffer any alcohol poisoning, but it was still a scary night.
I don't even know what to do about this. Is there any way for a diabetic to safely consume alcohol? How do you learn to resist temptation and not drink? UGH. This is a behavior I need to change and fast!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

My First Post

It's my first post....and I don't even know where to begin.
Well, I've been diabetic for almost six years now. I was an animas pumper from 2005-2009 and have since switched to minimed! I'm loving the minimed pump and am now working on getting a Dexcom CGM. I'm really hoping that a continous glucose monitor will help keep my BGs in a better range. My last A1c was 9.7....ouch!
I'm also a nutrition major at Keene State College and love to eat healthy. Today I got a book called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld! It's amazing! It contains "Simple secrets to get you kids eating good food." No, I'm not a mom and don't plan on becoming one for a very long time, but I love finding new ways to incorporate vegetables and other healthy foods into my diet! I actually already made one of the recipes:
Scrambled Eggs (with cauliflower)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
  • 1/2 cup cauliflower puree
  • 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
  • Pinch of salt
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil

All you do is whisk the ingredients together and then cook them like you would normally good scrambled eggs! They were delicious! I ate it with a slice of whole wheat toast and an orange. I pretty much only boluses for the toast and orange and my blood sugar was steady all morning! Usually I suffer very high post-meal BGs...but not with this breakfast! Yay!

I've also been following Rachel Garlinghouse's blog, Sugar, Spice, and More Things Nice. She made a great recipe using whole wheat pasta that I'm making tonight: Greek Spag! I can't wait to try this. It seems really quick and easy....I'll let you know how it goes!