This all started with brownies. Last night, a couple of friends and I made them from scratch. I've never made brownies before, so I thought it would be fun to try them. The recipe we used had no nutritional information, so I guessed at the amount of insulin I needed. I guessed badly, did more insulin when I got home and went to bed, thinking that was that.
This morning, I woke up early and knew something was very, very wrong. I checked my glucose and sure enough, I was 17.7. I thought at the time that I was still high from the brownies and immediately did insulin. Thinking I'd been high for several hours, I did a blood ketone test and sure enough it came out 3.2 (which is very high for ketones - they should be less than 0.6). I don't know how accurate the test was because I only had expired strips at the time, but they were better than nothing. So I did a bunch of insulin and thought it should come down.Wednesday, 27 August 2014
An Adventure with Ketones
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Happy Anniversary
Well, here we are: it's the day I was diagnosed with diabetes 22 years ago. I wrote about it two years ago, on the 20 year anniversary. Not a whole lot has changed for me in the last two years (which is a good thing - I'm still healthy!) Here's to hoping things stay that way. :)
Saturday, 28 June 2014
June Update
Yeah, I know. It's been awhile. And wow, I really fell off the band wagon this time. At this time last year, I was feeling good - I had lost a lot of weight without trying, I was eating less, and I was pretty active. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but around Christmas I started eating more. Gradually I started eating rather unheathily quite often. Plus I stopped being active. Needless to say, the weight has crept back up and I'm not feeling all that great.
So yesterday, even though I ate some cheezies, I decided I was going to try to cut the crap out of my diet again. A lot of things I've eaten I've ended up regretting anyway (they don't taste as good as I think they will). I also went out and spent a small fortune ($40) on fruit today - if I get hungry, I'm going to go and snack on something good for me that I love. Finally, I bought some granola bars and snack packs - if I want something sort of bad for me, this way they're in small, prepackaged form. I was supposed to go camping today, so the snack packs were going to function as the "bad for me treats" for the weekend.
On the exercise front, I'm trying to do something every day. Even if it ends up a really short workout (I have a set of an and arm exercises I've been doing off and on), something is better than nothing. I'm hoping that between the activity and healthier eating I'll be feeling better in no time!
Friday, 21 February 2014
Family Day Afternoon Skiing
Monday, February 17th marked a skiing first: I successfully went skiing in the afternoon at Kamview! Not only was it a success, but I managed to go farther than I ever have skiing this year (the grand total was about 6km!)
To begin with, I used my regular strategy (25-30% basal, 30% bolus at lunch time). I had the basal running for about an 1 - 1 1/2 hours before going skiing, continuing for about an hour (that was my guess of how long we would be). I started the day at 7.2 mmol/L (that was my lunch blood sugar). By the time we finished the first trail (the Jackrabbit), I was 6.4 mmol/L and had gone about 4 km!
At that point, we went back to the chalet for some hot chocolate and juice. My glucose went back up to 10.9 mmol/L. At that point, my brother and mom talked me into going for longer (we had payed for the day, after all). Unfortunately that's where I had trouble. We were heading off to ski either the Aspen or Beaver trails, which start about 1 km away from the chalet. When I got there, after 1 km of skiing, I was already down to 6.4 mmol/L. I turned back while everyone else skied one of those two trails.
I wasn't surprised that I had troubles during the second part of my skiing adventure; while having hot chocolate, my insulin went back to normal. And so when I tried to ski, it was like a repeat of when I was failing a couple of years ago. But that was okay. I made it back to the chalet safely (I was 5.4 mmol/) after skiing for a grand total of 6km! If I ever go afternoon skiing again, I'll have to experiment with strategies to see if I can stay high enough to go further!
To begin with, I used my regular strategy (25-30% basal, 30% bolus at lunch time). I had the basal running for about an 1 - 1 1/2 hours before going skiing, continuing for about an hour (that was my guess of how long we would be). I started the day at 7.2 mmol/L (that was my lunch blood sugar). By the time we finished the first trail (the Jackrabbit), I was 6.4 mmol/L and had gone about 4 km!
At that point, we went back to the chalet for some hot chocolate and juice. My glucose went back up to 10.9 mmol/L. At that point, my brother and mom talked me into going for longer (we had payed for the day, after all). Unfortunately that's where I had trouble. We were heading off to ski either the Aspen or Beaver trails, which start about 1 km away from the chalet. When I got there, after 1 km of skiing, I was already down to 6.4 mmol/L. I turned back while everyone else skied one of those two trails.
I wasn't surprised that I had troubles during the second part of my skiing adventure; while having hot chocolate, my insulin went back to normal. And so when I tried to ski, it was like a repeat of when I was failing a couple of years ago. But that was okay. I made it back to the chalet safely (I was 5.4 mmol/) after skiing for a grand total of 6km! If I ever go afternoon skiing again, I'll have to experiment with strategies to see if I can stay high enough to go further!
Monday, 3 February 2014
Why Pilates is Awesome
The thing I really like about pilates is that it doesn't seem to affect my glucose level too much. With many other activities, like skiing and biking, I need to prepare quite heavily. Even yoga seems to drop my glucose level much faster that I would have believed. But not pilates! The other night, I doing thirty minutes of Pilates Perfect Body, I dropped exactly 0.2 mmol/L, from 9.4 to 9.2. You wouldn't believe how awesome that is!
And let me assure you, I still felt this workout, especially during the buns and thighs routine.
So yes, in my opinion, pilates is an awesome activity for me. :)
Thursday, 30 January 2014
A Very Frustrating Night
I haven't been this frustrated with my glucose levels in a long time.
Earlier today, my mom asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Tonight is normally the night I go to Zumba, but the weather was nice and I really wanted to be outside. So I agreed.
We had a nice, normal dinner of potatoes, asparagus and chicken. We decided to wait for a little bit after dinner, with the intention of going for our walk around 7:00. I started a temporary basal around 6:45. So when 7:00 rolled around, I did glucose. It was 6.2 mmol/L, not nearly high enough to walk. Thinking it was no big deal, I had a bit of regular pop and waited for a bit, thinking that should be good enough to get my glucose high enough to walk safely. I did glucose a little while later and it actually went DOWN to 5.2 mmol/L!
I ended up having to run another temporary basal, eat a bit (even though I wasn't hungry after eating dinner), and drink a bunch more regular pop over the course of the evening. Slowly my blood sugar went up, but not spectacularly so (it was 6.2, 6.4, 6.9 and 6.8 over the course of the last few hours). In the end, my mom did a bit of indoor exercise and I continued to do a whole lot of nothing.
I'm not even sure what caused this. I thought I had done a reasonable amount of insulin for the food I ate at dinner. Plus the temporary basals should have kicked in and brought my glucose levels up. But for some reason they didn't.
At this point, all that's left to do is call it a night and try again tomorrow!
Earlier today, my mom asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Tonight is normally the night I go to Zumba, but the weather was nice and I really wanted to be outside. So I agreed.
We had a nice, normal dinner of potatoes, asparagus and chicken. We decided to wait for a little bit after dinner, with the intention of going for our walk around 7:00. I started a temporary basal around 6:45. So when 7:00 rolled around, I did glucose. It was 6.2 mmol/L, not nearly high enough to walk. Thinking it was no big deal, I had a bit of regular pop and waited for a bit, thinking that should be good enough to get my glucose high enough to walk safely. I did glucose a little while later and it actually went DOWN to 5.2 mmol/L!
I ended up having to run another temporary basal, eat a bit (even though I wasn't hungry after eating dinner), and drink a bunch more regular pop over the course of the evening. Slowly my blood sugar went up, but not spectacularly so (it was 6.2, 6.4, 6.9 and 6.8 over the course of the last few hours). In the end, my mom did a bit of indoor exercise and I continued to do a whole lot of nothing.
I'm not even sure what caused this. I thought I had done a reasonable amount of insulin for the food I ate at dinner. Plus the temporary basals should have kicked in and brought my glucose levels up. But for some reason they didn't.
At this point, all that's left to do is call it a night and try again tomorrow!
Sunday, 12 January 2014
First Skiing Adventure of 2014!
So today was both my first skiing adventure of 2014 and my first skiing adventure of this winter (as I mentioned, it's been super cold here, so I haven't been able to do anything outside!) I also apparently didn't go skiing last winter either, so this was my first time out since 2012!
Today I went with my mom to Kamview. I did my best to use the strategy that works for me (25% of my basal and 30% insulin for dinner); unfortunately I had to guess at the carbohydrates for dinner as I wasn't able to measure them. So I started out at 4.9 mmol/L before dinner, which was a bit lower than I would have liked. But right before skiing, I was up to 14.4, meaning I was good to go!
When we got out to Kamview, my glucose was up to 16.5, which was a bit higher than I would have liked. But we started skiing, stopping before and after the Northern Lights trail to do glucose. I was 13.3 at the beginning and 12.0 at the end; I successfully made it!
When I got back to the car at the end of everything, for some reason my glucose was up to 14.8, and back home it went up to 16.9. I'm not entirely sure what happened there (I'm guessing the basal either went too long or needs to be a little higher than 25%), but I did insulin at that point (and also had some hot chocolate...) to bring it back down; I'm 13.3 a few hours later (thanks in part to the hot chocolate, which I didn't bolus for).
So I stayed a little too high through this whole evening, but I did successfully make it around the Northern Lights trail on my first night out this year! My glucometer also worked the entire time I was out. I'm now using a Contour because it links with my insulin pump; the Contour seems to withstand the cold a bit better than the One Touch I used to use (although it was pretty warm out, so I'll have to test it out again in a bit colder weather).
Today I went with my mom to Kamview. I did my best to use the strategy that works for me (25% of my basal and 30% insulin for dinner); unfortunately I had to guess at the carbohydrates for dinner as I wasn't able to measure them. So I started out at 4.9 mmol/L before dinner, which was a bit lower than I would have liked. But right before skiing, I was up to 14.4, meaning I was good to go!
When we got out to Kamview, my glucose was up to 16.5, which was a bit higher than I would have liked. But we started skiing, stopping before and after the Northern Lights trail to do glucose. I was 13.3 at the beginning and 12.0 at the end; I successfully made it!
When I got back to the car at the end of everything, for some reason my glucose was up to 14.8, and back home it went up to 16.9. I'm not entirely sure what happened there (I'm guessing the basal either went too long or needs to be a little higher than 25%), but I did insulin at that point (and also had some hot chocolate...) to bring it back down; I'm 13.3 a few hours later (thanks in part to the hot chocolate, which I didn't bolus for).
So I stayed a little too high through this whole evening, but I did successfully make it around the Northern Lights trail on my first night out this year! My glucometer also worked the entire time I was out. I'm now using a Contour because it links with my insulin pump; the Contour seems to withstand the cold a bit better than the One Touch I used to use (although it was pretty warm out, so I'll have to test it out again in a bit colder weather).
Happy 2014 Everyone!
Yeah....I haven't posted here since last summer...well, happy new year everyone!
The end of 2013 was a lot of fun. I tried Zumba in the fall, and really enjoyed it. I was a bit worried about how it would affect my glucose levels, but my skiing strategy (25% basal and 30% insulin with a meal) holds up beautifully for me; I was even able to go once when I started off almost low (4.3 mmol/L)!
Unfortunately, the last several weeks have been super cold here, so I haven't been able to walk (outside) much at all. Couple that with the big meals from the holiday season, and I feel like I need to get moving! So hopefully once we're finished this cold snap, I can get back on track!
I should also add that one of my goals for the year is to "get in better shape." I'm going to have to think that through a little more - how can I measure whether I'm in "better shape" or not? And what specifically do I WANT in better shape (abs? arms? what?)
So here's to a new and hopefully healthy year! :)
The end of 2013 was a lot of fun. I tried Zumba in the fall, and really enjoyed it. I was a bit worried about how it would affect my glucose levels, but my skiing strategy (25% basal and 30% insulin with a meal) holds up beautifully for me; I was even able to go once when I started off almost low (4.3 mmol/L)!
Unfortunately, the last several weeks have been super cold here, so I haven't been able to walk (outside) much at all. Couple that with the big meals from the holiday season, and I feel like I need to get moving! So hopefully once we're finished this cold snap, I can get back on track!
I should also add that one of my goals for the year is to "get in better shape." I'm going to have to think that through a little more - how can I measure whether I'm in "better shape" or not? And what specifically do I WANT in better shape (abs? arms? what?)
So here's to a new and hopefully healthy year! :)
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