It's My Diaversary: Today Marks 39 Years of Living With T1 Diabetes

39 years 

39 years with t1 diabetes - I can’t believe it because it doesn’t seem real - or that long ago - but it was a life time ago. 

39 years  - I was so little - diabetes was so big, we became partners not by choice, but by pancreatic and autoimmune circumstances, and together we forged ahead and continue to tackle the world the best we can.

Growing up with diabetes DID NOT ruin my childhood. 

There were challenging and tough times - but diabetes didn’t ruin my childhood - don't you dare for a second think it did. 

Growing up with diabetes was.... different. 

There were good times and hard times. There were times I struggled with diabetes and times I thrived.

I grew up (at least in some ways,) and isn’t that the goal of parents - to see their children grow up? 

Speaking of growing up, I wish my mom was here today - because this day was about her too - and my dad, but I know exactly what she’d say. 

I would remind her that today was my Diaversary and she’d say something like: I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it’s been 39 years. 

And then my mom would tell me I was handling it well and that she was proud of me.  

And she’d get this look in her eye that always made me sad - and she’d say that my sister Debbie had such a rough time handling her diabetes - and that’s what did her in.

And how she was so glad that I learned to "handle things." 

And I would say “thanks ma,” and hug her tight. 

And I’d silently think to myself all the times I didn’t/don’t handle my diabetes well - I would think back to the times when my sister was so sick and I was so angry at the world ... and diabetes... and Debbie. 

But I would remind myself that like the lotus, I made it through the diabetes mud and muck, to grow and into someone who is still becoming. 

And then I’d think of my Diabetes Online Community family and all that we’ve been through together. 

And today - even though I’m feeling a bit melancholy, which is really effing weird for me, because usually I’m all about the diaversary celebration, I will find the joy in everything that life brings me - because I am indeed the girl who lived. 

***Speaking of the girl who lived and the woman who continues to become, next year I will celebrate 40 YEARS of living with diabetes - and I want to CELEBRATE  like a rockstar.

I want to do something BIG. 

Like really BIG. Like BIG TOP, BIG - and any and all suggestions from my tribe would be greatly appreciated. 

Lastly, every year I make a list of positives to mark this day and this year is no different. So here it is - 39 positives for 39 years of living with diabetes and in no particular order.

1. Indian Summer Days
2. Jeans that make my ass look magnificent
3. DOC Meet-ups in real life
4. A glass of red wine with pretty much any food group
5. pickles as free food
6. Warm ocean temps and awesome waves
7. the smell of garlic sautéing in olive oil
8. Good friends 
9. reading a great book
10. Concerts 
11. Funny Farm Animal Rescue 
12. The word “coconut,” because I love how the word rolls of my tongue. It's a happy sounding word and also, I love how coconuts taste. YAY COCONUTS 
13. Warm sheets in the winter
14. Cool sheets in the summer 
15. Nailing carb counts
16. Black leather boots, preferably italian black leather boots
17. Watching/listening to my nieces and nephews perform
18. Running into your very first friend with with diabetes 30 some years after the fact and picking up right where you left off - all because of the Children With Diabetes, Friends For Life
19. CWD, aka - Children With Diabetes, Friends For Life
20. Friends children who ask you if you’re “little” or “big,” because they can't tell
21. DOGS - because dogs are AWESOME
22. The feeling of accomplishment when the DOC makes changes in the way others view people with diabetes 
23. City lights
24. Salt air
25. The color Green
26. The color blue
27. The color Red
28. The colors purple, yellow, orange and black
29. Vanilla baked goods
30.  All baked goods
31. Ice cream
32. Music - across the board and in all genres 
33. That feeling after you get from reading someones blog post that makes you feel better and like you're not the only one
34. belly laughs
35. Great sex
36. Traveling 
37. Hanging with my sister Cathy
38. Martinis with girlfriends
39. My friends and family.

via Diabetesaliciousness

Day-by-Day. October 31, 2016

Blood sugar is 96 mg/dl.
Perfect level of sugar in blood, ether low nether high, just perfect.

one day before, in October 30, 2016
206 mg/dl at 8:22 am
Lantus Solo Star 80 units.
Headache, sleepiness, not able to function. I took my morning meal and went to bed.
266 mg/dl at 2:38 pm.
Lantus Solo Star 80 units.
I just woke up. I slept all day long. After shot I took meal.
297 mg/dl at 4:17 pm
Lantius Solo Star 80 units.
197 mg/dl at 908 pm
Lantus Solo Star 42 units.
280 units total day dose.

two days before, in October 29, 2016
295 mg/dl at 5:42 am
Lantus Solo Star 80 units
215 mg/dl at 12:55 pm
Lantus Solo Star 80 units
99 mg/dl at 3: 13 pm
Lantus Solo Star 40 units.
I do have severe headache. Also it is swelling, very severe. My weight went up. I was able to keep it 20 pounds down and recently I was sure that to my next clinic I would be just fine. It is not.
This is how my legs and feet looks like right now. Still I am able to put on my shoe rather then shoe of my men. I cannot go out in water shoe right now, it is cold outside. Usually I wear those shoe all Spring, Summer, and early Fall, as long as it still worm outside. At least I can put it by myself. Now I need assistance to put on shoe

 and dress. Very unpleasant condition. It is OK, I can live with that. It is better then when I was not able to turn on my bed. I so do not like to still alive in condition when I am so dependent that even changing position is problem and I would need assistance of ignorant medical care providers. GOD safe my grace.
 Today sugar is great, just perfect.  I even do not have so severe headache today. I slept all night, had good night sleep. It is all for today.

via Ravenvoron

Dr.Oz vs Columbia Physisian Practice. October 30, 2016

More then 1000 doctors present that Dr.Oz is not qualified to hold his position as a professor in the Department of Surgery at Columbia University. He was hired by Columbia as a faculty member in 1993 on the basis of his skills as a physician. Now Dr. Oz is Celebrity and he run his show as medical show. Is Dr.Oz really medical show? Some doctors insist he must resin from his correct position. He refused. Really why should he?

There are many professional and legal issue what one should and not should do. I am not going to take this into discussion. Also I have no one idea what kind of surgeon Dr. Oz is, good or bad. What I see, how dishonest and how danger this as medical professional he is. Just one look at his show where he present  diets for diabetics to cure diabetes type 2. This is all what is matter.
     There is no Diabetes types. There are Diabetes stages. One can be in stage when insulin secretion is almost around the normal level, so there is no very high blood sugar numbest on glucose meter. Short time with right insulin and diabetic would be diabetes -free for many days and years to come. In contrary, dr oz recommend diet, weight loss, and it lead to develop medical condition to the deeper insulin secretion limits.

Dr oz not able to see this simple evidence. This evidence do not carry any money into medical practice pockets. So, no one of them discuss it. They prefer to discuss that dr oz is not qualified to practice in Columbia University, why? I do have no access to the statistic data how many weight loss surgeries Columbia University Medical Practice perform every year. Nether do I have access to the statistic data how many victims, diabetics type 2, survive this practice and for how long. At least dr oz recommends to simple reduce eating without cutting own stomach. In my point of view it is less danger then surgery.

Really, what dr oz said that contradict with any medical practice in present days? Nothing. ADA recommend that with starvation diet 8 weeks on 600 calories diabetes would be cured,  professor R. Taylor recommendations. He took 11 victims to run his studies.  No one of them show up after. Still, ADA loudly screaming that cure for diabetes type 2 found. All what we need just starve ourselves for Death. Thanks. We already on number 7 spot in this direction, so personally I am not in harry.

What dr oz able to see? Money. This money flooded into his account, and he is not ready to cut this flow. Who will do it differently? Not so many. If we are ready to eat ice-cream with cheese ricola, most ridiculous diet advice I ever saw, then why do not cover ice-cream with Progresso Low Calorie Soups? It is just logical, natural and nutrient. I think we will see it in next dr oz show. Of cause if progresso.com would pay for the medical advise.

Dr oz is really good doctor. He do know very well what happen when diabetic has so high level of sugar, meaning very low insulin secretion, too close to the final breath, our fat burned into energy, and we start to lose weight, dramatically fast. So, to bring this discovery to the money making machine, there is raspberry ketones discovered, fast way to lose weight. The problem is, with this treatment there are two ways out: one is to lost life, simple die, and another way is to recovery and get additional pound to add to those which returned. Water retention, many medical complications of this treatment. Simple. Profitable. Very effective way to hook naive victim of medical scam.

We are members of the Columbia faculty who recognize that the Dr. Oz Show performs a public service by bringing alternative therapies which are generally under-researched and under-regulated into the public forum.

Do anyone have any questions, is dr. oz the same as all Columbia faculty who recognize that raspberry ketones and weight loss surgery are alternative medicine for diabetes type 2 cure? In NYC Diabetes type 2 number 4 cause of Death.

 The compound from the red raspberry (Rubus ideaus) stimulates the release of norepinephrine, a powerful brain-signaling hormone, which in turn causes fat cells to break down. The breakdown of fat cells produces fatty acids that the liver then converts into ketones. Because the release of norepinephrine is associated with increased heart rate and blood pressure, some of the more than 1,400 comments posted on the Dr. Oz show website included questions about whether the supplement might pose any risks for people with underlying cardiac conditions. http://ift.tt/1cQxaMw

Personally, I do not have any interest in Barbe vs Sindy Court disputes. I do not eat ice-cream with cheese ricola. I simple do not like this combination. Also I do not want to ask anyone what to eat or how to live. This is no business to anyone. When I go to clinic I need to see a DOCTOR, the man who is able to see medical problem, and do know how to use medicine, which one, and in what dose of it. In present time all our medical care industry do know how to get money  but diabetes type 2 still without cure. It is shame to all medical industry, to all Ozismsts and Columbinists. 

Columbia medical faculty: What do we do about Dr. Oz?

Michael Rosenbaum, Joan Bregstein and 6 Columbia faculty members  

11:52 a.m. EDT April 26, 2015

http://ift.tt/1EjrOVb

via Ravenvoron

Halloween Lows

Dear Parents of Trick-Or-Treaters-With-Diabetes,

Please make sure your child has plenty of fast-acting carbohydrates available when trick-or-treating on Halloween.



 

'Wait...what?' you may ask, 'but it's trick-or-treating! There are fast acting carbohydrates at every door!'

Trust me. There are not. We've been there not once but twice. Once we were unprepared and the second time just underprepared.

The year she was 6, my daughter's blood sugar was over 150 when she left the house, perfect for a little walking followed by a sample or two from houses of people we knew.  We went around the corner to meet the neighbors. There was a little running around in the yard until the youngest neighbor was ready to go.  By house #3 my kid was low.  In her bucket were fritos, a spider ring and a 3 carb dumdum pop.  Houses #4 and #5 offered Hershey's kisses and tattoos.  We had to drag our party back to our house for juice before proceeding.

 A few years later we were trick-or-treating  in a friend's neighborhood.  We'd covered a couple of blocks when suddenly my kid was not just low but in the 40's.  I had one juice box with me, having assumed that would be enough, since we'd gain a stash of candy as we went.  Despite having visited a couple dozen houses, my little witch had received almost exclusively peanut-butter cups, snickers and chips, all members of the 'slow-acting don't eat this if you're low' carbohydrate category. It was dark and difficult to see into her friends' plastic pumpkins to ferret out all of the available smarties and nerds, which she downed in rapid succession as we continued on our route.

So take it from a mother who has seriously considered asking for orange juice in lieu of the spider ring, assume nothing; except that you're taking a long walk, at night, probably at an hour when exercise is unusual.  Bring the juice.





via Adventures in Diabetes Parenting

Day-by-Day. October 28, 2016

Blood sugar is 148 mg/dl.
     It started to drop a little bit. I take a little bit more then 200 units of Lantus Solo Star daily. I am not so brave to take more right now. It is swing, high-low, getting up and down. So, I try to keep all in balance.
      I have headache. Sometimes it is severe, sometimes it is only tense, never go away. Swelling started to increase. I can see it on my legs, on my feet. But it is not so severe that all my face swelled and I am not capable to speak. So, I am OK by now.
      A few days ago insulin supply arrived, so happy with it. When it is time and I do still not have it, I am in fear, in very tense nerve suppression. I can think about nothing, just my insulin, would it come, would I have another round of problems with delivery and pharmacy and doctor's Rx, and so on. I do have insulin. It is not the issue. I can stay without delivery for month and probably more. It is not availability of insulin but the fear I will not have next delivery and what I suppose to do? To skip deeper into problems I already do have? to lose sight? to lose this limited mobility I still have? to get spread on the bed not able to turn on the other side?
      I would accept if it is medical condition I am in and there is nothing what can be done. We all eventually will die, and there is no way around. It is not so simple. I am diabetic type 2, the hell do know what this diagnose mean, but it is my diagnose and it is stamped on all my medical records. According to medical presentations this medical condition can be controlled with right meal choice and active life style. Because of we still have our high numbers, the society and medical providers stamp us, we do not do what we suppose to do. We did it for ourselves.
      Really, why diabetics type 2 obese in first place? We all do. This is how we do look like. We do have wide middle area, practically every one of us. Why?
      Diabetes is the medical condition when insulin secretion does not cover needs in insulin demand. In non diabetic body when one eat insulin started to be secreted right away. It is difference with diabetics type 2. Insulin secretion is slow. We do have insulin secretion when we diagnosed with diabetes type 2, the same as diabetes type 1, but in diabetes type 2 secretion of insulin  go very slow. So, when I start to eat I ... get more hungry then before first bite was taken. The hunger is extreme, and we have to eat in hurry.
Probably there is connection between us, those who became diabetics type 2, and those who are morbidly obese. Probably they do have the same problem we do have. The difference is only we do have high blood sugar numbers, and they do not have them. I am not medical student, or any researcher. I am diabetic type 2 with very high blood sugar numbers on my glucose meter. The same as number on bathroom scale, also very high.
Looks today is not good day to discuss so problematic matter. I have to go to take some sleep.

via Ravenvoron

Housewife Vs Dr. Oz. October 27, 2016

Dr.Oz present his recommendations as he is Doctor. He is not. He is just Celebrity, and all his recommendations based on how much he paid for advertising. This is why his recommendations are so controversial and odd. I am Housewife. I do have real task to accomplish. As any house wife it is my duty that my family eat fresh, healthy, and never run hungry. Also I have to keep under my close attention:
budget;
time;
and convenience.
         So, when I take a look at the Dr. Oz recommendations, there is no one reason to take them into consideration. Just think about, what Dr. Oz really recommends? All his meals take a lot of time to get ready. That's right. He pretend that meal would be ready withing 2-3 min, or 10 min. It is not true as every one can understand it.
Smoothy, most popular meal Dr. Oz recommend. At first, fresh veggie must be all the time in my fridge. How it is possible to do so? Veggies very fast to rotten. Even in store they cannot keep them fresh, this is why it is so difficult to buy fresh veggies. In my home ref. it is even more difficult.
Veggie must be fresh and clean, time consuming preparation for every meal.
        Smoothy must be fresh made, another problem with time.
So, in stead to eat fresh smoothies we will take processed smoothies from local supermarket, right? Then say me, why I have to trough away one type of processed food which was recommended by Dr. Phill and buy another one which recommended by Dr. Oz? No any reason.
When I took a look at the shopping list Dr. Oz recommend I am really very surprised, why he said it is healthy meal? Any professionally canned meal has a lot of preservatives. BTW, if I do canning for my family, why this is not 'healthy' eating? Really why?
       I do canning. I cannot cook for myself, so I have to have meal ready when no one can help me with cooking. So, now we are canning all types of food to have it ready to eat at any time we need it.
My fav. is soup. Long time ago one of my doctors at that time told that soup can be eaten as much as I want it, to be not hungry. Because of to cook is problem for me right now I do canning soup. It is better then keep pot in ref. Once it was canned it can stay up to year in closet. I use quart jars Ball. It is good for one time meal. Because of there are different soups I can take different jar at any time. Soup is very friendly to budget. It keep us full, and it is not expensive, and it has all healthy ingredients we need for our healthy living. Also when we cook it is not really big difference to cook three quarts of soup or 16 quarts of soup. Most time taken to babysit the pressure cooker. Not so difficult task to do, even I can do it. Then 14 jars are ready to put into closed and be used at any convenient time I'm or my family  need to eat.
      Also we do have canned beef, fish, mushrooms. Professionally canned food has too mush salt, spice, and preservatives. I do put in my jars salt only. No any other types to preserve food. There is no oil, I cannot eat oil or batter. When I need to can fruits I do not need to put in jar so much sugar as it is all the time in every commercial jars.
       Another point is, it is best time to buy the food, and it is best price I possible can find.
Finally, with Dr. Oz recommendations it is usually only one person in mind, one who wish to lose weight. I my mind all my family. So, every one has different meal at any time one need it. My food can be taken away, such as for camping or car racing, to school or college or to work. With base ready to be used I am free to do any meal. It is really very convenient, healthy,  and budget friendly.

via Ravenvoron

CNN Guide To Treat Diabetes with Trash Medicine. October 26, 2016

After a diagnosis of diabetes, the first thought on many people’s minds might be: Do I have to inject myself with insulin? The truth is that there are many choices beyond injectable insulin. You might be able to take a pill instead. The answer mainly depends on what type of diabetes you have.
 http://ift.tt/2fgMt7h

     There are one out of every ten Americans who is Diabetic. So, it is important to understand, Diabetes, what is it? and how to treat it? Where from this understanding possible to come? Doctors publications? Media Scams? Public blogging and posting?
So, right now, is the article published by CNN Diabetes Drugs: What Are My Choices?
What is it, True or Scam?
      The firs question is, why it is so important if I have to inject insulin every day for the rest of my life, or it is more important when my life would be over?  That's right, better to ask this question then put scam on the most popular Media News. But it is not. CNN consider that injection are so terrible that we prefer to cut our lives short and live the rest of our short lives in total pain and misery then inject most effective medicine which will make us pain-free and prolong our lives. Why they take so much Liberty to make choice beside of us?
     Now there is another question, type of diabetes, how it is diagnosed, what is difference between types of diabetes, and what rank in diagnostic that one is type 1 or type 2 or any type our highly greed medical care system stamped its victims? Type of diabetes based on one take insulin in injections or oral medicine. So, at first it is medicine which was Rx and then it was diagnose for what medical condition this medicine developed. Do we have choice to select medicine we wish to take?

Your doctor follows treatment guidelines issued by organizations such as the American Diabetes Association (ADA) or the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). The ADA guidelines recommend that most people with type 2 diabetes start on an oral medicine called metformin (Glucophage), in combination with lifestyle changes. However, metformin is not a good choice for everyone because of possible side effects including nausea and diarrhea. If your doctor doesn’t think you should take metformin, he or she will likely start you on another oral medicine.

      The type of diabetes based on doctor's Resistance to Insulin. If doctor does not like to work with insulin and Rx insulin instead of Trash Medicine, diabetic would be condemn to take The Trash Medicine for the rest of painful and miserable life, getting bulk of mocking and bulling, lost legs and vision, and all other types of diabetes complications. If one is lucky, one will get Rx to insulin and live comfortable with small inconvenience to inject insulin a few times daily.
      Take a look at the ADA guidance, how they suggest to diagnose diabetes type 2, differentiate with diabetes type 1? They introduced that type 1 diabetics do not have own insulin secretion, and really, how possible it can be? The question is, how they diagnosed that diabetic do not secret own insulin, and this is why diabetic need or do not need insulin added in injections? Diabetics type 1 take very different dose of insulin in injections. So, do they all the same, all  100%  do not secret insulin by own pancreas? Is this possible that they really secret insulin but in limited quantity so their pancreas insulin secretion does not cover body system demand in insulin? Then what is the difference between type 2 and type 1 diabetics? Only the Gap between Insulin in Demand of body system needs to function, and Insulin Secretion our ill pancreas able to provide. If so then there are no any types of diabetes but stages instead, the developing of diabetes condition and its progress to the deeper insulin dependency, regardless of any type of diabetes. Really, what is guidance of ADA about?

It’s crucial that type 2 diabetics stay active and eat nutritious whole foods. In part two of this three-part series, the Health Squad finds a furry friend to get Charlene moving, and gives her kitchen a makeover.

      It is Diabetics type 2 who are on spot number 7 in line to early graves. It is we are, diabetics type 2 who lost vision, get our bodies amputated.  Very simple, many of us not able to walk ourselves and need home assistance with daily living. How furry can help me to move? I am not able to care for myself.
     What I do suggest to every one who diagnosed with diabetes type 2, do not ask doctor how diagnose made. It does not have any true answer but only scam. Find the Doctor, one who will Rx insulin and provide guidance how to use it. No any furry friend able to replace insulin we need. Insulin is expensive. Most important, doctors all Insulin Resistant. They will Rx all range of Trash Medicine, but Insulin, ... no they do not. Insulin will cut the profit. Trash Medicine increase it.
       What are The Trash to reject to take? It is medicine which :

• Increasing insulin production
• Decreasing insulin resistance and helping your cells respond better to insulin
• Lowering the amount of glucose that your liver produces. Your liver stores extra sugar for use when your body needs it.
• Slowing your digestion to help keep blood sugar levels more constant and even
• Increasing kidney excretion of excess glucose (SGLT2 Inhibitors)

 Any medicine which leads to increasing insulin production deplete Beta cells and eventually leads to deeper crisis with insulin secretion. It is the same as one suggest to increase spending when you do have limited amount of money. Would you do it? Most of us do not take this hook. But as diabetics we take it and hope that it is temporary, it is Natural way of recovery. It is not. It is swam, and we suck in it deeper and deeper.
      Take a look at the all other medicine. What is all about? To work out to destroy healthy and natural way our organs work, and finally lead to all system failure. This is why Diabetics type 2 die withing ten years after treatment of Diabetes type 2 started. Diabetics type 1 live on insulin injections long lives, from childhood to the over 90 years old. In contrary, diabetics type 2 collect pounds, and die due to high level of sugar in blood, 100% preventable Death  with insulin therapy. If we are lucky we will have treatment in ICU with insulin therapy, and survive. Most of us do not have this opportunity. Our Medical Care Providers are all too Insulin Resistant to let diabetic to get out of Diabetes type 2 fatal treatment hook.
Did I mention how profitable diabetes for every one but us? Every one can publish Trash and get own portion of profit from our sweet blood.  It is really Big Money to publish trash article like this one on CNN Channel. If there is no diabetes type 2 what really they will talking about? Do really anyone of us have any hope that Medical Insulin Resistance would be over and they will find another victims to bull?

Diabetes Drugs: What Are My Choices?

By Sarah Lewis, PharmD
 http://ift.tt/2fgMt7h

via Ravenvoron

The Muffin Chronicles Part 3: Apple (& Pear?) Muffins

We started out making these with no fruit at all, as a fall spice muffin.  Then my daughter had her baking-loving friend sleep over one night.  She's is my favorite sleepover guest since the evening always involves making something great either for dessert or for breakfast the next morning.  This friend suggested the addition of diced apples, and we've never gone back.

Start by preheating the oven to 350°.

Then mince up some apple, and maybe pear if it happens to be around. I had parts of two apples left from chopping the rest into salads during the week, and a sad pear.  I was only able to salvage a small chunk of the pear, but I wouldn't want to use too much anyway since they're so much moister and mushier than apples.  In total I used somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 cup of finely chopped fruit. 

Next, combine in a large bowl (to which you'll eventually add the dry ingredients):
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. vegetable oil and
1 egg

 

 

Then add:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. white flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg and
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
.

Stir just enough to combine. 

Then fold in the fruit.

The first few times we made these, we went back and double checked that we'd measured correctly.  The batter is extremely dense- more like bread, or even cookie dough.  The thickness does make it easier to get it into the muffin cups, which should be about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar. 

 

Bake for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

The whole recipe has approximately 285 g. carbs if you use the equivalent of one average apple and depending on how heavy-handed you are with the cinnamon sugar.   I ended up with 35 mini muffins which mathed out to approximately 8 carbs each. 

 

They're even more fun if you're fortunate, as I was, to find holiday themed baking wrappers in your pantry!

 



via Adventures in Diabetes Parenting

Dr. Oz and 'Natural' weight Loss. October 26, 2016

In nova days every one talk about weight loss, diets, and so on. Why should not I post about diet? Do I use diet? Of cause I do. Why? The first question is, diet what is it?
The definition of diet in dictionary:

the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

"a vegetarian diet"

synonyms:

selection of food, food, foodstuffs; More informalgrub, nosh "health problems related to your diet"

• a regular occupation or series of activities in which one participates.

  "a healthy diet of classical music"

2.

a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.

"I'm going on a diet"

 So, really what do we all do talking about? If diet is the food we eat  then we all on diet because of we all eat every day, usually.  If diet is related to the medical condition then at first medical condition must be mentioned. But in nova days every one on diet, and no one mention what medical condition one has. 

Right now I took a look at the Dr.Oz show. Well, it is of cause not medical doctor. Dr.Oz is just name, speculation to get more attention to the personal scam. Dr.Oz is the same doctor as every one who pretend that one cured itself from diabetes with work out and right food choice. He does not have qualifications to be medical doctor. Even he trained in Medical School he no longer work as a doctor, so he already disqualified as being a doctor, practicing medical doctor. He is Celebrity.

      So, what did Dr.Oz said about diet? 

      Really, it is most interesting point. All the time he talks about 'Natural' weight loss, and about 'natural' life style. The question is, why this style is 'natural', and how 'natural' is it? His show, sugar detox. His clients present: 

I can eat candy all the time;

I eat cookies all the time;

ice-cream;

soda....

I will say really it is the problem, and as any medical problem it must be addressed and handled properly. What Dr.Oz suggests? To satisfy persons unhealthy life style. ??????? Really, I still not able to get the humor? How any unhealthy habits can be healthy satisfied? If habit is not healthy it is the only way, to change the habits. Regardless how do we try to compromise, unhealthy life style never will be healthy. Very twisted humor.  

      Now, the weight lost. 28 Days Shrink Your Stomach Challenge Weight lost program, is this program would be healthy? Would this plan be so effective that after plan completed would weight lost last, for how long? Is this plan easy to use in our very busy life style? Let us see, what Dr. Oz suggest.

       veggie flash drink all day long.

Say me, how it is possible to drink this veggie flash drink all day long?  Sorry, we are not free to do all day long what we want. We have to obey the rules, and it is not so easy way to live. Can I take veggie drink to the meeting, to the bus, to the theater, to the .... ? Not at all. So, if I cannot take this flush drink with me every where I go then I will be hungry, and it is 'natural' way to live? Really, very controversial. At least it is not natural for sure.

       This 'natural' way to live will lead to so many complications that we would not be able to fit into our living condition. Flash drink, how many times one will use restroom? Do we have time for that? We have time to go to restroom every two hour, but all other time we have to be on working place.

      Another point, is this really make one full, not hungry? Say me how.  Does not matter if it is veggie flash drink or fresh carrot or cabbage, it still have no fat or protein, essential parts of human diet. If we do not have our essential nutrition we will be hungry, even we take some sort of substitute for the nutrition. So, it is possible to replace proper nutrition with veggie flash drinks for day, or even 28 days, I never try so I have no one idea if it is possible or not, but the bottom line is, eventually we have to return to our routine nutrition style, and so all our  weight lost pounds will come back, all the time with plus. This is why all diets lead to weight gain. People lost weight, but after awhile, all pounds returned, 90% of diets victim get them back, Weight Lost Surgery victims including.

       Next controversial point is, why take supplements? In healthy life style we have to get all nutrition, all vitamins and minerals from our food. This is healthy way to live. In contrary, Dr. Oz recommends supplements to replace proper nutrition, no one of his diet plan provide. As it was stated in last studies supplements do not replace proper nutrition. It is ether not natural, nether healthy life style. 

      To finish up about how 'natural' and 'healthy' life style can be in presentation of Dr. Oz take a look at his Ketosis Diet. This diet will really flash all pounds from stomach. Weight lost dramatic. Size shrinks in fantastic fast way. Why? Fat used as source of energy. Almost good if it was all true. The problem with this diet is, our brain cannot use fat as energy. It uses glucose, and glucose only. Brain is most demanding energy consumer. If one ready to use this sort of weight loss diet be ready to get into coma because of this is the condition when brain cut off its function. Brain do not die yet. But the damage would be dramatic. 

      I do not have medical degree, so I cannot say how it is looks in text books. What I do know very well, how blood looks like when fat used as source of energy, and I do not want to take this opportunity to lost a few pound. BTW, remember, after problem with ketosis was resolved, all pound would be back, with great plus. It leads to heart failure, kidney failure, and possibility to get stroke and dementia. With condition of ketosis my body shrank down to size 2x. After problem was resolved and insulin supply was restored, all pounds returned, and now my body size 5x. It is very severe water retention. It is so severe that sometimes I am not able to take another breath. Because of it is accompany heart failure I cannot take diuretics to reduce water from body. I still wait till water would finally go out, naturally.

via Ravenvoron

7 Easy Lunches for T

7 Easy Lunches for Type 2 Diabetes

via Taylor

Pumpkin Delight...TH

Pumpkin Delight...THM:S low carb sugar free gluten/peanut free

via Taylor

Me + T1 Diabetes+ Weight Gain+ Insulin Resistance + Metformin ER =

A little over two years ago I started gaining weight - and no matter how much I walked, rode my bike, counted carbs and kept an eye on my plate - I kept gaining weight. 

AND IT SUCKED.

Some of it was due to age; some of it was due to several rounds of cortisone in the form of shots ( thank you trigger fingers and CT,) and orally( I had a nasty upper and lower respiratory infection in May of 2015,) and some of it was due to yours truly developing a resistance to insulin. 

YEP, not only do I not produce insulin, hence the whole, me being a t1 since I was a little girl, but I’ve also become insulin resistant - which I’m told happens after decades of living with type 1 diabetes. YAY ME!

Another signature wonder of being Kelly is that cortisone tends to sticks to my body for months at a time, requiring me to shoot up a ridiculous amount of insulin for weeks and taking months and months to get back to my regular basal rates.

I’ve figured out the cortisone/insulin dance like Rockstar and I’m not afraid to increase my basals to maintain great blood sugars on cortisone - but I hate that cortisone sticks around in my system for so long. 

But enough was enough and last fall and I started walking between 9 and 15 miles a week - and the damn scale kept going in the wrong direction - and my A1C barely budged. 
And wasn't like I was eating Ben & Jerry's every night - I wasn't. 

Gaining weight and working so damn hard to lose it without success made made me frustrated and depressed. 

On March 19th, 2016, I went to my endo appointment and Dr. J and I had one of our heart to hearts -  I was having hand and wrist surgery in May and I didn’t want to gain any more weight while I was recovering. 

Dr. J mentioned Metformin ER, I mentioned my hair and my fear of losing it. 

Sidebar: The last time I'd given Metformin a try was in 2008 - and I noticed clumps of hair on the carpet. Even though I'm a shedder when it comes to my hair - the clumps on the carpet were beyond normal and I stopped taking Metformin.

And my hair stopped falling out in clumps.

And then I started to cry. 

And Dr. J was great - he told me that we could try some injectables, but that because I was t1, my insurance most likely would not cover them. 

He told me that Metformin ER was different and better than regular metformin - and that price wise, it was cheap. 

Dr. J also felt that it could jump start my metabolism, and it didn’t have to be permanent.  

So we made a deal - I would go on Metformin ER ( Metformin Extended Release - different form the regular metformin I’d tried 8 years earlier,) and if my hair started falling out, I’d stop, ASAP - and Dr. J and I would go to/create plan B. 

I drove home, picked up my RX and started my first round at dinner. 

Sidebar: On March 20th, I received a cortisone shot to pop a ganglion cyst on my palm - I convinced the Dr. to use 1/2 the normal amount of cortisone and twice the amount of saline. The cyst was popped and my blood sugar was only elevated for two weeks. 

Back to the Met ER - the first few weeks on Met ER, there were rumbles in my belly for sure - but nothing I couldn’t handle and not nearly as bad as when I'd tried regular Metformin back in 2008. In two weeks the rumblings subsided for the most part.

I also noticed that Metformin ER made me feel fuller, quicker. I’d forgotten about that side effect. 

I travelled for half of April and by May 17th (the day of my hand and wrist surgery,) I’d lost 4.5 lbs. 

By July I was down 9 lbs and I didn’t gain weight while I was in Florida attending Children With Diabetes Friends for Life - and yes, there were some nacho and margarita moments in Florida. 

On July 17th I went back to my Endo - while my A1C had only gone down by a fraction (thank you nasty sinus infection that stayed in my system from late June through mid July,) my labs were great, My weight was down by 9 lbs and my Endo was thrilled. 

Dr. J increased my Metformin ER to 1000 mgs, twice a day and told me he was proud.

The increase caused my stomach to react and the rumblings returned, but were gone quicker the second time around.

In August I bought two new bathing suits - including a red one that made me feel like WonderWoman!  

September rolled in and I was 12 lbs down - and according to my hair dresser (who is also a dear friend, brutally honest, and always has back,) the hair on my head is staying put. 

Sidebar: I take daily biotin and B12 supplements because biotin promotes hair and nail growth and if your b12 is low (which can be one of the side effects of Metormin,) your hair will fall out. 

As of today - I’ve lost 14.5 lbs and my daily insulin intake is down between 9 and 15 units- steadily decreasing in increments since March. 

The most recent insulin decrease happened a few weeks ago, when I started noticing that my daily, 24 hour pump totals were in the mid 30’s. 

5 days in the mid thirties range, followed by a bump up of a couple days in the 40s and then back to the mid thirties. YES, there were a couple middle of the night, kick my ass lows (and one nasty high,) while I readjusted my basal rates. But I did what I had to because that's what people with diabetes do. 

Tomorrow is my Endo appointment - I’m hoping for good labs and a decrease in my a1c . 

And whatever happens, happens - I'm going to keep moving forward. 

via Diabetesaliciousness

Sugar Content in Fru

Sugar Content in Fruit

via Taylor

Excedrin. Day-by-Day. October 23, 2016

Sugar is 145 mg/dl.
Very severe headache. It is very early morning. I woke up because of severe headache. Took two Excedrin. Also took all medicine in my routine, Metoprolol, Carvedilol, and Isosorbide in double dose of my routine.
Yesterday when I went to bed, it was heart pain, also strong but not so severe, so I did not took additional medicine, did not have energy to go to another room to take med.  I fall asleep instantly. Sleeping was very painful, headache. Looks like I had nightmare. Finally I woke up, and it is so severe headache that now I am not able to sleep. I took two Excedrin, and if I need I will repeat two by two till pain would finally gone. 
It was rainy yesterday in NYC. Today it going sunny. The weather changing all the time very painful for me. I am happy I found Excedrin as my most trusted pain remedy. I take this medicine about 20 years by now. Sometimes I take just two pills a day, sometimes I do take no one, and sometimes I take up to 10. It was time when I took more then 10 pills a day. It is all time said, if I could overdose medicine. I will if I need it. One who never had a pain would not be able to understand. One who familiar with pain not from story medical care tell, would be agree with me, and take all what is handy just get rid of pain.
The benefits of Excedrin is, I still do not develop addiction to pain medicine. I still able to function without every day dose of it. This is difference with addiction. When it is addiction we need more dose in future then we took in past. I take only what I need at the present, right now. It works very good. Now I trust in Excedrin, and Excedrin only. I used to take a lot of different names of medicine. Our medical care providers happy to put us on painkillers with easy. When we do have pain we are on hook, no way to get off. Excedrin is not Rx medicine. I can buy it in Costco, for very reasonable price. Excedrin is all the time in my bag, in my medical cabinet, on my table. I keep three medicine handy all the time: Excedrin to deal with headache, Nitrostat for chest pain, and Symbicort to get away from Asthma attacks. These medicine is all the time around me. It works well so far. 
Our Medical Care like to point out that diabetes type 2 we do have is result of eating and behavior disorder.  The first line of treatment for diabetics type 2 is life style modifications. They pretend that diet and work outs decrease level of sugar in our blood. Really? Interesting point and statement, but wrong. So shame they have bully as the mine treatment option. 
Yesterday my fasting sugar was 164 mg/dl. Still high, but it is not the point. On Friday I injected only 139 units of insulin. We went to Metropolitan Opera. I very worried that I will have low blood sugar in Opera house, so I skipped shot. When we return home it was very late, around 2 am. It was heavy traffic in Manhattan and on Brooklyn Bridge. So, I did not take shot, simple did not have energy to take it. In the morning I was very surprised, sugar was only 164 mg/dl. 
A few days before fasting sugar all the time was above 200 mg/dl, with full dose of insulin. Now with so reduced dose of injection fasting sugar was almost OK. This is diabetes. Never underestimate the condition we are in. Our medical care providers count dose of insulin we have to inject by formula, weight in pounds divided by 4 and it is dose of insulin in units, daily dose. It never work, and still it is treatment regime medical care provider determine my needs in insulin supply. 360 pounds divided by 4 is 90 units of insulin daily dose. I take it in one injection, and take three of them a day. The result, I still alive and almost able to function. I am able to walk, not too much but still able to live in my home. Without insulin I would not be able to live. 
This is the problem with medical diagnose, medical care we do have. It is presented that we are, diabetics type 2, do have our high blood sugar because of our eating disorders. We must be disciplined. The result is, millions of us killed by diagnose no one able to understand how it made, and treatment which never worked and never will. The perfect medicine, insulin, which will say goodby to suffering, simple rejected by medical care providers. Every one of then treat diabetics. No one of them have any idea diabetes what is it? Needless to say, we are on top in line to Death penalty. No one criminal so condemned to Death as we do. We die not simple but long and very painful. All the help we have, just bulling and mocking. We are 'fatty body', as many of public refer to us. 
Dr. Phill in his show presented that we should not think about ourselves that we are burden to our families. But in every publications medical care point out, we are burden to society. Interesting I would say. My family which provide all leaving for me, all assistance with personal daily living I need, and I even not able to take a shower or put on shoe, and I have to see myself, I am not burden to my family. At the same time, public, which provide no penny, no any help or support beside severe bulling, I am burden for public. Did I say, medical care have twisted mind? This is why I do not trust in doctors.

via Ravenvoron

Меlissa МcСаrthу Lоsing Wеight Secret. October 21, 2016

 
Melissa McCarthy Fame, what is this about? She Lost 50 Pounds! When I did lost 50 pounds my doctors even did not noted it. I dropped from size 24W down to size 18W. No one doctor ever mentioned how great I was. When I take a look at the middle I think Melissa has about 300 + pounds. Now with 50 down she is about 250 - 300 pounds. Still really very fatty. I think if she will go to fitness club she will look greater. Well, she said she do not have time for this. Do we have time to go to fitness club? Woman in salad bar or nurse in hospital who work 12 hours a day do they have  time to go to fitness club?

 Now Paula Dean lost 30 pounds, and it is all in news. WOW! Say me, if there is nothing more to put in news to discuss? In NYC in Bronx 66 years old woman was killed in her apartment by police officer, and it is not so important news. Nether one, ether woman nether her murder got fame for actions. But Paula Dean with weight loss of 30 pounds all in news. Sorry people, if our lives so merry comedy? 

But anyway, let us see, what is the secret about? Well, when I see what Dr.Oz recommend I will run away from any product in his list. He is very famous for scam. 

How product work?
At first it block fat so sugar and carbs do not turned into energy our body needs to function. ????????? How my heart suppose to pump blood? How my lungs suppose to push air? How my legs suppose to move? So, it is said that sugar and carbs would be used for energy right away.?????? Sorry, I did not get this point. Really, what is this about? Product is only pill. So, if I took this pill and took my regular meal, then what would happen? All meal will go into energy, and then what? After I finished my meal there is nothing left, no energy at all because of all turned into energy right away. Fat is source of energy our body system uses between meals.

Well, when it is Dr.Oz recommendations, every one take it for granted how great it is. But I am educated electrician engineer. I do see energy according to physics lows rather then Dr. Oz speculations. So, I do not see any reason to trust in product. Also I do take insulin, and I used to take different types of insulin before I stopped on one, Lantus Solo Star. I took Novolog. This type of insulin works in the same way as the product which Dr.Oz recommend. The result was, after I injected Novolog I  was in low level of sugar and in very low, dangerously low level of energy. This is why now I do not take Novolog, only insulin  Lantus Solo Star.
       Now there is another point, fat melt away, is this good or it is not so good at all? Well, I am diabetic type 2. When insulin supply was terminated, and my dose of insulin is very high, 300 units daily, so it cost $2000 month supply, I did not have money to pay for insulin. Sugar in blood run very high. Fat started to be used as source of energy. Pounds dropped dramatically fast. I dropped from size 3xW down to 1xW just withing a few month. Sugar run out of any control, over 599 mg/dl, the limit of home glucose meter. 
      Finally insulin supply was restored. Now I do have insulin, and I do have it in dose I need to inject every day, every single day dose of injection can be different. Now I am 5xW. Swelling in legs and in every tissue of my body, in every organ, lungs, liver, heart, ... and so on. The question is, when with product which lead to use fat and melt it, would not be this temporary? If so, what would be after fat melted away? Edema? Water retention? It is very danger medical condition, and it can be fatal. Dr. Oz know it very well.

Another way product works is appetite suppression. Well, it can be seen as a good, still is this really good for us to lost appetite? What is the result of this? I am not going to discuss this pretty unhealthy statement. What I wish to say, is not this disorder? We deal with different types of illnesses. One of them is bulimia disorder. It can be finally fatal. Victims of this disorder cannot take meal. Even think about meal make them sick. So, they lose weight dramatically, and what? Take a seat on opposite end of swing? Why do I need it? Is this really healthy to suppress appetite? 
     As I just said, Dr. Oz is very famous to spread the scam. In his medical mind, very twisted and highly greed everything is good if it put money on Dr. Oz account. But think about, how it can be 'healthy'  and 'natural'  if product work in opposite of our Nature? Our body system work in the way that even we stay out of meal we can function up to two weeks, why? Because of energy used in the way we need it and not in the way how any pill or product force our body system to use it. We do have appetite to take a food with love and please. We have to force ourselves to take medicine, it is out of pleasant but it is necessary. This is protection to block us away form  addiction to medicine when we do not need it. So, what is 'natural' and 'healthy' in product? Nothing for us.
 

via Ravenvoron

Day-by-Day. October 20, 2016

Fasting sugar is 276 mg/dl at 5:04 am.
Lantus Solo Star 60 units. 
277 mg/dl at 9:35 am
Lantus solo Star 80 units.
142 mg/dl at 3:04 pm
Lantus Solo Star 80 units.
This is my day today. I woke up weak and sweating. I realized, sugar is high. Really it is for fasting reading. I injected 60 units, and ... after awhile sugar did not drop, still high. I took another shot. Now, I could not stay awake, I fall asleep instantly. Right now sugar dropped, and I am OK. Would I have low sugar today and tonight? I do not know. It is too difficult to predict how all would go on. Low blood sugar all the time get into high level, and very low energy. We do not have reading, how our energy level drops. We just feel it. Sometimes I am not able to take any steps, even take something to eat. 

       Now I started canning. With help of my man, of cause. I cannot do it by myself. But together we do it. The goal  is, meal all the time ready, just open a jar and put meat or soup to heat. Easy and convenient. Most important, I can put in jar row meat, even frozen, and put 7 jars into pressure cooker. So simple. It takes time, but the result is good to try. Also we would be able to take meat ready to eat to our camping trips. Meal at any time with us, easy to cook at any time. We do have stove, just a few min. and any meal ready to eat. 
       Another point, I do know what is in. There is no fat, I cannot eat any fat or oil, or batter. My liver is complicated. We buy  our meat in Costco. There is best ground beef, just 88% lean to 12% fat. I put into jar raw meat with salt and put it into pressure cooker. 90 min and meat is ready to eat, or to be labeled and put on storage. I do not eat spicy meal. And I am very sensitive to preserved meal. So, my own cooking habits are all the time better then any what I used to buy so far.

I book camping trips. Window is opened, and sites are go away very fast. I need site around the water, prime sites. There are not so many of them. But any site in Adirondack or Catskills are really good. I already miss our camping trips. 
      Every time when I book camping, I am really not sure, would I be able to take that trips, or I would not be around. But my man love camping and he insists, I book all what I can.  So, I do. Already a few seasons we took our trips, and it was very nice. It is almost not possible to book good site on good camp at season July and August. It is great if there would be any. Last Summer some kids come to our site to take a swim in lake. They staid far away from water, and beach really far. So, they took path around our site to get to the water. We do not mind kids. Every one wish to have good time.

via Ravenvoron

I recently carried o

I recently carried out a survey among physicians working with diabetic patients: I wanted to know how comprehensive their treatments were. To my surprise, all of them focused treatment on strict blood glucose control using either only drug therapy or a combination of drugs and dietary changes...

via Taylor

Healthful Diabetes C

Healthful Diabetes Cooking Tips Interested in making some healthful changes to your eating habits? Here's a low stress, low fuss way to ease into a healthy diet for diabetes. Cook with whole grain products like brown rice, bran, oatmeal and quinoa rather than refined grains. Be sure to keep your measuring cup handy for portioning…

via Taylor

Bitter Melon - Natur

Bitter Melon - Natural Remedies for Diabetes

via Taylor

Golimumab / SIMPONI Starts a Phase-II? Trial (T1GER)

Golimumab (sold as Simponi) is an immune system modulator, which has been approved in the United States and many other countries for treatment of several autoimmune diseases, so testing it on type-1 diabetes makes a lot of sense.  It has already been approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and ankylosing spondylitis.

The Study

This study will enroll 81 people.  Half will get the treatment, and half will get a placebo, as the study is double blind.  The treatment is a subcutaneous injection once a week.  This is the same kind of injection used for insulin itself.  Everyone will be followed for two years.  The primary data will be C-peptide generation (a marker for natural insulin production), and the secondary data includes A1c, insulin usage, side effects, more C-peptide data, etc.

They started in August 2016 and plan to run until October 2019.

The researchers are planning on recruiting at 30+ different locations throughout the United States. Their clinical trials page says that right now they are only active in Atlanta, Georgia and Lexington, Kentucky. However, I do think they are actively recruiting in Walnut Creek, California as well. (People often forget to update their clinical trial record as they add more sites.)   The contact point for enrollment is this email address: JNJ.CT@sylogent.com.

Discussion

Golimumab is a monoclonal antibody (meaning it very specifically targets one type of cell). In particular, Golimumab targets TNFα (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha) an immune signalling protein, which triggers several immune responses, including inflammation.  This is slightly controversial because researchers such as Dr. Faustman are trying to cure type-1 diabetes by increasing the levels of TNFα, while these researchers are trying to cure type-1 diabetes by decreasing the levels of TNFα. This issue came up in 2009, when Embrel (which lowers TNFα) had a mildly successful Phase-I trial. I discussed the "TNFα: Friend or Foe" at that time:
http://ift.tt/2ekv4bT

This study is being done by Janssen Research and Development, which is a large pharmaceutical company.

Clinical Trials Registry: http://ift.tt/2eI6152
Drug Web Page: http://www.simponi.com/
Drug Wikipedia Page: http://ift.tt/2d3vyS3
TNF  Wikipedia Page: http://ift.tt/1cxdeOj

Joshua Levy
http://ift.tt/29DuN3o
publicjoshualevy at gmail dot com
All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions. My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials, which might be discussed here. My blog contains a more complete non-conflict of interest statement. Thanks to everyone who helps with the blog.


via Cure Research

Day-by-Day. October 19, 2016

228 mg/dl at 5:04 am., fasting
I woke up sweating, but not shaking. It was heat inside, and I was very weak. Low blood sugar? Cannot be. I injected only 160 units of insulin Yesterday, so there is no any reason to expect low blood sugar. I do have low blood sugar one after another, so I decreased dose of insulin.I toow two shots 80 units each time. Last shot was before bed.
I check up sugar level. It is high rather then low.

Sugar is really tricky. This is why it is so difficult fo find what dose of insulin to inject. All the time it is presented by MD that 'when dose of insulin established ..." diabetic get high or low numbers. We are all time on high-low swings, regardless how carefully we try to eat or work out. Now sugar dropped down to 150 mg/dl and I injected another 80 units of insulin. I try do not take higher dose then 80 units. It is better to add shot then increase dose higher then 80 units at the time.

It is Fall. It is sunny day today. Still I am sad and have very depressed mood. No any reason for that. Still, I do have it, do I like it or not.Probably because of I read too much medical publications. Looks like there is no way to go. The Organized Medicine as Organized Crime not possible to beat. They are way too high, right above the clouds.

Headache. 

via Ravenvoron

Dear Diabetes

Dear Diabetes,

Please stop.

You have had your fun.  Now please leave us alone. 

The blood sugar of 400 after dinner was sarcastic, no?  Yes, we forgot to bolus for the little baked potato until after it had been eaten, but a bg that high for maybe 15 missed carbs?  Get a grip.

Then you showed up at gym the next morning.  You and gym had finally started go get along I thought.  But you threw in a random 40 to start the day. Why? 

Oh- yes.  I remember.  So that my kid could have a moment to ask the nurse about the next day's standardized testing plans.  Where would she be taking it?  What were the accommodations for you, diabetes? This question ended in a lunchtime meeting with the guidance counselor, a series of emails and still no firm answer.  We'll have to go with the flow for this one it seems, partly my fault for not taking note this test was coming and asking earlier. But we would've gone with the flow anyway, without having the opportunity to ask the question and waste an hour of the day with stressful communication about the answer.

As if the testing question fiasco weren't enough, the low also resulted in missing most of Spanish class, where the assignment to do a project on a famous Hispanic person was handed out.  By the time she got back to the classroom Big Papi and Freda Kahlo, her first choices, had been taken.  She chose Pedro Martinez, but while the choices on the original list included links to articles in Spanish to work from, that wasn't the case for off-the-list options.  So while the class had the opportunity to complete most of the initial portion of the project in class, my daughter spent an hour at home finding an article in Spanish about Pedro and answering questions.  On a night she was supposed to have no homework due to the aforementioned tests.

Diabetes, we've had enough.  We see you.  We hear you.  We feel you.  We get it.  You've got power to derail any day you want to.  And you did.  You won the day.  Please go somewhere else to celebrate.

Respectfully,

Us








via Adventures in Diabetes Parenting

Like a G6?

We upgraded our Dexcom system a few weeks ago to the G4 Share.  Why, you may wonder, didn't we go straight to the newest Dexcom system, the G5?  And what's the difference, anyway? 

Here's what we learned about the distinctions between the two:

-The G4 Share sends data from the transmitter (worn on my daughter's body) to a receiver (within several feet of the transmitter). The receiver has a screen on which the data is viewable, and it alarms for high and low blood sugars.  The receiver then sends data to a paired smartphone (in this case my daughter's). That phone, in turn, can be set to send data to other smartphones (in this case, mine and my husband's).

-The G5 Share sends the data straight from the transmitter to a smartphone, bypassing the need for a receiver.  There is an option to have the data go to a receiver instead, but it cannot go to both places.  From what I've read,the distance over which the G5's transmitter will send its data is shorter than that of the G4's transmitter.  The share part works the same way, with the option to send data on from the primary smartphone to designated recipients.

Here's how we thought through our decision:

-My first consideration was that I didn't want my daughter's phone in her room at night.  The temptation to text, stream Netflix and/or scroll through Instagram would be entirely too great. Because of it's reportedly shorter transmission range, I wasn't confident that the G5 transmitter's signal would reach through the wall to the adjoining bathroom or hallway. And even if it did, I had another issue:

-I didn't want my phone in my bedroom at night. Much to the chagrin of a few of my friends, I'm known for putting my phone 'to bed' by 9:30 p.m.  If I were using it for Dexcom alerts I would not only need to leave it next to the bed, but also leave the sound on.  This wasn't appealing if we could continue our current practice of using a receiver with a longer signal instead.

-We then began to consider where else my daughter wouldn't or shouldn't have her phone, even if it were part of a medical device. It would be hard to carry a phone during gym class.  What about marching band practices and competitions?  Theater costumes don't often have roomy pockets.  The size and simplicity of slipping a much smaller-than-an-iPhone Dexcom receiver in a pocket or clipping its case on a waistband seemed much more convenient in these situations than finding somewhere on her person to stash the phone.

-The receiver emits a unique series of vibrations and/or beeps to alert its user of low or high blood sugars.  This would make it possible to be alerted of, and to address, a problem even if the receiver were silenced and tucked deep and irretrievably in a uniform or costume.  Two vibrations for high, three for low, four for very low.

-The receiver's information seemed more quickly accessible.  The receiver is usually clipped to her waist band or in her front pants pocket. At the push of one button to wake up the screen, she can see her current number, a trend arrow, and a three hour graph.   With the phone, there would be the process of locating it in her bag, unlocking it, opening the app and then being able to see the data before putting the phone away again.  More steps would make it harder to be surreptitious and more likely to get questioned or looked down upon for using her phone inappropriately.  Was it worth the extra conversations and dirty looks?

It was a tough decision, mostly since my inclination is usually to go with the very newest technology, but I'm convinced we've made the right choice for our family at this moment.  Now we can stop thinking about it until we have to decide whether we'd like a G6 or a G6.




via Adventures in Diabetes Parenting

Diabetes Tell: Tired, But Can't Sleep.

After two weeks of for the most part - beautiful blood sugars - with some lows spattered in just for diabetes shits and giggles, I knew that diabetes would hit the fan sooner rather than later - I just wish it hadn’t hit the fan in the wee small hours of Monday morning.
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So am I the only one who can’t sleep when their blood sugar is starting to rise? 

OK, let me rephrase that: Am I the only one who goes to bed sleepy, but can't actually go to sleep because my blood sugar is unexpectedly/unknowingly rising? 
I’m sans CGM so it’s a good thing and I’m not complaining - OK, I am complaining, but  only because I’m in need of sleep and there’s only so much caffeine and water I can drink without my bladder exploding. 

I think it’s a little strange (and by strange I mean WEIRD - but in a good way,) that unexpected rising blood sugars in the middle of night - for the most part, don't allow me to reach full REM sleep - and FORCE me to check my blood sugar. 
 WEIRD, because normally high blood sugars make me tired and all I want to do is sleep - except when I’m actually trying to sleep. 

GOOD, because I’m so damn thankful that I have this as one of my “diabetes tells.” 

Here’s what went down and hoping you can relate: 

Last night’s dinner began with a beautiful bg of 91 and low in carb deliciohsness to boot. Things sailed smoothly - I checked two hours  after dinner and I was 160 - PERFECTO... until right before bed when my bg was 206. Not a big deal - I corrected and was ready to hit the sack by 11p.m.. 

Cut to 12:50 a.m. and yours truly tossing and turning. I finally grabbed my meter off the nightstand and checked - I was 220 and my less than 12 hour old site hurt. 

I didn’t feel like changing it out, but I did - and I gave another correction. 

Cut to 2:40 am and me still tossing and turning. 

You guessed it, I checked my bg AGAIN - and it was 269. 
I gave my self another correction of 1.8 - which was interrupted half way through by my insulin pump’s occlusion alarm.
YES, I STARTED TO PANIC, but I was too tired to actually FREAK.
And I silently reminded myself that I would have most likely slept through the occlusion if I hadn't been unable to sleep - YAY ME. 

I did the whole prime/rewind thing and the alarm went off, AGAIN. 
Tried a new battery and prime followed by rewinding a second time - same thing. 

My reservoir had been filled Sunday morning - it couldn’t be my insulin - maybe it was the tubing? I changed out the pump’s tubing and and it worked like a charm.

Then I finished the previously interrupted correction bolus - my head was a bit hazy on the math - I literally had to do the calculations with a pencil before I bolused. 
Then I waited until until my bg was going in the right direction before closing my eyes at 3:30. 

My alarm went off at 7 a.m., I hit the snooze button twice - thank GOD my coffee maker has a timer! 

This morning started off with a bang, followed by a 7a.m., bg of 155. 
After the early morning high blood sugar/occlusion escapades, I was more than cool with that number.
Monday was certainly a Monday from the get go - but things got done, blood sugars have stayed in range since 3:30 a.m., and I haven't once asked: IS IT FRIDAY YET? 
But I have asked for more coffee~ 

via Diabetesaliciousness