Diabetes Doesn't Define You

I got to try out a Climapak recently and wanted to share my experience with everyone.

In the past I've had some bad experiences with insulin expiring due to heat while I was traveling. I wrote about that here and here. 

Kewl Innovations has come up with a great solution, Climapak! 

This thing is awesome!  

It keeps your insulin pens or vials at a cool room temperature when you are on the go. Its powered by a rechargeable battery they you can charge in your car, outlet or even your computer's USB slot. I've found the battery to last a long time, several days if not a week. Its great!

Here is my Climapak loaded with my Novalog and Lantus. The unit is displaying the temperature inside of it, 70 degrees. 

Kewl Innovations gave me a little pocket thermometer keychain with the device. Something interesting that I noticed was the temperature inside my pockets. When I'd take my keys out, I'd notice the thermometer in the 90s!  It made me realize that my insulin pens are being constantly stored at that temperature. That is not a good thing!

Well, thanks a lot Kewl Innovations for coming up with this device. I love it!  

I just did my Big Blue Test!  Did you do yours? 

How do you do the Big Blue Test?  EASY!

1) Test your blood sugar

2) Get active

3) Test again

4) Go to www.bigbluetest.org and log your results. 

For the past two years I've done CrossFit-style workouts for my Big Blue Test. You can see them Here and Here. 

This year I've been having shoulder problems, so I've taken a break from CrossFit. Lately I have been doing lighter workouts, with lots of good shoulder exercises, with my goal to strengthen my joints smartly. I've been making really good progress and hope to be back CrossFitting soon. 

So for my Big Blue Test I decided to do one of my shoulder strengthening exercises. This one is called the "Turkish Getup". Basically you hold a kettlebell towards the ceiling and stand up with it, then back down, always keeping the kettlebell up towards the ceiling. For this workout I did 50 (25 each arm). It took me about 10 minutes.  

In the past, my CrossFit workouts actually raise my blood sugars, but just temporarily. After about 45 min to an hour after my workout, my blood sugar will drop back down, usually lower then when I started.  This workout was much less intense, so I actually had a lower blood sugar at the end, which was great!. For lowering blood sugar, I've found the absolute best exercises are long, but very light workouts, like walking. Give it a try!

My starting blood sugar was 96 mg/dL and afterwards I was 91 mg/dL.  Pretty cool! 

So, lets see your big blue test!  Post your pics and vids here at 1happydiabetic, and log your results at www.bigbluetest.org .   Even if you just go for a walk (one of the best blood sugar lowering exercises in my opinion!), lets hear about your results. 

Well, I'm almost finished with a 90 day Paleo Challenge from Lurong Living http://www.lurongliving.com/challenge/

I just got some blood work done and wanted to share the results with everyone. The past 3 months I've almost exclusivly eaten paleo, so my hA1C numbers will reflect that.

5.6!!  Cool, yeah?

Additionally my Total Cholesterol was 177 , my HDL was 78, my LDL was 89 and my triglycerides were 48.

I would like to get my hA1C to 5.0. I will post again in a few months and hopefully be there.

Thats all for now..

I was interviewed by Ginger from Diabetes Daily.  check it out!

http://www.diabetesdaily.com/voices/2012/10/crossfit-for-diabetes/

So I had to do a "benchmark" workout for this Paleo Diet Challenge  I am doing with my gym.

This week's workout was a CrossFit workout called "Randy", 75 power snatches at 75 pounds for time. I finished in 8:22

Im no stranger to the Paleo Diet, as I have been living the Paleo lifestyle for about 3 years now. It has done wonders to my diabetes management.

While eating paleo I'm able to get amazing blood sugar control and very frequently have readings on my CGM that look like this--

I've just started a "Paleo Challenge" with my CrossFit Gym (CrossFit Dynamix in Astoria, Queens, NYC).  The challenge is being put together by Lurong Living ( www.lurongliving.com/challenge ) ,  a supplement company. Check out their website, I won't go into their supplement right now, but I take it and may blog about it later.  The challenge seems very well put together. They will track body measurements, dietary cheats, and CrossFit WOD (Workout of the Day) performance. I put together a team from my gym with 22 athletes. We are all competing in the challenge individually and as a team.

During these 9 weeks I'm trying to get to a new personal best for my Deadlift. My goal is 400 pounds. Just today I hit 335 for a few reps. Pretty good for a guy that only weights 150 pounds, right?

You may be asking, what is the Paleo Diet?

The Paleo Diet is a diet/lifestyle that seeks to mimic the way our ancestors ate. It is believed by anthropologists and biologists that we've lived as modern genetic humans for almost 3 millions years. During 99.9% of that time we have been hunter & gatherers.  Eating lean meats, fish, veggies, fruit, seeds and nuts. For only a blink of an eye we've had grains, refined sugars and processed foods.  Most people who try the paleo diet LOVE IT, get hooked on it, and for diabetics, find amazing blood sugar control.  It is actually an easy lifestyle to adhere to.  

So basically:

• Eat meat, fish, veggies, nuts, seeds, and some fruit.
• Do not eat, grains (all breads, pastas, rice, corn... but you already knew this stuff was bad for you and your blood sugars, right?), legumes (like peanuts, soy... isn't everyone allergic to this stuff anyway?), dairy, processed foods, or any sugar. 

That seems pretty easy, straight forward and healthy, right?

A Paleo food pyramid might look like this--

This challenge will go on for 9 weeks. While I am not a stranger to Paleo, I'm going to take this opportunity to be very disciplined with my diet. I have an A1C test this week... perfect timing!  I plan to get another one done at the end of the challenge. I'm hoping to get in the 4's    I hope to inspire some other diabetics out there to give the Paleo Diet a try!

Stayed tuned, I will continuoally blog about my progress. 

For some reason, lately I've been seeing a lot of articles about coffee possibly assisting in the prevention of type 2 diabetes? These articles can be very confusing at times. Many of these articles seems to only go one way or another. Many studies seem to point coffee in a favorable position, while others do not. However, as I dig further, the problem doesn't appear to be in the coffee bean, but the caffeine within the coffee itself. Yet, I think that it's accurate to say that, this is one of those things when "it depends on individual experience".

I'd just like to take a quick minute to talk about my personal experience with coffee, without all the tons of research jargon. Before you continue to read, remember to consider that everyone's body will be different, and the effects may not be the same.

I've done a little test a while back. I fasted one morning, consuming one cup of coffee and checked my blood sugar every hour for four hours. My blood sugars did not spike, in fact it almost was not effected at all. However, The next time I drank coffee in the morning, it would be with my usual breakfast, not only did I notice a significant spike in my blood sugars, I had to use more insulin to cover those sugars. My sugars also stayed higher longer than usual. I found out later that this was due to the caffeine in the coffee.

From what I understand, caffeine does mainly two things to a diabetic. One, it hinders your insulin's ability to do it's job. Two, it also triggers a release of other hormones that causes the liver to release more glucose than usual. Interesting in my case it did not do that, however, I definitely felt the difference when I drank it along with food.

I also have IBS (controlled). If I consume large amount of coffee (more than about 1 cup (8 ounces)) I've noticed that caffeine sometimes aggravates and causes terrible muscle spasms, and cramps in my stomach due to the IBS. By nature I don't normally drink coffee, but when I do, it's usually when I know I'll be home for the day. However, some claim that coffee can assist in healthy bowl movements. Personally, I find this debatable; it's like saying a lactose intolerant person who drinks a ton of whole milk get a healthy bowl movement, just because he or she got one. If You have IBS talk to your doctor, or nutritionist about caffeine.

What many people may not be aware of, is that caffeine is also an accelerant~stimulant, and may not be good for people with existing heart disease or high blood pressure. Too much caffeine can cause dangerous palpitations for people with existing heart conditions. It can have the same dangerous effects as an herb called Ma-huang if taken in large quantities.

Now it appears that almost every soft drink (and sometimes nutritional supplements) on the market contain caffeine in them. America literally runs on caffeine. How ironic that although coffee in large consumptions can be bad for us, it is another families livelihood.

Yogi

Oh, the wonders of technology!  We have so many great things now, computers, the internet, smart phones, tablet PCs, and so much more.  In the diabetes world I remember the days before insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and many varieties of glucose meters.  I realized in the past 4 weeks how incredibly spoiled I have become with all my diabetes high tech gear.  I also realized how stubborn I can be!

So here is a bit of background on my experience.  About 3 months ago I noticed the display on my pump was not as bright as it used to be. Because I look at the screen multiple times a day, I hadn’t realized how dim the display had become.  I was so busy getting ready for a vacation/training trip that I decided not to call the pump company until I got back.  After all, my blood sugars were fine and I could see the screen well enough.  I also did something I NEVER do, I did not ask my pump company for a loaner pump to bring on vacation, even though they offer them and it is easy to get them to send you one.

On January 27th, I headed down to Miami with 2 work colleagues (and all together great gals) to go on a cruise where we would be vacationing as well as getting continuing education credits for our licenses as professional counselors.  Right away I realized something was wonky in my diabetes world. I was having lots of unexplained high blood sugars, even when I switched out my infusion set and tried a new bottle of insulin.  I assumed that my wild carb guessing was the culprit most of the time.  After all, I was eating more sweets and junky food since I was on vacation.  Then while in Grand Cayman, I tried to bolus for some ice cream and I could not see the screen on the pump at all in the sun or the shade.  I ended up under a beach towel trying to make out the screen to bolus.  For the first time in years my diabetes was getting in the way of my fun times, making me feel super stressed out.  It made my friends worry about me, which I hate.  We still managed to have fun but diabetes was getting in the way.

The trip ended and we all headed home.  For the first 5 days of being back, I was in the mad rush of catching up on work since I had been gone for over a week.  The wacky blood sugars continued, even with me going back to weighing and measuring my food.  I finally called the pump company about the pump screen being so dim.  After lots of troubleshooting, they agreed to send me a new pump even though they felt mine was working fine except for the screen being hard to read.

The new pump came in 8 days ago.  Guess what? All the weird blood sugar issues are gone!  So maybe there was something wrong with the old pump after all other than the screen being dim.  So I come back to my original thought in this post.  I was too stubborn about calling the pump company.  I was depending on this pump to keep me alive and I was taking for granted that I have to be more proactive in my own self care.  After all, it is not the pump’s job to keep me alive, it is MY job to do this.  I became spoiled by the technology in an unsafe way.  It makes me wonder if the darn thing would have had to power off completely or dump a ton of insulin into me before I would have taken it off and called tech support.  As you can see from the picture below, thereis a huge difference in the readability of the screens so it seems so obvious that there was something really wrong.

So here are my valuable life lessons from this experience:

1. Call tech support immediately if there is something going on with the pump, even if it seems minor or cosmetic.
2. Always get a loaner pump when going on vacation if your pump company allows for this.
3. This one is for one of my best friends, LaTonya.  She was right.  I need to stop being so stubborn and I will ask for help when I need it.  
   
4. As I always tell the clients I work with, keep learning and growing!
   

It’s all about your attitude!

Suzanne

Okay let me start by saying that I have had T1 diabetes for 23 yrs now so this is not my first rodeo with issues. I transfered to a new college to finish out my nursing school because it is smaller and I get more 1 on 1 attention from the professors. I decided to live in the dorms because it is so far from my home and I just refused to give up the oppurtinity to go to this school and give up my soccer scholarship. Well I am still trying to get a feel for what is going to work for me and that is a lot harder then I imagined ( must have thought the diabetic fairy was going to magically help me ) I walk way more in a day from classes and dorms and chow halls and this has reeked havic on my BG's. I have been on the phone with my Endo more then I have with my own family trying to get my basals reset to better accomadate my activities and this includes soccer as well. This week was a huge scare though and really woke me up to seeing how even the slightest things can screw with my numbers. Some jerkface ( yes that is a word ) decided to be funny and pull the fire alarm in the dorms and so of course we had to run out of the building like chickens with our heads cut off. My problem begins here, I was in the process of treating a sttuborn low ( story of our lives right? ) when the fire alarm got pulled and the person who's job it is to ensure our safety was knocking and banging on my door telling me to get outside. Well I went back in my room for a sec cause I needed my juice especially since I was having to use the stairs ( I am on the 3rd floor so you do the math lol ) she did not let me do this instead she made me go down. I was sitting at 42 mg/dl when I left the room and by the time they let us back in I was at 32 mg/dl ( wick sick low right? ) well the RA notices my lack of control and sits me down asked what I needed and tried his darnest to help but by then the cops had called ems and they were there within 3 mins. Well I have a slight issue when I hit a certain low level of 40 or below most times that I will throw up whatever you give me it does not matter. This up chucking was going on for 15 mins before the EMT's were like your going to the ER. I was not happy to say the least I missed 3 days of class and practice and now trying again to work this crap out. Now here is my issue. This college has never had type 1 diabetes live in the dorms ( not that they didn't let them it was just they never had any who did ) Well this semester there are two of us and we are both on pumps so of course a lil scary for the RD's and RA's to think about. The other type 1 had a low BG seizure that caused a concussion as well last week. This is again worrying a lot of people. The school nurse is trying to train these people to help us as neither of us have room mates I share a bathroom ( like a jack and jill set up ) but my room is mine and the other d girl has the same. So the nurse is trying to come up with things to help us like making sure we are okay. She needs ideas though. The training part will happen very soon and so that will help but what about walking the half mile to my class and going low? I can not get the words out of my mouth of what I want to say so I fear others will not know what to do. I do have my D medical alert bracelet as does the other girl. So please thoses of you who did the dorm life and sports help me out here any thing you guys think would help us stay healthy and normal would be fabtabulous ( again yes that is also a word ) 

I was at a diabetes monthly meeting not too long ago. I had a lot of fun there. In this particular support group, there's always someone that has spare diabetes supplies to share. How wonderful to witness this, especially during the xmas holidays. However, I became very sad for a moment, because although it was such a beautiful thing that members are willing to share their blessings unconditionally; I also thought about the fact billions of people still have absolutely no idea what a diabetic has to go through, and just how vital diabetic supplies are to every diabetic (not just type 1).

I also thought about the fact that so many type 2 people, don't have the right to some of the same technologies as type 1 do because of stigma. Regardless of what type of diabetes you have, we are all fighting the same battle of trying to stay alive by any means necessary, period....

I've encountered so many people that take their diabetes for granted. Some of us litterally hoard supplies unnecessarily. I just wanted to say that, lets not forget our diabetic brothers and sisters lives that depend on the supplies we don't use. Think about how diabetic lives are devasted every day because of insurance issues. If you are blessed with extra supplies, share them. Nothing feels more beautiful than the opportunity to help someone in need.

-Yogi