A good day so far

This morning started off in the usual way with me waking up and immediately feeling anxious :(

But I decided today I would test my lunchtime basal rates so I started testing at 11am, hourly. I started at 10.8mmol/l and it gradually fell until it was 4.5 at 3.30pm. I needed to take the dof out so I had two biscuits (20g of carb) and now an hour later the bg is 6.6mmol/l

Cool, that's what I call good - for me anyway!

Back on the horse

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since I posted and that was a bit sporadic but I am getting back on the horse and giving it all another go, the blogging and the diabetes control! I was surprised to see that I have actually posted 27 times to this blog since I started it, i thought it was less than 10 (how the mind can fool us!) and that the blog has received over 1000 hits. I'm sure that is because it is linked to diabetes daily.

Anyway, to catch up on things chez Dee...........

The husband is doing very well, we have everything crossed that the tumour is a minor blip and that he will have no further problems. He is being kept an eye on with scans every 3 months so anything untoward will be dealt with quickly if needs be. But he is his normal self, and basically life is carrying on as if nothing ever happened which is great.

Sadly we lost our gorgeous dog in October but on 30th December we went out and bought a West Highland Terrier puppy and called him Charlie. Here he is at 14 weeks old. He is very cute but can have his moments and last week he nearly drove me to distraction. We are starting to do a bit of training with him now and I think he is starting to get the hang of it!!

On the diabetes front............... my HbA1c climbed to 11.5!! I was due to have an operation on my hands on 11th January but when I went in, they refused to do it because the blood sugars were so high and if I had got an infection it would have been really nasty. Also the healing wouldn't have been as quick. So my diabetes consultant decided it was time I went in and spent a few days in hospital so they could sort me out!! I spent 4 days in, while my basals were checked and I bolused correctly for carbs and the upshot was that my basals were pretty much correct, and that it is all the messing about with the bolusing that i do that was the problem. I am now paying privately for a psychologist (the hospital couldn't provide one on the NHS) and yesterday we really made some progress. I really need to do this because my consultant is threatening to take me off the pump if I don't improve my HbA1c, because it was actually lower on MDI - 9.9 before the pump.

Anyway this mornong I was woken by a hypo of 3.7 (66) and didn't panic. I had a couple of glucotabs and a biscuit and an hour later was at 7.3 (131).

So I am going to use this blog to chart how I get on. I still think I want to have a baby but I'm 40 in August so there's a hell of a lot to do if that is going to ever happen.

I hope some of my previous readers are still out there, I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions you may have for me.

Thanks for reading,
Dee

morning basals this time

After yesterdays night time basal testing I decided to check my morning ones. I didn't go to work, just pottered around the house and kept an eye on them.....

5am - 9.9 (178)
8am - 6.9 (124)
9am - 6.4 (115)
10am - 5.8 (104)
10.30am 4.9 (88)

At this point I stopped and had something to eat as I was feeling a bit wonky. I'm a bit confused about the drop between 5am and 8am as this didn't happen yesterday. I didn't take a correction bolus at 5 am but I did take half a unit before bed, but I would have thought that would have all gone before 5am.

At 10.30am I ate 20g of carb with no bolus and at 1pm my bg was 10.4 (187). I didn't half enjoy my lunch though, I was starving!!! So my conclusion is that my breakfast bolusing is causing me problems as I will get a huge spike after breakfast. I need to get over the fear that the insulin is going to work before the food is absorbed, and take more up front.

Do I need to adjust any basals though, going on these past two days results? My instinct would be to reduce by 0.1 between 9-10am. Any suggestions gratefully received!

appointment and basal checking

I have an appointment for a pre-op assessment on my trigger thumb/finger on 9th August.

Last night I did some basal testing again because I will probably get a call from the pump nurse soon. Somehow I'd managed to get it down to 7.8 (140) before bed so I went for it. So..

11.00pm - 7.8 (140)
1.30am - 7.4 (133)
3.15am - 6.6 (118)
6.00am - 7.7 (138)
7.30am - 7.0 (126)

Pretty consistent I reckon. After breakfast it was 18.6 (335) - eerrrrrrrrrrr??????? But it dropped to 8.3 (149) by 12.00 noon. Incorrect bolusing again.

Numb

I have been experiencing some numbness on one side of my face recently. Well, not exactly numbness, but I don't know how else to describe it. Not tingling, not pins and needles, so I guess it is numbness. I can feel if I touch my face though, so its not completely numb, just an odd feeling. Anyway, I am going to see my GP about it on Monday morning.

I attempted to test another set of basals today.
7.30am - 8.0 (144)
8.30am - 8.1 (146)
9.30am - 7.9 (142)
I then left to drive to work. There was a lot of traffic built up in town so I turned off to go the long way round. As I drove up onto the bypass, I felt really hungry and my stomach was growling, and I started to get that tingly feeling in my arms. I got anxious because I was driving at 65mph, but knew I was only 15 minutes from work. I came off the bypass still feeling a bit low, and when I was stopped at traffic lights I had 3 mouthfuls of Lucozade from a bottle that I keep in the drinks holder. (It tasted yuck, I can't remember how long its been there but I must remember to replace it with a new one.) Five minutes later I was in the car park at work and checked my bg - 7.4 (133). So I wasn't low after all. I doubt it had risen from a low in 5 minutes (less actually), so it was probably the anxiety that made me feel odd, and the fact that I hadn't had any brekkie was why I was feeling hungry and tummy rumbly. Anyway, that put paid to my basal test as it rose to 10.7 (192) by 10.45am.

However, since my appointment last week I have been (mostly) bolusing correctly and doing these basal checks and my confidence has been increasing. My 7-day average is now 10.8 (196). I will be really happy to keep all my bgs under 10 (180) if I can and then lower that number in about a weeks time. I'm sure I'll be fine as long as something doesn't happen to frighten me and set me back to square one. But I am thinking positive, so that isn't going to happen. I AM going to get that HbA1c down again, I AM I AM I AM!!!!

Ravenous!

I am so hungry at this moment. I am basal testing and haven't eaten since 8am. It is now 3.30pm. I am trying to test my lunch/afternoon basals and it seems to be going okay so far, currently sitting at 8.4 (151) but I am expecting a drop anytime soon as the last couple of days I have been low around dinnertime. Low for me that is.....5.0 (90) yesterday and 4.8 (86) on Sunday. I have had hypo symptoms because I have been running high for so long and my body has readjusted itself. Therefore it feels a low at a slightly higher level than it should. Ok by me though. And they have been easily dealt with, with a couple of glucose sweets and a biscuit.


My sugars have been better since last Friday, but not for any reason really. I haven't changed any basal rates as yet, no extra exercise. I have been bolusing slightly differently but nothing major. And yet my bg meter 7 day average has come down from 13.3 (239) to 11.5 (207) in 4 days. A long way to go I know, but its a start.

Ok, it is now evening (8.30pm) and the testing went well. I did drop down as far as 5.5 (90) by about 4.50pm and had a sandwich cos I felt a bit wobbly. I'm now wondering which basals to change, if any. Here are my results.........
12:00 - 9.3 (167)
1:00 - 9.6 (173)
2:00 - 9.2 (165)
3:00 - 8.4 (151)
4:00 - 6.2 (111)
5:00 - 5.5 (90)
Bearing in mind I have had lows for 3 days in a row sometime between 5pm and 6pm. Any suggestions?