But…!

My lunch post-prandial is typically the highest time of the day.  I have done everything I can think of to lower this number.

• start eating about 20 minutes after I bolus
• I do a 2-hour super bolus to get some extra insulin in my system early
• count carbs very carefully, by both checking nutrition labels and weighing my foods
• washed my hands before testing to ensure an accurate reading (making sure there’s no leftover lunch on my hands!)

I seem to have done everything right.  And yet, I am still too high.  Guess it’s time to up that I/C ratio.

Cutting it awfully close

I had a system set up for reordering my sensors.  When I put in a new sensor and I only had one spare for backup, that’s when I would call EdgePark to reorder.  That way, I would still have a backup and new ones would arrive before I had to tap in to my last sensor.

Things do not always go as planned.

I called to order and then didn’t hear anything for a couple days.  The nice CSR told me that they were waiting on a Rx from my endo.  Um, what?!?!?  Turns out that Dexcom “changed their packaging” or something and they needed an updated letter of medical necessity.  I instantly paled at the thought that my sensors would no longer be covered and I’d have to jump through a million hoops to get them back.

It took an awfully long time to contact my endo (they don’t have a number that goes straight to a person, only a line where you can leave a message) to know if they faxed the form.  Then an awfully long time to get confirmation from EdgePark that they were sending my sensor.  They were able to ship one box, then it looks like I will get a 90 day supply after that.

I stretched my penultimate sensor as long as it would go, but I eventually had to switch to my very last one.  I have been extra careful with it to make sure it lasts until my new sensors arrive.  I finally got the tracking information today and the new sensors arrive tomorrow.  Today was day 7 with my last sensor, so they are cutting it awfully close…

Gimme a break

For most of September, things were pretty normal.  Blood sugars were fine, no big problems one way or the other.  I went to work, went to class, hung out with friends, watched TV, the usual.

Then for some reason, in this past week, things went to hell.  I rode high for most of Monday and Tuesday, and I finally settled on a 160% basal rate to get things under control.  That’s pretty intense.

I’m not sure exactly what happened in my body to warrant that much insulin.  Probably a combination of stress due to massive meetings at work, pre-period insulin resistance, trying to heal some bruises from moving bookshelves, and fighting off a cold.  Any one of those things I can handle easily by itself.  But all 4 together makes for quite the control nightmare.

I finally got some decent sleep last night, and my cold seems to be going away, so I’m down to a 140% rate.  I may even lower it more as the weekend (and the fun) arrives.

It is weeks like this that make me really hate having diabetes.  No matter what, I cannot take a break.  Even if things are under control, life can take things on a random turn that throws things off course.  All I can do is adapt, deal with it, and keep a positive attitude.

Up and down

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  There have been a lot of things that I’ve wanted to say, but just haven’t put the fingers to the keyboard.

1. The sister of one of my coworkers died a few weeks ago.  The coworker has diabetes, and apparently so does his sister.  They say she died of complications of diabetes, so it was hard for me to hear that one of our own had passed away.
2. I tried out the Apidra for a week and I have to say:  I HATED IT!  I was nothing but a rollercoaster all week.  My meal boluses were off, my corrections were off, everything was too wacky and unpredictable.  I switched back to my Humalog and I’ve had fantastic numbers since then.
3. During that rollercoaster ride, I noticed my mood change drastically when my blood sugar was out of range.  I was cranky when I was low, and I felt like shit when I was high.  I only felt good when my blood sugar was between 90 and 120.  While I suppose this could be a good thing, it makes things very frustrating when I have an off day.
4. Losing weight is still a struggle.  I tried doing low-cal for awhile, staying under a set number of calories per day, but that was really hard.  It seemed like it was nowhere near enough calories to keep me satisfied.  I felt hungry all throughout the day and ended up binging on crap and ruining the low-cal thing anyway.  I’ve also fallen off the exercise wagon now that it’s colder and I have class once a week.  It doesn’t seem like there’s enough time.  I wish I could come up with a plan that would work long-term.
5. The pressure to have kids is stronger than ever.  Now that my A1c’s been good 3 times in a row, people take that as a sign that it’s time to have kids.  From my perspective, I’m content to simply continue having an awesome A1c, so I can have kids whenever I want.  Also, there’s an awkward thing going on with my work, and I won’t want to think about getting pregnant until next May-ish, but that doesn’t stop people from mentioning it ALL THE TIME.

It’s been great keeping up with all of you in the Diabetes OC.  Keep up the great posts!