As you all should know by now, I am a huge football fan. A huge Eagles fan that is. However, my brother and father both grew up fans of the other team in the state I’m from, the Pittsburgh Steelers. So when the opportunity came about to interview Kendall Simmons, a Super Bowl Champion, I was ecstatic. Well, let’s just get into the interview. Read More
The other day I decided that it was time to manually log my blood sugars again, along with the calorie and carb intakes. I feel that by writing them down, I am able to hold myself more accountable for them and I am a bit more aware of the numbers and certain trends. When I don’t log, I may know that my sugars have been trending high, but I don’t know exactly why or what the trends are. Read More
My new diet is very simple and basic concepts. Eat less calories. I know there is a lot of debate out there about low-carb, no carb, gluten free, low fat, low calorie. Whose to say which one is the best? I think the best one is the one that works best for you. I’ve done the low to no carb thing and every day I was feeling light headed by night time, so clearly that wasn’t working for me, but doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work for somebody else. Read More
I have been very competitive my whole life. I don’t know if it stems from being a younger brother and competing with my older brother, or my long athletic career, or even the fact that I run my own business. But one thing that I do know is that I love a good challenge. When I am challenged, either by myself or by somebody else, I seem to turn on a different switch and my body and I am more motivated to do something than if I wasn’t challenged. Read More
Today was the big endo appointment. I haven’t had one since July because my previous one was cancelled and I couldn’t get in until now. This was a big appointment because there have been a lot of changes in my life. The main ones were my diet and being on Apidra full time which means that I am using less insulin. Over the past week, I have talked about the multiple lows that I am getting every single night and during the day, so I have been making a few adjustments to basal rates and carb ratios trying to find the perfect match.
This is a late night post, but I’ve been pretty busy all day trying to catch up on some work. I’ve also been preparing for my endo appointment tomorrow. I have not “prepared” for an appointment in probably 7 years. I usually just grab my meter and go to the doctors office and that’s it. Not this time. I’ve been writing some things down because my diabetes has been extra wacky lately. Read More
Unfortunately, I am not talking about doing the limbo, I am talking about blood sugars. The reason that I am writing this is because last night brought about the lowest blood sugar that I have had in my 9 years of having diabetes. At least, the lowest that I have recorded by testing my blood sugar. I have been doing a lot of testing with my insulin to carb ratios and basal rates and measuring out the food instead of just guessing, so I am going low a lot lately. Last night was a bad one.
After eating dinner and even having a bowl of Frosted Flakes as a snake before bed, I tried to go to sleep around 10:30-11:00, which is way too early for me. But don’t worry, I didn’t stay asleep for very long, because I was woken up at about 1:30 a.m. with a low blood sugar. I don’t usually test my sugar when it’s low, because I know it’s low, so I just try and treat it and test later. This time, I decided to test my blood sugar before drinking down two big ole’ glasses of orange juice. The meter said, 41. That is the lowest blood sugar that I have ever had. I had one at 45 a few years ago, but nothing lower than that.
It took me 2 glasses of orange juice, 7 munchkins (they were left over from Sunday breakfast) and a granola bar. After I felt good enough to allow myself to go back to sleep, I woke up 6 hours later and my blood sugar was 161. So, even after all that sugar that went into my body, I didn’t even really over-treat the low like I do every single other time.
What is the lowest blood sugar that you ever had?
Today is my first day back from my holiday vacation to Pennsylvania. I actually got back last night, but it was late. So waking up today in my own bed (actually I was waking up in my own bed in PA too, except it was my old bed) felt great. Not waking up in my parents house sucked a bit because visiting family and being in your home town is always fun, but it was time to get back to the normal way of things. Read More
I am actually on the plane right now as I am typing this post. I am returning back to south Florida right now after 10 days in Pennsylvania with friends and family. It was a great trip and I spent a lot of great time with my family. As I mentioned the other day, I also ate a lot of food and used a lot of insulin. I am excited to get back onto a healthy eating schedule starting already tomorrow. But, it’s back to reality tomorrow. Take down the Christmas stuff, unpack all the crap that we got for Christmas and try and get back to a normal lifestyle.
Before I do all that, I have to fly back first, and that’s what I’m doing right now. I still get nervous before I fly every time and that messes with my blood sugar. I really try to have my blood sugar around 160-180 when I fly. I don’t want to go low and I don’t want to go high.
Do you have an ideal blood sugar number that you prefer when you are going to fly?
I have been up in Pennsylvania for over a week now spending some great time with my family. Along with that family time comes a lot of food. A lot of food means a lot of insulin. I have been going through insulin like it is water, literally. On an average day, I use about 180-190 units of insulin. That’s with my high basal rates, plus my unhealthy eating. Add in being back at home with all of my favorite restaurants, I have been averaging 250 units of insulin a day for the last few days. Some people don’t even use 250 units a month, let alone in a single day.
This is something that I am not proud of, and I know that I need to make up for all the extra insulin used by cutting back on the amount of insulin that I use when I get back to Florida and eat healthier again.
This all goes back to the whole idea of balance in my life. I need to balance out this mass eating and insulin intake that I have been going through this past week and eat very low carb and keep my boluses to as low as possible for at least a week.
We shall see how well the low – carb adventure goes when I get back tomorrow.