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National Diabetes Month

Posted by Mitch on Nov 7, 2008

November is National Diabetes Month, and it’s something I care about wholeheartedly. If you’ve gone back into my blog, you know that I’m diabetic, and I’ve written on diabetes a couple of times, including my battles every once in awhile. Luckily, since I’ve been home, I’ve gotten my glucose numbers back under control.

Unfortunately, though I’m not considered an insulin dependent person, I am on insulin, and though it’s not as bad as I’d thought it would be, having to give myself injections twice a day isn’t much fun. I don’t have to start spouting numbers of new diabetics every day. It’s not always something you can easily control, as it runs in my family, but it’s something that we can keep from getting way out of control with knowledge, exercise, and communication.

To that end, I’d like to direct everyone in America to this link of activities taking place across the country this month highlighting this terrible disease. For everyone else, there’s this link talking about World Diabetes Day, which is November 14th.

Can diabetes be solved? Honestly, I don’t know. But I’ll never give up my fight, and I’m sure someone will eventually figure something out, with the help and funds of others.

HFCS Is Good For You,… Not!

Posted by Mitch on Sep 23, 2008

I did say it was video day, right? On Diabetesaliciousness blog, she wrote a post that I’m not going to link back to because, well, some of the initial language is pretty bad and I don’t roll that way. Anyway, it’s a rant that I approve of against a new series of commercials popping up on TV trying to convince the American public that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is actually good for us.

Trust me, nothing can be further from the truth. I can’t even believe I would have to begin telling a lot of people about this stuff, but it’s basically taking a lot of heat for many of the health issues most of us have, especially diabetes. I’m not going to start posting a lot of statistics here; instead, here’s some links you can check out if you’re really interested:

That should be enough for now. And, oddly enough, I didn’t copy the same link each time; all the articles have the same title, and there’s plenty more. So much for originality. Anyway, on the first blog I mentioned, along with her rant was this very sarcastic video, which I present to you now:

And there you go. The biggest problem we have is that it’s in almost everything processed, so you really have to check closely to see what the ingredients are in your foods. I’ve pretty much gotten most of it out of my diet at home, but who knows what I’m eating when I’m on the road. Do the best you can; I’m going to try.

Time To Get My Diabetes Under Control Again

Posted by Mitch on Sep 7, 2008

It’s been awhile since I’ve given an update on my diabetes control. When we last left, I was so under control that I was able to reduce my intake of insulin, and all was great with the world.

Well, I can’t say that now, and it’s mostly my fault, though I have my excuse for it. In June, I went on the road for 3 months on a consulting assignment for my main business. The problem with working a long term consulting assignment is that you can’t eat properly because, well, circumstances just get in the way. While I was still working from home, I was able to eat every 3 hours, the meals were measured and planned way in advance, and I felt great. When you’re working at someone else’s location, and they’re paying for the hotel, you suddenly don’t have the same kind of control over yourself that you do at home.

Mornings were a quick sandwich of some kind from McDonalds. Lunch was almost always Subway, every once in awhile KFC, but lunch sometimes was within 3 hours, sometimes 5. Dinner was wherever and whatever I was in the mood for, easily not measured, and sometimes ordered and delivered to my hotel room. Since I was in a smaller town, if I ordered it was usually Chinese or pizza; that’s not great, is it? I was able to keep away from pasta while I was on the road, but rice was another matter. If I’d been in something like a suite with a kitchen then I might have been able to take better care of my meals, but in a hotel with only a microwave,… nope.

If I’d been able to go in the Sunday before every single week I might have been able to take a few meals with me that I could microwave, but hotel refrigerators are small, so it would have only held a couple of meals; that wasn’t going to get it done. One week I tried taking lunch meat, bread and Miracle Whip with me to make my own sandwiches, and I tried to keep to my 3 hour schedule, and it was my best week, though nothing close to the numbers I really need to maintain.

Most of the 3 months I was there I just didn’t feel well. It’s not that I ate too much every night, though it happened, but I wasn’t as good as I should have been. I did have dessert every night, though I kept away from it during the day as much as possible. I forgot what it could be like in an office where people are bringing snacks and desserts into the office all the time; it’s hard to stay totally away from it all when you’re like me, who craves sweets and finds it difficult to stay away from on my own. I didn’t sleep well on the road, even worse than I sleep at home, but I’ve slept better in the past, so I believe. I had some pretty bad morning numbers, averaging in the 220’s, and one morning I actually awoke with my worst number ever, 331, and I just felt like I could barely get out of bed on that day, and it was a day I was driving home; that’s not good at all.

So, now the assignment is over, and I’ve had a little bit of a relaxation week, highlighted by a birthday where my wife had someone make me a special cake, but at this point it’s all gone, and as far as I know, all the other desserts are gone also. Starting tomorrow, I go back on the full plan, which will include working out on the trampoline. Of all things, though, since my consulting assignment ended, I have lost 2 pounds by pretty much doing nothing except letting my wife help keep me under control. Oh yeah, I gained 10 pounds while I was on the road also, so I now have to get that, and more, back off my body, as my back has started hurting again.

I’m ready to get it on, to do the right thing; anyone here want to join me on the journey, even if it’s only to try to lose some weight?

Bowflex 5-Series Treadmill

I Found My Diabetes Solution,… Unfortunately :-)

Posted by Mitch on Mar 15, 2008

You might find this interesting. I just did a six day eating experiment, as it relates to my diabetes, and it seems that it’s all tied in with my diet, unfortunately for me because I was ready to talk some serious smack with my wife.

I had been averaging around 205; not good. I’ve owned up to having kind of a sugar addiction; it’s more chocolate than anything else, but it’s all sweet stuff. I decided to give up sweets for six days, which also included eliminating a bunch of carbs for that time period because carbs promote the cravings, as I’d been on a bad roll, and wasn’t feeling all that well physically because of it. I decided to do Sunday through Friday, so I’d be starting the first day while my wife was still home with me.

Sunday through Tuesday my numbers started coming down slightly. By Wednesday afternoon, I was in the 130’s, and Thursday morning I was at 117; I’d never had a morning number that low in all the years I’d been diagnosed. Friday morning it was 107; stunned! Meanwhile, Tuesday was the only day where I had some serious cravings, and I barely made it through that day. Seems many folks who talk about other addictions say the third day is the worst; well, it was for me.

This was all through diet. We purchased some chicken breasts, some alfredo sauce, and vegetables. I ate that for most of my meals after breakfast (breakfast was eggs with ham or Spam; yeah, I like Spam), with my treats, so to speak, either being popcorn, carrots and dip, or oatmeal. The decrease in my glucose level was amazing, so amazing I had to decrease the amount of insulin I was using.

This morning it was back up to 168. That’s because last night, for dinner, we went to a fish fry place, where I had fried shrimp and french fries, and the meal was much more in one sitting than I’d been eating lately, not to mention the fried part; lots of carbs (and I forgot to take last night’s pill; oops). And that’s before having any dessert today, as today is my free day; heck!

So, it proves that it really is all about diet; that’s depressing, but enlightening, because now I know what to do and how to act. I didn’t lose any weight this week, mainly because I hurt my back so I didn’t work out. But I’ll get back to that next week. Anyway, I say depressing because I thought my glucose wouldn’t come down much at all, and I’d be able to say “see, it’s not me, it’s the diabetes taking over”. Now I know I’ll really have to watch the diet, which means my wife wins, Mom wins, and, well, I guess I win in the end also; heck!

Some Diabetes Information

Posted by Mitch on Dec 20, 2007

Unfortunately, I have to put diabetes at the top of my illness list. Actually, it’s the only thing on my illness list, so I guess I can be happy about that. However, I’m also now on insulin, and I’m nowhere close to happy about that.

Often, we get these diseases, and we get some information, but it’s never all the information we’re looking for, or need. So, I’m going to share a couple of things here, just in case you happen to have the same malady.

First, your glucose numbers can be affected by not getting enough sleep. Over my ten years, I’ve noticed that if I get little or no sleep, which happens often for me, my morning fasting number is going to be high. I learned that those with sleep apnea will have high numbers, and I have a little bit of that.

Second, there’s more than one type of insulin. I’ll admit that I’m not really sure why, but I do know that my first insulin, Levemir, had additives in it that gave me a rash. It also had this scent of bandages, of all the odd things, and I was told that was so you knew whether you’d injected yourself properly or not. I’m unsure of that one also, as I seemed to have that scent whether I did it right or not.

That’s number three. You can inject yourself incorrectly. I’ve made two mistakes to warn you of. One, you have to try to make sure you push straight in, not at an angle. The second, if you even slightly touch yourself with the needle, either change the needle or get ready for some pain. I don’t know why I do it, but every once in awhile it’s like I’m doing a test puncture, will pull it out, then push it back in. The needles are very fine so they don’t hurt, per se, but that also means they’re delicate, so if you push a second time, they’ve already been damaged.

Number four, there are many places one can inject themselves. Some of them my mind is trying to think of how you could still do it and inject yourself, which of course means you’d have to have help, and that’s just not happening with me. Others may be fine, but it turns out there’s a reason for knowing this. I developed a rash from the Levemir, so I was changed to something called Lantus. No additives, no scent. However, my rash never went away, so I first talked to my nurse educator, who recommended I try another area. Then I did some research online, especially on the Lantus, and there I learned that they recommend that you not inject in specifically the same area for a couple of days. For instance, one recommendation as it concerns the stomach is to view it as a clock and rotate around it, so that it gives the injected areas time to heal. Same with the legs and arms if you go that route. I know now that’s where I made my mistake, as I picked pretty much two areas and kept injecting only in those places. Now I’m going to set up a routine where I move it around to at least six different spots, to help me overcome some of the swelling and lumps I’ve got now.

So, there you go. I may drop more hints as to what’s going on with me as time goes, or just general information as I learn it. After all, we need to try to make sure we share information as possible, right?