Just One of my Days with #Type1Diabetes to #StayWell

L

I wish I could explain to people what living a type 1 Diabetes life is like and make them understand.

Some personal sad news threw me into a line of thinking from the past recently​, and a door I had firmly closed, ​sort of got unlocked so I could re-hash and see again the stuff I so badly​ wanted to keep buried.

The result of this was a few days of kit-Kats and a large Cadburys Puddle, a new bar, big, and packing some serious comfort.

Yes I injected the appropriate amount of insulin to cover anything I'd eaten but because of the high fat content in my chosen treats, long after the novo rapid ( basel ins​ulin ) had​ peeked and finished its job my blood sugar was 

still​ climbing at a steady pace. Yes I corrected, but no I couldn't stop the climb. 

​ ​

Hitting an 18.2 is no joke at 3am when you've gone to bed on an 8 and​ no matter what I did I could'nt​ seem to fix it. The result ? A serious hangover feeling and all the effects and results of high blood sugar.

So my next day bl​ood glucose started on 12.0 BG. Now I kno​w this is self inflicted to a point, yes I fed myself but my Type 1 ​D​​iabetes wasn't self inflicted in any way.

This was how my day went :

• Injection no 1 was at 8am to correct that 12.0 and then it was back to bed to sleep it off after a coffee and some paracetamol
  ​ for that bloody awful headache.​
   
• Injection no 2 was at 11am to correct what had now become 12.2 BG, still no food yet​, I'm determined to start the drop before i actually eat.
• Injection no 3 was at 2pm, 6.5 BG so its lunch time.
• Injection no 4 was at 5.30pm a correction for a 10.2 BG
• Injection no 5 was with dinner BG was 5.2 and holding steady.
• Injection no 6 was to cover supper
• Injection no 7 was lantus - Basel insulin.

All this was about 10 finger pricks, before my CGM (continuous glucose meter ) arrived, and 7 injections ​but this was a relatively good day because i knew what was causing the problem and i did manage to correct it​.

Not being well, stress, upset and other medications means a much more difficult situation to try to control and manage, these things are not self inflicted, they are beyond our control and as long as they are actively playing a part in our lives​, they continue to play a part in our diabetes and ultimately our blood glucose, making managing our diabetes and our daily routine more difficult.​

The food planning, clock watching, and carb counting is relentless, the carbs & cals app is always with me ( on my iphone )​ and my handbag and bedside locker stash of jelly beans is always kept topped up. 

Leaving the house there's always a rice cake or two with an apple  put in my handbag along with the BG meter pouch which carries ​my blood glucose meter, test strips, a finger pricker, lancets, an insulin pen, needle tips, and a small container ​(​for the used strips, lancets and needle tips.)​

 

The all important hypo kit,  GlucoGen, is also brought, well it's no good in the fridge at home if I collapsed when I'm out.

No I don't bring a bottle of any kind of fluid because it doesn't fit in the handbag, I might leave it down, walk away and so get separated from it and that just wouldn't do at all.

I "​TREAT"​ with jelly beans, now that's treat a hypo ( low blood glucose ) not treat,​ as in having a treat. Jelly beans are like tablets to me and I take :

• 1-3 if I'm in the high 4s. 
• 3-5 if I'm in the low 4s.
• 5-6 if in in the high 3s, 
• 6-9 if I'm in the low 3s

​Basically the amount or dose differs and depends on what my BG (blood glucose) reading is.​ A​ny lower than those (3s) and it's party time, ​I jus​t scoff rather than count​. 

Thinking is gone out the window so I have a tube that carries a certain amount of jelly beans so when I say scoff it's not a big bag or anything like it, it holds about 20 in total or (​36 - 37 gms carbs)​ to a t1 like me.

12 jelly beans has aprox 22gms carbs in them so each 3 represents a treatment of 5.5 gms carbs.

• 6 = 11 gms 
• 9 = 16.5 gms
• 12 = 22 gms

The aim of this is to catch it early and treat with no more than 6 jelly beans the overall effect is when 

I'm very low, although in one​ sense I'm out of control, I'm actually still in control, if you see what i mean.

Back in the early days when I used fluid to treat, I'd just drink, and I would always drink too much, 

carrying measured drinks was'nt an option​, and seriously​, ​who carries a fluid measure with them. 

Imaging measuring out fluid in a moving car while disoriented during a hypo, or carrying several small containers of fluid, Ridiculous right ?

Once I'm all packed, then il do one last BG check to see am I ok to head out and how long I have before the next action plan of food and insulin.

​ 

A​h yes i remember the days when i just walked out of the house without a second thought about food, or anything else for that matter. Every moment of every day is a decision now that has to be made​.

• Will I have that scone and coffee with friends?​
• ​Will i go for that nice long walk?
• Will i get get into spring cleaning ?​ 

​So its prick, check, calculate, decide, then either inject, treat or leave​ for the moment......

Some days everything goes to plan, but on other days it doesn't and for no obvious reason. There are also days when I just get sick of it all and just do what I want regardless of the numbers, but yes still inject the insulin, just not be quite so strict.

On these days I always end up regretting it because that sick feeling is so hard to shift and once iv upset the delicate balance of blood glucose numbers and insulin it's so hard to get it all back on track and even when I do it takes even longer to actually feel well again.

Bedtime is another tricky one, 8 is a good number for me to go to bed on ( i​ts what was recommended to me ) ​by my diabetes team.

• any lower and I might go low through the night, 
• any higher and il wake high in the morning and start the day correcting from the day before. 

So it's check about an hour before bedtime, if I'm below 8 il work out just how much to eat to bring my blood glucose (BG) up to 8 + ish, then inject my lantus ( that's Basel, or long acting insulin ) and go to bed.

However if I check an hour before bedtime and I'm over 8 already it's either no supper, or I can eat supper and inject ( bolus ) for that food. Still taking the lantus (Basel) at bedtime..

Either too low or too high going to bed is not a good idea. 

• High has long term risks and makes me feel really awful
  ​ with the addition of a blinding headache.​
• Low, I could hypo through the night and wake up feeling really awful, or worse again just sleep through it.​

​Its always on my​ mind that​ a bad hypo could kill me so my fear of sleeping 

through a hypo is very real.

This was just going on a sort of typical day, but absolutely everything we do and go through any day effects what our blood glucose readings will be.

• If your trying to lose weight. 
• If your training for a marathon, or 
  some other event that involves physical exercise.
• If the weather is very hot or very cold.
• If ​your pregnant.
• If your going through hormone changes.
• If your ill in any way.
• If your stressed or upset.
• If you'v had a bad shock.
• If you'v had a couple of glasses of any kind of alcohol the night before.
• If your extremely tired for any reason.
• If your routine is broken.
• If you have an anesthetic even a local one for a dental procedure.
• If your taking medication for an illness ( ex steroids ).
• If you change your diet.

After living as a Type 1 Diabetic for a period of time these things become sort of automatically thought of, as we cruise on through any day in our lives. It becomes our normal, still a challenge every day, but a little less mentally time consuming. No im not complaining or even looking for any kind of sympathic groan........

However what i would like is for :

• Consideration when i say no thanks.
• Id like understanding when i say im tired.
• ​Id like not to have to explain why i need to stay home sometimes.
• Id like, not to be thought of as fussy, when i insist on a bottle of diet 7up as a mixer for my drink and when i wont eat high sugar foods and deserts.
• Id like not to be called unsociable for living the life i must live​.

Id really love if people understood why my brain gets so tired sometimes that it just cant cope with any more stuff.

I wish they could see a plate of food like i do with, portion size and carb content first, calculations and insulin second, and then see that plate of truly delicious, lip smacking, finger licking food that i finally see when theirs is half gone already.

I also wish they didn't rob the food off my plate because they have finished theirs already, because that food they are robbing has already been accounted for with the insulin iv injected. Seriously some day someone will lose a finger and Im guessing nobody will understand when it happens........

This is how a meal looks to someone with Type 1 Diabetes:

Dinner as i see it 34gms Carbs 

And for Desert as i see it: 36 gms Carbs

                                                       

Total for this meal, calculated before eating, if i was to eat this it is 70gms carbs and now id work about how much insulin it will take to deal with it.

Just my thoughts on a day in life, living with Type 1 Diabetes.

Davina

Insulin Pumps, and what its like to wear one, by Grainne Flynn

The personal story this month comes from Grainne Flynn...........
Insulin Pumps and what its like to wear one.

Living with an Insulin Pump.

I did a trial period on the insulin pump before going “live”. This means that I would practice attaching it but not using insulin just yet. I used a saline and water solution instead of insulin. The purpose of this was to become less afraid of it and to become familiar with the button pressing and more importantly to figure out where and how I was going to wear it.....
You can read on here:

http://diabetespeopleire.blogspot.com/2015/04/insulin-pump-what-is-it-like-to-wear-one.html?spref=fb

The #Type1Diabetes See-Saw, All we need to get High is Healthy Food !

The Type 1 Diabetes See-Saw, All we need to get High is Healthy Food !

#Type1Diabetics can get #High without #Drugs.

Iv wanted to put this into words for quite a while now in the hope that others might just understand a bit more, but we are all so very different.

Our routines, our ratios, our insulin type, some people pump, some on insulin pens, then there are others mixing insulin and using a syringe.

For blood glucose monitoring & testing there are people using, a The Dexcom, The Libra, The Guardian and various other types and makes of blood glucose meters. Apple are even going to get into this apparently, it seems nowadays Blood Glucose Testing is #trending but it makes a change from "Cinnamon & other stuff curing us & reversing us lol.

I'm going to write strictly from my point of view here, experienced but not professional !

Ok before we start lets just say getting #high is real easy and inexpensive if you have #Type1Diabetes, all it takes is nice healthy food that has #Carbohydrate in it. Without insulin this carbohydrate (of any kind) has the ability to make us real sick and even hospitalise us. 

The High, if left un-noticed & untreated is closely followed by Ketones, and then we're in big trouble. 

We basically have an intolerance to carbohydrate, we can't process it and move it on. All because our autoimmune system has gone into overdrive and has killed off the insulin producing islets in our pancreas, so anytime we eat carbohydrate we must inject insulin.

FYI the foods without those carbs are (fish, meat, eggs, cheese, diet or sugar free drinks & water) O Ye and lettuce. So called "Diabetic" foods are a NO GO ! They are expensive and more importantly they are a laxative that comes complete with tummy cramping and urgency (if you get my meaning) .........

When it comes to my "Highs" I don't know which part is worse.

• The absolutely awful taste in my mouth, that I call  "candy floss mouth".
• The dreadful headache, that paracetamol won't touch.
• The severe lack of focus my eyes have, like someone's changed the lens when I wasn't looking.
• Wet irritated eyes, that stream water.
• A runny nose.
• Feeling really unwell
• The cramps in my tummy and then of course the diarrhoea.
• That "I need space" I'm irritated feeling. 
• The backed into a corner feeling, that makes me want to come out fighting.

Luckily those who know me, don't fuss me, I just inject insulin, drink water, and then sleep, I normally set an alarm to check again an hour later to make sure my BG is coming down. If not ? Then more insulin.

No I'm not saying these are the actual symptoms of #Hyperglycemia. I'm saying that this is what happens to me. I would suffer from what I call "Dumping" anytime my system is not happy because of (high BG, some foods, some medications etc) my insides go into fight or flight mode and get rid of it real fast.

I find my Highs a little bit of a snake in the grass, it sort of slithers up on me with no warning and most times for no obvious reason. Unlike its pall on the other end of the #Type1 #SeeSaw, (the #Hypo) 

With a #Hypo, visibly seeming drunk and the fairly instant feeling that goes with it generally prevents an emergency, unless I sleep through the initial stages and wake very very low, but getting high is a bit different, and I could be very high before I realise it. Don't know about you but getting it down is a slow process. For all these reasons I went on a CGM to help with a more proactive way of managing my #Type1

I'm told if we did a breathalyser test when very high, we would fail it and it would show up as over the limit. Iv never tried it but I suppose it makes sense, that much glucose / sugar just 

Floating around in our blood.

The other really scary thing I discovered is, when blood sugar is high, the lens of the eye swells, even after getting your BG back to normal it can take weeks for the swelling to go down fully.

It was only as I began to struggle hearing, that I found out it effects the delicate hearing organs too.

High blood sugar effects every single part of our bodies,  doing damage to delicate nerves, organs, extremities, & skin all of which suffer when you have prolonged periods of blood glucose that is higher than recommended.

It's important to know that it's not just eating and then not injecting insulin for the food we'v eaten that causes us to get a high BG (Blood Glucose) 

Very often it's my high BG that lets me know I'm not well, or at least I'm not going to be well, but let me explain this.

Any kind of infection can rise my BG, before I know exactly what's wrong. 

I'd know a day or so before, Iv a kidney infection, a cold, ear ache, chest infection, etc as the onset of an illness / infection will be effecting my BG before I actually feel ill. These are thing it's best not to ignore. 

I suppose what I'm saying is. Be strict when it comes to managing your blood glucose. Get to know yourself very well, if you keep a physical record of your daily BG, you won't be long about knowing when something is not right.

I'm going to leave you with Some Diabetes Language you may find useful when trying to understand what people in the diabetes community are talking about, and yes Diabetes has a language 

• DSM ( diabetes self management )
• MDI ( Multiple Daily Injections ) 
• Pumping ( wearing an insulin pump )
• CGM ( continuous glucose meter )
• High ( Blood Sugar above the required limit )
• Hypo ( blood sugar below the required limit )
• Basel ( background insulin only )
• Bolus ( fast acting insulin we inject with food )
• Testing ( finger pricking to test blood glucose )
• BG ( blood glucose )
• Sensor ( is attached to the skin for use with a CGM )
• Site ( this is a term usually used by pumpers when using  an insulin pump) referring to the place on their body they put their "set" their insulin comes from their pump, through very fine tubing, attached to the set thats attached to their body.

• Correction ( this is the ratio for correcting a high BG)
• Hypo kit ( is GlucoGen injection for emergencies when unconscious, glucose tablets or drink, Jelly sweets, full sugar drink. Stuff we carry to treat a Hypo )

• Ratio ( every diabetic has a different ratio for their Bolus insulin, 

example : for every 5 grams carbs / 1 unit of insulin, a small plain scone without jam, might have 30gms carbs, this would need 6 units of insulin.  (30 gms carbs ➗ 5 insulin /carb  = 6 units of insulin needed)

Davina 

Insuflon Review.... My personal review of using Insuflon for Injecting Insulin

#Insuflon review. #Type1Diabetes #Type2Diabetics #Injecting

After I discovered Insuflon existed, I took to google to find out a little more. I found AMT "Applied Medical Technology" who would be a distributor of a Insuflon to find out a little more about it.

AMT were very helpful with the information I requested and they sent me out a box of them to try so Id know exactly what they were like.

Within a few days my samples arrived and after ripping open the package ( I love getting packages ) I had a good look at them, o and a good read of the literature that came with it.

Now I'm being totally honest in this review so please read to the very end:

My very first reaction when I inspected the goods was, "that needle is a little big" in length, not width. 

The Insuflon has no applicator, it's a manual application without buttons to shoot it into place. I can honestly say there is no pain involved.

Once in place, it neatly sits on the skin, and it's relatively flat ( no protruding bulge ) or as Id say no VIP lol "Visible Insuflon Pucker" as a matter of fact, you would never detect it under a body con dress, ( yes that's important )

The cannula is tiny, soft and a little longer than Iv used before, Id say kinking would be unlikely.

I felt nothing while wearing it, it's extremely comfortable.

Now let's get down to business :

As I found before, using a devise like this does help improve blood glucose. 

My opinion for this, and it's only my opinion is that after injecting directly into skin, even after holding the needle there for 10 seconds after injecting, you still get that drip on the end of the needle after you withdraw it from your chosen injection site. It's nearly a unit of insulin in that drip so we don't get the full advantage of the injection of insulin we have just administered. 

Basically if your carb counting and (example) inject 6 units to cover the carbs in your meal, it's  less than 6 units your actually getting, it's more like 5ish units.

However, when injecting into Insuflon or other cannula type device, as you withdraw the needle after administration, you pull it back out from / through a membrane or seal that extracts that last drip while still inside the cannula device. The result ? Units of insulin injected completely, and entirely, so your carb counting works.

The 1st insuflon I placed in position, was on the right side of my tummy with the membrane / seal pointing outwards toward my hip. This made injecting awkward, so my second application was more thoughtfully placed with its membrane pointing upwards, so I could inject directly down into it and I found this a less awkward situation.

The Insuflon it small, neat and very discreet, so because its small and discreet I found I needed my reading glasses on to correctly target the membrane with my needle. 

Would I continue to use it ? Yes ✔️

I wish the Insuflon and the Iport were available on our LTI scheme in Ireland. As well as better BG control, it means breaking skin only once every 3-5 days instead of 5 + times a day, every day.

As a last word, the Insuflon fitted in with my lifestyle very well and with no problems.

#Impressed 

Davina 

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Drunk without the Alcohol, Type 1 Diabetes and the Hypo

#DiabetesBlog #Hypoglycemia #DeGlucofied How does it feel ?

"Drunk without the Alcohol" by a #T1D

Sugar is not the cause of #Diabetes. Without sugar people with diabetes would be in serious trouble. #Sugar is treatment for #Hypoglycemia #Hypos, People with #Type1Diabetes and some people with #Type2Diabetes need sugar just like they need #Insulin to survive. Sugar to a #Diabetic is just as needed and just as important as our insulin is. 

De-glucofied ( my new word )  "What happens in the hypo stays in the hypo" 

Whenever I meet parents of children, not long diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, especially parents of young children one of the first questions they ask is, "what does a hypo or a low blood sugar feel like" of course they read the symptoms, but what it actually feels like is a whole other thing.

Sometimes children don't seem to have listened to what's been said to them, sometimes they just sleep for hours after a low, maybe have a tummy pain or upset tummy, they might be weepy, or feel a bit emotionally soft, seem confused, seem awkward, uncordidated  or can't remember. Well this is how I feel during a low, after a low, and sometimes for quite a while afterwards.

I woke up during one nights sleep and I knew straight away this wasn't good, I actually felt confused making my way to the kitchen and tried to maintain my balance while keeping the wall real close. 

Because I was more than a tad disorientated when I got to my meter I spilled the tub of test strips on the floor and they seemed to have taken flight. There's a visible flush going on, with a trickle of sweat running from my hairline, my clothes feel damp, o wait they are damp with sweat, and I know that someone is talking to me because their lips are moving, but Iv no idea what they're saying. I treated that low heavily, my reading was 2.3 and I slept deeply for hours after it.

Nobody can understand that "no mans land" that I am in when my blood sugar is low, except another person with diabetes who's had a low or hypo.

Totally deglucofied, and because of that, strangely unresponsive, and when I say unresponsive I don't mean unconscious.

One moment I am walking around, chatting and laughing, thinking things through, planning, working, or just cooking the dinner, when i slip silently into, not thinking and just doing. 

I go from walking with purpose and direction to walking and not knowing why or where Im going.

I go from chatting and laughing to seeing people around me chatting, i hear sounds but they don't make sense, it's like quite noise and my brain can't figure out where it's coming from. Afterwards when iv treated the low BG with glucose or sugar of some sort, I find people saying "remember I told you that" ? Mmm NO. Because "what happens in the hypo stays in the hypo" and does not get remembered.

For all the following reasons hypos or lows can be very frightening and bit dangerous.

It would be easy to fall and hurt myself. 

It would be easy to say or do something and have no recollection of it afterwards.

It's easy to put something down and not be able to find it.

It's easy to eat for survival and not measure, count or care about portion size or carb count.

It would be easy to walk out in front of a car when crossing a road, because judgment is gone.

if im walking there's a strange but not nice feeling of walking on air, like the ground beneath my feet just doesn't exist, impact as I walk is gone, tripping and falling would be so easy

Because all of these things are completely out of our control when our blood sugar drops too low and that's just one side of the coin.

The treatment (not treat ) is sugar / glucose in the form of a full sugar drink or lucozade, jelly beans, jelly babies, skittles, basically anything high in sugar or glucose.

It's important to remember that when you treat a headache, a hangover, or something else that's making you feel rotten, you don't just pop a pill and feel instantly better, the same applies to popping in the glucose for a hypo, it's not an instant "feel better" it takes time to come back to normal.

Treating a hypo in no different, yes we treat it, and get those blood sugar numbers back within range, but the "feel good" feeling dosent return instantly because there's an aftermath. The fact that you'v dropped low means it's effected all of your body and it takes quite a while for the sugar rush to reach everywhere and get us back on track. 

If your anything like me all of this is followed with a dreadfull headache, an upset tummy, and a feeling of exhaustion that leaves me fit for nothing but sleep.

It's actually worse than being very drunk, it's downright frightening. 

My Balance, sight, & sense of direction are all effected, 

Davina.

Because of the vast amount of information requested we built a website www.diabetest1ireland.com where we can keep information in the one place and we keep it updated regularly. 

Gemma's Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis, told by Dad, Sid

Gemma's Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis, 

told by Dad "Sid"

Gemma had just won a local Irish Dancing  Feis and we were so proud of her. Weeks before that her Irish dancing teachers were concerned she was lacking energy and we noticed she was drinking more. In hindsight she was suffering and the effort she put in to win that competition must have been huge. 

The matter of fact tone from an elderly doctor, who had done this too many times, echoed in our ears but never registered fully. 

What was he saying? Injections? Life? No Cure! 

We rushed out of that room to cuddle our daughter and from that moment our lives changed direction.

We were taught in the hospital how to use needles, (no pens then) that we had to push into the beautiful skin of our innocent little daughter? At first it was terrifying, would we harm her if we did not get all the air bubbles out, how could we do this day in day out? but our child needed us to be strong and so you learn and you learn fast. 

You become experts to the extent you are educating young doctors on the monthly diabetic check ups. You can read about it but life is the real tutor. But it was Gemma's courage, and not ours, that to this day fills me with wonder and pride. Not once did our little Gem cry or moan, she knew this had to be done and her strength gave us ours.

She progressed through her schooling years. The ratio of diabetics then, ( much higher now) was 600/1. Gemma was the only diabetic in her school of 600, cruel odds to favour us. By the time she was 12 she felt ready to take on the injections herself. Her teenage years were quite eventful, we were warned to look out for the rebellious period when teenagers just want to be like their peers. Who could blame her. Even a sleepover was fraught with anxiety. 

On one such occasion I got an early morning call from a hysterical mother that Gemma had collapsed. I rushed over to find her covered in blood. She'd had a hypo and on waking up, she fell out of bed hitting her head on the floor.

 I used an emergency injection of glucose that I carried to bring her round. We discovered Gem had not been keeping to her strict regime but after that incident she never wavered. The rest is beautiful history. 

She found in Evan the perfect partner, an understanding, strong, calm man who complimented her and she him. They gave us another Gemma, a minimee angel called Chloe.

Gemma's devoted Dad

Sid x

Gemma and Chloe

This picture is of Gemma's family unit when Gemma was same age 

as her daughter Chloe is now !