A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

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Living with Diabetes: Dealing with the Dawn Phenomenon

OK, so I’ve been a tad frustrated lately.

A few months ago, my primary took me off one of two medicines I am on for diabetes. It seems this one sometimes makes people dip, an I had seen three or four pretty big dips. Add that to the fact that I had gotten my A1C from an eye-opening 9.8 down to 5.9 in about four months. I had changed a lot of things, including eating habits and exercise.

So you can understand why I was pretty excited that I was being pulled off a medicine.

LWD

However, as I figured, my daily readings went up ever so slightly. Not in a way that really made me worry too much, but a tad. Especially in the morning.

In fact, the readings are above where I should be nearly every morning. But, then come lunch, dinner, and after readings … they are fine and normal.

My primary — as well as the diabetes educator I see a few times a year — explained to me that this was actually normal because of something the body does. As long as my other readings were fine, they wouldn’t panic — and neither should I.

Still, higher numbers have to mean something, right? I was all worried my next A1C reading was going to shoot up through the roof.

So, despite not having an appointment until late January, I truly needed to see where I was and got my blood test done. As I thought, my A1C went up, but only to 6.1. Something, I think, that is quite manageable. I want to get it back under 6 again, without a doubt, but I breathed a sigh of relief with that number.

The numbers, though, have still been up.

And even after exercise. I can’t figure that one out. Let me explain this.

I checked my blood one day and it was in the low 90s. I went out and shoveled snow — yes, exercise and it gets your heart pumping — and came back in and it was like 103.

Then I did some serious shoveling after waking up today. This was a solid workout. Now, I didn’t check before (silly), but after it was like 171. I was extremely shocked.

This leads me to the reason for this post — the Dawn Phenomenon. Apparently this happens in all people, diabetic or not. But for diabetics, it’s obviously noted.

From the American Diabetes Association:

All people have the “dawn phenomenon,” if they have diabetes or not.

The dawn phenomenon is a surge of hormones that the body produces daily around 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

People with diabetes don’t have normal insulin responses to adjust for this, and may see their fasting glucose go up.

The rise in glucose is mostly because your body is making less insulin and more glucagon (a hormone that increases blood glucose) than it needs. The less insulin made by the pancreas, the more glucagon the pancreas makes as a result. Glucagon signals the liver to break down glycogen into glucose. This is why high fasting blood glucose levels are common in people with type 2.

Steps that may help:

  • Eat dinner earlier in the evening
  • Do something active after dinner (such as going for a walk)

If your fasting glucose continues to be high, your health care provider may prescribe medication.

I don’t eat dinner that late, but maybe I need to have my evening snack a little earlier, which is extremely doable. And, maybe, if this keeps up, I’ll see about going back on the one medicine I stopped to see if there is a difference. My main goal is — and has been — avoiding insulin. For those who have read my blog, you know that was discussed several months ago and I’ve responded strongly to that.

One thing is for sure — I need to exercise more in the winter. I’ll start working on that, too, as I need to figure that out. This is a time when many people slow their exercising down and I just need to focus and get on it. And start getting to 10,000 steps per day and whatever else.

Speaking of winter exercise — what do you do to stay active when the cold hits?

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Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Living with diabetes: The highs and lows of blood tests

Recently, I had blood work done.

And, for the first time probably … ever, I was looking forward to the results.

See, this was the latest check of my A1C.

For those who don’t know, the A1C test is one that provides info about somebody’s average blood glucose levels over the past three months. It’s a way to see how I’ve been doing in regard to the diabetes, now that I am actually trying to take care of this.

This has been quite out of whack since earlier this year.

The health network I use is part of many who have this setup where I get results quick and can access them via a phone app and website. What’s really nice is being able to see past results and compare.

Basically, the ranges tell you where you stand in the big scheme. Here’s what the website/app shows:

4.0 – 5.7           Non-diabetic
5.7 – 6.4           Pre-diabetes
6.5 – 7.0           Diabetes, Good control
7.1 – 7.5           Fair control
7.6 – 8.5           Poor control
8.6 – 9.5           Very poor control
> 9.5               Extremely poor control

Now, I knew all about these ranges before. But I rarely paid attention. Again, I was in a bit of denial. I thought I had it under control. Maybe not so much, though.

Here’s a grouping of tests over the first part of the year. Now, remember, I dealt with foot surgery and some other stressful things over the first few months, so things were high but there were things that could be factored in. It still didn’t take away the fact that I was fully out of control.

  • Jan. 21: 7.8
  • Feb, 3: 7.8
  • March 19: 9.4
  • May 1: 9.8

As you can see, I got steadily worse. I went from poor control to very poor control. Keep in mind I was on some heavy antibiotics for a couple of months and my stress level was through the roof.

It was at this time that my primary physician noted he would like to consider insulin. He asked me what I would say if he wanted to have me start it that day and I said “find a different option.”

It got bad... but the A1C is getting better.

It got bad… but the A1C is getting better.

So he gave me six weeks to improve.

On June 10, I had another test done and came back with an 8.2. Definitely not where I wanted to be, but my daily numbers were vastly improved and going down. I was eating better and learning what things do to me. I saw a diabetes educator.

I kept going with it.

I read labels now and understand what they mean. I know what I should eat and what I shouldn’t. I understand portion size.

The best part? I feel better. I think I look better. I’m not as tired as I once was. My daily numbers have been amazing. Then, with another meeting with the diabetes educator coming up, I had another blood test. The number that came back floored me.

5.9.

I was floored when I saw it. This is a level I didn’t expect so far. Therefore, I must be doing something. I’ve figured out an eating pattern and I’ve worked within it. And I’m doing better because of it.

Still, that’s not to say there haven’t been a few things that caught me off guard, such as one night when I got the sweats for no reason.

It wasn’t a particularly hot night or anything and I wasn’t doing anything strenuous. All of a sudden, I felt a little woozy and started sweating. Even by aiming a fan at me, I couldn’t stop sweating. So I found my glucometer and started to test … and I was shaky.

The reading came back 66.

That’s low. It’s probably good for me to be about 80-140 or so and, preferably more like 85-130. So this took me off guard. I found the book that shows what to do and I gulped 4 ounces of orange juice, waiting 15 minutes and tried again.

65.

What the hell? How was this possible? So I gulped another 4 ounces. The testing after that was 89. I then had my snack and was OK.

That one was somewhat explainable as I played some softball that day and it was extremely hot. Maybe I did things a little different. I don’t know. But there’s some sort of explanation.

What happened a week or so ago is baffling.

I had work, picked up a friend and went to a baseball game. I ate normal, took my medicines and thought all was fine. At the game, I had a couple of hot dog, a quarter cup of fries (I dumped them walking to my seat) and then I risked it and went with ice cream.

Then driving home, I got the same symptoms. As I exited the highway, I stopped to check and… this spooked me – I was at 55.

Thankfully, there was a convenience store close by and I went and chugged half an orange juice. I felt better soon after and when I checked 15 minutes later, I was at 91.

Still, it was alarming because it came out of nowhere.

I went to the diabetes educator a few days later and she said maybe I’m on a little too much medication, so we’re going to monitor and see. That would thrill me to cut something else, but we’ll see what they do. Second, I need to start carrying glucose tablets or Starburst to make sure I have a fast-action sugars to give me a boost.

This is all part of the learning aspect of keeping this under control.

A few times over the past month or two, I’ve spiked on the higher side. It wasn’t anything crazy, but the diabetes educator is solid in explaining things and keeping things in perspective. What it’s doing, though, is helping me figure out what my body does with certain foods. This is something I’ll be doing through life, so it’s good to keep up on what things can do to me.

I’ve learned a lot by reading and listening. I totally understand sizes, servings and what the carbs mean. I still have work to do, but I am where I want to be now and continue to push forward to get better and better.

This is part of an ongoing series of posts about me living with diabetes and what I am doing to try and improve my situation. I’ll try to post these updates once or twice per month. You can read past posts about this by clicking here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Living with diabetes: Taking the next step to keep improving

There’s one thing I have finally realized with this whole diabetes thing – it’s a lifelong battle.

See, when I was first told I was a borderline diabetic, I didn’t take it seriously, which is probably why it continued to escalate. That’s not to say I wouldn’t be where I am even if I had done something, but at the same time, who knows?

But I kind of laughed it off. It wasn’t full-blown, I told myself. And, despite going to a workshop of sorts and meeting a few people who didn’t take care of it and what it could do (one guy also taking the class, to learn how and eat better, had said he once went as high as like 600 on his blood reading and was blind – yes blind – for a few days), I still thought I had it under control.

Despite a spike a few weeks back, things keep improving, as seen here.

Despite a spike a few weeks back, things keep improving, as seen here.

I was younger and dumber then. In fact, I don’t even know when that was, but it was after college, so I was probably right about 30 or so, give or take.

Checking blood was done sometimes, but I often shook it off. Or I said I had, and I hadn’t. I was completely stupid about it and I’m probably quite lucky nothing major happened.

Let’s fast-forward a few years to current day. I’d love to be able to go back and time and swat myself in the face and say to take it seriously. I’m really lucky that I don’t have any serious complications right now with how I let things go. I’ve written about how things have gone and how I’m getting back on track.

From medication to watching my diet to seeing what other things do to me and to adding in more exercise, I’m starting to push forward.

However, it’s time to take the next step.

The one thing I keep learning is you don't have to knock stuff like this out of your life -- you need moderation and understanding of what it does.

The one thing I keep learning is you don’t have to knock stuff like this out of your life — you need moderation and understanding of what it does.

See, diet and such can work for a while. But you need to be active. There’s no secret that I’m not in the best shape in the world. So I need to move to the next level and start doing more to make sure I keep improving.

What’s that mean?

First, in regard to diet, I need to now start watching calories and things like that. As I’ve gotten things under control, I have watched what I eat and what it does. And though I’ve slowly cut some calories away, I probably haven’t been doing as much. But, I’ve also noticed I don’t feel the need to snack as much.

That’s a start – making sure I am eating right and also making sure my portions continue to shrink as I’ve slowly been doing. That will help as I keep looking to shed some pounds.

One thing I also have to realize is though the weight isn’t always coming off, sometimes the fat portion of the body is. I’ve definitely lost some inches (my pants don’t fit as well anymore) during this span, but the weight comes off slower.

Then, there’s the exercise factor.

For starters, softball season is ending soon. That takes away twice a week where I get out and am moving more than other days. So I need to replace that with something, as well as add more items.

Going to the gym, as of now, isn’t an option for me. I buy a membership, go for a little whole and then piss away the money because I never use it. So I have to find ways to do things without the gym. (Honestly, the winter is what scares me, because if it’s cold, I don’t want to really venture outside to exercise).

Therefore, I’ve come up with these goals, which I am slowly starting to implement:

  • Walk more (which is going to mean starting to add in strolls at times I usually might not, such as at night etc.)
  • Start riding my bike again (I can go out for an hour-long ride, cover several miles and burn a lot of calories)
  • Getting back into disc golf (a truly great sport where you are moving a lot of the time and always walking)
  • Geocaching more in areas where I can go on small hikes
  • Trying to get out and find places to take photos, where, again, walking is better.

The activities part of this is just making it so I get out and go. Things like disc golf aren’t easy because there isn’t a course too close. This will likely be my replacement for softball when the season ends. I’d like to get to a weekly league a friend runs. That’s about an hour or so from where I work on Tuesdays, so it’s possible to pull off if I plan right.

My FitBit has helped me push a little extra for exercise. And badges don't hurt, either!

My FitBit has helped me push a little extra for exercise. And badges don’t hurt, either!

With the walking aspect, I have a hard time just going for a walk – so I need to make sure I have things to do when walking. Maybe it’s taking some photos. Maybe it’s running errands.

For example, I am going to be getting some of my personalized postcards made again and get back into Postcrossing. It’s truly a fun hobby. How does that help? If I send a postcard out each day or two and force myself to walk to the Post Office to mail the card, it gives me a reason to get out and walk.

I’m also trying to find some spots around my areas with some trails where I can go and place some geocaches. The idea, of course, would be so I can get out, hike and hide and then maintain the caches. There are some trails and public lands around, so I just need to find the best spots for them. I have plenty of containers, too, so I am ready to go.

In the end, it’s fully up to me to make sure this continues going in the right direction. Hopefully these ideas will help me do just that.

Recent look:

Since my last report, I’ve been pretty steady on my readings. I had two or three spikes, which, of course, dropped my 100 percent in-range readings down (I was at 96 percent during that time). But, that changed in the last day or so as I’m now back in the 100 percent range. Those spikes, too, weren’t too crazy, but enough to pretty much piss me off as I’ve worked hard. But, I realize there will be setbacks.

Numbers can jump, but in recent weeks, things have continued to improve.

Numbers can jump, but in recent weeks, things have continued to improve.

I’ve had a couple of lows, once being a 76 at one point over the weekend. I think the key to maintaining is making sure I have that eating six times a day thing under control and making sure I actually do it. It’s hard during the weekends, sometimes, as I attempt to sleep in a bit more and that sometimes messes up my schedule. I need to learn to adjust it some so I don’t go extended times without something.

Here’s one thing I’ve noticed, too: my fasting levels were kind of higher. I finally figured it out. I know the amount of carb servings I’m allowed and thought I was in that. However, one of the proteins I was adding also had nearly a full carb serving, so I was basically having an additional serving each time. Now that I’ve adjusted that, the numbers (for the most part) are coming down even more. Score one for me!

In the end, I can’t complain. Compared to where I was a few months ago, this has been nothing short of amazing in my eyes. I meet with the diabetes educator again at the end of August, so hopefully I’ll have a better snapshot and ideas of other things I can do to make sure I keep moving in the right direction.

This is part of an ongoing series of posts about me living with diabetes and what I am doing to try and improve my situation. I’ll try to post these updates once or twice per month. You can read past posts about this by clicking here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Coming clean: The battle with diabetes isn’t an easy one

It’s time to come clean.

Maybe if I do it here, I’ll stick to what I need to do. But I don’t want this to be some sort of crazy “oh, my” party, either. Realize this — it’s my fault and I accept and take full responsibility for where it’s gotten to.

I’m diabetic.

This has become very important to me.

This is not a shock to many of my friends or family. Many already know. But, it’s not as cut and dry as that. I let it get to the level it is.

Several years back, before my one doctor retired, he told me I was borderline diabetic. Basically, my numbers were on the fence. I needed to lose weight, get more active and watch what I ate. I also needed to take blood samples to watch the numbers.

No problem.

I did it for a while. Then I started realize what did and what did not spike my blood sugar levels. So, I figured I had it all under control. Turns out just because you know what’s working then doesn’t always work.

Fast forward a few years and my doctor is now retired and I’m going to a new person. The numbers are a little higher and now this guy is insisting on medicine. As much as I hate to accept it, I do so. It seems to work. I’m doing OK.

Then I lose my job.

That span of nearly two and a half years was tough. I had no insurance, so doctor’s appointments and such came out of my pocket. During that time, my blood sugars spiked at times. I got lazy on checking it. I sat in front of the computer or television too much (unfortunately, part of that is with work now, too, but I get up and walk as much as I can). I definitely didn’t exercise as much as I should have, which is crazy because I actually had time to do it. And, despite actually losing weight over that time, my blood tests weren’t great.

So things got upped in regard to medication.

The good news came late this past fall. I got a job. There was insurance. I started going to see a doctor. Things were getting better controlled. Heck, my A1C (long-term blood test) was getting close to where it needed to be. So, it seemed I was mixing what I needed to do.

But then that foot thing happened.

For the next three-plus months, my body went through a whirlwind with antibiotics, surgery, worries and everything else you can think of. I had more stress over that time than I had dealt with for a long time – and that includes unemployment.

The progress has been outstanding.

Add all that up and my blood sugar levels were going nuts. Higher and higher it seemed. All I wanted to do was get off everything and get back to normal and see what the heck could be done. But it had gotten bad. Mixed with the antibiotics and everything else, I was tired often. I dragged. I had no energy I fell asleep in odd times. I just wasn’t me.

Soon after getting off the antibiotics (six weeks home IV stuff), I had an appointment with my main person. He mentioned the “I” word (I won’t write it here… part of the mental mantra… time to fight it!), but I balked at it based on I knew what my body had been through. I needed time to see if I could right this wrong. So, he made me a deal that I would take a second medicine, up my exercise, eat better and try and lose weight. I’ll return to him in six weeks to see how things are going and we’ll decide from there.

Challenge accepted.

Though I always knew what I had, I think I secretly denied it. I always acted as if I knew exactly what I needed to do. In reality, I didn’t control it one bit, barely checked my numbers and kept hanging on that word used way back in the beginning – borderline.

Now, I had hit rock bottom and it was the wake-up call I truly needed. I understood, for whatever reason, that this was extremely serious. I needed to do something. And, so I have. Sometimes in life, one really does need to hit rock bottom before they can get better. I hit it and I hit it hard.

Since getting off the antibiotics, I’ve seen a diabetes educator. She helped me see how to plan meals and what to eat. Different foods do different things to people, which I am seeing. She also told me I should be eating like six times a day – far different than how I was doing things. And that’s a good thing – because now I am feeling like I keep energy in my system for longer periods of time. It’s not just me dragging. And I’ve also had the chance to see what things do to me and in certain situations. I’m making positive changes in my life.

If you understand blood readings, you know the normal range for people with diabetes is something along the lines of 70-140. During this whole episode, I was ranging in the mid-to-high 300s.

Yes, that’s scary.

It was quite frightening at one point when I got to the 390s.  I contacted my primary provider. Thankfully, the numbers came down. And though I’ve made serious strides, I am not out of the woods yet. Heck, I may still have to worry about the “I” word yet. Alas, my goal is to avoid that and the educator is helping me work on that. There’s never guarantees, that’s for sure. But I’m working at it.

I’ve invested in a better glucometer, for one, one that syncs with my phone so I can see patterns and know what I need to do. The one downfall to it is it only keeps the past 14 days. A computer program is supposed to be able to connect to save everything, but I can’t seem to sync up. So I am going to have to go old school and just set up a Word file or something to keep track of everything.

Alas, one thing is known – I have seen a dramatic decrease in my numbers over the past few weeks. It went from the 300s to the 200s. It’s been more than two weeks since I was in the 200s and I’m at the point now where all the crazy readings are going away. I like that because it shows I’m doing what I am supposed to do. I check 3-4 times a day, usually, and am getting a strong understanding of what things do to me.

So something is working. I feel better, too. I seem to breathe better (shocker), I have more energy and I am sleeping better. That’s all good!

My goal is to obviously have 100 percent in range… but this has been massive progress.

With many things in life, they often say you need to hit rock bottom before you can improve yourself and climb back up. I reached that breaking point. And then I realized I don’t have to stop eating things I truly love, I just need to learn what things do to my body and how I can counteract, if needed. It’s all about moderation.

This road is a long one. It’s a journey of life to try and improve myself mentally and physically. It won’t be easy, but I plan on doing things to force myself to stay on the course. Of course I’ll be blogging about this journey, too, as it’s a way for me to kind of keep myself on track and make sure I do what I need to do.

Life is a wonderful thing. It’s also precious and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Things like this really show you how delicate life can be. But at the same time, it makes me smile to know that I’m at an age where I can still battle this and live life normally.

Now it’s time to push onward and keep getting things to how they should be.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

CZW House of Horrors match lives up to name and then some

[NOTE/WARNING: PLEASE DON’T READ OR MOVE FORWARD IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR HAVE NO TOLERANCE FOR SEEING BLOOD. IN THIS BLOG POST, THERE ARE PHOTOS OF BLOODY WRESTLERS. PLEASE STOP READING IF THIS WILL MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. I AM EVEN ADDING THE “READ MORE” OPTION ON THE FRONT PAGE SO PEOPLE CAN CHOOSE! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!]

The House of Horrors match.

I’ve seen a lot when it comes to professional wrestling.

There have been wrestlers sent through flaming tables. There’s been bloody battles. There have been hardcore matches.

Back in the day, I saw several of the original ECW shows, back when tumbling down a set of bleachers, fighting outside the building and using unconventional weapons wasn’t so normal.

Matt Tremont and Joe Gacy prepare to go at it in the House of Horrors.

There’s been “Stone Cold” Steve Austin spraying Vince McMahon with a beer truck (in Albany), or John Cena as a bloody mess, losing the WWE title when Edge cashed in Money in the Bank (also in Albany).

The Royal Rumble. Titles changing hands. Crazy and intense crowds and small crowds sitting on their hands.

Yep, I feel like I’ve seen it all. Until this past Saturday.

Visiting family in South Jersey, I opted to see if there were any wrestling cards in decently close proximity. I saw a handful, but the one that stuck out to me was Combat Zone Wrestling, also known as CZW. The federation is well-known among independent wrestling fans as having some of the best action out there, with a mix of great wrestling and some extremely hardcore and crazy matches.

As a fan of all aspects of wrestling, and having seeing several CZW wrestlers elsewhere, I thought it would be good to see them in their glory. Off I went.

[Read more…] about CZW House of Horrors match lives up to name and then some