A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

diabetes

Today is World Diabetes Day

Today is World Diabetes Day.

This day, of course, is part of diabetes awareness month. I’ll be having a few extra posts this month in regard to diabetes, especially considering the fact that over the past year, I’ve actually taken it seriously – finally.

And over that past year, I’ve gotten better at a lot of things, including:

  • Healthier eating
  • Understanding what food does to me
  • Getting more active
  • Losing some weight
  • Looking long-term and not just short-term
  • Checking my blood much more, an understanding it

It’s often said in times like this, one needs to hit rock bottom to get back up and push forward. I had that happen. It was that day when I checked my blood sugar and I panicked like I have never done before.

April 24, 2014.

diabetesmonth

My fasting sugar that day was 328. Then, at lunch, is when I really freaked. The first reading was 398, followed by 391 about 10 minutes later, followed by 364 about 40 minutes later.

In total, I had seven readings that day – six of which were over 300.

But, before I continue, allow me to remind you that during this time my stress level was high, I was on a home IV for some serious antibiotics, and had been through foot surgery. So it was all adding up.

I, of course, e-mailed my primary and had a back-and-forth with him. Considering all I had been through, he told me to keep a close eye on it (I was scheduled for an appointment soon) and that we may have to adjust medicine or, possibly, think about insulin.

Yikes.

I started watching what was going in my system and over the next week, the numbers started to drop, though they were still awful high for the next couple of weeks. I then met with the diabetes educator and – shockingly – I listened. I asked questions. I was with her for a good hour and a half, learning about everything. I walked out with the goal of turning my life around.

That’s when things changed and I started settling in. I started understanding carbs and protein and what everything does to me. That was May 5.

My reading before dinner on May 8 was 175.

My post-dinner reading on May 12 (two hours after) was 204. That’s the last time I had a reading at higher than 200.

When I met the diabetes educator, she asked me to set two goals – one short term, one long term. The short term was simple – keep me off insulin. The long-term goal is something I’ve not really shared as I am working toward it. When it happens, I will share more.

I look back at April 24 and realize that was my rock bottom. It was the day I decided to take my life back and not be a statistic. I wanted to work at this and learn to live with it, not to suffer with it.

Now, nearly seven months later, I am doing 100 times better. My numbers are where the diabetes educator wants them and, in most cases, lower. Recently, I’ve been battling a bit more with fasting sugars, but I am learning what is going on, which is a good thing.

Taking diabetes seriously is important as it keeps getting worse in our country (and beyond). How about some of these numbers, from the American Diabetes Association website?

  • In 2012, 29.1 million Americans (9.3 percent of the population) had diabetes, up from 25.8 million (8.3 percent) in 2010.
  • The percentage in seniors is higher, at 25.9 percent (11.8 million).
  • In 2012, 86 million Americans (aged 20 and older) had pre-diabetes.
  • And, unfortunately, deaths have remained the seventh leading cause in the United States in 2010, with 69,071 people listed as diabetes being the main cause in death. Another 234,051 death certificates listed it as a contributing cause.
  • The World Health Organization says total deaths from diabetes are projected to go up by more than 50 percent in the next 10 years, and more than 80 percent in upper-middle income countries.

So where do we go from here?

For me, personally, I am setting up some other goals. One thing I truly want to do is get my testing down to a science. I need to learn more about what foods do to me. That means I need to start tracking food and what I eat more. I am going to invest in a good pocket calendar so I can write these things down. Though I realize I have apps that do this on my phone, I have a hard time doing things like that on there. Who knows, though? Maybe I can learn one of those and start doing it that way.

The thing about this day is that I take it a bit more seriously now than I ever did before. I realize this day is about moving forward and being proactive in keeping myself in the best shape possible. I still have a long road to go, without a doubt. But I plan on being on that road for a long time and to do that, I need to keep improving with the diabetes.

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: Showing awareness during November

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month.

I’ve known this for several years, dating back to when I started geocaching. Though the campaign was actually a couple of years old, Groundspeak (the owners of geocaching.com) partnered with Unite for Diabetes to manufacture and distribute 20,000 trackable tags. When I see these, I still pick them up and move them.

In 2007, a geocoin to commemorate the first United Nations World Diabetes Day (Nov. 14) was released and there were many of these coins delivered. You can now actually purchase these coins (of which I own one).

Back then, though, I never took my own diabetes seriously.

diabetesmonth

It’s been a while since I’ve updated here about my battle. I’m doing this on the blog and in a more public setting, as I’ve noted in past posts, to keep myself honest and to have accountability about taking this a tad more serious than I’ve done in the past.

So far, it works out well.

In fact, at my last doctor’s appointment, my A1C, which is the long-term look at my numbers was a 5.9, which is extremely solid compared to what I had been in the early part of the year. That allowed my primary physician to lop off one of my medications, which was super awesome to me.

However…

It’s changed a little recently and I’m wondering where to go with it. As I read more and more about daily numbers and things like that, it seems like the goals doctors give patients differs. I have  a hard time finding definitive numbers to aim for, so I can only go by what the diabetes educator I see says, as well as my primary. Those numbers are basically an 80-140 before a meal, and anything below 180 a couple hours after eating. That should, theoretically, get be to 7 or below on my A1C.

Now, that being said, there was a sign at the place where I go for my appointments that showed the following:

Fasting: 80-120

2-hour post meal:

  • Age 50 and younger:  <140
  • Age 50-60: <150
  • Age 60 and older: <160

What this didn’t say, however, was if this was for a person without diabetes (who might be on the border) or if this is what diabetics should aim for. Because if these numbers are where I need to be, then I may have to go start taking that other medicine again.

See, my goal always has been to avoid any thought of insulin. So, if I need to try that other medicine again to keep me level, so be it.

As of the last day or so, according to my glucometer, I’m about 80 percent in range, and 20 percent high. That is alarming to me, as I had been in the 100 percent in-range category. My average reading is 126, which is higher than it was a month or so ago, when I was down in the 110-115 range. Now, these are also the numbers averaging the past 14 days, so it can and will go up and down, depending on the day and week.

The mornings have been the real culprit. I’ve been as high as 155 (Nov. 3), and I’m not eating a ton of stuff the night before. I’m keeping within my dietary limitations and following what I am supposed to be doing. However, the past week or so I’ve been pretty sick. So add some cold medicine and everything else into my body, and it’s possible that is playing games with things. But that’s for the past week.

If you go back to Oct. 1, I’ve been high (so above 140) at my morning check 18 times. That’s way too much for my liking.

It’s not that I haven’t been high in the mornings before. Look at Aug. 10-Sept. 10 and there were six instances of having a high count in the morning. However, they were not bunched with others and seemed to be kind of abnormal hits.

Now, when I get them, they are a bit more grouped, say 3-4 days in a row of high counts.

I’ve discussed this with my health care folks and they’ve explained different aspects of why this can – and does – happen. It has to do with some things I don’t fully grasp, but basically it’s something your body does to get glucose when you go an extended time (so sleeping) without eating etc. I am on a eating six times a day thing now, so I have breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack. I count the carb servings and all that.

A few things to note – as softball has ended, my activity level is OK, but not as much. So I need to start getting more and more active, even if that means just going out for more walks.  Also, if you look at the rest of my readings (I usually check 3-4 times per day), and starting at Oct. 1 again, I had one number that was out of the normal range. So it seems like I am staying on the right path, but need to figure out the morning readings a little better.

I plan on having a few more posts about diabetes this month as I have been figuring other things out. It’s all a learning process for me and as I continue to push forward, I know there will be things I continue to work on. I won’t be perfect, that’s for sure, but I have goals and things I know I need to work on. The best I can do is keep plugging along and working toward a better result.

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

The foot – a year later

I can’t believe a whole year has gone by when it comes to my foot.

For those of you who haven’t read the blog for a while or don’t know through social media things, last year I stepped on a nail. The nail penetrated a hiking boot/sneaker, through a sock and pretty deep into my foot. I went to the ER that night and got a tetanus shot, though they didn’t give any antibiotics, which seemed odd being I’m diabetic.

From there was a whirlwind of different things, enough to make me want to just say hell with it.

The short of the story is this – the nail ended up giving an infection. As a diabetic, they got truly worried with some things they saw, and I can totally understand that.

Here’s what I went through:

  • X-rays
  • Several trips to a podiatrist
  • An MRI
  • Foot surgery, which was postponed when I had a bit of an anxiety attack, which led to…
  • A trip to a cardiologist
  • Scans of the heart, stress test, echocardiogram and, eventually …
  • A heart catheterization, which found my heart was fine …
  • And, finally, foot surgery (turns out one issue was one tiny bone in my foot was shattered by said nail and had to be removed as part of this)
  • Six weeks of home IV antibiotics
  • Eventual clearance that my foot was fine

That’s the basics. During this time, they found an antibiotic I was allergic to, and that Benadryl makes me hallucinate. Good times!

But, though those six months or so were crazy, I was thankful I had insurance and a job where I could do what I had to do and still be supported in whatever I needed to have done.

Also during all of this, my diabetes got out of control, which forced me to change a lot of my habits to get things in control.

So here we are, a year later.

My health is way better. My foot is doing very well. I have my diabetes, for the most part, in check. My numbers have been pretty solid and I like the direction it’s going.

One year later and I’m doing way better than I was at this point last year, in many aspects of my life. But I’ll tackle more of those soon enough.

If you want to read the saga of my foot, you can see some of the posts below:

A perfectly timed break (Dec. 2, 2013)

30 minus 2 Days of Writing: Damn (Feb. 8, 2014)

A heart and a foot surgeon walk into a bar (March 25, 2014)

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: The road is long, but well worth it

For those of you following along, you know all about the trials and tribulations I’ve had since finally coming to grip with having diabetes, and knowing I had to take care of it.

Earlier this month, I had a post talking about how my A1C had dropped to 5.9 – which is amazing, considering where I was when this really hit rock bottom back in March and April.

Needless to say, I’ve been pretty happy.

Not bad overall, but at times I've had some odd spikes.

Not bad overall, but at times I’ve had some odd spikes.

But all of this doesn’t come without some ups and downs – and a bit of good news.

I’ve had three lows with my blood sugar, and allow me to say it’s pretty scary. When I was consistently high with my counts, I realized how I felt. I dragged and was tired, but could still seemingly function.

The first time I had a low, I was stunned, but thankfully I had symptoms.

What happened was I got really hot and started sweating. I couldn’t cool down no matter what, and felt a little light-headed. Sure enough, I checked and I was in the 60s.

After speaking to the diabetes educator I see, she noted it is good I have symptoms as some people don’t. Now that’s downright scary. She also noted it might be because of one of the meds I was taking.

Now, realize that to avoid insulin all those months ago, I needed to have a second medicine added to my arsenal. She told me it’s possible this second one was making me have the dips. I’ll have more on that in a moment.

I had a couple of lows this month, including this scary one. But I got out of it fast enough.

I had a couple of lows this month, including this scary one. But I got out of it fast enough.

Since the initial dip, I’ve had two more. One was in the 60s and the other was a scary 55. That one came when I was driving home from a game, so I knew something was up. Thankfully, it was near the exit ramp I was using, so I went to a nearby store and got some orange juice to help me out.

Allow me to tell you how out-of-control I felt with low blood sugar. I didn’t think I had control of my body and it’s an extremely awkward feeling. In all three situations, though, I was close to a place where I could get what was needed to get me back to normal.

It’s also made me come up with two things I needed to do from now on:

Get a second Glucometer that can travel with me so I don’t always have to remember to bring mine.

Carry glucose tablets/shots, in case of anymore low times.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve also had a couple of bumps, mainly during fasting times. It confused me, too, as I couldn’t figure out why I would be having dips – especially when I had been in bed and not eating,

Was I sleep-walking and eating?

Turns out that theory probably wouldn’t hold any water.

It seems that if you go that period without eating, another part of your body (the kidney or liver, can’t remember which) releases some insulin or something … basically, your body is trying to help you, but it gives too much, Or something like that.

One trend... hopefully it disappears.

One trend… hopefully it disappears.

The downside of all this is me not being 100 percent in range over the past 14 days. I’m not, however, as worried about it as I keep learning more and more about my body and what certain foods and drinks do to it.

But out of this, comes good news.

Remember a few months ago when my A1C (long-term blood sugar numbers) was in the 9s? Talk about crazy. That deal to stay off insulin was to lower that and all. But at the same time, I was put on a second medicine to help.

Do you remember all that?

Well, either way … that second medication? It’s gone. My primary provider said he thinks I’ve made strides well enough and that medicine wasn’t a high dose, so he pulled me off of it. I still have them, just in case over the next week to 10 days I see a bad reaction. If not, I still have them if the doctor wanted me to get back on them.

Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.

I’m also losing weight at the right pace. I don’t believe in getting off through fads and such. I need to do it the best I can. It seems like I am averaging about a pound a week. But more than that is around the waist. It might not be full pounds, but I am losing that. My pants don’t fit anymore and my belt is slightly too big. That’s a good thing. I foresee some shopping in my future, but holding off as long as I can!

One thing is for sure, I’m heading in the right direction. It takes a lot of work and I know I need to do more (now that softball is over, for example, I need to do more with physical stuff), but I am going in the right direction. It’s totally worth it as I feel 100 times better than I have in the past year and I know I’m way more healthy than I was before.

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!