A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

diabetic

November 14 is World Diabetes Day

I usually wouldn’t put up posts back-to-back of “special days,” but I couldn’t avoid it.

World Kindness Day was important.

And today is World Diabetes Day.

This is, obviously, a day that I relate with. Created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization, it is an official United Nations Day and is the world’s biggest diabetes awareness campaign. The idea of the campaign is to draw attention to the issues in the diabetes world, as well as keep the disease in the eyes of the public.

For me, with how I have been trying to be healthier with my eating and everything else going on, it’s a good day for me to see where I’ve come over the past couple of months.

And I think I’ve come a long way.

I’ve pushed myself with my walking every day. It’s rare that I don’t make my goals for each day and I get out and get moving every day.

That’s a good thing.

I think I’m eating better, too. I’m eating less. I’m watching what is going in so I know what it might do to me.

All of this has meant my numbers have been improving. They aren’t quite where I’d like them to be yet, but they keep getting better.

That is good as well.

On the flip side, there are things I have to continually get better with. I’ll cover the gamut of things in a week or two when I do my normal monthly post.

But a day like this makes me kind of continue to look at how things are and what I am doing myself. I think I am — finally — on the right path.

The reality, though, is that this is a disease that a lot of people deal with in one way or another. There are a lot of things we can do as a society to battle diabetes, which is why days like this are important as they allow a platform for information to be put out and for people to see it.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

World Diabetes Day

Saturday is World Diabetes Day.

The day is the primary global awareness campaign in the world and began in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization.

diabetesmonth2015

It’s an important day for diabetics, for sure. It’s one that everybody should look at because diabetes is an extremely serious issue around the world. Over the years, World Diabetes Day has been centered on a theme related to diabetes, such as diabetes and human rights, lifestyle, obesity etc.

As a diabetic, this day is important to me in the hopes that research continues and hopefully, one day, there’s a cure. The same goes for many diseases around the world.

For now, it’s about awareness.

Over the past year, I haven’t been as good as I had been. My A1C has gone up (though it’s not to a point where my doctor was crazy worried – we worked on things that I need to fix), and I’ve picked up a few pounds. I thought I had done pretty well over the summer, but with travel and such, I obviously didn’t do what I needed to do.

So I need to fix again.

I’m thankful I have the ability to fix the issue and work on getting things back under control. I have some goals and thoughts moving forward in what I need to do. Now, I need to follow through with things and better myself.

Take a peek at some of these tidbits in two infographics:

infographic_1_081115_VF1

 

infographic IDF VERSION FINAL A1 (O) copy

As you can see, it’s bad worldwide.

I know there are things I need to improve on and fix. I will be working to do that. The next time I get my A1C, I hope to see it go down again. That will show me I’ve worked hard to fix something that needs to be fixed.

My hope, too, is that I’ll also see daily numbers shrink with the improvements. For others out there, keep working to fight the disease and get checked at times. Diabetes can hit anybody, so it’s always worth having things checked when you go in for your normal checkups.

Stay healthy!

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: I’m a dreamer, what type are you?

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It took me a long time to accept being a diabetic.

I can’t honestly remember when it was diagnosed. Years ago. Type 2. Have to watch this and that. It went from no medicine, to medicine to the threat of insulin …

All because I couldn’t accept it.

Realize this – that more than 80 percent of those with Type 2 could have prevented it. I’m pretty sure I could have fended this off for quite a while if I had been smart when first diagnosed. But that Snickers bar looked so good…

diabetesmonth2

Life throws curves. So how do you deal with it? I finally accepted it. And life is a lot better because of it.

I was contacted by Oscar Health, a new company providing health insurance in New York and New Jersey, to spread some awareness about diabetes. Despite how this disease has grown, I’ve really worked the past several months for it not to define me. I want it to be something I can talk about and not feel like it’s something bad. I can’t let it define me. With that in mind…

I’m a dreamer. What type are you?

This world can be rough, crazy and cruel. There are things that can happen to you, but no matter what you have to keep plugging along.

So I dream.

  • I dream of traveling.
  • I dream of a world without cancer.
  • I dream of a perfect pint of Guinness, poured for me at an amazing Irish Pub.
  • I dream of lottery wins and how I would try and help more people than just myself.
  • I dream of happiness for friends, family and people I’ve met for brief moments.
  • I dream of no war and politicians who actually care about the people (yes, I said it).
  • I dream of pizza.
  • I dream of a cup of hot chocolate as I look over a pristine winter scene.
  • I dream of geocaches that show creativity, imagination and quality.
  • I dream of equality in all mankind.
  • I dream of loved ones lost, who I hope will one day be seen again.
  • I dream of softball championships.
  • I dream photography.
  • I dream of brewing an amazing beer.
  • I dream of being in better shape.
  • I dream of completing goals I set when I started seeing a diabetes educator.
  • I dream of a month of perfect readings on my glucometer.
  • I dream of a life without diabetes.

The last one, of course, is something that might never happen. But the truth is, it can’t – and won’t – define who I am. I will live my life as full as possible. I can still do what I want, including going out for a great dinner. I just have to know limitations and know what things do to my body.

Acceptance has made it easier for me to start getting things in better control, too. So has technology – my glucometer is hooked up with my iPhone, so I can see trends and such in my blood sugar. I am determined that I won’t let this define or beat me.

No matter frustrations of what things do to me. Or of a spike here and there that doesn’t make sense. Or whatever curve is thrown at me. It won’t define or beat me.

And I’ll continue to dream because it’s who I am.

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: 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!