I know I haven’t posted in quite a while, I have a had a ton of changes going on with job changes and some other events that kept me pretty busy. Since all of the changes, I decided I was going to add one more thing to that mix. I changed the injection site for my pump from my leg, back to my abdomen.

It was quite a surprise taking a needle in the gut again after not having done so in 6 or 7 months. Especially being I use the “quick-serter” device. This was only the beginning of 4 day mess that was about to send me spinning into a downward spiral! Hours after I changed my pump, my friend came up to my apartment with some Club Flyers and wanted to go out to one of these places for some drinks. He had just been at the NC State football game all day and judging by the smell that was starting to fill my apartment, he had been doing some drinking already. So we picked a place we hadn’t been to in a while and hopped in the car. Before I even walked into the bar I checked my sugar and it was up over 300, I immediately took about 15 units with my pump and then went inside. I had one beer while talking with some other friends that we met there and we paid our tab and left. Total time since last reading was about 1 hour and 30 minutes, as we are heading to the next bar I check it again and its about 280. Lower, but something is wrong, this is not normal! I thought maybe it was air in the lines that I missed or something. I continued to check it about every hour if I could and probably went through close to 50 units just to get it down to a normal level. After 2 more days of similar readings I realized that I was just not absorbing it well and changed it immediately. Things seem to be back to normal now but in the meantime I spoke to my Dr about a continuous glucose monitor. There are times where something similar to this will happen and hours go by with me not knowing because it’s getting high for another reason other than what I am eating or bolusing.

Continuous Glucose Monitor

I have to track my numbers for the next 30 days and then submit them to a representative that will try to work with my insurance company in trying to get approved for it. They really only care about lows and if your 30-day stretch does include a lot of lows, they probably wont approve me. At least this is what the rep said. I have started an excel file for the rep and will keep everyone posted on what the final outcome is.

I think it will be great for when I am out and about for long periods of time and especially when I am changing my site and there is a possibility for air or me hitting a bad spot in my abdomen that isn’t absorbing insulin well.

As a diabetic you learn to stay away from the “earthquake” foods and drinks. You are probably scratching your head saying “what the hell is an earthquake food?” I will tell you exactly what it is, earthquakes shake up the ground and then have these after effects where weird things happen even hours later. So there are certain foods that do this to me as well. I eat them and the next 3 – 4 hours of my day is spent monitoring my sugar in 30 minute intervals. A few examples are white rice, cake and ice cream, certain pasta dishes… Etc. Everyone can probably think of something that has thrown your day off completely or the day of someone you know.

I tend to avoid most sweets, juices and foods high in sugar or carbohydrates. Every once in a while there will be a wedding, birthday, party… who knows, but you splurge and take a hit. I will go for the cake and ice cream if it stares at me long enough and calls out my name. After all, I would hate to offend whoever brought it anyway, so go ahead cut me a slice asap!

Cake and Sweet Tea

Mid way through my enjoyment, I can feel it, the earthquake is starting, but this is just the beginning. I start debating how much insulin and dial it in to prepare for the ride. Sometimes it’s smooth sailing and I keep my levels near normal but for the most part there is always a surprise where I am left thinking ” how did this happen!” my eye lids become heavy and I start feeling lethargic, my mood changes, my smile from that tasty icing disappears… What a mess!

I am not sure if it’s all worth it in the end but I do a good job of correcting things pretty quickly, I might spike to high 200′s but will fix it quickly. Not the greatest thing for you but maybe do this more often I will become an expert.

Practice makes perfect!

One of the main things that I hate with extreme temperatures is that none of of my glucometers (I have 3) ever work when they have been sitting in extreme heat or extreme cold. You would think someone with a little smarts could design a special case which would prevent the device from getting too hot or too cold. Maybe this is harder than I know but it sounds like a good idea.

Now that it’s summer there are certain events which are often paired with a lot of guessing while I enjoy them. Two that come to mind right now are Softball and Swimming. With Softball I make sure I eat about an hour before the game and check my sugar about 10-20 minutes before. After checking I bolus if needed and leave my pump and glucometer in the car or in my bat bag. No matter where I leave my glucometer, if it’s above 90, say goodbye until further notice.

Me playing 3rd base - Summer 2008

While playing softball and exerting myself I have trouble judging where my levels are. There are times I think I am low because I am shaking but it’s just because I ran my tail off to get home and score. I carry Swedish fish with me for several reasons; they are delicious, they bring my sugar up and they don’t melt or get sticky from heat and one more thing and I not sure if I covered… they are delicious! If I start noticing other signs of a low I will eat some but it’s so hard to judge sometimes. Usually I wait until after the game because I hate correcting blindly and I have had some close calls doing this. I get to my car and pull out my handy glucometer only to get an error because it’s been sitting in the heat!

Another activity where this gets difficult is swimming, whether it’s the beach or the pool, it is nearly impossible to spend the day outside near water and have your meter work. I try to test before I head out but things change quickly depending on what you are doing and especially if you make a day of it and have lunch outdoors as well. You can’t swim with a pump so it has to come off and I usually get into this zone for an hour or two and forget to think about it. By that second or third hour it’s back on my mind, I am wondering “man I wonder what I am at right now.”

I would love to go just one entire day without having to worry about it one time… Someday.

Me - Outer Banks, NC - Summer 2008

If I do have a cooler with me, I will try to stick it in there. If not when I get home from softball or the pool, if the meter still isn’t working I put it in the refrigerator and let that sucker cool down. It’s not like this happens every time and it isn’t an everyday thing, only when it is HOT (with capital letters) outside. I would say 95 and above. Shade or no shade that meter is taking a vacation!

For those of you who do not know what dawn phenomenon is, it is simply an increase in blood sugar in the middle of the night or sometimes referred to as the “dawn effect”. Typically between 4:00 AM and 8:00 AM the sugar levels of some diabetics rise abnormally. Some researchers say that it is due to an increase in hormone production such as epinephrine, cortisol, glucagon and other growth hormones. Some of our hormones tell our liver to release glucose to give us the fuel we need when we wake up. But when these hormones are out of balance with the hormone insulin, the liver releases too much glucose.

For me this was a frustrating thing since I was always trying to perfect my levels in my late teens. It would drive me crazy that no matter how well I left things before bed I would wake up ridiculously high in the morning. After explaining this to my doctor she recommended getting on an insulin pump. I nodded my head and acted interested but after leaving thought to myself; “there is no way I am going to have something attached to me like that”. This is back when cell phones were still pretty large and couldn’t fit in your pocket, so as a guy you had to have a belt clip. All I could think about was having this big pump and a big cell phone on my belt at the same time. Then again going some places like an amusement park was difficult because you cant really carry around a bag the entire time, so you use a locker. The lockers are always on the other end of the park from where you decide you are going to stop and eat and that’s where you have your shots. One of my biggest fears was one of my friends joking around and tackling me or hitting the injection site ( guys in their teens do these things without any notice thinking they are a super hero) and ripping it out. That being one of my main fears I had, the older I got the better of an idea it became.

About 3 and a half years ago I decided to get the pump, insurance was paying for it and at this point there was no reason not to get it. It has not only changed my life completely but has allowed me to have near perfect levels in the morning. Basal (the insulin that trickles in slowly throughout the day) rates can be set to different levels throughout the day. In the middle of the night, or morning however you look at it I set a peak in my basal rate. So from 12 AM to 3AM my basal rate is .85 and then at 3 AM it jumps up to 1.50 to compensate for any increase I would experience from dawn phenomenon. This insulin pump has completely changed my morning levels which make it SO much easier to get out of bed every morning.

I am the kind of guy that that will test my sugar or inject insulin without even thinking about who’s around or where I am. I could be standing on the corner of 5th Avenue in the middle of NYC in the pouring rain and I will pull out my glucometer and and test my sugar if I feel it’s necessary. When I didn’t have my pump and I was injecting regular syringes or the pens, people would always ask; “doesn’t that get so annoying?” In my head I am thinking “um actually no, you asking me that every time I inject does though” Injecting then was like having to tie my shoe, I could inject anywhere except while on the move. You can tie your shoe just about anywhere except while walking – I have tried doing this on several occasions and it ended badly each and every time.

So this leads me to the curious friend of a diabetic. At my age I am always meeting new people, whether it’s co-workers, new neighbors, people I meet at my underwater basket weaving class… who knows, there are just random people always watching me while I check my sugar or even lay a hand on my insulin pump. It’s like they are watching to make sure I dont hit the red button on the back and end the world instantly. I have people say to me “what is that?” So me enjoying talking to people about it and educating them on the disease, I end up going into this long story. It never fails, no matter who I am talking to, their response is always the same. They say something like “I think thats what my uncle has”  or “I think my grandpa had diabetes before he died”. I personally do not know how to respond to that so I just keep talking. There are two reason’s why; the first one is you just told me you think your grandfather died from diabetes or you think your uncle had diabetes? Next you are going to ask me how come your uncle would always inject into the vein in his forearm and why my diabetes is different. I dont want to be the one to have that conversation with you, ask your mother.

So after I am done clowning around I usually give them the simple explanation: “when I eat, my sugar goes up so I need insulin to bring it down”. I also explain that “sometimes it goes down too much and I need sugar to bring it back up and staying in that safe zone in the middle is the game I play with myself everyday of my life.”I also need to explain that this other thing that pricks my finger is what tells me exactly where I am. So usually around now they are nodding their head “Oh I get it now!” – but honestly they don’t. They will always come back to watch and say “wait, so when you give yourself more insulin it’s because your sugar is low right?” On average it takes 3-4 times to get it if the friend is a male and 7-8 times to get it right if the friend is a female (not sure why this is). In the end I smile inside that they care enough to ask and realize as a diabetic, I will always have curious friends.

I always find myself curious to hear other diabetics stories discussing thing’s like; where they were when they found out, what symptoms they experiencing, if they didn’t notice any of the symptoms, what finally happened that made them aware of the disease… etc. Many people don’t enjoy going to the doctors office for every little thing that is wrong unless you are a hypochondriac. Some of the symptoms; increased thirst, weight loss and feeling tired aren’t things we would freak out about after a week and then make an appointment to see a doctor. Because of this there are some pretty scary stories out there about people who were driving their car and suddenly ran off the road into a ditch after passing out or swerving into oncoming traffic.

As we all know diabetes is hereditary to if you are someone in your family is a diabetic you have an increased chance of not only getting the disease yourself but having a family member that might someday become diabetic. Hearing other peoples stories will help you notice some of the symptoms that people experience and possibly alert yourself or the other person to see a doctor before things get too bad. There was a story back in April where an 8-year-old girl died suddenly and after all her organs started to fail. Doctor’s said her sugar level was 1,700 after she was brought into the hospital( Full Story). Most people if you think about it will let those around them know when they are experiencing the smallest problems. Think about the last time you heard someone say; “my finger hurts” or “I have a headache”. Hopefully after reading this this you will be on the lookout for common symptoms (listed below) in those around you. Researchers have calculated that about 6.3 million adults — about a fourth of the people in the U.S. with diabetes — have the disease but haven’t been diagnosed.

My Personal Experience

When I was about 16-years-old I was pretty healthy, probably around 6’1″ tall and about 180 lbs – Complete chick magnet!. One day while in school I noticed focusing on the teacher from the back of the classroom was becoming difficult because one of my eyes kept getting blurry. This symptom would come and go, looking back it probably got worse after lunch or after eating something because of my sugar levels being on the rise which causes pressure change in the eyes. After a few days of blurred vision and hoping it would pass I started noticing other symptoms occurring. My mouth became bone dry so I was drinking ridiculous amount of water all the time, I had even brought a large jug of water into work for a few days because otherwise I would be making trips to the water fountain close to 6,000 time an hour…. No really I am serious!

Drinking all of that water was definitely taking it’s toll on my bladder for sure! I was experiencing “frequent urination” as well, going to the bathroom about 20 times a day or more. I remember during all of this I was hanging out with a girl that lived about 45 minutes away at the time and I can remember only staying there for a couple hours at most because of my frequent trips to the bathroom. After my 3rd trip I would usually pull the whole “man I am really tired I should get going so I can get some sleep”. Even though I just went before I left I would usually have to stop at least once on the way home as well. After about a week and a half of these symptoms I knew things were getting worse instead of better and needed to see a doctor.

After school on a Friday afternoon I had an appointment to see my doctor to discuss what has been going on. She came in the room, spoke with me for a few minutes about my symptoms, pricked my finger and then left the room for about 20 minutes. At this point I started worrying because I had no idea what was so important that she couldn’t wait until after I left unless it pertained to me. Well come to find out I was exactly right, she came in and told me I had a blood glucose level way above normal and she wanted me to go home and wait for my mother who she had just contacted at work to see if she could leave early. She asked me if I was OK to drive home and I responded with “yes of course why wouldn’t I be?” I had no idea what any of this meant or what diabetes even was at this point.

I went home and sat there for about 30 minutes waiting for my mom to arrive, I grabbed a magazine just in case I was there for a couple hours and as soon as she arrived we were on our way. I was immediately brought into a room and was informed I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I was in for a pretty big surprise, I really thought I would be in and out in a couple of hours. I was asked a million questions, had an IV hooked up, and was being fed hospital food on calorie intake of a 3 year old. About 2 days later after learning about the disease, how to count carbs and inject insulin I was finally on my way home.

Here I am about 10 years later and very healthy, now using an insulin pump with humalog instead of the syringes or insulin pens I have tried in the past. I have an average A1c of 5.7 and test usually about 10 times a day. I notice way too many changes in my body if my sugar levels go outside of the normal zone in either direction. Because of this I have become very anal about keeping my levels in the normal zone. I do have occasional highs and lows but they do not stay there long at all. After being diagnosed I matured pretty quickly and learned how serious this disease can be if it is not taken care of correctly. Now it’s all second nature for the most part, I don’t even think about the things I do on a daily basis. I try to exercise at least 5 days a week and continue to eat healthy throughout the day to make sure I live a long healthy life.

Below is an image which shows the risk of type 1 diabetes if another family member has it.

Type 1 Diabetes Symptoms

* Frequent urination
* Excessive thirst
* Extreme hunger
* Unusual weight loss
* Increased fatigue
* Irritability
* Blurry vision

Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms

* Blurry vision
* Cuts or sores that are slow to heal
* Itchy skin, yeast infections
* Increased thirst
* Dry mouth
* Need to urinate often
* Leg pain

Feel free to share your story in the comment section below!

I have been using my insulin pump for about 3 and a half years now and have always had my injection site on my abdomen. I was told this is where the insulin should be delivered to have it take effect the quickest. Unfortunately during this time of the year, I have my shirt off at the beach or just swimming and it is exposed to people, sand, water, boogie boards, killer sharks and even jelly fish! Not to mention when I start getting some color whether its a tan or sunburn, every new injection site is being stuck to dead skin. I was losing my infusion set sometimes the same day I put a new one on. Mainly this was because when I would change the location on my abdomen I was now sticking it where I had gotten sunburn or even started tanning and that skin is now dead so the adhesive has nothing to stick to.

Recently I moved the site to my upper leg where there is little to no hair. Most guys are limited to spots where you can put it simply due to have body hair and that was one of the main reasons I always stuck to the side of my abdomen where there was little to no hair growing.

So far I don’t notice any slow down in how fast my body takes in the insulin and it doesn’t seem to be in the way of any daily activities or bother me when I sleep or sit. The one downfall to having it there is the fact that its harder to access for quick reconnects or disconnects. I have to pretty much reach down the side of my pants! Before I just lifted up my shirt and pulled it off.

The image above was found after researching spots where you can inject insulin and the different effects you might experience. When I was using regular syringes I was injecting in my arm and abdomen. When I switched to the pen I was injecting in my abdomen or thigh. While on the pump I have always injected in my abdomen until this most recent refill. In the past I have never noticed a difference in how fast the insulin hits me or had to re-adjust any of my habits.

I am curious to hear where others inject and why, especially pump owners. Also for those of you who change spots, do you notice a difference in how quickly the insulin hits you?

There have been numerous people across the internet and on the streets claiming that Monavie has “cured” or helped sugar levels of diabetics dramatically. Being a diabetic myself I have had people approach me or call me telling me the wonders of this juice. I am a little skeptical knowing this is a business and they are trying to get me hooked into buying a case a month or however it works. I would like to hear from a diabetic using Monavie and hear what it has done for you. The last time I asked a Monavie representative any questions about the claim they were making they had no clue. They didnt even know if the claim was made from a Type 1 diabetic or a Type 2 diabetic… even further they didnt know the difference.

To my understanding most Type 2 diabetics (correct me if I am wrong because I am type 1) can control their sugar levels by eating differently. I am sure there are a lot of cases where the patient could start eating an entirely different way and have near normal sugar levels. So with that being said Monavie has a ton of fruit in it that would fill you up and maybe replace that pasta you at least a portion of a meal in your day. Cutting back the amount of insulin (type 1) or lowering the levels (type 2) you might have experienced without it. Thats just a thought and I am by no means an expert. I would love to hear input from those using it.

I am pretty excited to see this even though my vials of insulin say right on them “Do not take this medication with alcohol”. Recent studies have shown a chemical found in the skins of red grapes and in red wine — can improve the sensitivity of mice to the hormone insulin, according to a report in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

I personally would like to know how many glasses of wine these mice are drinking and at what rate will I become more sensitive to the insulin I am taking. I have passed out once in my entire life due to low blood sugar and it was supposedly from the wine I had the night before so I must share this story with all of you. Its quite funny actually! I was working at an Italian restaurant in my early 20′s and after a long night of work I decided to have a glass of red wine at the bar with some co-workers. That glass of red wine turned into about 2 or 3 and then I ended up heading home knowing I had to be back at work for a large event with about 60 guests the next morning. I was one of two people working the event and I had to get a good night of sleep to be on top of things. I went home, went to bed, woke up later than expected and grabbed a granola bar on my way out of the door. I arrived at work, checked my sugar after the granola bar and it was about 165. I took about 3 units and ran into work to start getting ready for the party that was starting in a couple hours. After running up and down the stairs about 40 times with glasses, plates, silverware, and table cloths, I started feeling a little weird and found myself standing in the back of the kitchen fairly close to the line where the chefs cook. Whatever happened after that is still a blur, I re-gained consciousness outside when one of the chefs was shaking me. They were able to give me some orange juice (luckily the knew what was going on and knew how to react) and then I was fine in about 10-15 minutes. At about this time the ambulance arrived because one of my managers thought I was having a heart attack and called the paramedics. The paramedic I spoke with wanted to find out what happened and why it was so sudden. After telling him my story of the last 24 hours he said that alcohol actually lowers blood sugar levels on an empty stomach and to ALWAYS make sure I had some thing in my stomach if I am having a few drinks. Now this could be exactly as described above where the red wine I had the night before was just making my body a little more sensitive to the insulin I took that night and the next morning after the granola bar… I have no idea. I am not sure how long after your body is “extra sensitive” to insulin. One thing I must add to this story is; as I was sitting in a chair regaining myself after the orange juice, I noticed my pant leg was soaked. I asked one of the chefs what the heck was on me and he said ” Oh, there was a huge container filled with scrambled eggs for brunch and you decided to grab onto that as you fell” Needless to say the chefs were not only freaked out but they had to “86″ the scrambled eggs for the rest of the day!

Just like everyone else out there I am trying to loose to some weight and get into better shape. I would like to lose about 30 pounds over the next few months and I seem to have a hard time staying motivated and fighting cravings for carbs. This probably sounds like the story of everyone else trying to lose weight but I think diabetics face a tougher challenge because when we get lows we tend to want to eat everything in sight. So cutting out lows helps but sometimes you just cant avoid them. I also find that I have cravings when my levels are normal as well, so I have tried a couple of products to cut out the cravings. Some worked for a little while and others did not work at all. I also needed more energy which will help me actually get out there and work out or go for a run. After searching for some products that can assist me with this I decided to go with Hydroxycut Hardcore. I was a little worried at first because diabetes is one of the medical conditions that is listed on the back of the bottle and the bottles of similar products. I figured I would start off slow (1 pill twice a day for about a week) and then monitor changes, sugar levels and how I feel. So I did that for about a week and then bumped it up to 2 pills twice a day. Now I really started feeling good, lots of energy, metabolism was definitely way up and I was finding that I was using less and less insulin. Furthermore I did not have the cravings that were there before.

Now I am up to 3 pills twice a day trying to work out (lifting and/or running intervals) at least 3 times a week, 4 or 5 times is my goal. I am eating grilled chicken wraps (wheat and Spinach wraps) and smoothies like they are water. I bought a little blender and keep some bananas and strawberry’s on hand at all times. I am drinking about 3 of these a day and there are a ton of different types you can make if you aren’t a big fan of either of the fruits I use. I figured they are cheap, they go great together and I like them separate as well, so one day I can make banana smoothies and the next day make strawberry smoothies. When I want a change again I make a strawberry and banana smoothies. I have lost about 7 pounds in about 3 weeks, I was hoping to lose it at a faster pace but I can’t get too picky, I just need to find what works and stick with it to maximize my results.

So to wrap this all up and clear up any questions on taking Hydroxycut with diabetes, I am sure the effects will vary in different people and you should always at least talk with your physician before hand. I am a healthy male and still fairly young so I was willing to take the chance. What I found in myself was that my metabolism increased significantly allowing me to cut back on the amount of insulin I was taking. I made no adjustments to my basal rate just less when I bolus. (more info on these two terms below) Now I am well adjusted and comfortable at the 3 pills twice a day dosage. I have plenty of energy throughout the day and don’t have the cravings I had in the past. I am able to eat smaller meals that are healthier and not always crave something more. I feel great and hope to continue to lose another 25 to 30 pounds. I would be glad to answer any questions or hear comments from anyone using similar products.

Basal Information
Bolus Information