Month: October 2015

Logging My First Big Blue Test!

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I’ve never truly understood the big obsession with Fitbits and step counts and runkeepers. That is, until I opened the Health app on my iPhone about a month ago. That nifty little app has been logging my step count all year long without me even knowing. And looking at the stats, they’re a little embarassing. I can see a huge peak during the month of July, when I was galavanting around Canberra and Sydney having the time of my life (which seems like a lifetime ago, mind you). Then there are some massive slumps on either side while I’ve been back at boring old home.

I’ve been working on getting my step count up over the last month, going for walks most afternoons. Even factoring in the steps that my iPhone doesn’t log while I’m at work (and I would log a lot during my work day), it’s still incredibly hard to reach 10,000 a day!

Which brings me to the Big Blue Test. The Big Blue Test is a program of the Diabetes Hands Foundation, the guys who are also behind the wonderful TuDiabetes community. The Big Blue Test helps to raise money for diabetes charities that provide life saving supplies, services and education to people with diabetes in need.

It’s as simple as testing your blood glucose.

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Getting active for at least 14 minutes of physical activity. If you hate exercise as much as I do, physical activity can be absolutely anything. Also coincidentally wearing blue for Blue Fridays (and being a good diabetic by wearing socks on my feet, of course).

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Testing your blood glucose level again. Hopefully you see a nice drop in your BGLs after exercising like I did in this instance!

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And then logging the details at www.bigbluetest.org or by downloading the Big Blue Test iPhone app. It will literally take a minute of your time, for a series of activities that you probably do already.

Each Big Blue Test that you log between now and November 30 will trigger a $1 donation to diabetes charities. There have been 101,500 Big Blue Tests completed since 2010, this year we are hoping to reach 110,000.

So get testing this weekend.

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The Diabetes Translation of “Good Thanks.”

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“Hi, how are you today?” Is what I’ll be asked the minute I walk into work this morning.

And “Haha, no too bad thanks.” Is my boring, stock standard reply that I seem to give every other day.

However, the diabetes translation of these words actually goes something like this:

Well, I wanted to have an early night yesterday. My blood sugar level was a perfect 5.3 at 9.42pm. I so badly wanted to go to bed and not think about numbers for 8 whole hours. But I couldn’t. That’s just one of the realities of having diabetes. I can do so, sometimes. But at the moment, I just can’t. I have absolutely no confidence in my night time glucose levels at the moment, which means that I can’t treat myself to a whole uninterrupted night’s sleep. I had to set my alarm last night, so that I could test my blood sugar levels during the night just to make sure.

I was startled awake at 12.30am by my favourite blaring noise that came from the alarm clock on my iPhone. My blood sugar level was another perfect 4.7, and I was able to quickly go back to sleep.

I woke up again at 2.11am, feeling a little shaky. I wanted so badly to ignore it, and drift back off to sleep. I could not be bothered opening my eyes and turning on the bright light of my bedside lamp in order to test. But I had to. I activated one of my diabetes superpowers and forced myself awake. Another perfect 4.5. I was convinced I was hypo, and had to test again just to be sure. Nope, it was 4.7. And with that, I was able to drift back off to sleep again.

I woke up next at 3.54am, feeling shaky once again. This time I was 3.1. I had to work out how many marshmallows I would treat my hypo with, and carefully measure them out onto the palm of my hand. If I don’t do this, my hypo-hangry brain will completely forget how many I’ve eaten once I start.

For the fourth time that night, I had to drift back off to sleep. And for the fourth time that night I was woken up, this time by my 5.50am morning alarm.

So, all in all, I had a crap night.

That’s what “not too bad thanks” really means, if I were to answer your question truthfully today.

Glucose Testing Behind The Wheel

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One of the topics that really spoke to me while completing the yourSAY survey was the issue of glucose monitoring before getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.

To be honest, having to go to a doctor every two years to have my “assessment to drive” completed is a bit demoralising. I don’t like having my “medical condition” branded on my drivers license. I don’t often ask for special considerations because of my diabetes, and I hate that I have to ask my doctor for it every two years in order to operate a vehicle.

I get that operating a vehicle, or machinery is a pretty serious responsibility. For anybody. With or without diabetes. I get that I have a condition that could potentially put others at risk on the road if not managed properly. But I also know that I am a responsible driver. A responsible driver of my own vehicle, and of my own diabetes management. Both of which I take very seriously.

I do not test every time that I am about to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Not because it’s inconvenient, not because I don’t like to and not because I don’t carry my testing supplies on hand. I don’t test every time that I get behind the wheel simply because I don’t feel that it is necessary to do so.

I am the designated driver in the vehicle of my diabetes management. And it’s my right to make that decision of whether or not it will be necessary for me to test before getting behind the wheel today. It’s my ability to judge a hypo, or hyper coming on. They’re my blood sugar levels that I place the confidence in to remain stable while on the road. Not yours. Not the government’s. Not my doctor’s. And not anybody else’s.

Every day in the news we hear of drunk drivers, traffic offenders and criminals endangering our roads, and the individuals on them. I am not suggesting it is, but I would hate to think that mandatory glucose testing in a vehicle would somehow be legally enforced here in Australia ahead of these other more serious issues.

I realise that this is probably easier for me to say compared to someone who is not as confident with their diabetes management. But at the end of the day we must empower, and give this responsibility to the individual.

I will be guest moderating tonight’s Oz Diabetes Online Community chat. Join me by following the #OzDOC hashtag on Twitter from 8.30pm AEDT/5.30pm AWST.

In Conversation With a Type 1 Mum

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Mum and I had a rather interesting conversation with a type 1 Mum at the insulin pump information evening that we attended last week.

I’m always drawn to stories of type 1 parents and younger children. I was diagnosed at the age of 17, where I was able to manage my diabetes independently most of the time. My parents didn’t have such a “hands on” role as they may have if I was diagnosed at a younger age. I guess, overall, we would both have completely different experiences in diabetes management.

Type 1 Mum was at the insulin pump evening for her 9 year old daughter, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 4. She was also interested in a Continuous Glucose Monitor, as her young daughter would often neglect to test her blood glucose levels at school or fib about the numbers. Obviously at such a young age, her daughter does not fully realise the importance of why she has to test her blood glucose.

At school, her daughter had a close group of friends who all knew about her diabetes. This year, however, has proven more challenging with class groups being swapped around. The children will often share food at lunchtime, without fully understanding the implications of her daughter eating something like a lollipop. The school also has an aid in the classroom to help with blood glucose tests and insulin injections. However since turning 9, she is expected to be able to manage diabetes on her own at school. She is lucky, however, that the aids there for other children will also check on her at lunchtime.

Out of my own curiosity, I asked Type 1 Mum whether she regularly checks her daughter’s blood glucose levels during the night. She told me that she would normally test once during the night, at around 1am. Her daughter would normally sleep through the nightly blood glucose tests. If the result showed up low, they would “sleep-feed” her glucose tabs and juice boxes.

She also asked me about if I test through the night, being an older person. I told her that, obviously, for myself, I am very motivated to check my blood glucose levels. The decision to test during the night would come down to how confident I am that my BGL will remain stable. If I eat junk food in the late afternoon, I know that the fat will send my BGLs up after I go to bed. But there are other days where I have eaten well, and I am confident I will remain stable.

It was great chatting with you, Type 1 Mum. Best of luck with the decision you choose to make.

A cracking walk on a cracking #DOCtober Friday.

https://instagram.com/p/85DCeFg_Sb/

My Brush With Diabetes and Cold Feet

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Summer has come extremely early this year. There’s been no one-day-its-hot-the-next-day-its-cold sort of weather here like usual in the Spring. I swear that one week I was in my trackies and the next I was in my shorts. The only part of my body that didn’t want to agree with me, however, was my feet.

It was 30 degrees outside. I was wearing my shorts. But my feet were ice cold. I knew that something was wrong. I was sitting there on the couch, and my cold feet were irritating me. I couldn’t sit still as I was sitting on the couch watching The Walking Dead. I was sub consciously finding a corner of the couch to tuck my feet into, just to warm them up. I tried resting my foot against the warmer flesh on my upper thigh to heat it up. I was sticking my fingers underneath my socks as I anxiously waited for them to heat up. One night I even got out of bed to grab a second pair. I was stressing myself out, bigtime.

Straight away, I began to think about possible circulation problems and nerve damage to my feet. I scraped my finger nails against the underside of my feet, and against each toe, just to make sure I had feeling there. I googled the words diabetes and cold feet, only to find information to support the theories that I had been stressing out about. And I began to criticise myself for all of the imperfect decisions that I had made with my diabetes management lately.

I knew that there was a podiatrist at my doctor’s surgery, so I decided to make an appointment there. I was well overdue for a diabetic foot checkup nonetheless. The last time I had a proper foot checkup with a podiatrist was back in 2011 when I was receiving treatment for a stubborn plantar wart at my hospital outpatient centre. 

As he applied pressure to check the pulses in my feet, my nerves were instantly replaced with reassurance. I could feel the pressure of the blood pulsing through my feet. I could hear my pulses amplified as he placed an ultrasound-like machine up against my feet. And as he poked around to test my sensation, I could feel everything.

I was pretty relieved to hear that everything was fine. He suggested some accupuncture to help deal with the cold feet, which was successful in 8 out of 10 patients with the same problem. I told him I’d leave the treatment for the time being and see how it goes.

So, nothing may have been wrong that day. But I certainly don’t regret going in. It was certainly well worth having that issue relieved, and a huge weight off my shoulders. And I was pleased to hear my podiatrist commend me for coming in, rather than accuse me of being a worry-wort.

Who knows – maybe my feet don’t want to come out of winter hibernation mode just yet!

Reading up on insulin pumps in my latest #DOCtober photo, after attending an information session on Wednesday evening.

https://instagram.com/p/82kMjtA_ea/