{"id":37980,"date":"2015-06-26T11:24:47","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T15:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=37980"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:44:17","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:44:17","slug":"11-diabetes-things-ill-tell-you-that-health-care-providers-wont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=37980","title":{"rendered":"11 Diabetes Things I\u2019ll Tell You That Health Care Providers Won\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I had lunch with a friend who\u2019s also an extraordinary diabetes nurse. Waiting for the meal she asked, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you injecting now?\u201d I didn\u2019t say what she expected, \u201cIt might take longer for the food to come than expected.\u201d No, I said, \u201cHow do I know how much I\u2019m going to eat until I taste the food?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what you should tell people!\u201d she said slamming her hand down on the table. \u201cAll the things you\u2019ve learned. All the tricks we don\u2019t know.\u201d This from my friend who has educated thousands of people with diabetes and has a zillion titles and letters after her name.<\/p>\n

So here are 11 things I\u2019ve learned about managing blood sugar from my everyday experience. Any may help you and you\u2019re not likely to hear them from your doctor.<\/p>\n

\"11<\/a><\/p>\n

Cartoon by\u00a0Haidee Soule Merritt.<\/a><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Don\u2019t take your insulin until you actually taste the food<\/strong>. Okay, you already know that now. But here\u2019s what to do. Take half the dose you think you should 15 minutes before the food arrives provided you\u2019re not low. Take any remaining insulin after you taste your meal and know how much of it you\u2019re going to eat.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Get pen cartridges instead of vials.<\/strong>\u00a0My 90 day insulin supply through my direct mail pharmacy is three vials. For my mealtime insulin I use vial and syringe. If I order insulin cartridges (for an insulin pen) instead of vials, I get 15 cartridges. You do the math. You don\u2019t need to put the pen cartridge in a pen, use it like a vial. Extract the insulin with your syringe. However, don\u2019t push air into the cartridge as you do with a syringe. And do look for air bubbles in the syringe when you withdraw the insulin. If you get them, just\u00a0flick them out.\u00a0Don\u2019t extract insulin from an insulin pen with a syringe, just the\u00a0cartridge itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Everyone, stop saying \u201ccontrol!\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0I wish people would stop using that word. Yes, you can absolutely do things to influence your blood sugar, but you cannot control it. There are too many variables at play: stress, illness, exercise and its lag time, alcohol, carb guessing with food labels and meters up to 20% inaccurate. Managing blood sugar is not as simple and straightforward as your doctor seems to think.<\/p>\n

Plus you can only do as well as our present day tools permit. My management would be far better with faster mealtime insulin.<\/p>\n

And, take yourself off the perfection pedestal otherwise you\u2019ll get knocked off every day. Just do your best, appreciate your effort and keep breathing.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Take a small amount of insulin to blunt your morning rise<\/strong>. Due to the\u00a0Dawn Phenomenon<\/a>, my blood sugar rises like a runaway train in the early morning hours. I take 1 unit of rapid-acting insulin as soon as I wake up, usually around 6:30 or 7 A.M. It halts the rise. I take the rest of my dose with breakfast usually an hour later.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0You CANNOT have blood sugars close to normal without having lows<\/strong>. It\u2019s your choice \u2013 you can let your blood sugars run high or if you want to be nearer the lower side of your target range often, know you WILL have lows. Be prepared. I carry glucose tablets in all my purses, pouches, pockets and knapsacks and keep a stash in the kitchen and by my bed. SweeTarts and Smarties work fine too and are nicely portable.<\/p>\n

\n

\"11<\/a><\/p>\n

Cartoon by\u00a0Haidee Soule Merritt.<\/a><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Reuse syringes and pen needles unless they break, bend or lodge in your body.<\/strong>\u00a0No, don\u2019t reuse bent or broken needles, ever. And, yes I\u2019m kinda joking, but while needles dull with reuse, you can safely reuse them a few times. Use them for a few days or a week depending on how many shots a day you take. Stop reusing when you notice you feel the shot more than you should.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Stop eating a lot of carbs.<\/strong>\u00a0The sugary foods (cakes, cookies, muffins\u2026) and starchy foods (bread, bagels, pasta, potatoes, simple grains like coos coos\u2026) you love, spike your blood sugar \u2013 and then drop it, wham. You end up in a cycle of high and low blood sugars and ravenous. Plus, high blood sugars\u00a0call for extra insulin and insulin stores fat. Eat some carbs, mostly from vegetables and small amounts of fruit, beans and whole grains, and your blood sugar will become more steady.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Don\u2019t react\u00a0too<\/em>\u00a0quickly.<\/strong>\u00a0For decades I dreamed of \u201cPinkie\u201d my continuous glucose monitor \u2013 a tool that would tell me if my blood sugar was going up or down and how fast. But when Pinkie gives me the \u201cup\u201d arrow, all I want to do is stop her. So I take more insulin only to then drop too low. Watch and wait \u2013 that 45 or 90 degree arrow often flattens out a minute or two after you see it so nothing needs to be done.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0Routine is a powerful tool.<\/strong>\u00a0Doing most things similarly each day \u2013 eating relatively at the same time, and the same foods or types of food, doing my exercise at the same time of day \u2013 keeps my blood sugar more predictable. When I\u2019m off my routine, usually due to travel, that predictability and my \u201cnice\u201d blood sugar numbers, all but disappear.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0The \u201cX\u201d factor.<\/strong>\u00a0Even though I just told you routine makes blood sugars more predictable, there is the \u201cX\u201d factor. You can do the same thing, the same way, the same time, two days in a row and get different results. But it will happen less if you do things routinely.<\/p>\n

11.\u00a0Diabetes IS a second job.<\/strong>\u00a0With no admin person, travel dept, expense account or colleagues to have a drink or cronut with after a hard day\u2019s work. No matter how long you\u2019ve had this job, you\u2019ll still feel like an idiot some days because many of your guesses will be wrong. Give yourself an occasional vacation \u2013 skip a blood sugar check here or there \u2013 and definitely reward yourself with a hefty end of year bonus.<\/p>\n

Have you learned something that would help someone else they probably wouldn\u2019t hear from their doctor?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

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