I feel like a broken record because I’ve written numerous posts on the effects stress has on my blood sugar, but a few events last week reinforced how diabetes can take over your life. My life/work scenario forced me to take a seat on an insanely large BG roller coaster and I’m still waiting for the downhill plunge.
I believe a timeline is in order to help you understand.
Thursday – BG 214.
Odd because it’s usually around 120 – 150, my preferred roll out of bed BG. Maybe I have an infection??? (more…)
I was reasonably calm–eating dinner in the garage inside my car, the dish wasn’t getting a signal in the storm–trying to figure out if a tornado could drop close to my house. As I tune in, I hear what I’m conditioned to hear, “This is crazy. Stuff is flying everywhere. You won’t believe this, another tornado is on the ground in Moore.”
That’s where I grew up. We’ve been through May 3rd, May 20th, and countless other “get in the shelter” moments. I currently live about 20 miles north of Moore in Oklahoma City, a place that missed the twisters last night. Moore was not so lucky, again. Voodoo. Yet, as a family member of mine put it, “I wasn’t freaking out this time. I knew it was only an F1, so we were calm. The fence is down and I think we lost a few shingles but I’m heading to bunko.” (more…)
I’m not going to lie, I was never really a Poison fan when all of my friends were plastering their bedroom walls with posters of Bret Michaels and fellow bandmates. I may not understand his style of music, but I can relate to his positive attitude about living with Type 1 diabetes. In this Oprah LifeClass clip, he hits the nail on the head with choosing to get busy living or get busy dying. Attitude is everything and some days are better than others. (more…)
The past couple of months have been an absolute whirlwind of events leading up to the Grand Opening of my baby, Dreamer Concepts: A Community Art Space. My close friends and family, for the most part, know how to handle me in times of utter chaos by subtlety bringing or offering to bring me food. I often refuse for some odd reason because I’m kind of a meal planning nazi, but after hearing the the word, “hangry” more than once I throw in the towel and allow others to help me.
This new adventure brought on something I had never consciously recognized until meeting Ryan Fightmaster. In a conversation earlier in the week, I mentioned I didn’t have to give a single unit of insulin throughout the day while still consuming plenty of food (fruit, veggies, protein and a few carbs here and there). I immediately think of my hormones. I won’t freak you out by talking about my period, but this is a huge factor as to when my blood sugar starts to go crazy. I contribute the constant low to the insane amount of adrenaline and not taking a moment to actually slow my mind or body down for more than 4 minutes. I literally ate while walking around delegating tasks.
Before high school football games, my blood sugar was manic – 110 during warm-ups and then 315 by gametime (I used to pee at least 10 times in the two hours before a game. Great for in-game hydration). Intuitively, I knew stress/adrenaline/anxiety/excitement was responsible, but honestly I just read the number and reacted as best I could. Physicians would always mention adrenaline as the culprit. Was I ever given resources to reign in my excitement? Not exactly.
When I began taking medical school prerequisite courses in college, the dots connected. Cortisol is the X factor of diabetes management. Responsible for the random highs. Responsible for the sugar issues with the flu. Responsible for the elevated sugars before the big presentation.Responsible for elevated sugar after your cup of coffee.Responsible for the 300 number after a two hour run. (more…)
