D-Blog Week: The Tasty Treat Hypo-Treatment

As I wrote yesterday about the main thing that keeps me smiling through a bad diabetes day, I've decided to pick the 'Diabetes Dream Device' wildcard today.  As we know, hypos are horrible.  They can make you shake, give you headaches, make your lips and tongue numb and make you seem like a completely different person.  Maybe it would be easier to deal with if treating hypos was easy, but unfortunately that's not necessarily the case!

There are lots of misconceptions about the correct and most efficient way to treat a hypoglycaemic attack.  It's not just about eating anything with sugar in.  There are lots of foods with high sugar content, but the amount of fat and other ingredients in them significantly slows down how fast our bodies absorb the sugar to bring our blood sugars back up.  Also measuring how much sugar you have to eat to make your blood sugars rise, but not go too far and end up at the other end of the scale, is pretty much an art in itself.

I don't only hate hypos because of how awful they make me feel, but also because of how much I dislike the types of food and drink that makes the best treatment for them.  When my blood sugars are low, I can't help but crave all the food that wouldn't be a very fast solution in an emergency.  The most useful existing treatments like drinks like Lucozade are ones that I don't like the taste of, and glucose tablets only make my mouth feel like a desert.  Instead, all I want to eat or drink when I'm having a hypo is chocolate and milkshakes and other sugary, yet very fatty, treats that would take a lot longer for the sugar to take effect.

This is why my diabetes dream device would be the 'Tasty Treat Hypo-Treatment'!  You would have a small electronic device into which you would input how many grams of fast-acting sugar you require to bring your blood sugars up to the desired level.  You would then choose whichever food you fancied and the device would transmit the sugar to the food.  This would take the place of any existing sugar or fat that was already in it.  Then you can enjoy a very yummy hypo-treatment that gets into your system quickly, and not have to suffer a raging high-peak later in the day...ta-daaaaa!

Okay, so there are definitely a few practical issues as it could never actually be made but still...I can dream, right!? :)

D-Blog Week: Diabetes Art Day

I always really enjoy diabetes art prompts, but I've got to admit that I was feeling a little bit felt-tipped out after yesterday's post!  However I remembered a style of D-Art I've seen circulating the DOC since I started blogging and always wanted to have a go at, so here she is...the Type 1 Diabetes Supplies Girl!

D-Blog Week: Demanding Difference

I find that I sign quite a lot of petitions nowadays, simply because I think that if a policy needs to be altered then people should come together as a force for that change. With regards to writing a petition, there are quite a few things that I would like to change about diabetes in general;  the most obvious being the fact that I have it in the first place, but I get the feeling that my pancreas has made a firm decision on that one.

Sometimes it's the little things that make living with type 1 diabetes that tiny bit easier and, seeing as demanding my pancreas to reboot itself might be considered a little far fetched, I've decided to ask for change in the more subtle areas of D-Life...

Accu-Chek Aviva Nano;  I like you.  You look all cute with your fancy, pebble-shaped exterior and you're so small that I can fit you in my smallest handbag alongside all my other bits and bobs.  However, I would like you to change just one thing for me...will you please give me a little longer to get my blood on to the test strip before you go and error on me?!  Some days my fingers are actually tired of having your good old friend MultiClix stabbing the tips of them, and they need a couple of seconds more than what you seem to be willing to give.  When my doctor asks me how I'm getting through as many packs of test strips as I am and I reply 'because my monitor is impatient' he gives me strange look, but he doesn't understand your nature like I do. 

Fast acting hypo treatment;  I find you a little tiresome.  Dextrose tablets are the worst, especially the orange ones.  Trying to eat you during a hypo is like trying to feast on sand in the desert.  Glucotabs you're a little better, seeing as I don't have to consume as many of you to raise my blood sugar, but the truth is that I'd much rather be eating a bar of chocolate.  Lucozade reminds me of being unwell and fruit juice feels like a very unappetising option when all I want to do is binge on all the unhealthy, fatty foods that aren't going to help one bit.  I'd like you to change your taste and texture, become more exciting for the palate as well as continue to raise my blood sugars at a rapid pace.  I hope this isn't too much to ask.  P.S. Just as an afterthought, thanks for saving my life of numerous occasions - I owe ya' one!

Day 27: Trials and Triumphs of T1

5 challenges:

1)  Doing my injections - I think this is one of the main challenges for most diabetics.  For me it's not because they hurt or I'm scared of needles, but because sometimes I just don't want to. Sometimes I feel I'm too busy, or I'm not in the right environment, or I just want to be non-diabetic for a day or two.

2)  Going to endo appointments -  I don't struggle as much with attending these anymore, but they used to feel like the bane of my life.  It didn't even matter that I only had to go every 3months in the paediatric clinic, just the thought of the whole ordeal would fill me with dread. Because I wasn't taking care of my diabetes properly, I hated finding out what my HbA1c was, having my insulin doses adjusted and being asked if I'd been recording my blood sugars, when I only ever felt that I was disappointing my diabetes team and myself when I hadn't.  The last thing I wanted to do was talk about my diabetes, when I was simply wishing it would disappear.

3)  Glucotabs and Lucozade - Because I've had diabetes since being really young, I've never acquired a sweet tooth.  I find anything that's really sugary to be absolutely repulsive.  However, two of the best quick-acting hypo treatments are Glucotabs and Lucozade.  Chocolate bars and cookies are appealing, but they won't raise your bg's quickly because of the fat in them and the way they are digested.  Glucotabs are the easiest to carry around with you and Lucozade is usually the easiest to get hold of in an emergency.   Convenient?  Yes.  Tasty?  No.  Sometimes I have to force myself to drink Lucozade or shove Glucotabs down my neck, even if I'm really low.

4)  Going for my retinopathy screening - Everytime I go, I work myself into such a frenzy.  Not only do I absolutely despise eye-drops, but I worry so much about what the results are going to be.  As soon as the screening is complete and they have the photos, I always hastily ask if they look ok, my voice quivering.  Sometimes I wonder if I should even go, but then I have to remind myself that ignorance isn't bliss.

5)  Doing the right thing -  I've often wrote about how diabetes doesn't give you a choice.  You have to do injections, test your blood etc.  However, I've realised that the thing that actually makes diabetes hard sometimes is that we do have a choice.  If I don't want to test my blood sugar, or give my insulin or treat my hypos I don't have to.  Although I know there will be horrendous long-term complications, sometimes it just feels easier not to at the time. So, for me, making the choice to do the right thing for my diabetes can be the biggest challenge of all.

5 victories:

1)  Doing the DAFNE program - Those on my diabetes team know that trying to just get me on it was like trying to make a sheep 'moo' for a long time.  I didn't want to know because 1. I was dubious that anything could be so amazing that it would massively improve my management and 2. I generally wasn't interested in anything that involved diabetes.  However after months of persuasion and going on and on about it, I did DAFNE.  They weren't lying, it was amazing.  I met some wonderful people and learned so much.  My HbA1c has improved significantly since doing DAFNE and I would recommend it to every diabetic.

2)  Talking to others about my diabetes - I used to be useless.  I'd get embarrassed and shy away from any situation which meant I'd have to reveal that I have diabetes.  That often meant that I'd end up in some sticky situations.  I'm not like that anymore.  I've come to realise that my diabetes is part of me and it's nothing to be ashamed of.

3)  Testing my blood - Estimating how much insulin I needed to give myself by seeing how high/low I felt at the time was never a good technique.  I did this most days for a couple of years and I regard myself as being lucky for not being riddled with diabetes complications as a punishment for my stupidity.  

4)  Carb counting - Hit and miss, hit and miss.  I was like that for years. I never really took notice as to why carb counting was so important and so, in my ignorance, rarely bothered to do it.  Nowadays, there isn't one packet of crisps or chocolate bar with unread nutritional information.  There isn't one rice dish or bowl of pasta that goes unweighed.  There isn't one place that I don't take my Carbs&Cals book.  My boyfriend and I even cook our potatoes/spaghetti/whatever in separate pans, just so we know I'm going to bolus correctly.  Some may say it's excessive, but I know I'm doing the right thing.

5)  Blogging - I see 'Diabetic Dais' and my Diabetes UK blog as victories because of how much writing them improves my diabetes control.  The more I write about diabetes, the more I focus on it and the better my blood sugars are!  Not only that, but I've met some beautiful diabetics through writing my blogs, who I wouldn't necessarily have had the pleasure of talking to if I didn't rant and ramble on like I do!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

My new room and home at University...

At my bedside.

My testing monitor and injections are in the black wrap.  GlucoTabs for in-the-night lows.  Monitoring diary to keep track.  Diet Coke because I love it!

 My mini-fridge in my room to keep my insulin supplies and Glucagen kit...

:)