D-Blog Week: The Little Book Of Carb-Counting Tricks

For a long time, I put up a lot of barriers towards carb counting.  When I was diagnosed with diabetes 18 years ago, my parents and I weren't taught about the importance of knowing how much carbohydrate you're eating, and how much insulin to take for it.  Instead of altering how much insulin I'd inject depending on what I was eating, I had set doses for each meal and that was that.  It was only when I was about 15 years old that I was encouraged by my doctors to attend a DAFNE course but, as far as I saw it, there was no need - I thought everything was just fine the way I'd been doing it.

Thankfully, I eventually realised that carbohydrate counting not only made a lot of sense, but it's also essential to balanced blood-sugar levels.  My lifestyle, and the amount of food I'd eat, would change significantly from day-to-day and administering the same amount of insulin, regardless of whether I was eating one piece of toast or a whole plate-full of pasta, was a recipe for disaster.

When I finally started to learn how to carb count and began to realise which foods had carbohydrate in them (it had never occurred to me that a lot of meat products like sausages and burgers are packed with bread-crumbs!), it took me quite a long time before I had the hang of it.  The book 'Carbs & Cals'  acted as a bit of a lifeline for me during this time.  Each page has photos of different portion sizes for so many different carb-containing foods, and it tells you how many grams of carbohydrate are in each one - it is genius!  

Although I either weigh my carby food, or look at the nutritional information on the back of packets to know how much insulin to give myself, I still find Carbs & Cals really useful.  When I go out for a meal, when I can't find out the weight myself, I know that I can flick through the book and compare the portion size to the photos on the pages.  I've also found that, nowadays, I don't even need to carry the book with me as I know instantly what 60g of pasta, or 70g of rice looks like on my plate, because I've seen it so many times in Carbs & Cals.

So if I could give one tip that makes life with diabetes easier (aside from not wearing all-in-one clothing, after my injecting difficulty when wearing my floral playsuit a few weeks back [read here]), it would be to buy a copy of Carbs & Cals.  You'll never be left guesstimating again!

D-Blog Week: The Positive Diabetes Poem

The prompt for today's post is to write a poem about diabetes.  In 2012 I wrote a poem for the 'Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge' called Bad Diabetes Day, which I loved writing!  I'm always excited about opportunities to do something a bit creative and different, so I really enjoyed writing this one too:

The Positive Diabetes Poem

As a little girl I'd never tell,

That I had type 1 D.

I was worried what people might say,

And what they would think of me.

Did her parents feed her too much sugar?

Did she used to be fat?

I was embarrassed of my diabetes,

Didn't want to answer questions like that.

I just wanted to be normal,

Eat whatever I liked for tea,

Not have to think about my blood sugars,

Be injection and blood test free.

But as I got older I realised,

No one can be blamed.

I didn't 'make' myself diabetic,

I shouldn't feel ashamed.

Sometimes bad things happen,

But they make you who you are.

Focusing on the positives

Can get you really far!

Now when I inject in public,

Where other people might be sat,

I remind myself I have diabetes,

And there's nothing wrong with that!

D-Blog Week: Timeline of Diabetes Accomplishments

Most of the major breakthroughs and achievements I've had in my diabetes management have occurred in the last couple of years, which is great for my memory's sake!  My biggest accomplishment, which I wrote a post about a couple of months back, was reversing the diabetic retinopathy I'd been told I'd developed a year before.  It was probably the happiest day of my diabetic journey so far, but now I realise that there have been lots of smaller achievements that led up to that day and the wonderful emotions I felt because of it.

March 2013:  Reversal of diabetic retinopathy

November 2012:  16 year Diaversary! 16 years of being on the diabetes rollercoaster and I'd finally stopped screaming.

October 2012:  HbA1c of 7.7%, down from 10.2% in July 2011

July 2012:  'Diabetic Dais' was featured in an article about good health blogs, in the national magazine 'Take a Break' (read about this here)

March 2012:  I started taking care of my diabetes as well as I could.  I stopped skipping injections completely, started testing my blood sugars before eating and in between mealtimes and vowed to carbohydrate count to the best of my ability.

September 2011:  I moved away from home for the first time to start university.  This meant taking full responsibility for not just my diabetes, but my health and body in general.  Eating right (which starts with remembering to go to the supermarket and buy food!), remembering to put in and pick up prescriptions before running out of insulin and getting in from a student night out in one piece!

August 2011:  My results for my A Levels came in and I achieved higher grades than I required to get into my chosen university.  Considering that I took most of my exams with ridiculously high blood sugars, this was a massive achievement for me.

July 2011:  I took part in the DAFNE course, which my doctors had been trying to get me to participate in for years.  As it turned out, I absolutely loved it and it just happened to be the turning point in how I looked at my diabetes management.  It also provided me with the information and support I needed, as well as introducing me to some wonderful people living with type 1 diabetes too!  (Read about this here)

September 2004:  The amount of insulin injections I was taking increased from 2 to 4 a day, which I hated the thought of at 11 years old, but I realised it was something I had to do.

August 2004:  I went on my first children's diabetes camp with my hospital.  Before this I had never seen another child do an injection or test their blood sugars or go hypo.  Previously I'd only ever done my shots in my legs because I was too scared to do them anywhere else, but I was inspired by what I saw and actually asked my nurse to teach me to do my injections in my tummy whilst I was there. It was one of the most eye opening experiences and I hope I never forget it!

August 1998:  At the age of 5, and a year and a half after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I started administering my insulin independently and doing my injections and blood testing myself.

November 1996:  Being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, dealing with it and moving on with my life.

Small Changes Make Big Differences

In the 16 years I've had type 1 diabetes, I can't honestly say that there's been a lot I can be proud of regarding it.  Sometimes I feel like living with type 1 diabetes is kind of like watching the news; the information you're fed from it can be pretty negative.  A few times a week my glucose meter shows me a blood sugar reading I don't like. When I was 12 years old I had to increase the amount of injections I was taking from three a day to four. Once I had a virus which caused ketoacidosis so I had to spend a night in hospital and, this time last year, I received a letter informing me that I had developed background retinopathy.

It's probably fair to say I was sad about it, because sometimes knowing that you've damaged yourself and caused your own pain is equally as upsetting as feeling like you don't deserve the circumstance you've found yourself in. I cried about it, blogged about it and eventually came to the realisation that things needed to change.

I started carb counting when I knew that I could, completely stopped skipping injections altogether and started testing my blood sugars more regularly.  To begin with it felt like a battle and I just wanted to cook my potatoes without having to weigh them first and some days I wanted to leave the restaurant without having to give my insulin before I could get on the bus home, but I didn't.  After a while the changes were no longer changes, they were the norm and the battle was no longer a battle, it was a healthy routine.

Three weeks ago I went for my first diabetic retinopathy screening and yesterday I came home to a letter.  I opened it cautiously, as though something was going to jump out of the envelope, and took a deep breath before beginning to read the text.  To my absolute delight, I discovered that my retinas appear completely normal and they have healed to a good standard!  I flung my arms around my boyfriend, who has been so supportive with all aspects of my diabetes management, and cried tears of complete and utter joy.

In the 16 years I've had type 1 diabetes, I can't honestly say that there's been a lot I can be proud of regarding it, but this is one of the things where I can say that I am.  Sometimes living with type 1 diabetes is like watching the news, but I suppose that only makes the good things seem even better!

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!

Day 12: Spotty Dotty Diabetic Dais

Stream of consciousness day?  Guess this will be a test of how conscious I've actually been today!  Have felt a bit like a member of the living dead but, nevertheless, here goes...

This morning I looked in the mirror and wondered why I have yet another pimple/spot/thing on my face!  Before Christmas, I'd hardly had a single spot in my life.  Maybe the odd one on my chin or nose when I was ill or feeling a bit run-down, but apart from that I was one of those annoyingly lucky people with pretty good skin.  Now you could probably play dot-to-dot on my face if you wanted to, although I'm not welcoming offers anytime soon just so we're clear (unlike my skin, just to reinforce my point!)   Anyway, I've wasted plenty of money on Clean and Clear and other facial cleansing, spot destroying products that cost more than my weekly food budget and I'm not doing it anymore.  Just going to rename myself: Spotty-Dotty-Diabetic-Dais...I think it's got a ring to it personally.

Went downstairs to grab breakfast with my boyfriend, although it was about 11.30am by this point so I decided I'd skip brekky and have lunch in a couple of hours.  Anthony had a bowl of natural yoghurt mixed with Morrisson's 23p 'Mixed Fruits' jam which we discovered, after reading the ingredients, actually only contains the smallestttt percentages of apple and blackberries and something ridiculous like 86% sugar...so I gave it a miss.  Had a big cup of Earl Grey tea in my mahoosive Cath Kidston mug which made my insides feel very warm and I was sure that, if I'd jumped up and down, you'd be able to hear the liquid sloshing around in my tummy.  Nice.  So I didn't jump up and down.

I was feeling a bit grumpy - I'd woken up with some massively high blood sugar reading like 18.3mmol and had wanted to rage bolus but just about managed to keep a level head and gave myself 6 correction units of my fast acting insulin, thinking that it should bring me down to about 6mmol.  Injected my new best friend Levemir too.  13u - that should do the trick!

Started to notice that I'm beginning to look very much like a pin cushion.  The tops of my thighs and tummy are pretty bruised and 'dotty' (again, kind of like my spotty face!) My fingertips are covered with tiny little pin-prick marks, especially the ring finger on my right hand seeing as it appears to be my favourite to bg test on for whatever reason.  I try and move my injection sites around as much as I can, although I'm yet to brave injecting into the Gluteus Maximus.  

Ant gave me my lunch-time jab in the top of my arm.  I can't do my own injections in my arms because I have a thing about pinching before putting the needle in and I obviously can't do that unless I grow an extra arm, which would not only be a bit creepy but if I'm going to do that I might as well grow a new pancreas too.  Once I'm able to grow extra human organs, I'll save loads of people by making loads of new hearts, pancreases, livers, kidneys etc. (although they'll have to get them out of me quickly once I've started growing them because I'm only small so there's a very high chance that I would explode from an overdose of human organs)  To top it all off, I could go on Britain's Got Talent and perform for the Queen if I won...I suppose I'd have to grow Her Majesty some sort of diamond encrusted body part.  I'm sure she'd like that; gotta' be better than Susan Boyle or Diversity, right?

Tried to give Ant a hand with making the model for his building which was fun but eventually we both became frustrated because the table we were doing it on was too low down so we looked and felt the the Hunchbacks of Notre Dame.  At dinner time we attempted cooking a Panang curry from scratch after ordering a deliciousss one from a Thai takeaway the other day.  We both came to the conclusion that although it was a very tasty curry it was no Panang, so we have agreed to try again another time soon.  In the meantime, the mystery dish we conjured up tonight will be called 'Ant and Daisy's Special Curry'.

Now I'm sat in bed writing this, listening to the soothing sounds of David Gray and hoping that my knees will stop aching soon.  My fundraising job involves a large amount of running/skipping/hopping about (whichever makes you feel most enthusiastic and energetic when you're out and about) and my legs are starting to feel the consequences.  Considering growing some new ones overnight...y'know, as you do.

Day 1: HAWMC Begins!

30 posts over 30 days?  Wow.  We'll soon see if I'm cut out for it.  Saying that I suppose if I could inject myself 4 times a day, everyday for over 15 years then I should be capable of blogging for a solid month.  Definitely.

Today's prompt is to imagine that I'm going to bury a time capsule of me and my health focus that won't be opened until 2112.  Here goes...

• NovoPen 4
• NovoRapid and Lantus insulin cartridges
• Accuchek Aviva blood testing monitor
• Accuchek MultiClix finger pricker
• 5mm needles
  

I'm really hoping that when they're found in 2112 they'll look like foreign objects from another planet.  I would want the diabetics of the future to see them and look at them with the same confused expression as I did when I first saw one of the old horse-syringes.  I want them to not be able to comprehend how anyone could ever have used such a monstrous looking device, because in 2112 type 1 diabetes won't exist.

There will be no need for injection pens or blood testing monitors because a cure will have been found.  Words like 'bolus' and 'hypo' will have been forced out of the dictionary and out of our vocabulary, once and for all.  The only place you'd see them would be in history books (or on some wonderful Kindle/iBook thingy-majig of the future!)  In 2112 no D-parent will have to worry that their child will slip into a diabetic coma and, when their pancreas calls it a day, no type 1 diabetic will be told that they have to inject themselves every day for the rest of their life.

So there's the dream.  However, before I go putting all of my diabetes supplies into this time capsule, I should probably make sure I've got spares.  Somehow I'm doubtful that the dream's going to come true in time for my next meal.

Oh yeah, I'd also put a can of Diet Coke in because I love the stuff.  Although I don't think I'd love it as much if it looked like this in 2112: