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    Showing posts with label bolus. Show all posts
    Showing posts with label bolus. Show all posts

  1. DuckTales induced hypos

    Friday, 2 July 2010

    My work sometimes takes me to some odd places. Today it was ASDA (big name supermarket for you US-ers. Think Walmart). We have a party hire in the theatre tomorrow, and we had to go and buy alcohol for making cocktails. Tomorrow night I'm making cocktails, baby. For the record, for some unknown reason, this has made me have DuckTales theme in my head al day. Or more specifically, Garfunkel & Oates going 'DuckTales! Woohoo!'. But I digress.

    So I've been trying to get some high numbers back under control. I've tweaked my basal slightly, and altered my morning ratio. Both these seem to be working, but it appears that for my lunch, I either over 'guestimated' the carbs, or over bolused. Or, which is more likely, a bit of both. Which meant I was walking over to get limes, and suddenly went 'ok, things are starting to wave around a little bit here. Better check things'. 

    Numberwang says 2.4mmol/l (43mg/dl). That would be why then. Have some Glucotabs, buy some chocolate, because hey, as slow acting carb it works for me, and I can get hold of pretty much any that I want, since I'm smack bang in the middle of the supermarket. Sit down in the cafe. Eat the chocolate. Feel sick.

    Now, it takes me full on forty minutes, and a second go at Glucotabs and chocolate to get myself to 4.1mmol/l (73 mg/dl). I then spend the rest of the afternoon dancing around high numbers. I tried not to test too much, but I was at least 11mmol/l (198 mg/dl) for most of the afternoon. 

    Better luck tomorrow. But hey, I learned how to make Ginger G&T's, Mojitos and Tijuana Slings this afternoon. It also turns out that ASDA now sells FairTrade lemons. So it's not all bad, I suppose.

    Posted by Becky at 23:49 | Labels: , , | 0 comments |

  2. Things I've Never Done

    Wednesday, 23 June 2010

    I have a bit of a list, that I add to as I think of things. It's not quite a 'bucket list', but rather a list of things that I've never done, and want to get round to doing.

    So far this year, I've crossed climbing a tree off that list. I've quite a few things on there, which vary from visiting Italy to actually seeing a firefly. Between now and Sunday, I'm hoping to cross one, and possibly two things off the list. 

    Number one is going on a boat. No, seriously, I've never done it. Lots of people find this bewildering, but I honestly haven't. Boat cruise down the River Ouse - oh yeah.

    Number two isn't a definite, but a strong possibility. This is playing my guitar in front of people. Singing at the same time, obviously. Of course I've sung in front of people many, many times before, but I've never successfully made my way through playing a song on a guitar in public.

    I'm very nervous about it, and I'm not sure if it will actually happen. I feel it's probably going to be more of a case of putting my guitar in the car, and seeing whether or not I chicken out when I get there. I'm having a lot of problems as well with my fingers causing me pain on the fretboards, where I lance. Serious ouchies. 

    Anyway, I'll let you know what happens.

    In other news, workout was HARD this morning. I did not want to get out of bed, and I almost stopped half way through, because my arms were hurting me an awful lot. Thankfully I managed to get through it.

    Something went rather wrong with my bolus for dinner tonight, and I ended up at somewhere between 14mmol/l and 16mmol/l (252-288 mg/dl). Managed to do a decent correction though, and at last check I was at 4.9mmol/l (88mg/dl). So I'll probably end up actually having to eat something before going to bed, as it turns out!


    Posted by Becky at 23:55 | Labels: , , , , , , | 1 comments |

  3. In the swing of things

    Monday, 14 June 2010

    Oh, it's so easy to think that you've hit your stride. That you're in the swing of things. You get into a routine, and certain things just become habit.

    After those things become habit, the,...n you start branching out and experimenting a bit. So it's always more than slightly annoying when you realise that something you thought you'd totally got to grips with knocks you on your arse.

    I'd got to grips with splitting doses, or so I thought, at any rate. Tonight though, I found myself so preoccupied with trying to work out the right amount of NR to cover my meal (which required a split dose), that I just injected it all at once, feeling proud that I'd worked out the amount correctly.

    It took me a few seconds before I my heart sink, and I shouted out something a bit rude. Still not all second nature then, it appears!

    Posted by Becky at 22:42 | Labels: , , , , | 0 comments |

  4. All change!

    Friday, 9 April 2010

    Things are changing over in pancreas land. Up until now, I have been living in a state well known to many as the Honeymoon Period. To those not in the know, it means my poor wheezing pancreas is having one long swan song before it retires permanently. Which everyone keeps telling me is a good thing. I'm sure that they're right. Of course there are pros to not using as much insulin. On the flip side, however, it makes carb-counting virtually impossible. 

    I've been working on the ratio of 1 unit of NovoRapid to every 35g of carb up until now, with 2u of Lantus.  This is where I pause for a moment, whilst there is a strong chance that you just went (mentally or out loud) 'Whoa, those are tiny amounts of insulin!'. Why do I think you probably said that? That would be because, making a rough guess, maybe one in two or three people that I talk to about my doses has that exact reaction. Even when I went on a carb counting skills workshop, my (otherwise wonderful) dietician said pretty much that. Just to rant for a moment, yes, I know those are small amounts of insulin. I'm very much aware of it. I'm always rather surprised when people tell you something that it should be pretty clear that you already know. OK, rant done.

    Over the past week or so, that ratio hasn't really been working for me any more. I began scoring lots of double figures, and couldn't get myself below 8mmol/l some days. Further maths means I am currently working with three different ratios. A breakfast one of 1:20, a lunchtime of 1:25, and an evening of 1:35. I've also added an extra unit on my Lantus. So far, this seems to be working without too many errors. Only had the one hypo recently, and again this is good. 

    But it looks like the Honeymoon could be coming to an end. Or so it seems. But it's been all I've known so far, rocky as it has been. I'd be curious to know how anyone else out there  coped with this. Was it gradual or sudden for you? Enquiring minds want to know...

    Posted by Becky at 23:44 | Labels: , , , , | 4 comments |

  5. We have another company using our theatre space at the moment. As a thank you, they brought in chocolates. And left them on my desk. It's like they were watching me. So I drew eyes on them. Shame that I chose to do it in a permanent marker that soaked through the paper and on to my desk. That meant getting out the meths. 

    On reflection, I'm not sure it was worth it. 

    Today has been a bit rubbish. A post lunch 9mmol/l was followed with my attempting to overcome a 3.7 by force of will alone. Seemed to work, as came in at 4-5mmol/l, which is fine. But I spent the follow two to three hours in a horrid state. I was unbelievably hot, and I felt like my skin was crawling. I couldn't concentrate on anything, and all I actually wanted to do was hide under my desk and cry. I was angry at everything, and I didn't want to answer the phone or the door. 

    So because we had a show in with an early start, I had to eat dinner early as well. But as soon as I'd injected my NovoRapid, I realised a potentially huge problem with being over building capacity. This had to be solved, and had to be done in ten minutes, as that's when NR tends to kick in on me. Now, obviously I could have solved this issue by drinking some juice, sorting out the problem and then bolusing again for my meal. But I wasn't exactly thinking straight. 

    After eating, my two hour post test comes in at 12.6 mmol/l. Fantastic. Sort that out with a two mile walk home. But due to early dinner, I'm now hungry again. What a fantastic day.

    Posted by Becky at 23:50 | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 comments |

  6. 30 seconds longer

    Monday, 22 March 2010

    I was going to vlog today. I still plan to vlog, but not today. Now I am tired.

    I felt like a bit of a moron this morning. I'd forgotten to sort out food for breakfast, so scrounged what I had, including some Innocent Smoothie. I thought I had it sussed. I knew what the carbs were, I remembered where 250mls was on the glass, and all was well and jolly. 

    Then I did my two-hour post breakfast test. First test - 17! Then two at around 14mmol/l (259 mg/dl), which made me realise what I'd done wrong.

    Yes, I had poured 250ml of liquid. But the figures I knew for smoothie were for 100ml. When I'd been measuring 250ml it had been for an experiment with carb counting for fruit juice. 

    So yes, I felt stupid. Really stupid. It was a proper head-meets-desk moment. If I'd thought about it for 30 seconds longer, I could have probably averted that. But what was even worse was that I felt rubbish for the rest of the day. I felt like I was recovering from a really bad hypo all day.

    So well done me.

    Posted by Becky at 22:44 | Labels: , , , , , , , | 1 comments |

  7. How it all began

    Friday, 19 March 2010

    Ah the things we do at work. It's been a strange (and fun) few days, really. And it's in stark comparison to this time last year. I'm pretty sure that over the next month or so, I'll come back to this theme again. It's heading up to my first D-Birthday, which will be 1st May. But the journey to my D-Birthday, in my mind, begins with my actual birthday. Which, for the record, is today. 

    Last year, I remember feeling distinctly unwell around the time of my birthday. I looked back on pictures of last year's joint party, and the day after, and for some of them I look OK. But the morning after, when I'd taken off the make-up, I looked grey. And no, I wasn't hungover. I'm not a big drinker. I wonder a lot about that time. I'd been feeling ill, and now I think, was that the start of it all? Or was that what started it? And I guess really there's no way to ever know for sure. 

    What I do remember was having no real energy to party. I went home relatively early, and nearly fell asleep when we moved from the restaurant to a club. I felt sick, and wanted to sleep. So, I went home and slept. 

    On the day of my actual birthday, I went home to my parents' place in the afternoon. When I came home after the weekend, I remember saying on the phone to my Mum that I was unbelievably thirsty, and couldn't work out why. I believe in the end we put it down to a packet of crisps that we hadn't tried before. 

    What a difference a year makes, as I say. When we went out on Wednesday, I carb counted out pretty much perfectly, which was very satisfying. Then we went to try and find somewhere to get a drink. At 23:00, I found myself sat on the steps of the Hilton, doing my Lantus, as a police van drove past, finding the scene hilarious. Today, I went and had sushi for lunch, and had my chin painted by the graphic designer who works upstairs from us for photographs for a children's theatre festival.

    Rather different, as I say.

    Posted by Becky at 22:44 | Labels: , , , , , , , , | 2 comments |

  8. Proper planning prevents....

    Friday, 12 March 2010

    Oh, come on. You know the rest. You don't need me to fill in the blanks. 

    So I'm at my Mum and Dad's house at the moment. It's my birthday next week, and this is the closest we were all free for me to come and spend the weekend. So here I am.

    I thought I was doing really well as I packed up my things. Took the demipen AND the flexpen, just in case something went wrong with the former. Opened a new pot of test strips, refilled my Glucotabs, and put some mini Mars Bars in my handbag. And because I'm always paranoid about getting stuck on a broken down train (as this has happened to me many, many times in the past, for several hours sometimes), I'd put a snack pack of pretzels in there as well. You know, just in case. 

    I tend to pack the world in my handbag. If you don't believe me, I very much suggest watching my first ever attempt at vlogging, in which I join in a blog meme, and go 'handbag diving'. But right now, I know there are hair bobbles, hand gel, a sewing kit, two pocket packs of tissues (one plain, one with eucalyptus oil), paracetamol, chewing gum, several pens...well, the list is extensive. But it appears I was not quite as zealous when putting my needles into my testing kit. 

    I counted off my meals - Friday dinner, Saturday, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Sunday breakfast, lunch. Home in time for evening meal. 

    Now, the attentive amongst you will have already spotted the flaw in this. Where are the needles for the Lantus? Surely that's quite important? Well, you'd be right. I hadn't thought to factor those needles into my packing. You see, the last time that I went anywhere for more than an overnight stop, I wasn't using my Lantus pens. So I didn't need to think about that. Things do, of course, change. But of course, this thought did not occur to me until I had pulled out of York train station, where it was naturally far too late to do anything about it. 

    So, in a panic, I pull out my meter case, and count out the needles I had on me. Thankfully, it turns out I have enough on me. Why? Because although I hadn't thought to put the needles in for the Lantus, I had, in my backwards logic, thought to throw in some extras in case on of the others turned out to be clogged. Because, of course you don't want to be caught out in a situation like that...

    By the way, if you do see my brain, or a reconditioned model that looks like it could work, please do let me know.

    Posted by Becky at 23:22 | Labels: , , , , , , | 2 comments |

  9. Look what came in the post!

    Thursday, 11 March 2010

    I had a new toy arrive in the post today. A Novopen Demi, courtesy of my friendly DSN. I've been thinking that a half unit pen would be helpful for me to attempt better carb counting, rather than just aim for meals in carb value increments of 35g, 70g, 105g and so on. 

    So because they don't seem to do flexpens in half unit increments, I've had to switch to cartridges. Flipping heck, my prescription came in (without TOO much hassle for once!) with three boxes of five cartridges. At the moment, I'm lucky if I get through a flexpen a month - I usually end up having to throw it out with at least 100u left in it. The waste bothers me no end, but that's another story. Fifteen cartridges? If my insulin usage carries on at the same rate it is now, that should theoretically last me over a year! Not having to order any NovoRapid for a year? Now that's a thinker.

    Anyway, my comments on this at the moment. It's heavy. The flexpen weighs next to nothing, but this thing is metal and bulky, rather than plastic and light. I suppose it's better for the environment that way. It also doesn't have the initial '0.5u' step that I was really hoping for. But hey, I did 1.5u rather than 2u tonight, and it seemed to work OK. 

    But I've got to get on with it - although I've got best part of a box of flexpens left, I have now apparently had them taken off my prescription, so I've no choice, really!

    Posted by Becky at 23:36 | Labels: , , , | 2 comments |

  10. Seven Deadly Sins: Day Seven - Envy

    Tuesday, 23 February 2010

    It's taken me more than a week, but I've reached Day Seven. I said on Day One that I would come to the Sin that I am most guilty of soon enough. And here we are.

    I've always been the jealous type. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. It probably comes from the fact that I'm fundamentally insecure about so many things. I'm used to being second best. Second choice. 

    So feeling envious is familiar territory. It's nothing new to me. I try to restrain it, but it's difficult. These days I find myself thinking how to rationalise being envious of someone because a part of them isn't broken. How do you make sense of the fact that some days you find yourself resenting people because one of their organs works properly? And there is only one real answer. You can't. Because it doesn't make any sense. 
    I'll be honest - I never really appreciated how great an organ my pancreas was. I suppose it's like they say, you don't know what you've got til it's gone. But now there's an awful lot I would do to get it back. 

    Watching people eating without worrying about how many grams of carb is in what they're putting in their mouth. Having pasta in the middle of the day, or eating garlic bread with it? Carb on carb? A total no-no. And then from time to time finding yourself jealous of other diabetics who have proper carb-to-insulin ratios, rather than the botched attempt of trying to guess things that you have. Of people on pumps who can bolus easily, even though it makes no sense to be envious of them because you don't even WANT a pump. 

    The days that you're sick and tired of your fingers hurting, and injecting. Of thinking about every mouthful of food, and what it might do to you. Of not just being able to put off lunch for a half hour, because it might send you hypo. And if it turns out to be a bad one, it could ruin your afternoon. 

    It's a bit like a fungus that grows inside of you. It doesn't feel good, and it doesn't actually help a thing. But it's hard to get rid of. It's like a monster, a shadow that just doesn't want to leave.

    Random person eating a packet of my favourite crisps? I'm jealous of you, because I want those crisps. And I want your pancreas. There are moments when I almost hate you. And that makes me sad, because I don't hate. I can dislike, and I do. Strongly. But you, random person with the working pancreas? I could never say to you what I feel. Because you'd think I was crazy. But the thing is, I'm not. At least in my eyes. 

    I'm not crazy. I'm just missing something I used to have that made me able to do all the things you still do.

    Posted by Becky at 00:38 | Labels: , , , , | 1 comments |

  11. Seven Deadly Sins: Day Five - Gluttony

    Wednesday, 17 February 2010

    I am a day late, but I have just consumed four pancakes. And they were good (elongate the 'o' a whole lot, and you'll get there). 

    But I could have eaten four again. 

    Food and I have a bit of a weird relationship these days. Sure, I'm healthier, and I'm thinner than I've been in a long time. And I know there's nothing that I can't have. But I do know that there are plenty of things that I shouldn't. But I want things. 

    I came to love yoghurt-coated crystallised ginger a few months ago. Then I discovered it was pretty much 90% sugar. A second bowl of cereal. Fruit juice. Oh my word, fruit juice. Smoothies. 
    I can't carb count properly yet, because I need something along the lines of a quarter-unit pen to be able to do it. Which makes so many things frustrating.

    I had a Malteaster Bunny today. I love these things, I really do. And though I was not low, I was heading that way, so I felt it was a sensible move. But then I felt bad. I don't hold with the whole 'a moment on the lips' rubbish. I think it's patronising. However, it's a moment of 'good', which leads to guilt afterwards. And it's guilt which I feel guilty about afterwards. 

    Yet I would still happily have four more pancakes and that other Malteaster Bunny that's hidden in my bag because it's almost bang on 15g of carb and makes a perfect post-glucotab treat. 

    Some days you just can't win.

    Posted by Becky at 23:37 | Labels: , , , , | 0 comments |

  12. Tomorrow I will be enlightening any of you reading who don't know about it, about the Diet Drink Awareness Campaign which is running on Facebook.

    However, for now I would like to present to you two different vlogs, chronicling some real stupidity on my part. I haven't actually watched these, but I imagine they're 'enlightening'.
    Vlog one: Bamboo Pudding



    Now following that one up with this one.


    And so the evening continues....

    Posted by Becky at 00:30 | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 comments |


  13. Rather than go 'Happy New Year, world!' and be all bouncy and jolly, in love with the world afresh, I entered 2010 a bit anxious, and with the attitude of 'bugger off, I don't want to know'. 


    So, anxious and a bit depressed would probably best sum up my attitude to the start of 2010. I've never been a big fan of January. There's all this pressure to get yourself sorted, and make resolutions. I tell myself every year that I'll do things, then don't end up doing it and get even more angry with myself. 


    So, I made a resolution several years ago, not to make any more New Year's Resolutions. And I've been doing really well at keeping that one.


    Well, I've bitten all my nails off again due to being anxious. I was getting worked up. I was getting a lot of double figure scores, and I couldn't get them to stop easily. So I rang up Becky, my DSN, thinking she'd tell me I needed to up my NovoRapid. But instead, I was instructed to start again on Lantus. 


    Ah. 


    Now, I'd been very keen to start on Lantus again. Mainly for reasons of personal craziness. It was like I didn't feel as though I was a proper T1, what with my tiny 2u boluses, and no basal. So getting the basal back would be, as someone put it to me, 'like getting my diabetic stripes'.  But when I got told to put it back in again, all of a sudden it was a bit like a promotion I didn't want. 


    I was nervous. 


    I'd had some pretty rotten hypos on Lantus last time, and I've not been proved too far wrong. I've taken it down by a unit, but I've only had one hypo-free day since starting it up again. I'm not enjoying it thus far. The only good thing, I suppose, is that if DSN-Becky wants to keep the Lantus in, I might be able to calculate my insulin-sensitivity more accurately, and do some PROPER carb counting. 


    So moving on to some good things. I mentioned that I might have some new readers due to my request for people to follow this on LiveJournal's holiday_wishes community. Well, one of the other things I wished for was for some sugar-free caramel syrup to put in hot chocolate. I didn't actually think I would have anyone send me any. So imagine my surprise when this turns up before Christmas:


     

    Oh I was thrilled, I can tell you. I still am. As well as sugar-free caramel syrup, there's some dark chocolate, sugar-free chocolate syrup (which you can use to make milkshakes with!), low sugar hot chocolate sachets, a lovely glass mug, and three boxes of sugar free pudding mix. That pudding is my new love! I've already arranged a friend of mine in the US to send me more over (in exchange for lemon mousse bars from Thorntons!) I cried when I opened the box up, because it was so completely generous I couldn't quite get over it. 


    I've been baking again! Last time I tried baking with Splenda, rather than sugar, I made cupcakes, and exchanging all sugar didn't really work. So I tried making biscuits. I'd been bought some new nifty kitchen tools as part of my Christmas present, and I couldn't wait to try them out. And here be the results:







    They ended up tasting rather like shortbread. Half sugar, half Splenda. Next time, a little more allspice. I'm willing to share the recipe should anyone want it. But they were good. Proof in point?
     


    I took them to work with me, and only ended up with  a couple left, one being the one I snagged for myself there, with my sneaky cup of low-sugar hot chocolate. And yes, that is a Christmas mug. I bought it for £1.00 in the sales after Christmas 2008. I figured no-one else would have a Christmas mug at work, so I'd know it was mine, and could keep tabs on who was stealing it! Not that that seems to stop people.

    Coming soon by the way - Sam from Talking Blood Glucose is going to be doing a guest blog here at some point in the near future. Yey! That should be worth sticking around to read. 
     


    And one of the best things about post Christmas/New Year period? Slowly working your way through the sea of amazing new Christmas socks. Awesome ^_^



    Posted by Becky at 21:34 | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | 1 comments |

  14. Christmas with the Diabetes Fairy.

    Friday, 25 December 2009


    Happy Christmas one and all!

    Well I promised you a post today, and though I'm cutting it rather close to the wire, here we go.

    So last night, I went to midnight communion, as I usually do of a Christmas Eve. Skimming over the ice, insanely squeaky clarinet playing, and the fact there was a rather frighteningly drunk man walking the same path home as me, I decided to test as I arrived at the service. 4.5. Hmm. Fair enough, but if that doesn't alter, I might need to have a snack before I go to bed.  Now when it comes to actually taking communion, I remember that the church I go to when I'm at my parents' place serves grape juice rather than wine for communion. Ah. All the times I've taken communion since being diagnosed, I've either been served wine, or I've been free to take the tiniest sip of juice from a comunial cup. So I start wondering whether this would be a problem. I decide that it shouldn't since the amount you get served in the individual glasses is smaller than a shot glass, so it couldn't affect me too much, surely?

    Well, I'm 5.3 before I go to bed, so all's well that ends well, right? Well, I wake up this morning with a fairly strong headache, and test at 8.8 in one hand, and 7.6 in the other. Huh?! So I have some breakfast, and go back down to church again. After the service, I'm starting to feel a bit grotty. I figured I was probably on the edge of hypo. Nope! 10.3. An hour later, when I'm doing my proper post meal test, I come in at 4.3. AN HOUR LATER! What the heck is going on by this point?

    But this is where it starts to get really interesting. I'm 4.6 before we have Christmas dinner. I don't go crazy, but I'm not stingy either. Turkey, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, stuffing, sausage. Have a bit of ice cream and a very tiny bit of Christmas pudding after. Two glasses of light sparkling (very sweet) wine. Post meal I come in at 5.9. Having told myself I can be a bit more relaxed today, I have a handful of savoury nibbles, and pick at yoghurt coated ginger (something I discovered I loved after being diagnosed. Then shortly after discovered the sugar content of it.). Come about 8pm, and I think I should probably have something else to eat, or I'll hypo later in the evening. But thinking about the ginger and what have you, I think it's still going to be a high score. Numberwang says....5.8.
    Post meal numberwang says 4.5!

    What is going on?! On a normal day, I wouldn't eat like this! I wouldn't pick at ginger. I wouldn't drink the sweet wine. I wouldn't have stuffing, potatoes and parsnips at the same meal. It's rather like the diabetes fairy, who normally is such a curse, decided to turn the usual game on its head. Thus I have had two of my mum's chocolates, and a small glass of port. I daren't see how far I can test this out though.

    In other news, I have many, many pairs of socks. This is a very good thing. Note that I do not say that I have enough socks. One can never have enough socks. They are also all fabulous. I did take a picture of my feet in one pair to show you, but sadly this computer does not like to upload things. But believe me, they are rather wonderful.

    I hope you are all having a great time, with good levels.

    Again, Merry Christmas to you! xx

    Posted by Becky at 23:41 | Labels: , , , , , , | 1 comments |

  15. Waiting for the hammer to fall

    Friday, 27 November 2009

    I feel like I'm waiting a lot of the time. Waiting for my insulin sensitivity to decrease. Waiting to need bigger boluses. Waiting to need the Lantus back again. Just waiting. It's like being on a very weird time bomb. I can't see the timer, or the fuse, so I don't have even the vaguest clue when it's going to go off. The only thing I know is that it will. And I worry. I worry what it's going to be like when the amounts of insulin I need aren't so tiny. I wander all over the place as it is...

    I gave in to some temptation today. I bought some pralines from Hotel Chocolat. I had three of them. I gave myself an extra unit of NR. I thought that would stop me going really high. But it brought me down to the edge of hypo before dinner. But by the time dinner was actually ready, I was up to 5. I had a relatively low carb dinner, but still ended up at 8.1 two hours later.

    What's it going to be like when I'm out of honeymoon?

    I really, really don't know. I guess I'll just wait and see.

    Posted by Becky at 23:26 | Labels: , , , , , , , | 0 comments |

  16. Damn you digestive biscuits. In the past few days, you have taken me from 2.8 mmol/l to 11.2 mmol/l (although that was with some glucotabs. I would just treat a hypo with digestives. That would be dumb) and from 4.6 to 11.4. I do love you, but you're not even my favourite biscuit. That second time around, I just wanted a biscuit. These days, you
    tend to be the only ones I have in the house, being as two of you make up the ideal amount of long acting carb needed post-hypo. Or so I thought. 

    It's times like that, when you just fancy a biscuit, or don't fancy drinking some silly isotonic sports drink whilst exercising, that I can see the attraction of a pump. Being able to bolus tiny amounts, and adjust your basal rate to 200% or 0% would be rather useful. 

    I know a lot of people who are either on pumps, are waiting for them, or are trying to get on them. One of the first things I remember someone saying to me after my D-day was 'If you get offered an insulin pump, you want to take one.'. But do I want one? No, not really. I know I'm still new into this, and my mind might change on the matter, but for me personally, I don't think it's something I would want. 

    As I said, I can see the pros. But I just wouldn't want to be permanently tethered to a piece of equipment 24/7. I have my other reasons, but right now, that's a big one.


    Maybe down the line, who knows?

    Posted by Becky at 22:27 | Labels: , , , , , , | 0 comments |

  17. Life's a funny old thing. Today, it leads me to talk to you about a very important issue, which concerns us all.

    Cake.

    Yes, cake. I was planning to just talk about food in general, but since several mildly interesting events have happened over the past hour or so, cake is definitely on my mind.

    For those of you who don't know, I work in a theatre. Albeit, not in a creative capacity these days (though I have in the past, and still hope to in the future), rather I manage the Box Office, and look after 1800 or so lovely people all over the country who donate money and other things to us. We call them Members.

    Now, if you've never spent time around people in theatre, I'll let you in on a (not very well kept) secret. We like cake. Oh yes. We do. Doesn't matter where you work within the theatre - it's a rare exception if this doesn't hold true. Cake is good. Cake brings people together. However, as you can imagine, cake is not exactly my best friend these days. Cake will send me spiking up, but without the option of a bolus to counteract the baked goodness.

    So what's a girl to do? It's an interesting question. Because what has been happening is one of two things. When cake arrives, either I am bypassed in the passing around of the plate (since my desk is in the foyer - Box Office, remember), or I get offered it, and being sans bolus, have to turn it down. I can imagine that in the mind of others, this is a potentially difficult subject. Do you offer, and possibly tempt, or do you decide not to, and possibly alienate? How do you decide? And do you know what? I don't blame you if you find that a difficult choice to make. Because the thing is, dear reader, is that I'm not sure which I prefer either.

    On other notably cake-related matters, I went out to buy my lunch today, to discover that, to my joy, the Farmers' Market was in full swing. This is usually a good thing. It means really nice, locally produced food, and the possibility of amazing sausages or a venison burger for lunch (I'll get to the cake again, I promise). However, the lack of any sort of bread other than white rolls for these sandwiches, and weirdly enough, no-one selling bread made this a bad choice. Which made me sad. As did the sight of my favourite cake from this market. Ah Porter cake....you are truly heaven. Yet, on this stall, and the stall alongside it, I saw those interesting words:

    'Suitable for diabetics'

    Oh really? When I ask the people at the stall why, this is apparently because the cakes in question (including a rather amazing looking chocolate fudge cake) are low in sugar. Yes, well that's all well and good, but they're not really low in carbs now are they? And, when the very kindly man at one stall actually had the recipe to hand (which I was impressed with), there was very little low in sugar about it. I suppose I have to give them points for trying, however, I left with no cake for myself, (although with a Porter cake loaf for my housemate) and the feeling that these labels were somewhat misleading.

    I then returned back to work to discover....

    cake.

    And so the circle continues.

    xx

    Posted by Becky at 14:25 | Labels: , , | 1 comments |