OK so my husband and I visted the diabetic nurse (the lovely Nina!) just for a chat about how things were going. I brought along my diaries to have a look at as well. Nina said she was more than happy wth how things were looking. She also gave me into trouble for stressing myself trying to get everything perfect ("End of the day Laura, you have diabetes and need to take insulin for it. You will never have perfect control all of the time") which was a bit of a relief as I am really bad for beating myself up for a high reading... Anyhow - she said that if we were wanting to try for a baby she saw no issues with it. I know it sounds stupid but I feel like Stuart and I have been waiting for the go-ahead from a "grown up". So whooooo hoooo hooooo for us!
L.xxx
PS. This is maybe TMI but I have been tracking my ovulation days on an app for my phone (yes yes judge all you will) and so on Saturday we had unprotected sex for the first time. To be honest I was sure I had ovulated so the chance of getting pregnant was slim (just to be straight - we weren't wanting to start trying until next month). BUT I have a feeling (call it a sixth sense) that I may be pregnant. It is very early (period not due until 30th July) but I just have a feeling...... It's very strange but we shall see...xxx
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Monday, 12 July 2010
OK So it's Been A While
OK so I have been rubbish at updating this but today is a new day and so here we start again!
Well over the past few months things have been pretty hectic. After my last appointment with the Dr I was registered on the DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) Course which I swear has changed my life! A group of about 8 people come to the class for a full week learning all there is to know about controlling your diabetes better. I was sceptical to begin with - I thought it would be An Idiots Guide to Diabetes if I am honest but I was very wrong. The course was very intensive and as everyone had been living with Type 1 Diabetes for so long (the shortest time was 10 years) then it was far from the basics. Basically it teaches you how to manage the amount of insulin you take for what you are eating (I don't know about anyone else but I used to do set amounts for every mean - 14 units of Humalog for breakfast, 15 for lunch and 18 for dinner). My insulin requirements have almost thirded now and it was so interesting and informative. I have no idea why diabetics are not taught this when they are first diagnosed??? Things like Sick Day Rules are invaluable information let me tell you!!! So yeah - that was pretty full on. Since then (that was May) I have been trying to get my levels as perfect as I can....
On a recent visit to the Diabetic Clinic my HBA1C was 6.8 which for me is amazing!! I was so happy. The doctor said if we wanted to start trying he had no problem with it. BUT there are a few reasons we haven't started yet - I have next to zero hypo-awareness so am unable to tell that I am hypo-ing until my levels are dangerously low. Discussing this with the Dr, he said it would be better to run my levels slightly higher for a few months to get my awareness back. There is also teh issue of an insulin pump... While at the course the dietitian from Monklands Hospital was in attendance and she said she thought I was a prefect candidate for an insulin pump when pregnant. At first I thought this was great news BUT I need to speak with the nurse more regrading this as I don't want to go on a pump midway through pregnancy because I assume there will be a periods for tweaking ratios etc so wouldn't want my sugar levels running high. It was 2 months ago I was at the clinic but I have still not heard anything yet so I will need to decide if I am happier just going without and following DAFNE rules. We shall see we shall see....
Also my sister is staying with us so trying for a baby right now could be awkward as gettign teh house to ourselves for any period of time isn't the easiest. Again - we shall see....
Sooooo the other night we had the "baby" discussion again and my husband said he was happy to start trying now. We have an appointment with teh diabetic nurse a week on Tuesday so we shall see how that goes and gauge her reaction. So yeah - that is us up-to-date....
L.xxxx
Well over the past few months things have been pretty hectic. After my last appointment with the Dr I was registered on the DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) Course which I swear has changed my life! A group of about 8 people come to the class for a full week learning all there is to know about controlling your diabetes better. I was sceptical to begin with - I thought it would be An Idiots Guide to Diabetes if I am honest but I was very wrong. The course was very intensive and as everyone had been living with Type 1 Diabetes for so long (the shortest time was 10 years) then it was far from the basics. Basically it teaches you how to manage the amount of insulin you take for what you are eating (I don't know about anyone else but I used to do set amounts for every mean - 14 units of Humalog for breakfast, 15 for lunch and 18 for dinner). My insulin requirements have almost thirded now and it was so interesting and informative. I have no idea why diabetics are not taught this when they are first diagnosed??? Things like Sick Day Rules are invaluable information let me tell you!!! So yeah - that was pretty full on. Since then (that was May) I have been trying to get my levels as perfect as I can....
On a recent visit to the Diabetic Clinic my HBA1C was 6.8 which for me is amazing!! I was so happy. The doctor said if we wanted to start trying he had no problem with it. BUT there are a few reasons we haven't started yet - I have next to zero hypo-awareness so am unable to tell that I am hypo-ing until my levels are dangerously low. Discussing this with the Dr, he said it would be better to run my levels slightly higher for a few months to get my awareness back. There is also teh issue of an insulin pump... While at the course the dietitian from Monklands Hospital was in attendance and she said she thought I was a prefect candidate for an insulin pump when pregnant. At first I thought this was great news BUT I need to speak with the nurse more regrading this as I don't want to go on a pump midway through pregnancy because I assume there will be a periods for tweaking ratios etc so wouldn't want my sugar levels running high. It was 2 months ago I was at the clinic but I have still not heard anything yet so I will need to decide if I am happier just going without and following DAFNE rules. We shall see we shall see....
Also my sister is staying with us so trying for a baby right now could be awkward as gettign teh house to ourselves for any period of time isn't the easiest. Again - we shall see....
Sooooo the other night we had the "baby" discussion again and my husband said he was happy to start trying now. We have an appointment with teh diabetic nurse a week on Tuesday so we shall see how that goes and gauge her reaction. So yeah - that is us up-to-date....
L.xxxx
Monday, 18 January 2010
Monday 18th Jan 2010
OK so it's been a tough few days. I have been getting so frustrated with my levels because they seem so difficult to control and so frustrated with myself for not managing things better.
So there have been tears and snotters but I think we are getting somewhere..... i am cutting out snacks completely because it is quite difficult to calculate how many units of insulin to conteract the affects of them. Am hoping that I will become a size zero in a matter of weeks.... We shall see.
Average sugar levels from 15/1-17/1: 7.7
L.xx
So there have been tears and snotters but I think we are getting somewhere..... i am cutting out snacks completely because it is quite difficult to calculate how many units of insulin to conteract the affects of them. Am hoping that I will become a size zero in a matter of weeks.... We shall see.
Average sugar levels from 15/1-17/1: 7.7
L.xx
Friday, 15 January 2010
Friday 15th January 2010
Well it has been 4 days since my hospital appointment and so far my levels have been a bit all over the place. It scares me how much I don't realise things are affecting my levels. I have been over injecting as well to try and get my levels down so have had 4 hypos since starting this blog. Things seem a bit more regular today so fingers crossed I will be good in a week.
Also started taking folic acid. For some reason I thought folic acid would be in sachets (like alkaseltzer) but it's teeny tiny wee tablet. I still feel like a fraud taking it -I mean we are very safe and have absolutely no intention of trying until the middle of the year at the earliest. I suppose if the doctor says I should then I should listen so I will carry on taking them.
So yeah - that's that really. In my "going to be a better diabetic" kick I ordered a diabetic organiser thingie from Desang where I can keep all my insulin/blood tester/diary etc. Now I did not realise the size of this thing when I ordered it (I look like I am carrying a huge 80s style filofax haha) and it also concerns me that if I lose my bag then I lose everything - blood tester/both insulin pens etc. We shall see how it goes I suppose. I also got a new finger pricker thingie from Accucheck (a multiclick thing that means you can test your levels several times before changing the needle). It is pretty awesome and doesn't hurt at all. Yay! Oh and I was ordered a new insulin pen and this bad boy looks just like a giant parker pen. Even the case it comes in looks like a pen case. It is amazing! Hahaha they must be trying to make diabetics look like business men from the 80s eh? Next it will be blood testers that you keep in your shoulder pads....
Average blood levels today: 9.05
L.xx
Also started taking folic acid. For some reason I thought folic acid would be in sachets (like alkaseltzer) but it's teeny tiny wee tablet. I still feel like a fraud taking it -I mean we are very safe and have absolutely no intention of trying until the middle of the year at the earliest. I suppose if the doctor says I should then I should listen so I will carry on taking them.
So yeah - that's that really. In my "going to be a better diabetic" kick I ordered a diabetic organiser thingie from Desang where I can keep all my insulin/blood tester/diary etc. Now I did not realise the size of this thing when I ordered it (I look like I am carrying a huge 80s style filofax haha) and it also concerns me that if I lose my bag then I lose everything - blood tester/both insulin pens etc. We shall see how it goes I suppose. I also got a new finger pricker thingie from Accucheck (a multiclick thing that means you can test your levels several times before changing the needle). It is pretty awesome and doesn't hurt at all. Yay! Oh and I was ordered a new insulin pen and this bad boy looks just like a giant parker pen. Even the case it comes in looks like a pen case. It is amazing! Hahaha they must be trying to make diabetics look like business men from the 80s eh? Next it will be blood testers that you keep in your shoulder pads....
Average blood levels today: 9.05
L.xx
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
First Post
OK this is not a blog for anyone else's benefit - more just a record for me really.
I am 28, happily married and have been a type 1 diabetic since I was 14 (ish). Recently my husband and I talked about trying for a baby. Now don't get me wrong - I am in no rush to do this (we were actually thinking to try in about 6 months) - but TRYING to be a sensible person and very aware of the impact this will have on my health I decided to speak to my doctor at the diabetic clinic the next time I was there. Which was yesterday.
I have had alright control over my diabetes really. I mean - when I was 18/19 I discovered alchopops and seemed to forget my injections which was maybe not the best. Being 7 stone effortlessly thanks to my badly-managed diabetes just seemed easy. That was until I went to University and a girl in my course brought her guide dog into class. I then found out that she was diabetic and had lost her sight due to bad management. That was it for me. I bucked up my ideas and started looking after myself. Now lately I have just become a little complacent with it - I always was able to tell if my levels were too high or too low and so never kept a diary of my sugars. Unfortunately my diabetes-sense (like spidey sense only...er diabetic) have left me and over the past few months I have been getting quite a few scary blood tester reading (once they were so high that the meter couldn't read them and just said HIGH. On other occasions they have been around 1.2) and so I figured that when I attended the clinic I needed to be completely upfront and see what I could do to manage things better before even considering conceiving.
Soooooo there I was sitting in the doctor's office. The first thing he said was "well your control seems great" (turns out that if your levels are high but then incredibly low, it averaged out pretty well). Now normally I would say thank you and walk out quite smug that I'd got away without being told off (what used to happen when I was 14 and at the clinic). But this time I figured that I was an adult and needed to be honest if I was serious about ever having a healthy pregnancy. 20 minutes of telling-offs later about how I needed to keep a diary of my levels and manage them better(haha served me right eh?) the doctor said that we would start monitoring my levels closely. I was given 2 new sugar levels diaries to monitor my levels (which I need to do 7 times a day!!!!) and given a prescription for folic acid. I wasn't sure it was necessary but the Dr said that it's not going to do me any harm so "just in case". I also have to return in 2 months, instead for the normal 6 months, and an appointment will be made with the nurse for me to discuss things further.
So yeah - this is the start of things. I worry that I am panicking my husband by suddenly taking folic acid and monitoring my levels so closely when we still have 6 months until we start trying but alas for a diabetic this is what is needed...
As the doctor said just as I was leaving his office "OK....So here we go. This is the start of it all".
Average blood sugar levels: 10.1
L.xxx
I am 28, happily married and have been a type 1 diabetic since I was 14 (ish). Recently my husband and I talked about trying for a baby. Now don't get me wrong - I am in no rush to do this (we were actually thinking to try in about 6 months) - but TRYING to be a sensible person and very aware of the impact this will have on my health I decided to speak to my doctor at the diabetic clinic the next time I was there. Which was yesterday.
I have had alright control over my diabetes really. I mean - when I was 18/19 I discovered alchopops and seemed to forget my injections which was maybe not the best. Being 7 stone effortlessly thanks to my badly-managed diabetes just seemed easy. That was until I went to University and a girl in my course brought her guide dog into class. I then found out that she was diabetic and had lost her sight due to bad management. That was it for me. I bucked up my ideas and started looking after myself. Now lately I have just become a little complacent with it - I always was able to tell if my levels were too high or too low and so never kept a diary of my sugars. Unfortunately my diabetes-sense (like spidey sense only...er diabetic) have left me and over the past few months I have been getting quite a few scary blood tester reading (once they were so high that the meter couldn't read them and just said HIGH. On other occasions they have been around 1.2) and so I figured that when I attended the clinic I needed to be completely upfront and see what I could do to manage things better before even considering conceiving.
Soooooo there I was sitting in the doctor's office. The first thing he said was "well your control seems great" (turns out that if your levels are high but then incredibly low, it averaged out pretty well). Now normally I would say thank you and walk out quite smug that I'd got away without being told off (what used to happen when I was 14 and at the clinic). But this time I figured that I was an adult and needed to be honest if I was serious about ever having a healthy pregnancy. 20 minutes of telling-offs later about how I needed to keep a diary of my levels and manage them better(haha served me right eh?) the doctor said that we would start monitoring my levels closely. I was given 2 new sugar levels diaries to monitor my levels (which I need to do 7 times a day!!!!) and given a prescription for folic acid. I wasn't sure it was necessary but the Dr said that it's not going to do me any harm so "just in case". I also have to return in 2 months, instead for the normal 6 months, and an appointment will be made with the nurse for me to discuss things further.
So yeah - this is the start of things. I worry that I am panicking my husband by suddenly taking folic acid and monitoring my levels so closely when we still have 6 months until we start trying but alas for a diabetic this is what is needed...
As the doctor said just as I was leaving his office "OK....So here we go. This is the start of it all".
Average blood sugar levels: 10.1
L.xxx
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