Diabetes Hell Week

We've recently emerged from a diabetes hell week, it was a doozy! Unexplainable high blood sugars that last half of a day were followed by perfect BGs that would suddenly fluctuate in either or both directs. I didn't sleep very long most nights during this period and at times I thought perhaps someone had switched Arden's insulin with water. 

Shit was bananas and I couldn't figure out how many carbs were in it...

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Not wanting to be left out of the fun, our diabetes technology also acted flaky once or twice during hell week - during one such incident I found myself wondering, "How does it know to f%^* with me right now?".

As a rough afternoon with type 1 diabetes turned into a long day and that day into a week, I found myself making some of the same mistakes I've made in the past. I'm hoping that this post will serve as a reminder for me (and you) so I can avoid them next time.

The mistakes...

• I was willing to trade my health for better BGs when what I should have done is played a Get Out of Diabetes Free card and asked Kelly for help. Instead, I passed out on the sofa one night as I was trying and ultimately failing to stay awake for another long night of BG battling. 
• I fell down the rabbit hole of wondering what Arden will do when she gets older during times like this.
• I was too tired the next day to cook and stopped eating well, this exasperated the situation by sapping my energy further.

I did manage to do a few things right...

• I injected when I thought an infusion site was to blame for a high BG - sometimes it was the site, sometimes in wasn't.
• I kept Arden hydrated.
• We didn't use diabetes as an excuse to stop doing our day-to-day stuff. It sucked but Arden took a hitting (softball) lesson with a BG over 280, she made it to school with shaky numbers and went to the mall with friends in the middle of a BG nightmare (New site, almost 400 BG and a Dexcom sensor that was so confused by the high it stopped working for 3 hours). We adjusted and kept moving. BG was around 100 when she arrived home.

What I took from hell week

A few things stuck with me after the craziness passed and normalcy returned.

• I already knew this first one but was reminded again, I can't be here for Arden if I'm not here. My health is important.
• Staying fluid is monumental and attitude goes a long way to effecting reality.
• I don't have to cry anymore when I begin to wonder what Arden will do when she moves out because diabetes technology has evolved so that we can be with her if/when she has the need. Now that continuous glucose monitoring technology is in the cloud, Arden can call from college or anywhere and say, "I'm not feeling well and I want to take a nap... can you watch my blood sugar?". I am so grateful for the Dexcom Share2 for this and for taking away my annual What is Arden going to do when she gets older cry-a-thon. 

Miranda

Last night as Arden was attempting to stretch out her bedtime by doing her Miranda Sings impression, I mentioned to Kelly that Arden suddenly looks more mature. Her face looks different and her body seems stronger. It was one of those moments when you could swear that she grew since the morning. I thought to myself, "This must be why her blood sugars have been so crazy lately" then I smiled - maybe the smile was from Arden's rather spot on Miranda impression, maybe it was from knowing that hell week was for a good cause - maybe it was a bit of both.

What ever you do... do not go to YouTube and search Miranda Sings - you have been warned!

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Take the Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test

from: American Diabetes Association

Diabetes is a serious disease that strikes nearly 30 million children and adults in the United States, and more than a quarter of them—eight million—do not even know they have it. An additional 86 million have prediabetes, which puts them at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, diagnosis often comes 7 to 10 years after the onset of the disease, after disabling and even deadly complications have had time to develop. Therefore, early diagnosis is critical to successful treatment and delaying or preventing some of these complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, stroke, amputation and death. 

Who should participate in Alert Day?

Everyone should be aware of the risk factors for type 2 diabetes. People who are overweight, under active (living a sedentary lifestyle) and over the age of 45 should consider themselves at risk for the disease. African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and people who have a family history of the disease also are at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can often be prevented or delayed by losing just 7 percent of body weight (such as 15 pounds if you weigh 200) through regular physical activity (30 minutes a day, five days a week) and healthy eating. By understanding your risk, you can take the necessary steps to help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. 

Click on the image to take the test 

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Language processing is impaired during moderate hypoglycemia

Effects of Acute Hypoglycemia on Working Memory and Language Processing...

New research sponsored by the ADA indicates that hypoglycemia causes significant deterioration in reading span and the accuracy of subject-verb agreement. Below is the research abstract from the study as well a link to the origin page. Click here to see the entire study in PDF form.

from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25758768

Effects of Acute Hypoglycemia on Working Memory and Language Processing in Adults With and Without Type 1 Diabetes.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of hypoglycemia on language processing in adults with and without type 1 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Forty adults were studied (20 with type 1 diabetes and 20 healthy volunteers) using a hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp to lower blood glucose to 2.5 mmol/L (45 mg/dL) (hypoglycemia) for 60 min, or to maintain blood glucose at 4.5 mmol/L (81 mg/dL) (euglycemia), on separate occasions. Language tests were applied to assess the effects of hypoglycemia on the relationship between working memory and language (reading span), grammatical decoding (self-paced reading), and grammatical encoding (subject-verb agreement).

RESULTS: Hypoglycemia caused a significant deterioration in reading span (P < 0.001; η2 = 0.37; Cohen d = 0.65) and a fall in correct responses (P = 0.005; η2 = 0.19; Cohen d = 0.41). On the self-paced reading test, the reading time for the first sentence fragment increased during hypoglycemia (P = 0.039; η2 = 0.11; Cohen d = 0.25). For the reading of the next fragment, hypoglycemia affected the healthy volunteer group more than the adults with type 1 diabetes (P = 0.03; η2 = 0.12; Cohen d = 0.25). However, hypoglycemia did not significantly affect the number of errors in sentence comprehension or the time taken to answer questions. Hypoglycemia caused a deterioration of subject-verb agreement (correct responses: P = 0.011; η2 = 0.159; Cohen d = 0.31).

CONCLUSIONS: Hypoglycemia caused a significant deterioration in reading span and in the accuracy of subject-verb agreement, both of which are practical aspects of language involved in its everyday use. Language processing is therefore impaired during moderate hypoglycemia.

© 2015 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.

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The Importance of the Diabetes Community

This is the second in a series of five pieces that I wrote for Omnipod's Suite D blog. Part three is live on Suite D now and will arrive here next month.

It's a paid freelance gig, you can read my disclaimer about that on part one of the series (link below), 

Part 2: Finding Support

My bedroom was pitch black and the house completely silent. It was well after three in the morning and I hadn’t been to sleep. My belief that my daughter Arden’s blood sugar would rise to a safe level was tenuous that evening so I was watching over her even more than usual.

When I fall asleep the likelihood of me waking up when I need to is slim. So on nights like this one I tend to just stay up. This night happened before we became continuous glucose monitor users and I would periodically walk from my room to hers to check her blood sugar. Each time I climbed back into bed, I became a little less certain that I could stay awake. Because my wife was sleeping I was trying to stay still, my eyes were sore from a long day that was getting longer. I had to stop watching television on my laptop, because it felt like there was sand in my eyes. I was exhausted, bleary-eyed and pretty sure that I was about to nod off – so I opened my Twitter app and, perhaps out of desperation to stay awake or maybe in an effort to not fall apart, I told who ever may be out there what was happening.

A few silent minutes later, I received a response from a woman whom I’d never met. She told me that she was also sitting up watching a blood sugar that she didn’t quite trust. That was it really. We didn’t talk much or offer one another solace. It was sort of a, “I’m here doing this thing and it’s getting the best of me.” And a reply that basically said, “Me too.”

I closed my laptop, the abyss of the night enveloped me and I began to sob tears of relief.

I was buoyed by the notion that there was another person in the world that was doing what I was and suddenly everything felt better. I learned that night that it isn’t the diabetes that made me feel alone and it wasn’t the darkness that caused me to want to reach out; I was being oppressed by the feeling that no one understood our life.

And just like that, with a tweet, I found sameness with someone that I couldn’t see, hear or touch. My diabetes community expanded. No longer would I have to wait for a JDRF walk to talk to a person who understood my life. Supportive glances, understanding words and the satiation that sameness brought, they were all I needed to feel recharged. Support came that night, but not in the form of mentorship or advice. This wasn’t a plan for counting carbs or talks of how to best prep a pump site. It was simple, beautiful and kind. A brief encounter with a person who had walked in my shoes and reassured me that I was not alone.

I’ve learned diabetes jargon, gathered information about insulin pumps, medications and ways of handling type 1 diabetes from the diabetes community. They’ve taught me with their openness to be comfortable with others being my rock when I can’t do it for myself. With the help of these wonderful new friends I began to see a light at the end of a tunnel, I was beginning to believe that it was possible for us to find our way back to feeling normal.

Read 'The Importance of the Diabetes Community Series
Part 1: How it Saved Our Family
Part 2: Currently Reading
Part 3: Coming in April
Part 4: Coming in May
Part 5: Coming in June

Feel what it’s like to wear the OmniPod – with no obligations. Click here to order a free Demo today.

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Dexcom Share2 Review and Overview

This may be the shortest yet most complete product review that I've ever done.

What is it?

The Dexcom Share2 Receiver is a continuous glucose monitor that has cloud sharing capability built-in.

What does that mean?

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The Dexcom Platinum G4 is a glucose monitoring system. A sensor is placed under the skin. The sensor is in physical contact with a transmitter. The transmitter sends a signal to a receiver. The receiver shows your blood glucose value and trend arrows so you can see the direction and speed that your BG is moving.

The Share2 is an updated version of the Platinum G4 and is exactly the same as the G4 but with one huge addition... it has bluetooth. So now in addition to...

Sensor> Transmitter> Receiver

It can also be setup like this...

Sensor> Transmitter> Receiver> iPhone> Cloud> iPhone

The addition of bluetooth allows your iPhone (Android coming soon) to act as an uploader and that is how others, who you give permission to, are able to see the BG of the wearer. This is excellent for parents, caregivers or a friend that is willing to watch your BG while you have the flu.

Does it work?

In a word - yup. In more words, Yes it does and it works exactly as advertised. I now have access to Arden's CGM data on my iPhone 24/7 with the Dexcom Follow app. I see what she sees.

How do I get one?

All of the upgrade info that you need is contained here in my recent blog post. If you already purchased a Dexcom Share Cradle you will receive the new Share2 for free. Tons of other upgrade details are at the link.

What else do I need to know?

• Setup is a snap, you do not have to be a whiz with computers, apps, or phones to get the Share2 up and running. It took me maybe ten minutes to get Arden's working.
• For the moment it is iOS compatible but Dexcom promises Android by the end of 2015 (I bet it is much sooner).
• We don't see additional battery drain on our phones.
• No more getting out of bed to check a CGM!
• Sleepovers just got a whole lot easier...
• You need two iPhones (or an Internet connected iPods) to make the setup complete. 
• Dexcom maintains the cloud, there is no charge for the service.
• I just posted a Juicebox podcast episode all about the Share2, the next generation G5 (Same cool cloud stuff but you won't need a receiver if you would rather use your phone to see your BGs).
• Where can I get the Share and Follow apps? On the iTunes Store. Be sure to get Share2 (Share was for the cradle).

If you have question please ask them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them quickly.

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