Diabetes is so expensive!

Amy-

I am so frustrated right now because I LOVE pumping but I keep accidentally doing things that waste me sooo much money! Like today...

So I was doing a site change and changing my reservoir, which you would think would be fairly simple at this point, since I've been pumping since March 1st. But no, I somehow managed to prime my entire reservoir onto the kitchen table while I was attempting to put the reservoir in my pump. Yeah, doesn't sound like a big deal, but that's 100 units of insulin wasted right there! I can still smell a very strong scent of insulin all around me and it's making me see red because it's a reminder that I wasted so much money!

About a month ago, I was drawing up Novolog into my reservoir, and I dropped the insulin bottle on the floor. That's like a 1,000 units I wasted then! I was ready to cry.

Twice now- the last time just 3 days ago- I guess I picked a poor infusion site because I was having a ton of blood sugars over 300 even though I kept bolusing, so I finally took off the infusion site, and the cannula was bent. And it's happened twice now! Wasting perfectly good infusion sets due to my stupidity!

I'm just really frustrated right now...I want to be the perfect diabetic and be the perfect insulin pumper and get everything right, and I also want to to prove to myself as well as my parents that getting an insulin pump WASN'T too expensive. But right now I am failing because my numbers aren't even good, like at all! AHHHH!!!!!

I guess I just need to take a deep breath and start new each day. Not just give up. I have been looking around on the diabetes community, though, and I see people who have A1C's of 5.2, and blood sugars constantly below 180, and eat less than 50 carbs a day, and I don't know how they do it, but I wish I could get to that point!

I may look healthy but after so many blood sugars over 300 I'm not feeling that great. I've even lost a few pounds which I know has to be due to high blood sugar. Which freaks me out because I know all the risks that all those high levels are going to entail!

Okay I shall stop now. Sorry for the whinging! Not that anyone is reading this probably!

Finally pumping!

Amy- I am now pumping with a pink Minimed 522 and it is fabulous although I just started yesterday :) but...well. My blood sugar has been REALLY low. I will tell you my settings and then my bg's so far and you can decide for yourself! Okay first of all, my flat basal rate is
0.35
My I/C ratio is 1/20
and my IS is 1/75.
Which seems all rather low for an 18 year old girl, right? So I was expecting highs! Well...take a look at my sugars so far!
Yesterday...
2:33 p.m.- 94
3:15 pm.-126
6:32 p.m.-84
7:35 p.m.-51
9:45 p.m.-77
10:55 p.m-123
Today
1 am-49
4:51 am-102
10:22 am- 38 (!!)
11:30 am-143
2:40 pm-28 (!!!!)
So I'm not wild about all these lows...they scare me a lot!

2/26/10

hannah:

183

196

158

107

i was kinda highish today i think it was because my basal setting are wrong so im gonna see about changing that. i also had a very irregular day eating wise. but i think i counted my carbs right its just my settings.

HaNnAh~~~ hmm what could we do?? i was thinking we could host like a 5k or something. and maybe sell like bracelets? anymore ideas?

Minimed

So I am trying my absolute bestest to purchase an insulin pump. If my insurance covers enough, I will be getting the Minimed Paradigm 522. In pink. I already started the process, but somehow I think that it's going to be very complicated!! But it'll be worth it for the freedom AND better control that having a pump will afford me. Especially if i'm very conscientious about it!

You know what, Hannah, we SHOULD do a fundraiser! I mean it wouldn't necessarily have to be for me, just diabetes research and such in general! We could make t-shirts! I want diabetes t-shirts!!!!!! I saw one that said "insulin power" on a diabetes blog. I WANT ONE!!!!!! Hmmm lets brainstorm fundraiser ideas!

Pump

Pumps are verrryy nice :) ill try to give you mine but if not we should totally do a fundraiser! We could have a 5k run or sell something and earn some of the money! That would be a lot of fun too!

wheeee

I want a pump! I want a pump! I want i want i want a pump! Haha I'm done now. I'll quit whinging. Just, it seems these days if you want to live a long life...YOU NEED A PUMP!!!! grrr they are SO expensive though! like, 8,000 dollars!

A Few Thoughts

Amy- I love how I just gave this post a totally generic title. How boring of me. Why do I struggle so with titles?! Anyways.
Diabetes is a very curious diagnosis to grapple. I've had diabetes for 3 1/2 years now and I still find it hard to wrap my mind around it. Think about it: Diabetes is a chronic disease. Diabetes is a fatal disease. Diabetes is also a disease that, though it requires huge amounts of diligence, is wholly treatable. It's difficult to reconcile these 3 concepts! Basically, you have to resign yourself to to the fact that you'll ALWAYS have diabetes. At the same time, you're aware that if you don't take care of it and get sick, it's your own fault. At least, that's what we're led to believe. I know that a lot of aspects of diabetes are a direct result of my own self-care or lack of it, but I'm convinced that sometimes diabetes just gets the better of me! My blood sugar will run high for no reason, or will plummet down (like Hannah's did recently) and it's impossible to discern what the cause of the hypoglycemia is!
I struggle with diabetes management a lot, especially since I'm not on what is known as the "honeymoon" anymore. The honeymoon is the period of time after a diabetes diagnosis in which the diabetic's body responds to the insulin it is receiving by producing small amounts of insulin, thus making blood sugar control far easier. Of course, at the time I was monitoring my blood sugar far more carefully. Now, however, I find it rather difficult to summon the energy to micro-manage my diabetes care, which is really the best way to live long and healthfully.
So in the year of 2010 I should like to take control of my diabetes. Yes, I know that it's already halfway through the first month of 2o10, but I really needed to remind myself that I made a resolution that I really need to keep! Hence, this post. Slainte!

Loww

HaNnAh- wow last night i woke up at 3:30 and i felt low so i just drank some juice. but then i wouldnt go up so i checked it and it was 59 and i corrected then 56 and then i corrected again. so i counted my carbs and i ate 60 grams in the middle of the night... it was super random but i think its probably because i was running at a party. but still it shouldnt get THAT low. :/

hmm haha all i can say is insulin and water and make sure to check for ketones!! though it may be too late now but next time!!

Amy- This is awfully frustrating...my blood sugar has been over 300 since last night. Come down, blood sugar! Ideas?

Good Parts

HaNnAh-

6. You can over exaggerate about "not being able to have sugar" and make people feel bad so they apologize ahah

7. You know a lot of stuff about the pancreas already so you dont have to study for Biology as much

8. It's a good conversation starter sometimes

9. You meet lots of awesome people!!

10. You have things in common with other diabetics and feel the natural bond :)

Haha i've used most of these :DDD

the random post

Amy- I often focus on things that diabetics can't do, but today I will be focusing on things that we CAN do...

1. When I flew to New York, they allowed me to bring as many drinks as I wanted on the plane :)

2. I get to eat snacks in places where people usually can't because of my medical reasons- WOOT!

3. I can talk about being high in public without getting arrested...I think?

4. If I were on a diet, which I'm not, I wouldn't have people offering me unhealthy food, because they already assume that I can't have it!

5. Getting shots at the doctor's office is a breeze- I am sooo used to that by now!

6. I know a lot more about medical things than many people my age.

Okay now it's Hannah's turn-my inspiration has flown! If there are any other diabetics reading this blog, feel free to comment with ideas of your own! And also if you're not diabetic, feel free to post too! We loooove input !

HaNnAh- I do recomend the pump! It's certainly nice to be able to eat a lot... :) I want to try the omnipod which I currently have but I still have to go through training so it will be a while until I get to use it. I also want to try the continuous glucose monitor either by Dextron or the one that will be coming out that will link with the omnipod. The reason I want the omnipod is so I won't have people constantly ask what my pump is and also so I can wear dresses and skirts without having to reach up my skirt for my pump... That tends to make things awkward. Plus with an omnipod, you can go as far away from it as you want and still get insulin unless you're going to bolus. This will also help with runs because the pump does tend to get a bit annoying... So I can't wait to try out these products possibly someday!

Amy- Soo....what to write about...hmm...well how about diabetes products I'd love to try? Well number 1 I should dearly like to try an insulin pump as it is a lot more similar to how the body manages insulin and whatnot....plus a lot of them come in really cute colors :) I'd also love to see if the constant blood glucose monitor or whatever its called is really helpful! Which I bet it is!

HaNnAh- Yaa... I know what you mean. Some days are like that, all crazy. But idkk i just fix it and keep going on. I mean what else can you do?? :)

Amy-

I think I want to resign from having diabetes. Can I do that? Just kidding...I should have a good attitude....I suppose.

HaNnAh-Well on a normal school day:

7:00am- Check my blood sugar, bolus, and eat

12:00pm-Check my blood sugar, bolus, and eat (usually here i bolus a lot of times, an advantage of having pump)

5:00pm- I eat a lottt so I bolus a lot here :P

6:00pm- Check my blood sugar, bolus, and eat

10:00pm- Check my blood sugar, bolus, and eat

Some days I have to do my infusion site, which I usually put off until around 11:00pm, then I have to wake up two hours later and check my sugar to make sure its working.

On weekends:

12:00- I skip breakfast on weekends usually, and check my sugar, bolus, and at eat at this time.

I eat all after noon :)

6:00- I check my sugar, bolus, eat

10:00- Check my sugar, bolus, and eat a snack

Yep so thats my schedule, though on days when I run in the morning its really different because I'm low all day. But ya thats it.

lets talk insulin!

Amy- Today, I will be talking about my medicine regimen. Here is a typical day in my life in regards to diabetes...well...this is what I should do, and my new years resolution is to get back to it! Here are some basic things you should know: During the day, I give myself Novolog, which is a short-acting insulin. But yay, I don't have to draw it up from a bottle using a syringe! Instead, I have a Novolog pen, so all I have to do is screw on a pen needle to the pen and dial it to the correct amount of units!

8:00- Wake up, check my blood sugar (and technically I am supposed to write each and every blood sugar in a log! but i don't), and if I eat, give myself the appropriate amount of insulin. Say, if I eat 2 pieces of toast, which is 30 grams of carbs, then I would give myself 2 units of insulin, because my carb-to-insulin ratio is 15 carbs per unit. I don't usually eat breakfast, though.

12:00- Check my blood sugar, eat, and give myself insulin.

6:00- Check my blood sugar, eat, and give myself insulin. Sense a theme here?

9:00- Check my blood sugar...again...but this time I am taking Lantus, which is the 24-hour insulin that I take which kind of keeps things steady. I take it from a bottle and syringe however- I take 20 units, which is rather a lot, because I don't take very much Novolog.

Now, all of this is assuming that I don't have any problems with blood sugar throughout the day, which rarely happens! If I feel high, then I check my sugar and take enough insulin to correct-1 unit per amount I am over the correct blood sugar. I am supposed to stay between 80 and 180. If I feel low, I check my blood sugar and ingest some sort of sugar source as fast as I can. This can be a dance that lasts all day without me reaching target blood sugar levels! I go low, I have too much sugar, I go high, then I have to take insulin, then I go low again...etc. Tres frustrating!

So that is my rather long and boring account of my day-to-day life with diabetes! Hannah's, however, is a lot different from mine, so we shall see!

12:00

Myth Belief Story From Today

HaNnAh- Today I was in the gym and there were some other students in running club there too, but mostly just people in PE class. The coach was giving some of the running club members candy and she held it out to me and then took it back and said "You can't have this right?" and I said "Oh I can." and she replied "No this has a lot of sugar. We don't want to take any chances." This is just an example relating to common myths where people are sure they're right, but aren't really. :P

Myths about Diabetes!

Amy- Here's what I think: there are a LOT of misconceptions about diabetes! Especially type 1, due to the fact that the vast majority of diabetics have type 2. sooo, today I am going to dispell some of those notions!

Notion #1- People get diabetes because they eat too much sugar.

Wrong! Absolutely, totally, and completely WRONG! We don't know why juvenile diabetes occurs. Some statistics suggest that it can be hereditary, or that certain viruses can later cause the body to kill the islet cells that produce insulin. But we don't know anything for sure. Ate a lot of candy as a child? That does NOT cause diabetes! It doesn't matter what you eat, or how much you weigh, some of us are just lucky enough *not* to get type 1 diabetes. In fact, Hannah was 54 pounds when she got diagnosed with diabetes, and I weighed 114 pounds! So you can see that though neither of us was overweight, there was a VAST difference in our weight!

Notion #2- People with diabetes can't eat sugar.

Diabetics can eat anything they want. All that's necessary is to take insulin whenever you eat carbohydrates! True, sugary food has a lot of carbohydrates, but just as long as you know your carb-to-insulin ratio, you can eat whatever and simply take enough insulin to cover the carbs you ingest!

Notion #3- (mainly children believe this :) ) Diabetes is contagious.

This is kind of laughable! But when I got diagnosed with diabetes, and I'm sure it happened to Hannah as well, lots of kids were afraid that being near me would make them "catch" diabetes. As I said before, we don't know for sure why some people develop type 1 diabetes, but we DO know that it is in no way shape or form contagious!

Lots of other notions, but I'll let Hannah talk about some more in her next post :)

Hannah's Diagnoses :D

Four years ago, at the age of ten, some changes took place in my life. I was only in fifth grade then and only noticed a few slight differences within myself: I went from being the fastest runner to the slowest, barely able to run across the playground, I ate 4 cups of cereal instead of my usual half a bowl, I weighed only 54 pounds, I had terrible mood swings, and I woke up 3 times per night to go to the restroom. My family didn't notice any changes either, because I had always been skinny and they assumed I was just growing. But once I was unable to complete a simple dance number in "Aesop's Falables" and I had people telling me that they could see my ribs through my shirt they started to pay more attention.

My parents took me to the doctor one day and when I asked why they said "We researched and we're afraid that you might have diabetes. Now it's highly unlikely considering you we have no family history and the chances are very small, but we just want to make sure." I took this in and thought to myself that nothing could possible be wrong with me, considering I felt just fine.

When the doctor came back into the room with the results my whole family cried. We went to the hospital where I spent the next four days, until July 4. I understood most of what they were saying, but I had more fun playing in the children's room rather than listening to them talk. I remember asking my parents one day when we were going home because I couldn't wait to stop getting all the shots. That's when I learned what I would face everyday. I paid more attention then and learned all I could. What bothered me the most was receiving cards that "Get Well Soon!". Those gave me a bitter feeling inside. The most remarkable thing about my visit was that my eyesight was cured for a few days. I've worn glasses since the age of seven but woke up one day, seeing perfectly. My doctor explained it was because of the sudden turn my body took towards being healthy, but it would not last. And it didn't.

Here I am four years later and when I look back I'm proud of all those little accomplishes I've made. Giving a shot, counting carbohydrates, and helping others. Diabetes has given me strength to take on things I probably would have never done. I've made friends from camp and from theater I have Amy, who supports me when things get hard. So in some ways I appreciate diabetes. In others not so much, but I always try to look at the positive side of life. :)

My Diabetes Diagnosis story *dramatic music plays*

Amy- Sooo, you, whomever may be reading this, get to see the oh-so-interesting story of how I got diagnosed with diabetes!

I was 14 years old and in my community theater program, playing Lucy in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." Somehow I managed to think that it was normal that I was crying every time the director criticized me, drinking several bottles of water per rehearsal and still hoarse as heck, peeing oh....maybe 10 times a night? Oh, and guess what my dinner was one night? Three, count 'em THREE Big Mac's! But did I gain weight? Noo, I lost 10 pounds!

But here's the interesting part: my brother, Matthew, has type 1 diabetes! He's had it for 11 years! My mom didn't believe that two of her children could possibly have type 1 diabetes, so she thought that the symptoms were simply stress. teen angst, etc. My grown siblings, however, convinced my mom that I was not acting normal, so one morning after I woke up 12 times in the night to go to the bathroom, she checked my blood sugar on my brothers glucometer. The results? I was 549, and upon checking for ketones, I learned that I had a large amount!

So off I went to the nearest children's hospital, which happens to be 15o miles from where I live! I was admitted to the emergency room, where they scared me half to death by telling me that I possibly had diabetic ketoacidosis! DKA is very bad- potentially fatal! I didn't have it, but I ended up staying in the hospital overnight, on an IV and learning how to give myself shots and count carbohydrates. The diabetes education was rather brief, however, because the doctor assumed that since my parents had dealt with my little brothers diabetes for so long, they pretty much knew it all.

I went back home, feeling quite like a pincushion after all the shots administered in the past 24 hours, and armed with all sorts of diabetic equipment. I was relieved to be released from the hospital so soon because I had to perform "Charlie Brown" just a couple of days later! It was kind of a pain in the butt to return to life because absolutely everyone had question after question about my diagnosis, and all sorts of-erroneous- advice to offer me! "Oh, I guess you ate too much candy!" was a comment I heard more times than I can count!

However, theatre was a godsend because as it turns out, a girl who was in it with me was type 1 diabetic, too! Guess what her name was? That's right, HANNAH! Hannah, the co-author of the blog! An awesome friendship developed because each of us didn't know any other diabetics even near our age! Well, other than my brother :)

Sooo, 3 and a half years later, here we are trying to make the awesomest diabetes blog ever!

loooow

i play basketball for only 30 min and ive been low 3 times already!! i wouldnt think it would be so bad just cuz of that :/ are there long term problems for being low too much as a teenager??? (haha this is fun posting these little problems :P )

RandomFact

HaNnAh- After running or exercising one trick to keep your blood sugar from dropping as much is to drink chocolate milk! :)

The first post! yay us!

Amy- So my friend, Hannah, and I were talking today. We were discussing all the misconceptions that people have about type 1 diabetics and bam! An idea occurred to us- why not make a blog about life as type 1 diabetics? We also thought that maybe it would help us to take better control of our diabetes! After all, we're young. Who knows the advances they may make towards a cure when we're older? But we have to stay alive and healthy until then! So we are going to try to take the best control of our diabetes that we can! Also, we would love for other diabetics to post whatever they like on this page!