I haven't blogged in a while because my daughter was home for her fall break from college. It was great seeing her and the good news is, I did stick to my primal diet.
I went to see my endo & DE (Diabetes Educator) yesterday. They were very impressed with my progress. 6 weeks ago I had an A1c of 9.5 and this time I had my best A1c ever of 7.9!
In case you don't know, an A1c is a blood test that shows your average blood sugars for the last 3 months - with the most recent month having a bigger weight in the average than the other 2 months. Non-diabetics have an A1c of 4.5 - 5.5. They usually shoot for diabetics to get their A1c under 7. Dr. Bernstein, however, the author of the book "Diabetes Solution" that I am reading - shoots for diabetics to have normal A1c readings.
My DE reviewed my log and was impressed with my improved blood sugars. She noticed I was no longer letting my pump decide how much insulin to give me for a meal. I always do a manual bolus for meals, but I do let the pump calculate how much insulin to give me to adjust for a higher blood sugar.
This is because the pump decides on a meal bolus based on the number of carbs in the meal. This doesn't work for me because I often have to give myself insulin for a zero carb meal/snack. I need 2 units for a handful of nuts and 1/2 unit for 2 eggs, for example. So, in the end, she agreed with me.
But she said I am the most sensitive to insulin and to food that she has ever met. That's the story of my life. lol
At one point my DE was noticing the 200's and upper 100's during the first few days of the log I provided to her. I told her my theory about sugarless gum causing that and how when I quit my blood sugars went down. I thought she would think I was crazy. But since by then she realized how sensitive I was, she agreed with me. Sugarless gum has sugar alcohols in it that do convert to .5 or 1 gram of carb. So she could see how that would affect me.
October 6th - quit chewing gum today, so tomorrow's blood sugars are better
- 5:00 pm 206 bs 1.3 units
- 7:45 pm 1.0 unit - Ate 1 oz. cheese & 10 small olives
- 8:17 pm 227 bs .7 unit - Ate 3 eggs & 2 bacon & took 1.2 units more
- 11:09 pm 217 bs .6 unit - My legs were jumpy so I took another unit
October 7th
- 6:47 am 112 bs .1 unit - disconnected for a few minutes
- 7:47 am 130 bs .2 unit
- 8:30 am - Ate eggs & bacon & took 1 unit
- 11:58 am 152 bs .6 unit - Ate large salad & took 5 units
- 3:53 pm 220 bs 1.5 units
- 4:00 pm - Drove to pick up my daughter from college (4 hours driving in total) & ate a lettuce, turkey, & cheese roll during the drive
- 10:14 pm 148 bs .8 unit - Ate 1.5 oz. peanuts & took 2 units
- 1:34 am 179 bs .9 unit
October 8th
- 9:42 am 113 bs .1 unit - Ate 3 eggs & 2 bacon & took 1.2 units
- 1:30 pm - Disconnected pump for shower
- 2:00 pm 199 bs 1.2 units
- 3:00 pm - Ate 5 carb greek yogurt with almonds & cacao nibs & took 2 units
- 7:55 pm 123 bs .2 unit - Ate Quizno's salad with chicken & took 5 units
- 12:30 am 73 bs - Ate cheese, nuts, & olives
October 9th
- 10:17 am 79 bs - Ate 3 eggs & 1 bacon & took 1 unit
- 2:23 pm 133 bs .4 unit - Ate cheese & olives & took 1 unit
- 4:00 pm 110 bs - Drove 1 1/2 hours to take daughter & friends to haunted event & ate string cheese & nuts during the drive
- 9:04 pm 114 bs .1 unit - Drove 1 1/2 hours back from haunted event
October 10th
- 7:33 am 144 bs .5 unit - showered without pump
- 9:30 am 124 bs - Ate 1 egg & took .2 unit
- 2:00 pm 156 bs - Ate cauliflower & cheese dish & large salad & took 4.5 units
- 8:08 pm 132 bs .4 unit - Ate cheese & olives & took 1 unit
- 9:00 pm - Ate 3 eggs & 2 bacon & took 1.2 unit
- 12:00 am 62 bs - Ate 5 carb yogurt with almonds & cacao nibs
October 11th
- 6:27 am 213 bs 1.4 units - disconnected while got ready for work
- 7:20 am 243 bs 1.0 unit
- 9:45 am 144 bs .5 unit - Ate 1 egg & took .2 unit
- 11:44 am 106 bs - Ate steamed broccoli & large salad & took 3.5 units
- 4:45 pm - Ate cheese & 5 small olives
- 5:00 pm - Drove 2 hours to take my daugher back to college & ate nuts during the drive
- 7:51 pm 106 bs - Drove 2 hours back home & ate some more nuts
- 10:30pm - Was so tired that I forgot to check my blood sugar & bolus for the nuts
October 12th
- 6:24 am 225 bs 1.5 units - Disconnected for an hour
- 7:30 am 217 bs .8 unit
The main thing I learned during my appointment was that I should bolus before I disconnect to shower and get ready for work. Since my basal rate is .45 unit per hour I will now bolus .5 unit in the morning before I disconnect (if I expect to be disconnected for an hour).
