Running low...

Several times in the last three days, I've started having the symptoms of hypoglycemia, especially the shakes.  (Having them now, in fact.)  I just tested 96...so I don't really understand it.  I tested 84 yesterday and I was starting to worry about passing out.  Though it's certainly helping my averages. :)

My Certified Diabetes Educator says that this is common in new diabetics who are just getting their metabolisms under control.  Has anyone else experienced this?  If so, does it go away after a while of running closer to normal ranges?

Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I told someone yesterday that I wish I had been diagnosed a month or so later.  (My official diagnosis date is 10/2/2009.)

I was kind of kidding.

I've always loved Halloween, more for the treats than the dress-up.  I remember when I used to consume large numbers of fun-size Twix and anything else I could get my hands on.  Maybe I should have realized there was something wrong with me when I didn't gain a lot of weight from those episodes.

Yesterday, I took my son to a work-sponsored Halloween party.  It's a three-story building, and we set up Halloween decorations throughout the building.  They defined a "Monster Trail" or specific path through the building, with lots of people dressing up and handing out candy to anyone who was going through.

This was harder and easier for me than I thought it would be.

It was hard because every other time I'd been involved in the acquisition of large amounts of candy, I knew I'd get to enjoy as much as I wanted.

Now that I'm living under diabetic discipline, I have to be a lot more selective.

It was easier than I thought it would be because since I started insulin, I haven't had the insane carb cravings that used to define my diet.

So I spent over an hour walking through a place where there were probably tons of candy (I'm not exaggerating), and I knew I shouldn't eat it.

I managed to do the whole walk with my son without sneaking anything myself.  Honest. :)

Later, as we were tallying our hoard, I ate one fun-size Heath bar.  9g carbs.  I'd bolused for 60 carbs, and I was on the low end.  So, Happy Halloween to me!

It was delicious.

I keep telling people that living with Type 1 isn't living a life of monastic denial.  Most of the time I believe it.  Sometimes I wonder.  I can enjoy a lot of the things I always have, but in more moderation.  That's going to help a lot in adapting, I think.

Prelude to D-Day

I had a growing sense that there was something wrong with me.  But it hadn't reached a critical mass for me to feel like I needed to see a doctor.

I'm 36 years old, and I weigh about 160 pounds.  I'm a technology professional, and I live a fairly sedentary life.  I don't have a family history of diabetes to speak of.  (There are some qualifications there, but suffice it to say that it wasn't really on my radar.)

Of course my wife could tell there was something wrong with me.  She had been after me since March to get myself checked out.

I knew I'd been losing weight.  Being in the state I was in, I hadn't been watching my weight very closely.  I figured I normally weigh around 170.  I'd been eating tons of ice cream and other sugary stuff, and drinking close to a gallon of water a day.  I'd been urinating at night, but not thinking much of it.  Diabetes is a disease of older and heavier people, right?

An opportunity came up for me to take a life insurance paramedical exam at the end of August, which I did.  I figured if there was anything seriously wrong with me, the blood test would show it.

...and did it ever.

My blood glucose was 370, and my A1C was 13.0.  I didn't know exactly what that meant, but the insurance agent called me and told me quite directly, "You need to see a doctor.  Today, if possible."

I could tell she was serious.

I was busy teaching a class the week the results came in.  My wife was happy to set an appointment up for me with our GP (since she'd been trying to convince me to do it for a few months.)

I figured that it was just a fluke, since the blood test was done after a regular gaming session, which inolves the consumption of lots of Mt. Dew and pizza - the sorts of things that tend to drive up blood sugars.

So I still wasn't worried.

On Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, I went in for my appointment and had the blood work done to confirm or refute what I learned from the insurance exam.

Hello...

...and welcome to my blog.

I was diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago, and I am on insulin.  I have been reading, and have been impressed by, a number of diabetes bloggers.

I am brand new to this (both the diabetes and the blogging), so please bear with me. :)