Sweet and Sour- The Type 1 Diabetes Rollercoaster

(Forgive me, I'm sick so this might be disjointed. Normal posts will continue when I'm well again!) Lately, I've had some serious problems with my blood sugar being a little high. I got a massive shock a few months ago when my HbA1c came back higher than its ever been, despite my reasonable good levels. I've tried for months to bring them down and finally with the help of my diabetes educator have made some progress. But I found out why my A1c has gone up, and it isn't entirely my fault like I previously thought. My blood sugar meter and its test strips are inaccurate. There are standards not just in America but here in Australia as well that state the accuracy of these test strips must be in a 20% range, meaning it can either be 20% higher or lower than the actual blood level and released on the market. My blood meter was sent to me in the mail from an established company that also manufactures my insulin pump. This meter was sent to all eligible type 1 diab...

This post was supposed to be a rant to end all rants, however, I'm too tired for that and will write it on Sunday. For now, this is what diabetes is like on a bad day. I'm sick, I'm tired, my diabetes educator won't get back to me and my blood sugars are wreaking havoc. For the past few weeks as you can see in one of my last posts  I've had some diabetes drama. High blood sugars all the time kind of drama. Yesterday really was a diabetes rollercoaster, my levels starting moderately high in the morning, crashing down in the afternoon and going all the way up to 21 by night (guess who got up at 3am again). I've talked about how lows feel before, but high blood sugars are terrible. - You're tired - You're thirsty - You feel really sick - Energy? What is energy? - Pins and needles - Dizziness - You blog about how crappy high blood sugars are to distract yourself from the crappy high blood sugars - As shown above, you lose all logical thought I...

Test strips Test strips EVERYWHERE I recently changed blood sugar meter- this one sends the level straight to my pump (COOL RIGHT!) Yeah, it is… but the test strips everywhere… not so much They pop up in the most random places- to name a few: - On my floor - In my handbag - Under a chair at school - In my locker - In my shoe - In my mother’s handbag (I don’t even know how that happened) And look, I have evidence! (See the little white thing just casually lying on the floor? Yeah, wasn't there 20 minutes ago) They move I tell you, I don’t know how they do it, but they are ninjas. I’m on to you test strips. You can’t run forever.

So I just found out about D Blog Week and signed up, though I will be running a little late (just a day :) ) Day 1:  Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one's daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don't see My health care team? It's pretty amazing. I'm lucky enough to be constantly supported by diabetic educators, dietitians, counsellors and of course my endocrinologist who really is one of the best in his field. They know so much about my diabetes, but sometimes you have to wonder, what do they actually know about me, the person? I wish they could see the support I constantly have around me, and how much their guidance has influenced me. I wish they could see how their lessons have helped me manage day t...

3am- Check my blood sugar if it was drastically out of range (8-12 mmol/L) at 10.30pm. If it’s low it’s time for Nesquik or fruit juice, if it’s high, more blood sugar testing for ketones and water 5.45- Wake up for school, check blood sugar if there were overnight issues 6.30- Check blood sugar and have breakfast, entering my blood sugar level into my insulin pump and calculating the number of carbohydrates I’ll be eating, injecting the insulin as required. Check my pump for battery life and insulin amounts. 7- Leave the house to catch my bus making sure I’ve packed all of my diabetes supplies (testing kits, sugary foods and drinks, back up pump supplies, batteries, back up insulin pens for emergency injections etc.) 8.30- Check my blood sugar at school to see if I need to eat again before class 9- School begins 10.30- Check blood sugar and repeat the breakfast routine. 12.30pm- Check blood sugar and have more insulin if required 1.30- Check blood sugar and r...