Tag: Insulin

High low! High Low! It's up and down we go!

Recently I have been noticing some odd BG behavior. Last weekend while on the way to my daughters dance recital (she's 6 and a little princess) I experienced a low of 37. I normally check my BG before and about two hours after each meal but I started to feel odd about an hour after eating. My wife was driving and I noticed that I was feeling hot and sweaty even though the car A/C was set for 60. My thinking felt fuzzy. I pulled out my glucometer (my hands had started shaking by this time ) and stared at the reading for a moment. 37. My wife must have noticed something was wrong because she said, "Everything OK?". "No", I said, I need sugar.

We scrambled around to find some hard candy. We have two young kids and yet there was no candy to be found in the car. I normally carry a backpack with my glucometer, test strips, lancets, Novolog Flexpen, flex pen needles, and BD glocose tablets. I carry the backpack everywhere. That day I decided to take the meter and leave everything home. My wife found a packet of sugar from her last trip to Dunkin' Donuts and saved the day.

This has never happened before. The previous day I had a similar experience after eating dinner. My BG was down to 49. Today, it's happening again, about two hours after lunch. BG is 85. Wait! No. It's now 100. Wait no!!

Did I take too much insulin? Not likely. I took the same amount I always take for this amount of food.

Too much fat in the meal? No more than any other meal. 11.7g. I had a Weight Watchers meal, Texas Toast and an Apple.

Lunch June 23 2007

I am tracking my insulin and BG readings on the SugarStats.com web site and will be able to create some interesting reports that may help shed light on what's going on.

SugarStats.com

Diabetes survival gear

Shortly after I was diagnosed I was given a free meter by the hospital. It was a big bulky thing that required a bucket of blood and a day to register a reading. Since them I have purchased the FreeStyle Flash Blood Glucose Meter (one for home and one for travel) from Abbott Laboratories. It take readings in about 7 second and require but a tiny drop of blood for a reading. My endocrinologist has software into which he can download the data and graph my blood glucose over time ( albeit snapshots in time ).

Novolog FlexPenI also purchased a backpack in which I carry my Apple MacBook, FreeStyle test strips, FreeStyle Sterile Lancets, a Novolog Flexpen insulin pen, and NovoFine needles for the FlexPen. I use the OS-X version of the Calorie King Exercise and Nutrition Manager to track and chart my daily food intake and also lookup the occasional restaurant meal. My kids thinks it's cool that I have a backpack just like theirs.

SimpleShot

David Pogue, a tech writer for the New York Times, reports on a new invention called the SimpleShot. The device provides an injection of glucagon, a hormone produced by the pancreas that stimulates an increase in blood sugar levels. Diabetics on insulin are often at risk for hypoglycemia, an abnormally low level of glucose in the blood. Normally administering the glucagon involves mixing a powder and a solution. The invention was a finalist in the Modern Marvels Invent NOW Challenge.