An Icee Revelation

So this one time I walked into a gas station and, temporarily forgetting about my (almost) dead pancreas, I came this close to buying a slushy.

1^st thought: *Gasp* those look ah-maz-ing

2^nd thought: It’s hot out, a perfect day for a slushy!

3^rd thought: And they don’t even cost that much!

Then, just as I was getting all worked up, a light bulb went off:

4^th thought: Oh yeah. I have diabetes.

Although I don’t often let this disease limit me when it comes to sweet treats, I had NO idea how to count carbs for a slushy. Not only did I think the amount of carbs would be too much for a normal day treat, I also wasn’t in the mood to take insulin. The thought of avoiding an injection was a more pleasant one than the thought of the cold cherry-coke slushy touching my taste buds.

As before stated, T1D doesn’t usually detour me from devouring sweets. I mean, let’s be honest here, Mickey D’s frappes are my weak point. I think I had three last week (hopefully my Mom’s not reading this…). A small Oreo frappe, my favorite, (thanks a lot person who introduced me- you know who you are) has 82 carbs. A small chocolate chip frappe has 110 carbs, a fact that I discovered yesterday after I already bought one because the Mickey D’s employee informed that they did not have Oreo frappes, even though the picture was clearly displayed on the menu (Uhhh can you say false advertising?!). Although I’m addicted to these things, in all fairness I only get one when I’m out with friends or, like today, traveling. I just happened to hang out with friends a lot last week. Frappes are probably so processed and terrible for me. Ew. I’ve got to kick this habit.

Healthy eating is something I aspire to pursue when I move out and have to buy my own food, but right now I don’t pay for food so I don’t complain, ya know?

Referring back to the slushy story, have you ever almost forgot you had diabetes? It’s all still fresh for me, so I guess it makes sense that I might have a momentary lapse in memory. Or does it?

~Absent minded T1D

Lows

When I was first diagnosed I remember thinking, How am I supposed to know when I go low? 
Ah ha ah ha. That was a good joke. Lets talk about low symptoms here for a sec. Thoughts that run through my head during a low:

• I am going to die of starvation
• Holy smokes, these hot flashes though 
• Legs, if you could work properly that'd be great 
• Why is my tongue not coordinating with my brain?

One of my worst lows yet was only 58, I believe, but it was one of those, I need to sit down and recover kind of lows. Our youth were working hard to prep a meal for a fundraiser we were hosting, and I'd been so busy I hadn't caught my early symptoms (fatigue, shakiness). When I finally realized I was low, I corrected with some carbs (duh, what else would I correct with? :b) then had to sit down and take a breather.

Well tonight at work I'm preeetty sure I went low. I was bagging drive through which had been slammed for about two or more hours. I started feeling tired (normal side effect of working in general though), and my legs didn't seem to feel right. Then I started having difficulties concentrating (also not really unusual). I didn't really have time to check my sugar. One, because we were so busy and two, drive through bagging is kind of a coveted position and showing your manager your interested enough to stay put may give you more opportunities to bag later on. Oh the joys of fast food.

Back to the story. I felt like those cartoon characters with the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The conversation may have went something like this, Devil: "Just drink the Dr Pepper! If you go low you'll pass out!" Angel (or rather, my mothers voice ringing inside my head): "You know you need to check your sugar first, what if your symptoms are all in your head? You could go high later! *GASP*".

Well I drank the Dr. Pepper with nothing to go off of except the fact that I felt like I was trying to go low. I started feeling better though, and I checked my BG as soon as there was a break in the monsoon of cars. 125. Shew! 

Whats your most prominent low symptoms? Have you ever corrected without a number? 

BAD Days

Have you ever had a bad day with diabetes? Not a bad day as in, my numbers are all over the place and I have no idea why because Ive done everything right, but a bad day as in, wow I ate too many carbs, didn't check my BG when I should have and didn't inject at the right time. Its about to get real y'all...

My BG is currently 235. You know why? I ate out all day, for starters. A biscuit for breakfast, a burger and fries for lunch, and Japanese for dinner. I also had ice cream after lunch, and a Klondike bar after dinner. I'm sharing this, not because I am unashamed, because certainly anyone who is as glutenous as I was today should feel a little remorse, but because I want you to know that sometimes a lot of times I mess up. 

My sugar likes to go high on Sunday evenings anyhow, so when I checked my BG before eating out with a friend this evening, it was no surprise I was tad high (166). I bolused as well as I could without an exact carb count, and ate, probably using too much shrimp sauce (contributing factor #1). Then, we stopped by Walmart and I bought Klondike bars (bad decision #2). I remembered I had forgotten to give a correction dose at suppertime so I injected 3 units for 28 carbs instead of two. Pretty rough management here folks- but I'm not done yet. When it came time for my nightly Lantus injection, my friend and I were in the middle of a movie. So what did I do? Put that off until 11pm, when I should have given it at 10 (bad choice #3). 

So this explains why my sugar is high and why I am a failure. Does anyone else ever just NOT care? Of course I care to certain extent, I don't want to go blind, lose limbs or go into kidney failure, but are there times in anyone elses life where you just wish diabetes didn't have to be the center of attention? That you could be careless and get good results? 

Unfortunately, this is not the way life works. In order to obtain good results you have to work hard.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might".
Here's to a better controlled tomorrow. 

PB Cookies :b

Preheat oven to 350

Combine 1 cup PB, 1 cup sugar, and an egg. 

Dollop out into 12 cookies on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.

24 carbs for one cookie. Not bad!

Your welcome : )

The Struggle is Real

Ohhh the temptation! 

Mean little hot, salted, crunchy, soft waffle fry. Why couldnt you stay in the box where you belong?!

Whats your temptation?