Symlin and CGM: Digging it

So, I finally (finally) started trying out Symlin again. I really like it. I decided not to follow the instructions to bump up the dosage of Symlin (15mg, to 30mg to 60mg). I instead bumped up the dosage only if my blood sugars began climbing after meals.

I bumped up to 30mg about a week ago and haven't gone higher yet and I've been on it for three weeks so far. 30 mg makes me a tiny bit nauseous, but not like 60mg. 15 mg didn't make me feel sick at all. My blood sugars are SO stable. I have found when I eat a snack and don't take the Symlin, I bounce above 200 almost every time. With the Symlin I ride with barely a bump in the road.

One of the reasons I was so hesitant to try Symlin again is because of the drastic lows I had. They were scary. Scary enough for me to quit taking it.

My goals are to take less insulin, stabilize my BS and if I lost weight, I would be really grateful. Really.

I would not, under any circumstances, use Symlin without a CGM. It completely freaks me out to think of someone dosing 60 mg after a week or two on Symlin and not knowing their blood sugar afterward. Scary stuff if not monitored.

To conclude, if your doctor recommends it, take a look, but pay attention to your body AND your CGM.

CDC Webcast: H1N1 and People with Diabetes

Late notice, but today, November 18, 2009 at 1:00 pm eastern the CDC will offer a webcast for people with diabetes about H1N1 Flu and the issues faced by folks with diabetes.

In a nut shell, if you have diabetes, it is recommended you get an H1N1 vaccine. See the CDC-Diabetes site for details or the link to the Webcast.

Another diagnosis

On Facebook tonight I learned that a colleague's son was diagnosed with diabetes at two years old. He asked for warm wishes and helpful" We'll get through this" advice. He had 23 comments at last check.

I sent him a message and said I am happy to help them anyway I can. My experience with diabetes for the past 26 years and three days (Oct.13, 1983) will be helpful. My experience with a daughter with T1 for five years and two months will be welcome, I'm sure.

However, my long message offered very little advice; that two of the three available doctors are best, and that it really will be ok.

What more can you say on the eve of diagnosis?

Diabetes Envy? Kids are weird.

My daughter has a friend who is rather enthralled with her diabetes. Her mother told me that she created a blood sugar kit with an old bag, made a fake meter and also put a calculator or something in her pants to look like a pump.

When she came to our house one time, she tripped and cut her leg. Instead of crying and screaming, she immediately jumped up and asked if she could take her blood sugar with the blood.

Today is her Birthday--Party!

Today is my daughter's 9th birthday party. I have the biggest cake on order you can buy and 40 plus people and kids coming to celebrate.

We also just recognized the 5th anniversary of her diagnosis. I remember her 4th birthday party, which was 20 days after her trip to the hospital. We served cupcakes, because I could figure out the carbs easier.

Looking forward to celebrating with friends and family today. It's been a tense and stressful start of school. Diabetes, teachers, nurses, 504 adjustments, big highs, and big lows and no pattern for making adjustments. Looking forward to week two when adrenaline isn't such a factor in BG levels.

Looking for cooler weather too, but I need to give it another three months in Austin. 66 days at over 100 and I think today will put us to 67!

Nervous

I can't help myself. My daughter is spending the night at friends tonight, I got her last blood sugar reading at 9:15 pm and it was 137, but I can't help but be nervous when she isn't with me.

Ugg. She is becoming so independent (4th grade this fall) and she is so capable of taking care of herself, but I am still nervous. I guess that comes with being a mom. To add diabetes to the layer of complexity between a mother and a daughter is a lot to ask of any human being.

"Control" The Dreaded, Overarching Theme with Diabetes

Wow! Control is such a loaded word in diabetes care.

¹con·trol

Pronunciation:

\kən-ˈtrōl\

Function:

verb

Inflected Form(s):

con·trolled; con·trol·ling

15th century

transitive verb1 a: archaic : to check, test, or verify by evidence or experiments b: to incorporate suitable controls in controlled experiment>2 a: to exercise restraining or directing influence over : regulate b: to have power over : rule C: to reduce the incidence or severity of especially to innocuous levels <control an insect population><control a disease>
In diabetes care, it isn't that simple. My daughter (8, almost 9) feels very in control of her situation. I am very proud of her, but my husband and I have very consciously worked to empower her and have made LIFE first, diabetes second.
I would LOVE to hear from parents who have figured out the "control" balance; parents who give their kids space to be, take care of themselves and found a way to "let go," so they can fly.
Please share your stories, I have readers who desperately need to hear from you. How did you move away from diabetes running your lives and go back to living?

First independent shot

My daughter's blood sugar was high adn she needed a new infusion set tonight. She ate a snack and declared that she was going to give herself a shot. She dialed up the Novopen and injected herself in the arm.

I'm so proud of her taking control and doing it herself without my prompting. I have oodles of pride in her this week about so many things. I pinch myself, completely amazed at how in love and fortunate I am to have such an amazing kid.

Pinch!

Self-Care Gift for Moms

This post is especially for moms living with Type One Diabetes. Whether you have diabetes yourself or you care for a child with diabetes, self-care is vital to our survival. It is something that took me a long time to learn and I still have to remind myself that if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

With that, and the approaching Mother's Day holiday, I wanted to post a very special offer for Moms (or Dads that have the sense to take this offer and give it to their lovely wives).

FREE MOTHER’S DAY BOOK OFFER
Download a free copy of life balance expert Renee Trudeau’s award winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life for 48 hours: May 8th-May 10th at http://www.mothersguidetoselfrenewal.com/ Sign up today!

I learned most of what I know about self-care from Renee Trudeau, a career and life balance coach in Austin, Texas. She introduced the concept of filling my cup first (yes even before my T1 child's) and also how to say "NO." She put all she knows into the very loving month-by-month Mother's Guide to Self Renewal.

Happy Mother's Day! Oh! My girl and I are featured in Month Four of the book.

Time goes by...

It is amazing to me how fast things move. A week just shot by in a fraction of a second and it scares me when I hear things just get faster with age.

I'm a less than a month away from turning 40 and have 25 years with diabetes under my belt. I just went to the eye doctor and my eyes are perfect, except for my need for progressive lenses (I'm getting old, duh). Went to my Endo and spent 20 minutes talking with him about a lot of things. Wasn't a ton to talk about with my diabetes. We made some adjustments because I am running high after I eat a bedtime snack. I need to make more adjustments still.

I don't wear my CGM as much these days, but when I do, I seem to run in really good control most of the day and night, except after bedtime snack.

My daughter on the other hand, has been swinging like a monkey in the trees lately. I made some changes to bolus and basal, but I haven't seen things even out. I am watching the trends and then, *snap* a week has gone by and I haven't figured her out. My only thought is hormones must be raging as she tops 4'6" and 87 lbs at 8 years old.

We suffered a serious loss in the past 6 months. My daughter's diabetes educator left the practice we go to. Anyone with diabetes knows that our doctors don't know diddly compared to the Diabetes Educators. She was really our life line. I would call her day or night and she always had an answer. Perhaps it was many years taking care of diabetes peds patients, many years with diabetes herself or all the training she got taking care of her son with diabetes. She is AWESOME and I can't call her anymore. :(

And since she left, I don't feel connected to that office anymore. I like the doctor fine, she is brilliant and loves my girl, but I feel like I lost my "go to." As time slips by and I watch her blood sugars bounce, I start to feel lost and have no desire to call the office for help. THEY don't know my kid like SHE did. Kinda angry about it still, but again, time moves so fast for me now that I can understand how a grudge could linger for half a year or more.

My months may be gliding by, but that has also served me well. Nights and days of worry over fever and flu, days of lows that just never seem to come up. Super-rubber-ball 400s, then 30s in a three to four hour period; they all smooth out over time. I have found, that if I can stop and hit the pause button, breathe, and look at what is going on , do what I have learned to the best of my ability, that things always seem to work out fine. It isn't the individual blood sugar readings that matter so much, it is what is happening over time.

My last A1C was 7.2 and I was thrilled. I know, we are supposed to shoot for 6.0 to 7.0, but 7.2 made me jump for joy. Remember, I ran high for many, many nights at bedtime, but the rest of my 24 hours in a day I did very well.

Can I make improvements? Always! But my averages are good, I have no complications, I am enjoying my life, I am able to care for my girl AND I can stop and hit the pause button occasionally and appreciate all I have learned. I can live with this without being afraid; I am not afraid.