#Diabetes - #Norovirus #Attack Day 2 08:37 30th December 2013

#Diabetes - #Norovirus #Attack Day 2 08:37 30th December 2013 

blood sugar 13.2 nausea subsiding and decided to starve for another day as my body is now breaking down fat and therefore could go hyper causing an escalating increase in sugar and dangerous ketosis ( breaking down fat) I therefore took 8 units of Levemir and 4 units of Humalog drank half a glass of fluid and went back to sleep setting alarm for 11:30. Planning going well and well controlled. alarm set for 3 pm and sleep

My Diabetes - How I Became Interested in the Psychology And Physiology of My Hypos part 2

Long before Diabetic Dogs became available, I had a discussion with one of my specialist doctors and nurses about smelling the hypo before it happened and therefore being an early warning system. They look sympathetically at me with that 'well if you think thats true thats fine'.
I was still a student and we were studying the so called 'mystic' branch of psychology called Phenomenological Psychology.  It was joked about being 'mystic' because is a branch of psychology not based on external experiments (how I remember it) but on monitoring internal processes. i.e. how do I feel about this.

My Diabetes - How I Became Interested in the Psychology And Physiology of My Hypos part 1

As a 12 year old, we had an interesting Religious Instruction teacher, who covered not only the biblical teachings, but if we were all attentive and behaved he'd spend some at the end of lessons on what we referred to as weird stuff.  Some Old Testament stories of Ezekiel and his description of the 4 propeller 'Lancaster Bomber' and other weird stories from the popular Astronauts from space guru Enrich Von Daniken. He also told us about dowsing and other old mystic type stuff and we'd bring and bend metal coat hangers and search for hidden copper coins in one of the 32 desks to learn how to dowse.  


He also told us about prophets and indian fakirs and ancient and modern mystics and yogi's. He also had a great old book on meditation and showed us pictures of a yogic masters sitting with his legs crossed balancing on their hands, controlling pain and various bodily functions and explain he warned that these took years to perfect, so don't try them at home.

After I discovered I was very good at finding copper coins in desks, a friend and I went to the library for books on yoga.  After some practise I learned to be able to slow my breathing and heart rate and being a thin child I could easily do the half and full lotus.  I discussed with friends how great it would be if you could learn to control things our bodies body and set about doing it, then some years later I discovered it was a new pseudo science called Bio Feedback.

Years on from this, I found a number of  articles in a number of hobby electronics magazines for Bio-Feedback machines and Galvanic Skin Response meters, so I built a couple.  Using the machine I quickly discovered that I actually could do what I thought I had done as a child, slow my heart and respiration, relax very quickly and deeply and the electronic gismos confirmed I was indeed popping in and out of relaxation at the drop of a hat.

So when I became diabetic whilst studying Behavioural Sciences degree, I knew physiological things were indeed happening to me and the effects on my body and from the psychological perspective also my mind. So I decided to become my very own lab rat. I also discovered there was a branch of Psychology that attempted to gain great insights not by doing experiments but by internal personal observation.  It had fallen into disrepute by being a sort of  'mystic' branch of psychology called Phenomenological Psychology.  

It was shunned about being 'mystic' because is a branch of psychology not based on external experiments (how I remember it) but on monitoring internal processes. i.e. how do I feel about this.  Now I had machine that could review my physiology and feelings, tastes, smells and behaviours I could comment on, so I set about using what tools and observations I could make to understand how my hypos affected me and how to prevent them from overwhelming me and rendering me unconscious.

And what an interesting journey it has been.

TBC

My Diabetes - Can A Diabetic Have A Sex Life? Part 3

Ignoring all of the emotional content for the time being, its important that a diabetic views sex as exercise, and like any exercise provisions of the extra carbohydrates is crucial.  So ignoring the biology, one has to seriously decide is this a:

• short sprint with no warm-up (hopefully by mutual consent :-)

• ten minutes warm-up then a short walk

• ten minutes warm-up then a long walk

• twenty minute warm-up and a short walk

• twenty minute warm-up and a long walk

• thirty minute warm-up and short walk

• thirty minute warm-up and long walk

• .....

And then there are the marathons for the younger members who don't have work to go to or kids to take everywhere and do all nighters at the festivals. LOL
Using the sports example each of the scenarios will require different preparation and unless planned well in advance and catered for the outcomes could be good or not so good.

• Try and test your blood fifteen - twenty mins before

• If low I drink a quantity of lucozade beforehand, if high I drink a mouthful.  I'm afraid slow release dry wheat biscuits will not suffice

• I always try to ensure I have a bottle close at hand to top up

• I always had some longer lasting 'biscuit' or cake to eat afterwards to ensure there is no post exercise hypo

• If I start to run out of steam I top up 

My best advise if this is all new to you (don't worry nobody ever told me about sex and diabetes) is to keep a little diary:

Time and Date?

blood sugar before?

carbs taken?

warm up time?

walk or run time?

Did you feel hypo?

What were the symptoms?

Headache?

blood sugar after?

It isn't necessary to do this for a long time, but a pattern will emerge quite quickly.

In fact I'll create a tiny database to go on the iPad/iPhone for people to try out, and I'll make it password protected.

TBC

My Diabetes - Can A Diabetic Have A Sex Life? Part 2

Well it didn't take me more than a few hilariously bad attempts to realise that the Doctors and medical experts obsession with achieving and maintaining a constant low blood sugar was not going to do much for my sex life with the cocktail sausage and the damp squib being but a couple available options without appropriate planning and preparation.

The first thing a diabetic needs is a sensitive and sympathetic partner with a sense of humour and who won't take it personally if there is a bedroom failure. I always smile when people say sex is something to be taken seriously 'really' only with your clothes on.  Otherwise you may as well be mud wrestling with warm white chocolate for the mess it makes and the grunting and the sweating and thats before you've even switch the television off.  LOL

The first thing to consider is that if I have a severe hypo whilst playing at missionaries, then I will become a literal deadweight. The more energetically one goes about such things the more sudden is the decline. I imagine many partners do not take lightly to being squashed, although for others it may be what they are seeking. Now you may have pretended for a few moments in the past that you have become a dead weight, but the real thing is much much heavier and more scary and difficult to move, to breath as any judo enthusiast will tell you and unlike the films people tend not to collapse in convenient positions so they can be easily rolled off.

But I've jumped in at the deep end, as we men have occasionally been accused of doing.  It was deliberate.

TBC

My Diabetes - Coincidence or What? UK Newspaper Article - Why sex is good for you

I was just looking for the statistic that sex is equivalent to athletic exercise when I stumbled across this article in todays UK 'Daily Mail Online'.

The article gives ten reasons why sex is good for normal healthy people.

daily mail newspaper article Why sex good you 28th November 2013


What they didn't realise when researching this is that given a large percentage of the complications caused by or associated with diabetes are circulation related, then sex for diabetics must be even more health giving.  Lets face it, anything which increases your exercise, heart rate, carbohydrate metabolism is in my own personal experience extremely useful especially when a lot of exercise is mind numbing.

Also, depression and loneliness are frequent issues for long term diabetics, so anything which causes the release of the positive hormones and makes you feel good must help and bind you to your loved ones.

I'm not surprised that sex is good, but alas not available on Dr's prescription.

I hope you enjoy the article.

Below are Amazon UK links to one of the 1999 published book mentioned at the end of the article, and to a more recent thesis for those who like to research their topics.

                

And for USA readers, here are the Amazon links

               

I hope this does not offend peoples sensibilities no smut is intended.

TBC

My Diabetes - Can A Diabetic Have A Sex Life? Part 1

As a male diabetic I can tell you Type 1 Diabetes and sex has all the makings of a comedy of errors for a number of physiological reasons and you may as well try walking a tightrope with a blind fold on if you don't make preparations.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, blood pressure and blood sugar are linked and given that a certain crucial part of my male anatomy is literally pumped up by blood pressure, it does take much imagination to realise that if my blood sugar drops then my blood pressure also drops and so does any chance of operating the crucial anatomy.

So if I stoke up on carbohydrates beforehand, I just need a bread role to play hunt the hotdog.  But if I fail to have sufficient carbohydrates it will end in a case of find the cold cocktail sausage. ;-) LOL

Now for non diabetics this isn't an issue, unless they get drunk, because getting drunk on an empty stomach will make you hypo and therefore liable to be playing in cocktail sausage territory.

So before having sex I need a cunning plan.

A sad side effect of this is it takes most of the spontaneity out of the event, because this is the only true case of the business saying:

" If you fail to plan you plan to fail " and your attempts will very much end with a damp squib.

 Arg, but I hear people say, have some extra carbohydrates.  But like with the squash game I regaled you with in a previous blog, if you take loads of carbohydrates and your partner says "sorry I have a headache" then you'll definitely get one too from a very high blood sugar and be up all night peeing honey and figuring out how you can put such a high reading in your diabetic record for the nurse or doctor to comment on.

So what to do?

TBC

My Diabetes - A Great Night Out Clubbing Ends in Accidental Coma

In the eighties when we were both young students, D was visiting her relatives and I decided to go out on a Friday night drinking and clubbing with a friend.  I promised D that I wouldn't  drink too much and would be careful.

We had a really good night but I got just a little greedy and when offered one of the road I took it.  I got home feeling a little worse for ware, tested my urine which didn't seem too bad, so I took my insulin and had my supper and went to bed.  Then the room began to spin slowly then a little quicker. It wasn't long before I realised that I was going to be sick.

I got up and was sick, and went to lie on the bed and rapidly began to realise I was going hypo, so I went down stairs and drank some lucozade and went back to bed, only to have to visit the bathroom again.  I realised that I was alone and potentially in trouble and repeated the cycle a number of times.  The last thing I remember it was around 3 am and I was sitting on the kitchen floor, so I didn't fall over, and eating a biscuit.

When I woke I was absolutely frozen and shivering violently.  I looked up at the clock and it was around 11 am.  I was a little annoyed with myself for not foreseeing what would happen if I got sick and making plans.  I realised I'd missed my 8am insulin so the whole day would need to start from now, but I was hungry and my head was killing me.

So I decided I'd go over the road and get some fresh bread from the shop and a paper.  I asked the guy for the fresh bread and he said they only had yesterdays, which was a little unusual, and I then started rummaging through the papers.  But as I did so I got increasingly confused as the papers were not the Saturday papers I had expected, they were Sunday papers.

Then it hit me like a brick, on a winters day I had been curled up on the kitchen floor unconscious for over 32 hours in what must have been a coma, luckily the low temperature and the few carbs I had consumed must have reduced my metabolic rate and thankfully I suffered no longer term damage or worse death.
D coming back and finding me dead on the floor would not have been good.

Normally my body would have broken down the glycogen etc in liver and muscles and then the fat, but alcohol inhibits this process from happening until it has been dealt with.

Learning Points

• I realised that my youthful drinking days would have to be moderated
• I realised that a simple night out partying can rapidly develop into a medical emergency if I wasn't careful
• I realised that I was in control of the drinking, the offer of one for the road however kindly offered had to be balanced with the potential outcome
• I learned over the next few months that I didn't need to get blind drunk to have fun
• I realised that after a few drinks, any more I drank did little but to pee my money away
• I realised that the less I drank, the easier it was to get the enjoyment part of it with very small qualities, a cheap night out ;-)
• In deciding to moderate my drinking early in my diabetes,  I had accidentally prevented myself from getting some of the major diabetic complications in later life made worse by excessive drinking with diabetes
• I realised that each day was a new adventure

TBC

My Diabetes - How I Deal With Eating Out

Having explained the difficulties I have experienced with eating out the question is what I have done to try and avoid the pitfalls.  The thing to remember is that its only the carbohydrates that are the issue and have to be taken in balance with my insulin.

If its a night out my partner wants to do with her golf friends that she knows will have no real meal time, then I gracefully decline.  It's nice for the non-diabetics to have a normal mealtime without having to worry about me eating on time.

If I want or need to attend then:

• I eat my carbohydrate allowance as a meal before going out. This is usually something very really simple, fish fingers and oven chips. 
• I then attend the meal and eat everything that doesn't contain carbohydrates in the main course.
• Quite often I get to eat some of the pudding, as it often arrives several hours late and about the right time for my mid evening snack.

As always I carry 3 or 4 biscuit bars (12 - 15 carbs) in my pockets and a bottle of lucozade in the car.  I always carry more carbs than I need for the event so that in the event of a breakdown etc I know I have enough to take me through to the next lunchtime. 

There have been many times when I have been told categorically that the meal will be on time, and that we will be sat down to eat by 7pm only for the fickle finger of fate to step in and mess things up.  So although I often end up paying for a meal I don't get to eat all of, its worth it for my health and my peace of mind.

Learning Points

• Unless I'm cooking the food it may be late
• My urgency has the potential to be an emergency if not planned for
• I don't expect other non-diabetics to understand and even if the do they may not be in control
• I always carry plenty of food and never leave the house without it
• As soon as I get home I test my blood and if its high I taken an extra few units of short acting insulin to bring it back down gracefully

My Diabetes - Angry Diabetic When Eating Out

For me, over the years,  the thing that has been guaranteed to make me edgy and angry is eating out.

I have lost count of the times when we have gone to eat out with friends. colleagues or strangers and it doesn't go to plan. The reasons are really simple for non-diabetics:

• they don't need to worry about when they eat
• they don't need to worry about what they eat
• they don't need to worry about how much they eat
• they don't need to worry if they arrive late
• they usually want to go to the bar for a chat and drink
• they usually want to wait until everybody has arrived before ordering
• they don't need to worry how long they take to ponder the wine list
• they don't worry too much over how long it takes for the food to arrive

It usually goes something like this:

• we make sure those organising the meal out  know I am a diabetic, and we agree a time when we will be sat down and eating, for example 8pm
• we agree that everybody will meet in the bar by 7:30pm
• we agree we will order at the bar and be seated with starters by 8pm

Alas, the reality is often:

• virtually nobody has arrived by 7:30pm 
• by 8pm people are just arriving and are chatting at the bar
• by 8:30pm we are still missing people
• eventually everybody has arrived by 9pm and we go to sit down

As I diabetic I've been in a dilemma for 1 hour, should I eat an extra biscuit whilst waiting for the others or will they be here as they promised.  If I eat and extra biscuit I will have to leave some of the expensive food on my plate or risk having a high blood sugar.

So at 9pm we are seated at the table, then the fun begins:

• Everybody wants to discuss the menu, should I have x, y or z
• Then the huge wine debate breaks out
• before we know it, its 9:30 as we place the orders

The issue we now have is the restaurant which was relatively empty at 8pm with quick kitchen response times is now running flat out with delays.  It's 10pm before the food arrives and I've been getting increasingly annoyed with the situation for the past 2 hours.

Unfortunately those that don't know me most likely think I'm a grumpy person without knowing that if we had one stuck to the plan of 7:30 meet 8pm eat we have all been happy.

Of course due to the extra carbohydrates I've eaten due to the delays and my blood sugar rising naturally as my lunchtime insulin has long since disappeared. When the food arrives I have no idea how much carbohydrate, garlic and other blood sugar changing herbs are in the food.  One thing I can be certain of is my blood will be high by the time I get home. 

Learning Points:

• non-diabetics can eat when they want and there is nothing I can do to change it
• with the best will in the world people get delayed
• some people are naturally always late
• I can never tell how long the restaurant will take to serve me
• I have no idea what the carbohydrate level of the food is

This is a lot of unknowns.  Also, I have had a 32 year joke with Debbie, wherever we sit in a restaurant for some reason I am always the last to be served. LOL  Therefore, if I am invited out to an important meal I have to think very carefully in advance how you are going to deal with the delays.

Luckily as an insulin diabetic, if I test my blood and it is high, I can give myself some extra short acting insulin to bring it back down in a few hours. Then begin my normal routine.

TBC

My Diabetes - Angry Diabetic Syndrome

One of the most common things I hear about diabetics and I have experienced it myself many times is what I will call my 'Angry Diabetic' syndrome.

I liken this to a real life Jackal and Hyde situation.  One minute I am a kind rational person and the next even the most simple thing anger me.

By monitoring my blood glucose and my moods I very quickly noticed there is a direct correlation between my mood, rationality and my blood sugar levels. As the blood sugar drops and the amount of sugars available in my brain also drops.  I become angry, anxious, confused and my higher reasoning functions seem to drop away and I become a like an aggressive animal.

I put this down to the fact that I as a human being are basically a violent animal and we had to be to survive and end up at the top of the food chain.  But realistically the only thing that separates me from other animals is my larger brain(which needs lots of food) and my associated higher functioning centres. When these higher functions get switched off or suppressed due to lack of sugar then then not surprisingly I revert back to a lower animal state.

I liken this to a 'kill to eat' reflex and if you want to see it in action trying taking food away from a very hungry pet.  If they are not too hungry they will let you, but there becomes a point where they will growl and fight you for it.

The thing which is fascinating about this is that moment the blood sugar comes back even slightly up I am immediately calmer and like nothing has happened.

It's not just diabetics who show aggression there blood sugar levels drop.

It's been know for centuries that a hungry army is more violent, aggressive, less rational and more likely to take risks.  Interestingly, after a great battle and plunder there was often a great feast and the soldiers and commanders became less violent and began to behave with some compassion, until the food ran out?

Some years ago european lager companies brought out strong beers with no sugars in them.  Suddenly there was a massive rise in bad behaviour and violence linked to these beers.  Drinking sugar free alcohol and an empty stomach is a sure fire way to make anybody hypoglycaemic,  out of control and aggressive.

From my own experience I noted that violent drinkers had very poor diets preferring to drink alcohol rather than eat.  Most likely causing a very drunken Hyde to visit.

This is certainly an area requiring study.

Learning Point:

1) To avoid Hyde coming out to play and becoming an angry diabetic, I make sure my blood sugars do not drop too low.
2) It appears to me from my monitoring that if I stick to the very low levels of blood sugar demanded by my medical advisers, then I can quickly become Hyde from the simplest mild exertion.
3) If I have low blood sugar and my meal is delayed for whatever reason, then Hyde comes out to play.

For me there is a definite tradeoff of ultra low blood sugar, hypo and anger. With slightly higher blood sugar I remain calm and rational.

It is up to the reader to decide in discussion with your medical team and family what is acceptable and best for you.  I was making my own life and that of Debbie a misery with Hyde outbursts until I found the best levels for me.

TBC

My Diabetes - What did I do to try and avoid diabetic hypos

In reality it is impossible for me to avoid ever having a hypo, the real question is how can I lessen the chance of having a 'severe unexpected hypo' which would require the help from others.  What I quickly realised was that the most important thing to do was to discover 'My Hypo Early Warning Signals' so I could prevent a mild hypo from becoming something much worse.

The way I went about this was to make the conscious decision to become more aware of my internal self and my body. Before I became diabetic I didn't pay that much attention to my body. I knew:

1) If I was tired, I slept.
2) When I was hungry, I ate
3) If I ate bad food, it made my ill
4) If I I ran a long distance, I became stiff
5) If I stubbed my toe, it hurt

These were all the normal things, but I knew I had to go further.

So for a short period I kept a note book and gradually I began to notice things:

1) If I had to get up in the night to go for a pee
  --> my urine test at breakfast showed high sugars
2) If I woke up in the morning with a basketball bladder
  --> my urine test at breakfast showed high sugars
3) If I woke up in the night soaked in a cold sweat
 --> I was experiencing a night hypo and need to drink a high glucose drink
4) If I woke up in the morning with a tiny cold penis
  --> my urine test at breakfast were blue and very low
5) If I had an extremely full bladder and hadn't drank much
  --> my urine test at showed high sugars
6) When I broke out in a cold hypo sweat I smelt a kind of musk on my skin
 --> I was going hypo and needed to eat
7) If the images before my eyes started to get blotchy like looking through cloth
 --> I was going hypo and needed to eat
8) If my lips started to tingle and my chin became cold and numb
 --> I was going hypo and needed to eat
9) If I started to look red face and get a headache
  --> my urine test showed high sugars
10) If my calfs and thighs started to feel like they were full of treacle
  --> my urine test showed high sugars

This observing becomes a form of biofeedback, from evidence and feelings I very quickly became aware of my body and its needs and the signals it gave me when it was in distress.

Learning Point:

If I wanted to be in control of my diabetes, I had to know what it did to me and how those things, felt, tasted and smelled.

The most import thing I learned was:

The hypo is not my enemy trying to cut me down, its a friend warning me that I need to do something to prevent things getting worse.

TBC