#Diabetes Managing My Type 1 Diabetes - Things I Do

#Diabetes Managing My Type 1 Diabetes - Things I Do

Picture From Harvard Medical School Literature

I have had Type 1 Diabetes for Over 35 years and currently take 6 injections of various insulins per day. despite what some people and physicians may feel is a high level of insulin use, I currently have none of the life limiting complications associated with long term diabetes.  I used to think it was luck! but as a disability support assessor and assessment centre manager for 10 years I came to realise that it was not luck, but a solid understanding of my body, its needs and my Diabetes.

Please Note:

I Have Never Suffered From Diabetes

Like Any Killer, I Give It Respect And We Co-exist

The views expressed here are my own and an aid memoire to myself in how I manage my own Type 1 Diabetes,  I do not prescribe anybody do what I do and recommend they make up their own minds and control their own Diabetes.


I have decided to add my Diabetes Mentor blog to my fixed1t blogs account as I have neglected it for a number of years. The main reason for the neglect was that it had a different logon and google+ account which meant logging out of fixed1t on Google then logging back in again as vis-versa. Sadly for me this was like keeping a guitar in its case rather than having it on a guitar stand by your favourite chair, the effect is that after a small number of times you do nothing with it.

fixed1t tip: If you have a guitar in a guitar case you are most likely not using it (too much set up hassle) so get a cheap guitar stand and set it up where its accessible when your waiting for the kettle to boil etc and you will start using it again and love it.

I have also moved all of the my diabetes related and medical self help posts from my various fixed1t blogs into my Diabetes Mentor blog.  Why? well all of them relate to me and are therefore relating to my 36 years of living with Type 1 Insulin Dependent Diabetes.

I also plan to be more active on this Diabetes Mentor blog, in an effort to 'give back' for the 36 years of relatively good health I have had despite my diabetes and not following all medical instructions after working out myself what was best for my body and my life.

I Have Never Suffered From Diabetes

I have always worked with it and around it to manage the obstacles the condition could have applied to my lifestyle,  in this way my Diabetes it has:

Not Prevented Me From Doing Anything I Wanted To Do

Please be aware there is some adult content in this blog.

I hope you find it useful, feel free to ask questions about diabetes and I will try and give you an honest answer as to how I deal with such situations.

#Diabetic Hypo Treatment Urgent Warning - Lucozade High Energy

#Diabetic Hypo Treatment Urgent Warning - Lucozade High Energy

I have had Type 1 Diabetes for Over 35 years and currently take 6 injections of insulins per day and currently have none of the major complications associated with it.

I Do Not Suffer From Diabetes

But Like Any Killer I Treat It With Respect

The views expressed here are my own and an aid memoire to myself in how I manage my own Type 1 Diabetes,  I do not prescribe anybody do what I do and recommend they make up their own minds and control their own Diabetes.

This video is an Urgent Hypo Treatment Warning to Diabetics and carers 

I am doing this video to make people aware that all the Lucozade Glucose / Carbohydrate drinks are no longer the same.

The New Lucozade flavours no longer contain the High Glucose levels of the Original Lucozade and are therefore ineffective at treating Diabetic Hypo's where a small glass of the original orange coloured clear Lucozade, was enough to alleviate the Hypo Symptoms with 5 - 15 minutes.

Also, these low energy Lucozade drinks are ineffective in stacking carbohydrates prior to diabetics undertaking heavy work, a technique I have always used before exercise, sex or in the event of illness.

Please read each bottle carefully before use.



#fixed1tDIABETESmentor

My Diabetes - Can A Diabetic Have A Sex Life? Part 5

Almost everybody at some stage in their life, has a light to moderate hypo from too much exercise, skipping meals or too much to drink.

• pale skin around the eyes

• cold sweats

• tingling of the lips and tongue

• shaky hands

• unsteady on your feet

• difficulty in concentrating

Learning Point:

• Test your blood sugar before

• Eat sufficient fast acting carbohydrates to ensure you don't go hypo

• If in doubt have a bit extra and adjust for it afterwards

A difficulty for diabetics is that excursion hypo is pretty similar to a insulin hypo and there is nothing that will stop you and your partner quicker than either of you worrying that the sweat and clammy skin are down to an impending hypo. 

TBC

My Diabetes - My Favorite Tipple Lucozade

By far the lifesaver for me over the past 32 years has been the humble glucose energy drink "Lucozade".

It is remarkably fast acting at bringing up my blood sugar and not giving me rampant indigestion and I tend to use it when doing work around the house, garden, sex and crazy sports.

I know all the theories about slow release carbohydrates being better for me, and that I should reduce my insulin to do tasks but it always left me exhausted and feeling hypo.

Not only does the mixture of the insulin and the lucozade enable me to get on and do the most difficult jobs it also changes my muscle shape and tone in an afternoon.  Whereas my partner and others spend weeks at the gym and are often left tired and drained by exercise (they have burnt their reserves of glycogen etc) I am left feeling bulked up and ready for more action.

You may think after consuming 30g+ of lucozade and doing some heavy work that my blood sugar would rise after I stop, it seems sensible.  But it doesn't, the blood sugar stays at a reasonable level as my body goes about repairing, refreshing and building muscle my body and the effect last for days or longer.  But if I laze about it all goes back to being untoned.

Mind you I go through quite a bit of it so tend to buy in bulk packs:

Here is a link for Amazon UK 12 x 330ml pack:

And Amazon USA 24 x 330ml pack:

Thats if you can't pick it up in your local store.

In fact a large percentage of the hypos I had when I first became diabetic were post exercise (of any sort) where I had reduced my insulin only to find I need extra carbs as I was going hypo. Then my blood sugar shot through the roof as I had high carbs and reduced insulin. So I had to take a little insulin and I'd bounce back and forth like a game of hyper & hypo ping-pong.

I've also noticed that maintaining my insulin level but using lucozade, my recovery time post-exercise using the is significantly shorter than my non diabetic friends and as they tend to wilt as I just seem to get more in shape, fitter, stronger and more irritating as I want to continue.

But each to their own, this is just how I deal with it.

TBC

Exercise, Blood Sugar and Blood Pressure

Even before I was diabetic I knew that after a long run, I would look pale round the eyes despite having a red face and my hands would tremor.  This is hypoglycaemia in a non diabetic brought on by my burning of all of the bodies reserves too quickly for my body to break down its fats and other substances in the liver and muscles into usable glucose.

If I was not diabetic my body would reduce its insulin production and releases glucose for the remaining insulin to use when I start to exercise.  Insulin is like a catalyst your body needs it to break down sugars.  However as a diabetic on insulin my insulin level will be constant so if I do anything that requires extra energy, and I need to balance it with extra sugars.

Playing Squash

Before I became diabetic I liked the occasional game of tennis or squash.  I'd arranged to meet somebody, book a court, turn up with a bottle of water and play and afterwards I would have a sweet snack.

As a diabetic I can't do this:

1. To play squash I must either reduce my insulin (to prevent me burning to much carbohydrate), this requires forward planning. 
2. Or I drink a high carbohydrate drink before, during and after the game.

Okay thats seems simple enough, choose 1 or 2.  Unfortunately its not that simple.  In both cases diabetic control depends heavily on the reliability of your partner and the time of day of the game,

In both case if my squash partner doesn't arrive on time then I will have to begin exercising myself, i.e. go for a run in order to make up for the lack of a game.

All of the doctors have always told me to reduce my insulin before sport or heavy work that brings me out in a sweat.  I do this only very very occasionally, the reason is quite simple people are unreliable and get caught in traffic, forget or possibly decide not to bother to play.  I may also decide not to do the heavy work if the weather is too bad.  With little insulin in my blood my sugar will go high, and stay high for a long time.

So I tend to have a small mouthful of lucozade just before a game or heavy work and another just as it progresses.  For squash I am ready, if they don't turn up I have a modest bit of exercise to do, to get my blood sugar down.  If they do turn up i'm ready to play.

I also noted from observation, that with the reduced insulin plan it took me longer to recover and I noticed little in the way of physical benefits.  Whereas taking my normal insulin and topping up with high carbohydrate drinks to exercise, feels like watching a Popeye cartoon with spinach (if you don't know about Popeye type it into youtube).  My muscles swell and become more toned and my recovery time is vastly improved and my stamina lasts for days.

Warning, playing with my insulin level is not for the faint hearted and I acknowledge it can be dangerous, so I always have carbo's in my pockets and check my blood levels before and after sport for the some time.  Also tell the other person what you are planning to do and what to do if you start talking nonsense and falling around.

Learning Point

Reducing my insulin allows me to do exercise without lots of extra carbs

Eating or drinking extra carbs allows you to do extra exercise

Doing neither can lead to hypo if you exercise, or high blood sugar if you don't

TBC

My Diabetes : Diabetes Does Not Stop Me Having Fun ! Here's Safe Free-fall Flying :-)

Okay enough of the Diabetes management stuff for a few minutes.

One thing I have never let my diabetes do is to prevent me from doing crazy things.  However, given that a vast majority of injuries in fun sports are often caused to people trying to save somebody else who has gotten themselves into difficulty, since I've been diabetic I've tried not to put others at risk for my stupidities.

Free-fall Parachuting is fun but, as we diabetics know if your sick it could be a bit of a problem trying to consume a large amount of glucose in the back of a bobbing light aircraft whilst still throwing up... I haven't done that by the way I just like to plan ahead ;-)

Also, in reality as a newbie the amount of time you actually free-fall for yourself is pretty short, then a lot of dangling.

So here's a great way I got the flying free-fall fun of the wind in my face in a serious vertical Airkix wind tunnel.  Nothing got hurt (not even my pride with the silly hat they made me wear), and if I need to stop, I could just step out of the airflow.

If you have a recently diagnosed young diabetic (or oldie young at heart) who thinks he'll never be able to do anything remotely silly again, I thoroughly recommend it and I've been diabetic for 32 years and it hasn't stopped me.

My Diabetes - Safe Airkix Free-fall Flying Fun

Malcolm