#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

#Diabetes - #Norovirus #Attack 30th December 2013 05:36

#Diabetes - #Norovirus #Attack  30th December 2013 05:36

blood test 15 mmol, decided I need to increase the Humalog to 6 units to bring it down to 12 -13 could hold back on the nausea and was sick luckily the fluid I'd taken has dissolved the pills so job done, I then drank some more fluid as the thing to avoid besides hypo is dehydration. I then checked the alarm was 08:15 before going to sleep.

My Diabetes - 30th December 2013 02:30

Blood Test 12.3 feeling aweful lots of hot  flushes trying not to be sick for a few more hours took 4 units of Humalog and set the alarm for 05:30 took 2 more paracetamol, really pleased I'm maintaining the 12 -13, most important thing is to avoid a severe hypo and a stay in hospital.

My Diabetes - Norovirus 29th December 23:40

Knowing that i needed to take my usual collection of Pills and could risk being sick I gave into the nausea and vomited soon after waking, I the  tested my blood after washing my hands and before sterilising  them with alcohol.  My blood sugar was 12.3 and I took all my pills with a little milk along with stugeron hoping it would prevent me throwing up for the next 4 hours or so.

I then took another 4 units of Humalog and 8 units of  Levimir, then I set the alarm clock for 02:30 and went to sleep.

My Diabetes - Norovirus 29th December 2013 21:00

Just after 21:00 I tested my blood sugar after vomiting again, thankfully it had now come up to 13 mili mols which from the past i know is a good level to allow me to control it in 3 hour blocks with just short acting insulin with a risk of serious hypo ( for me),  after testing my blood I took 4 units of Humalog and no carbohydrates.  I then took two paracetamol for the pounding headaches and half a glass of squash and set the alarm.  For 23:30.

My Diabetes - Attack of Norovirus day 1

I tried really hard to avoid Norovirus and as I haven't been out much recently I thought I'd missed it.  Then went to pub a few days ago and yesterday afternoon I realised my sugars were going low so kept topping up with carbos all very weird.  Them 16:00 I had a lie down and some more lucozade. Unfortunately  things just got worse.  At 18:30 29th December 2014 I recognised the nausea and luckily by 18:45 I was being sick.  Now you may think the word luckily is a strange thing to say, but 15 mins later I'd have taken 20 units of Humalog and sickness after that would have been a major problem as I discovered some years ago, unlike the films insulin and no ability to keep anything down is a major problem.

After being sick, it was apparent from the nausea that this wasn't going to be a one off as the nausea came in waves.

I tested my blood and it was 4.4 despite all the extra carbos all day.

So I took 10 grams of carbos and no insulin and went to bed setting the alarm for 2hours
and taking a large glass of water with a little salt in it, blood testing meter and a bottle of lucozade.

Submitting diabetesmentor blogger blog to Bing for the search engine to find it

Hi,

I've just finished a video on how I submitted this blog to Bing so it would appear in the Bing web searches, hopefully it will make it easier to do things.  

picture of the binf webmaster page showing diabetesmentor blog

So if your involved with a good cause and want to ask any questions on setting up your own blog or that of a good cause pages, including ad-sense advertising please feel free to ask. The video is on my fixed1t youtube site.

Malcolm Dixon's fixed1t Bing submission video

Still no comments on any of my blog entries :-(

Regards Malcolm (aka fixed1t)

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 6 Viagra, Cialis & Levitra

There is no point in taking expensive erectile disfunction pills like:

Viagra, Cialis or Levitra
If you are planning to ingest large quantities of alcohol with the romantic meal etc. I don't know why alcohol has such a deleterious effect on these pills, but it does.

Also, as I've mentioned previously alcohol prevents the body from using its own energy stores so their is an increased risk of hypo which again will kill off the effect of the pills.

Learning Points:

• Alcohol and Viagra, Cialis or Levitra don't mix

• If you have to drink, do some test to find the right balance for you

• Make sure you have sufficient carbs 

• Viagra, Cialis or Levitra will make your heart beat faster and burn more carbs

TBC

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 - Can A Diabetic Have A Sex Life? Part 4 Viagra, Cialis & Levitra

So what 'Daddies Little Helpers':

• Viagra

• Cialis ( tadalafil )

• Levitra

• etc

Unless you have taken an appropriate amount of carbohydrate and continue to do so during the exercise session none of these pills will help. They will only increase the blood pressure to nether regions, if you are not hypo, and are engaging actively. 

So before reaching for the pill draw its important to get the planning and the provisions correct.

Learning Points:

• These pills need carbohydrates to work
• These pills take time to work 
• During the 30 mins to 1 hour lead time your blood sugar needs to be higher
• If you frequently have hypos these pills are unlikely to help
• If you frequently have hypos these pills my make it worse
• Plan -- Don't Fail

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 - 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

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 - How often do you as a diabetic or the diabetic your with look at their watch?

I have found over the years that it's really important when meeting new people I will be interacting with to let them know I'm diabetic.  It really helps them understand the little 'weird?' behaviours I've developed over the years as just plain common sense.  Question? How often do you as a diabetic or the diabetic your with look at their watch?

For me its very often almost whenever I mention time. So what did I think that those who didn't know I was a diabetic thought I was doing?  I didn't know so  I asked them after telling them I was diabetic, and they said things like, I thought:

• you were a very nervous person
• you were impatient with me or others
• you looked like a junkie waiting for your next fix
• you weren't interested in what I had to say
• it was an ignorant thing to keep doing in public
• if he keeps doing that, I'll ask him if there's somewhere he'd rather be
• you were disrespectful to others, looking at your watch and not listening

It became apparent that without the appropriate background information they were rightly making some serious value judgements based on what they saw, which could have relationship or career limiting consequences.

Having been told this I decided that I would use my watch checking 'tick ;-)' to introduce others to my diabetes without appearing attention seeking or narcissistic.  I generally say something like:

"Sorry before we start can I just say that if you see me keep looking at my watch or the clock on the wall, it isn't because I'm bored, or I want you to shut up, end the meeting and go, its just that I am an insulin dependent diabetic and I need to eat at regular set times".  Interestingly, I find I even look at my watch when telling them or if I mention time in any way past, present or future during any conversation.

Of all of the thousands of people I've told throughout the years most have said "oh thats no problem and thanks for telling us".

I've always felt that trying to hide my diabetes is totally counter-productive if people aren't happy about it, then its their problem, but if they are unhelpful when I told them, they would certainly be no use for me in an emergency.

Learning Points:

• I tell people I am diabetic so they understand that I am different
• I find people are generally nosey and show interest
• I find most people say they know somebody with diabetes, but sadly they say they don't tell people and keep falling over
• I find they appreciate the confidence
• I find that in a business situation it humanises me and the meeting
• I find that people will then disclose issues of their own

TBC

My Diabetes - Film 'Broken' starring Tim Roth ( Most Realistic Diabetic Portrayal I've seen on film)

Nearly every movie I have ever seen with a character with diabetes was awful verging on dangerous.

The typical scenario is some major event is going down e.g. a planes crashes in the desert where the is no water and certainly no carbohydrate,  and everybody is desperately trying to find the insulin to give to the 'hypo' diabetic... argh.. it would kill them quite quickly by hypo seizures, coma etc.

As I say to my friends and colleagues, if you find me in difficultly give me carbohydrates, if I perk up in 15 mins then all is well if I don't then the slightly higher sugar can be dealt with later.  Don't ever give me insulin or let me take it without testing my blood.

Don't the medical advisers to these corporations know anything about diabetes.

Then a month or so ago a close friend who also works with people with disabilities asked me to watch the British film "Broken" as she wanted my opinion.

At last a great film with an almost accurate portrayal of diabetes.

The story is quite simple with the portrayal of 'normal people in normal life' and an 11 year old insulin dependent diabetic girl called 'Skunk' (newcomer Eloise Laurence) who lives with her brother and single parent father (Tim Roth)  in an english cul-de-sac.  Like all of us we don't get to pick our neighbours and Skunk is living next to the school bullies.  Skunk also has a neighbour with a learning disability who she treats with kindness and respect, so what could go wrong?

I found the movie gripping, its portrayal of how normal life is for Skunk despite her diabetes was really positive, and the local boy with other difficulties is no harm to anybody.  But then lies and discrimination from the bullies and ignorance and intolerance cause everything to rapidly spiral out of control with devastating consequences.

I thoroughly recommend this as a film.

Here is what Amazon UK

and Amazon USA

This video deals with some adult themes so you may not be suitable for younger children, so I suggest adults watch it first before showing the kids.

Please let me know what you think if you watch it.

Malcolm

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