So This Is How You're Going To Be.....

So diabetes I see you don't like to fight fair. Unlucky for you that I say give me your toughest and I'm going to come back even stronger. I thought I had this whole carb ratio thing figured out and then over the past two weeks it seems to have completely changed. I spoke about my lows last week but this week they have become even worse. Although I haven't encountered any crazy sub 40 numbers the numbers this week have been that much more frustrating.

On Monday night Courtney finally joined me at the awesome Australian seafood restaurant, Bondi Road, that opened across the street from my apartment. We shared an appetizer of breaded shrimp and small crab cake balls (both delicious), for my entree I had a great grilled Red Snapper and sauteed spinach with pine nuts and 1 Cooper Pilsner (an Australian Beer). I estimated this meal to have maybe 20 carbs and gave myself 2 units of insulin. 2 hours later my blood sugar was down to 70. The next day I had my usual turkey sandwich for lunch with a bolus of 4 units of insulin; I have this lunch every day and my body reacts pretty much the same every day. However I dipped below 80 after my lunch - aggravating! Although this gave me the opportunity to have a full Cliff Bar before my Tuesday run (very exciting when you've had to calculate how much a cliff bar would raise your bs for a couple months). I had a great run and had normal blood sugars for the rest of the day - the fun really began Wednesday.



Wednesday morning I had egg whites on toast with 6 oz of orange juice, my normal cover for the oj is 2 units of insulin so I added 1 unit to cover the slice of bread; by the time I got into work my bs dipped into the 60s. For lunch I had my turkey sandwich and added 4 peanut butter crackers (about 15 g of carbs) but only covered with 4 units of novolog - I still went low! After a frustrating day and a hellacious GMAT tutoring session I needed some comfort food so I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a baked potato from Dallas' BBQ. I covered with 4 units of insulin but 2 hours later my blood sugar was 360! I took 4 units of insulin to bring it down, unfortunately my bs refused to budge - so I went to sleep hoping it would drop overnight.



At 7:40 am my bs was down to 320, I had an egg white omelet and 6 oz of orange juice so I took 6 units of novolog, 2 to cover and 4 to correct. By the time I got to my office my blood sugar was down to 49. Playing with a yo-yo is fun but being one is not. I've e-mailed my endo and educator to see if they can provide any insight. I still say if this is the best you can do diabetes continue to bring it because I will control you, whether I have to run more, lift more, eat less or eat more I will do what it takes to prevent you from controlling my life.

Pesky Lows

Since Sunday, I've been battling a nightly low every day. On Sunday I headed over to Duane Reade (Manhattan's CVS) to pick up some stuff for the week at about 8:50 pm. At DR I felt my usual warning signs - oddly my ankle which I had reconstructive surgery on as a junior in high school starts to tingle and my forehead itches (weird) - and thought I should buy some life savers. Since I didn't see any life savers readily available at the check out counter I figured I could make it home no problem. I kept feeling weirder and weirder as I made it back to my apartment and by the time I checked my bs it was down to 42 - my lowest on record. So I took some orange juice and had a small piece of bread and was fine.

On Monday night, I had a baked potato, breaded chicken patty and green beans for dinner; corrected with my normal 12 : 1 ratio but had my bs drop into the 50s again. OJ did the trick again and I was fine for the rest of the night.

Last night I had my most annoying low yet. Courtney brought me Halal from our favorite street meat guys - the cart at 53rd and 6th! I can't tell you how excited I was to have the cart again, if you're ever in the city believe me the 30 minute wait is worth it. We had our delicious street meat and some red wine; I figured the meal had about 70 grams of carbs and bolused accordingly. But less than 2 hours later I was down to a bs of 89 so I had a bite of a cliff bar, 30 minutes after that I was down to 68 and had a glass of orange juice, 20 minutes after that only up to 75 so I had a second glass of oj, 20 minutes later down again to 73! A third freaking glass of OJ!!!! Finally by 11:50 I had my bs up to 99, ate a piece of a cliff bar and went to sleep.

This morning I woke up with a bs of 164 and had egg whites on toast for breakfast with a glass of orange juice. I bolused accordingly and by 9am my bs dropped to 58! I had 3 glucose tabs and now my blood sugar is back up in the 90s. I know I might still be honeymooning but really all these lows 3 days in a row, I just can't figure out what the heck is going on. I e-mailed my endo and cde today to see if they had any suggestions. The weirdest part is my lunch bolus is still working normally, I have a turkey sandwich just about everyday and take 4 units of insulin to cover it - works perfect. So I don't know if my ratios are changing at different times of the day or if my pancreas is just waking up every now and again.