What am I weak at? Oh I can come up with a huge list of things!! What am I good at? Well, that’s a tough one. It’s so easy for me to see my flaws and so hard to give myself credit. Is that human nature, or is it just me? Anyway, mini-therapy session aside, I've narrowed my list down to one strength and one weakness.
I guess my Diabetes Strength is that I’m really good at pre-bolusing before eating. It helps me fend off those pesky post-meal spikes that fall right back into range after an hour or so. But it isn’t always easy. When I’m cooking my focus is on the timing of the food and it’s so easy to forget about that pre-bolus. When I’m starving it’s pretty hard to wait before I have a snack. At a restaurant it’s extra tricky to time insulin to when the waiter will serve my meal. But I really try and usually I do pretty well. My CGM high alarm is set at 170, and if I carefully pre-bolus I can often get through all my meals and snacks without it blaring that I’m high.
I narrowed down my long list of diabetes weaknesses to the one that I want to conquer the most. It’s the fact that I’m terrible at taking the emotion out of the blood glucose numbers. When that CGM does blare I curse myself for screwing up. A sticky high or low makes me feel like I’m being punished for doing something wrong. I would tell anyone with diabetes to look at out of range numbers as information they can act on, not as personal failures. But when those undesirable numbers flash on my own meter I forget my own advice. I’m weakest at blaming diabetes instead of blaming myself.
This post is my May entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2013/may-dsma-blog-carnival-3/.
Hi Karen,
ReplyDeleteI recently started trying to pre-bolus so I love asking people how long they wait before they eat. For example, assuming you're in target or slightly higher, do you pre-bolus 10, 15, 20+ minutes? Does it change based on the time of day (breakfast vs. dinner)? Right now I'm trying to go 15 minutes, but am curious as to what has worked for you.
Thanks!
I hesitate to put down how long I pre-bolus because we all have such different insulin needs. But since you asked, my endo and I determined that 20 minutes works best for me. I wish it was less, because it's not always easy to wait 20 minutes until eating! LOL
DeleteThanks, Karen! More often than not I'm between 15-20 minutes. It's amazing to see that you CAN do something to limit the nasty post-meal spikes.
DeleteYour strength is my weakness. My strength is yours. Karen, I try hard to bolus 30 minutes before meals, but I forget too! Is there a trick to pre-bolusing? How do you remember? When I first received my CGM I use to cringe when I saw a high number, because I use to get upset at diabetes and not myself for not bolusing correctly or making a terrible food decision. Now, I look at the CGM as a tool. Ok, if I bolused for 45 grams of carbs for a cupcake and my CGM goes above the line-it's ok. Plus, I am quick to admit when I caused a self inflicted high.
ReplyDeleteI am proud of you for taking the steps to not hear the CGM alarm buzzing! I am amazed that you pre-bolus!
Your strength is my weakness, although I am working on it. It definitely does make a big difference in those post meal spikes. It's hard to take the emotion out of the numbers too. I like your suggestions though, looking at them as information rather than personal failures.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been pre-bolusing because I am so forgetful. I usually forget to eat, pre-bolusing would be scary. But that said, I am getting so tired of chasing the post meal highs.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you considered it as one of your strengths, it gives me the motivation to reconsider doing the same. Maybe it will cause me to stop yelling at my CGM "I know already, I'm high, I just ate, give me a break!"
Is pre bolusing safe? Is this proven scientifically or you just come up with this through an experiment? I'd like to learn more about it because I would love to recommend it to my aunt who is having this kind of problem every now and then. Anyway, I'm still hoping that this would be a good help to a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteHi Sameul, The need to pre-bolus varies from person to person depending on the way our bodies process the insulin we inject. For some people, pre-bolusing may not be safe because it will cause them to go low. My endo and I looked at my blood sugar logs and the graphs from my Continuous Glucose Monitor, and he determined that for me, bolusing before my meal and give the insulin time to start working before I ate would be best. You aunt shouldn't just experiment, but it might be something she can discuss with her medical team.
DeleteI think diabetes trains us to be so self-critical! Easy to wonder what we did wrong, and so hard to look at how well we did!
ReplyDelete