Diabetes Intuition . . . .

Ever just have a feeling about something?  When you know in your gut something isn’t quite right, even if you don’t have hard evidence to support it?  It happens in life, and for me, it especially happens in life with diabetes.  For example, let’s say I go out for dinner.  And I look at the plate of food in front of me and I look at the carb count given by the restaurant’s website, and I just know the information isn’t right.  Or maybe I’m at the endo and my basals are being tweaked, and I just know the new basal rates aren’t going to work.  (Although I must say, my endo absolutely respects and listens to my input.)

My diabetes intuition was blaring yesterday during my site change.  When the new site went in, I just had a gut feeling that something was off.  And I wondered, do I listen to my diabetes intuition or not?  On one hand, I’d hate to pull a perfectly good site because I had a feeling but no proof.  And if I had been wearing a sensor, I probably would’ve given the site a chance, knowing that my CGM would alert me if the site did indeed fail.  But last week I decided to take that sensor break, and I wouldn’t be starting my new sensor until this morning.  (I like to leave them in overnight before I put in my first calibration.)  Of course, there is also the option of just checking my blood sugar frequently for a few hours to determine if the site is working or not.  But I’ve been having a rough time lately, struggling with some major depression, and I just didn’t want to worry about increased sugar checking.  So, I decided the best thing to do was to go with my gut.  I pulled the minutes old site and inserted a new one.

It's times like these when I wish I had a diabetes crystal ball to rely on, instead of using diabetes intuition.  That would really be useful in our diabetes management, wouldn’t it?  Of course, even it it existed, our insurance probably wouldn’t cover it anyway . . . .

So when has your diabetes intuition kicked in?  And did you listen to what it said?

Time Off . . . .

I love my d-technology.  I love that it helps me better manage my diabetes and makes my life easier.

Except when I don't.   Because to be honest, there are also times when my d-tech gets on my last damn nerve.  And it’s not really the fault of my devices.  But I guess it also isn’t really my fault either.  Being with anything 24/7 is bound to get annoying after a while.  (And I’m not just saying that because my husband has been home sick all week.  *wink wink*)  The beeping.  The constant stream of information.  They are helpful and important, but they can be a bit much sometimes too.  And then add in the skin irritations that can pop up.  The care that must be taken not to yank out sites and sensors when changing clothes or using the bathroom.  The fact than my cat always seems to sit on the exact spot where my transmitter is attached to me.  It all gets to be a bit much at times.

And so, when my CGM reached the end of its six day life last night, I decided to take some time off.  I think a week should do just fine.  Yes, I’ll need to test more often and be more aware of any high or low symptoms.  But it feels oddly freeing to be CGM-less right now.  Don’t get me wrong, I know how very fortunate I am to have access to a CGM and I know this is totally a first world (diabetes) problem.  And maybe I’m just a big old whiner.  But since I can’t take time off from diabetes, this feels like the next best thing.

Top of the Muffin to You!

I’m not making any New Years Resolutions this year.  Instead, I’m going to keep working on being postive and making 2016 a really great year.  Part of that is to continue my  journey to eliminate as many pre-packaged foods as I can from our diet.  I’ll keep trying to make as much as I can from scratch.  My favorite transformation carrying over from 2015 has been breakfast.  I had gotten accustomed to eating organic cereal bars because  they’re fast and easy.  And organic.  Which is nice, but they are also pre-packaged and therefore highly processed and packed with preservatives and other junk we probably just don’t need in our food.  So I though about what I could replace those cereal bars with, and my answer?  Home-made muffins.  (Unlike Elaine, I eat the bottoms as well as the tops.)



Muffins are quick and easy to make, and the varieties are endless.  Oatmeal muffins and banana nut muffins and cinnamon apple muffins (I skipped the topping on these to cut down on the sweetness).  And when I get a craving for those big grocery store muffins that used to be my favorite, a batch of these helps.



I’m starting my 2016 muffin journey by pulling out an old muffin cookbook I bought years ago.  It contains 100 muffin recipies and I plan to bake my way through it page by page.


The  nice thing about this cookbook is that the recipes are a bit healthier than the ones I’m finding on the web.  The author battles high cholesterol and her recipes reflect that.  I must admit, I do use whole eggs in place of the egg whites or egg substitute her recipes call for, but overall the muffins are still lower in fat and more healthy.

Small changes amount to big progress, right?  Here’s hoping!!