Diabetes...the Continuing Saga ....
Llooking back on a doubling up episode from a few moons back...like before Christmas.
Do you know what it's like to have a daily regimen to follow in your life? I mean diet, pills, insulin, and exercise. Usually everything goes fairly well, but sometimes things fall off the rails. Like sometimes I forget my supper pills, especially when I step out of routine, only to find my bedtime blood sugar has hit 16 mmol/dL for instance. That's high and I'm shocked when it happens and then look in the pill box only to find the pills still sitting there. Seems they really do work. I take two types of insulin every day and have always worried that I will somehow take the wrong one at the wrong time. Indeed, I have caught myself reaching for the wrong "pen" umpteen times, especially at bedtime.
What I don't usually worry about too much are my pills. However, tonight I have made a giant blooper. For some reason, at bedtime, (a time when I don't take any pills at all), I was thinking about something else and went into my pill box purely out of habit. You know how you punch a code in automatically, but if somebody were to ask you the numbers, you might not be able to speak them out loud? It's so wired into you. I suddenly woke up mid-act and realized it's only Friday and I'm working on my Saturday morning pills! Already, I had swallowed one and a half Metformin tablets (for diabetes) and my daily dose of Cozaar for hypertension (one tablet) by the time I realized that what I was doing was wrong.
Since I had already taken my full daily dose of Metformin by supper time tonight, and I only ever take Cozaar in the morning (it lasts for 24 hours), I'm beginning to feel the effects of doubling up. That's not such a great feeling. So, I backed off the numbers quite a bit on my bedtime insulin, because I have too much Metformin on board now. The Cozaar will lower my blood pressure even further, so that isn't a good situation either. I think my best bet is to go to bed and hope to feel better by morning when the a.m. blood pressure med is wearing off and hopefully the Metformin too. This is going to screw me up for another whole day before I get back on track. I also had two slices of toast and peanut butter and honey just to be on the safe side. I also had a glass of milk. I am getting a headache, but I am also really tired. I'm more worried about the blood pressure actually than the low blood sugar, but neither is any picnic to deal with.
And so it went, and now, these few months later, I am still alive and well and the crisis was averted, survived, and lived through. My goal is to try not to do that again!!!
Back in January...looking back at a trek to the mall..
I got some exercise today at noon which helps overall. I walked to Midtown Plaza, which is a big mall several blocks from my office. The weather here is bitterly cold and there's a wind. Believe it or not, there were a few pan handlers out asking for change. You have to give them credit for their tenacity. One guy was tall and thin and possibly in his late 50's. His face was absolutely beet red. I was trudging along in my big, long down-filled winter coat with the hood up and gloved hands stuffed in my pockets. Another guy was sitting cross-legged on the cement sidewalk. You couldn't likely find a colder spot than that, even in the Arctic or in Winnipeg at the corner of Portage and Main.
And finally, Spring, we think...
But today is March 8 and man the weather has warmed up so that it looks like we're in the middle of Spring. Of course, being a good Canadian, I don't truly trust this reprieve, because like everybody knows, it could be here today and gone tomorrow. A real fairweather friend so to speak. My vehicle is filthy and I discovered my rear windshield wiper is only doing half the job...but you couldn't find a happier person, because I LOVE Spring. I've waited weeks and weeks for it's arrival and I ain't complaining one bit now that it's here.
The humidity in my house has been down to 17% most days and that's even with a pot of water bubbling on the stove. I intermittently turn the showers on and let them steam the place up and that helps too. So, with the snow melting outside for the past couple of days, the humidity inside has jumped to 22%...Crazy I know! I'm beginning to think from this cold and cough I've had since early February, that some time in the future I'm going have to make a habit of going to Victoria for a week or so this time every year just for the beautiful, ocean-side air. I absolutely love it there!
Llooking back on a doubling up episode from a few moons back...like before Christmas.
Do you know what it's like to have a daily regimen to follow in your life? I mean diet, pills, insulin, and exercise. Usually everything goes fairly well, but sometimes things fall off the rails. Like sometimes I forget my supper pills, especially when I step out of routine, only to find my bedtime blood sugar has hit 16 mmol/dL for instance. That's high and I'm shocked when it happens and then look in the pill box only to find the pills still sitting there. Seems they really do work. I take two types of insulin every day and have always worried that I will somehow take the wrong one at the wrong time. Indeed, I have caught myself reaching for the wrong "pen" umpteen times, especially at bedtime.
What I don't usually worry about too much are my pills. However, tonight I have made a giant blooper. For some reason, at bedtime, (a time when I don't take any pills at all), I was thinking about something else and went into my pill box purely out of habit. You know how you punch a code in automatically, but if somebody were to ask you the numbers, you might not be able to speak them out loud? It's so wired into you. I suddenly woke up mid-act and realized it's only Friday and I'm working on my Saturday morning pills! Already, I had swallowed one and a half Metformin tablets (for diabetes) and my daily dose of Cozaar for hypertension (one tablet) by the time I realized that what I was doing was wrong.
Since I had already taken my full daily dose of Metformin by supper time tonight, and I only ever take Cozaar in the morning (it lasts for 24 hours), I'm beginning to feel the effects of doubling up. That's not such a great feeling. So, I backed off the numbers quite a bit on my bedtime insulin, because I have too much Metformin on board now. The Cozaar will lower my blood pressure even further, so that isn't a good situation either. I think my best bet is to go to bed and hope to feel better by morning when the a.m. blood pressure med is wearing off and hopefully the Metformin too. This is going to screw me up for another whole day before I get back on track. I also had two slices of toast and peanut butter and honey just to be on the safe side. I also had a glass of milk. I am getting a headache, but I am also really tired. I'm more worried about the blood pressure actually than the low blood sugar, but neither is any picnic to deal with.
And so it went, and now, these few months later, I am still alive and well and the crisis was averted, survived, and lived through. My goal is to try not to do that again!!!
Back in January...looking back at a trek to the mall..
I got some exercise today at noon which helps overall. I walked to Midtown Plaza, which is a big mall several blocks from my office. The weather here is bitterly cold and there's a wind. Believe it or not, there were a few pan handlers out asking for change. You have to give them credit for their tenacity. One guy was tall and thin and possibly in his late 50's. His face was absolutely beet red. I was trudging along in my big, long down-filled winter coat with the hood up and gloved hands stuffed in my pockets. Another guy was sitting cross-legged on the cement sidewalk. You couldn't likely find a colder spot than that, even in the Arctic or in Winnipeg at the corner of Portage and Main.
And finally, Spring, we think...
But today is March 8 and man the weather has warmed up so that it looks like we're in the middle of Spring. Of course, being a good Canadian, I don't truly trust this reprieve, because like everybody knows, it could be here today and gone tomorrow. A real fairweather friend so to speak. My vehicle is filthy and I discovered my rear windshield wiper is only doing half the job...but you couldn't find a happier person, because I LOVE Spring. I've waited weeks and weeks for it's arrival and I ain't complaining one bit now that it's here.
The humidity in my house has been down to 17% most days and that's even with a pot of water bubbling on the stove. I intermittently turn the showers on and let them steam the place up and that helps too. So, with the snow melting outside for the past couple of days, the humidity inside has jumped to 22%...Crazy I know! I'm beginning to think from this cold and cough I've had since early February, that some time in the future I'm going have to make a habit of going to Victoria for a week or so this time every year just for the beautiful, ocean-side air. I absolutely love it there!
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