Monthly Archives: May 2012

Support Groups.

May 8, 2012 – 7:20 am

Last month, I wrote about my Ideal Diabetes Support Group for the April DSMA Blog Carnival. At the end, I mentioned that I’m looking for my first support group meeting.

So I started looking for an adult type 1 support group. Man, is it hard to find a support group in Maryland! At least in Baltimore. I checked the local JDRF chapter’s website and found an adult type 1 meeting on the 2nd Monday of every month. I called the contact number and asked about the group, and found out that it doesn’t happen every month anymore. Instead, it’s a quarterly meeting. And it’s not really a support group as much as it is a peer group meeting. I’m not sure I know the difference between the two, but it looks like this is the only get-together for adult type 1’s in either Baltimore or Baltimore County. An area with a population of over 1.5 million people.

Should I be ticked off about that? I don’t think so. After all, I didn’t even think of beginning a search for a support group until a couple of weeks ago. And I suspect that others may be exactly like I was… eager to live as normal a life as possible, and not eager to sit in a sanitized room at a hospital or doctor’s practice, staring at others who remind us that we’re not always as normal as we would prefer.

Maybe I need to take matters into my own hands. Start my own group. Set my own agenda. That’s a great idea, in theory. But do I really have what it takes to lead a group? And even if I do, can I actually recruit others for a regular get-together?

I’ve got some thinking to do. And some more work to do. This process is far from complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Disclaimer
I have no medical training. If you consider anything written here as medical, legal, financial, or any other kind of advice, you’re out of your mind. Please speak to a learned professional before making any changes that might affect your health. Any of the original content found on this site is my property and should not be reproduced, copied, or otherwise used without the author’s expressed written consent.

By StephenS | Posted in Support | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Riding and… chasing the lows.

May 7, 2012 – 7:50 am

I’m so happy… I finally got to get out on the bike Saturday and put in something near 30 miles. I only have five more weeks until I have to go 150 miles over two days. 100 miles on Saturday, 50 miles on Sunday. But getting in almost 30 miles, over very hilly terrain, was good. Only I wound up chasing lows the rest of the day.

I’ve been a pumper for two years now (Medtronic), and up until now, in events like runs and triathlons, and in workouts, I’ve always disconnected the pump. All of these events have taken less than two hours to complete, and I’m able to handle that without getting excessively high glucose levels. Usually up near 300, but for me, not a deal breaker. But this event won’t allow that kind of flexibility. The pump has to stay on for the entire event. So now in workouts, I’m getting used to leaving the pump on, using temp basals to adjust for the workout.

That’s what I did Saturday. Set the temp basal for 2 hours, 0.75 units per hour.

When I finally got home, my BG was a respectable 71. Not bad since I hadn’t had breakfast yet. That was about 9:45. So I ate breakfast, and helped The Great Spousal Unit with some work in the garden. We broke for lunch around 12:15. That was a little more than two hours since my last meal. What was my BG? 64. Okay, I’m still hanging in there. I just won’t bolus since I had a lot of exercise this morning. I should be fine now, right? Not exactly.

We went to the local big-box home store to pick up a few items for the garden we were working in. We came back, I unloaded everything, and guess what? I needed to go in and get some juice! I could feel myself get all jelly-legged, and I knew I needed to act. So now, I should be okay for sure, right? Not exactly.

It only took about 45 minutes for us to finish up in the yard, and we went in to get a shower. Maureen was taking me to one of the local bar & grills for dinner before the Kentucky Derby (did I mention that I’m a huge horse racing fan?). Maureen went up to get in the shower, and I stayed downstairs to watch the end of the Capitals victory over the Rangers.

I go upstairs to get my shower, and Maureen says, “Hon, are you okay? You’re sweating a lot”. More juice. About 3 1/2 hours after I ate lunch with no bolus. So I have more juice, and some crackers, and get a shower. Before we go to dinner, I check, of course. What’s the BG? 59!

So you can guess what most of our conversation was about over dinner… how am I going to manage the glucose over a day when I expect to be riding around 8 hours?

This is a big part of life with diabetes. Finding the best way to handle a day, an event, anything, and planning as far ahead as possible. And the planning is completely separate and apart from anything that a non-PWD has to contend with in this event. For now, the plan is to ratchet down the basal rate to something like 0.400 for the 8 hours I’ll be riding. Maybe less. And finding a way to get more carbs in my system during the event. I’m also going to start searching for some additional guidance from experts who deal with this kind of thing a lot (Team Type 1?).

And I am so glad that I have a champion there for me while I’m riding. I love that TGSU is there at all of the events. But I’m equally grateful that she is there to help me, and also challenge me when I need it. I never asked her to do this. Never expected her to. But I can’t tell you how great it is to know that someone has my back.

Five(!) weeks to go. Despite the lows Saturday, I’m feeling like I’m getting closer to being ready. This will happen. I can do anything with diabetes that I could without. Like so many others have said, not trying is not an option.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Disclaimer
I have no medical training. If you consider anything written here as medical, legal, financial, or any other kind of advice, you’re out of your mind. Please speak to a learned professional before making any changes that might affect your health. Any of the original content found on this site is my property and should not be reproduced, copied, or otherwise used without the author’s expressed written consent.

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

May 4, 2012 – 12:57 pm

A few random thoughts on this Spring Friday in May.  Happy early Cinco de Mayo!

  • Glad to reach another Friday.   It’s been a busy week, but I made it to the gym on schedule.  Now if the weather can finally hold out, I’ll be outside on the bike for a good ride tomorrow.  Only 5 more weeks until my 150 mile weekender, and I am sooo not ready yet.

  • I too was on the glucose roller coaster Thursday.  6:00 BG:  71.  Had two slices of toast and butter for breakfast.  12:00 BG:  271 (!).  Had a low on the subway home… ate 3 of my favorite candies before I reached my stop (I carry 4 in my pocket all day, every day), 6:15 BG:  84.
    It’s just a number, it’s just a number, it’s just a number…

  • Also, if you live in Maryland (and you’re actually reading this), there’s a Type 1 Toolbox event hosted by St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Towson, on Tuesday at 7:00.  Click here to get all of the information.

  • Finally, here’s a photo I took about a week ago.  This is the reason why we’ve kept that big azalea next to the house all these years, despite my gripes about how crappy it looks the rest of the year:

Spring at the homestead…



Also, I should have more news on my search for an Adult Type 1 support group next week.  I’m on a mission now that I’ve written about it.

Enjoy the weekend!

By StephenS | Posted in Fridays | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Investigations.

May 3, 2012 – 10:56 am

I’ll begin and end this post with some disclosure: None of the companies noted in this post have been charged or convicted of any wrongdoing in the current investigations.

I waited a week to write this post for two reasons. First, at this time last week, I was praising at least one of these companies for helping to make my life livable. I’m grateful for that, and I didn’t want to appear to be flip-flopping so quickly. I stand by what I said last week.

Second, I have to admit that when I first read about this, I started to get pissed. Had I written about this then, you might have seen quite a different post.

So having a week to reflect, I think that with the investigations ongoing, I just need to give the facts.

According to a report from Fortune, (part of the CNN© family), there are at least 81 public companies under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Department of Justice, for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.. Among other things, the Act makes bribery, to either obtain business or retain business in foreign countries, punishable in the United States. Among the 81 listed on an FCPA blog post,there are 12 companies who operate in the Medical Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Specialties, or Biotechnology industries. Here’s the list:

AstraZeneca PLC
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.
Bristol Myers Squibb
Covidien PLC
Eli Lilly
GlaxoSmithKline
Grifols SA
Medtronic
Merck
Pfizer
Sciclone Pharmaceuticals
Zimmer Holdings

I did a little looking around online, and I found that almost all of these companies have at least a page dedicated to Corporate Citizenship or Corporate Responsibility. Some have very detailed statements of corporate responsibility. Feel free to check them out if you like.

Going forward, I will try to give the facts as they come out. I hope it’s all good news. But right now I have a skeptical eye turned toward these companies. I hope my skepticism is misguided.

Again, disclosure: None of the companies noted in this post have been charged or convicted of any wrongdoing in the current investigations.

By StephenS | Posted in Diabetes | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Like these links.

May 2, 2012 – 12:53 pm

Happy Wednesday! Here are some interesting posts that spoke to me in the past few days:

Scott at Scott’s Web Log has a sensational, informative post asking:  Do YOU know how to check the FDA’s website for recalls?
http://blog.sstrumello.com/2012/04/do-you-know-how-to-check-fdas-website.html

 

Mike Hoskins owns up to being a Tom Petty fan, and shares how a moment of serendipity helps remind him that when one door closes, another opens:
http://www.thediabeticscornerbooth.com/2012/04/beat-goes-on.html

 

And if you need more inspiration, check out the Best of the ‘Betes blogs listed at Me and D:
http://www.meanddblog.com/2012/05/best-of-betes-blogs-april-2012.html
Enjoy!

By StephenS | Posted in Like these links | Tagged , , | Comments (0)