Tag Archives: blood glucose

The Accu Chek Nano.

August 28, 2012 – 7:20 am

This isn’t quite a product review. The reason why is at the bottom of this post. But I wanted to touch on something I think about every time I change meters or almost anything else.

At my last visit with my endocrinologist, I mentioned that my meter is kind of old and asked if she could recommend a new one. Fortunately, my insurance doesn’t severely limit my choices meter-wise (or strip-wise, which is what they’re really doing). Well, it turned out she had an extra Accu-Chek Nano meter she could let me have, and I gladly accepted.

Obviously, accuracy is of utmost importance in any glucose meter. And the Nano is promoted as 23% more accurate. Actually, that’s not exactly what they’re saying. The meter isn’t supposed to be more accurate, the strips are. In fact, Roche (maker of the Nano) states that their SmartView test strips have been tested against a 23% tighter specification. That’s great, but I’m not sure how stringent the 23 percent lesser specification was. And in the long run, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s consistently in the ballpark.

Here’s what I mean: my first reading of the Nano side-by-side with my old Contour meter was an exact match.

And then I proceeded to test side by side with the Contour over the course of about 3 1/2 weeks. While the readings were close most of the time, the photo above was the only match between the two. But how do I really know which one was more accurate? I kept the Contour for a lot longer than I should have because I was happy with its consistency. And that’s what I want from a new meter.

Honestly, three months after you start using a meter, you’re probably not thinking about accuracy anymore. At that point, what’s on the meter is just the new normal, whatever it says. Now, I know that we don’t want big inaccuracies in our meters. But as long as it’s consistently close to where my BG is at, that’s what matters for me.

I have to admit to really liking the back light feature on this meter. Makes it easy to read wherever you are. Also, I like that the reading stays on the screen for an extra second or so after I pull out the test strip. I can’t tell you how many times, out of habit, I’ve pulled a strip from a meter and proceeded to forget the reading almost immediately. And I’ve liked how small it is… fit in my pocket pretty easily.

That’s about as much as I have on the Accu-Check Nano right now. Unfortunately, even though it fit into my pocket easily, it also slipped out easily while on the train home about a week ago. Never even knew I lost it until the train pulled away at my stop. So I’ve gotta go back to the old standby while I troll Amazon and eBay for a deal on a new one.

Here’s hoping your new normal doesn’t involve getting two new meters in six weeks.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Random Glucose | Also tagged , , , | Comments (3)

Public Diabetes.

August 6, 2012 – 6:37 am

I went to New York on Saturday to hang out with The Great Spousal Unit’s brother and his family. I’ve made no secret of that fact that up until about a year ago, I never took my meter out in public. In addition, I never really wanted to show my pump in public either. I always had it under a big shirt. And I was very careful to kind of turn away from everyone (even if it was friends or family) when I used the pump to bolus or adjust my basal.

It’s not that I really care about anyone seeing me. Anybody who has a problem with it can just shove it, you know? But I don’t want anyone to get sick once they see the sight of blood on my finger. And I’ve certainly noticed how freaked out people get sometimes when they see me using my pump, like I have some sort of really scary problem. Well, it is a scary problem. But that doesn’t make me scary, does it? Anyway, I don’t want anyone to be afraid of me. And I don’t want anyone to look at me with pity. Those kind of things make me feel bad… like it could be avoided if I just hide it away for a while. So until now, I’ve either left the meter at home, or left it on the bus. While I was away, or at least while I was in Manhattan, I was guessing about basals and boluses.

But I’ve been reading posts in the past year or so from many in the DOC who show that testing, set changes, pump adjustments in public are no big deal. It’s just part of what you do. Those posts were powerful, empowering examples for me. I started to realize that at some point, my health and my care had to become a priority. And damn the consequences. So this time, I put my meter in my pocket and used it all day.

I used it at lunch (142 mg/DL). And then about 45 minutes before I got on the bus to go home, I stopped in a small place to grab a sandwich and some iced tea. After walking around all day (that’s what you do in New York) in the 95 degree heat, I was feeling pretty crappy. I wasn’t moving well, and I was thirsty, my mouth was dry. I was certain I was still high. So much so, that I almost didn’t even check. But then I thought: no, I have to know… coming down from 150 requires a different strategy than coming down from 250 or more.

So I pulled out the meter, and right in front of about 35 people, I checked: 52 mg/DL

If I had just bolused based on a guess, how long before I would have gone hypo? What would that have looked like? How would I feel about myself the day after?

I’ll name it: I overcame fear Saturday. Ridiculous, stupid, ego-based fear. Stupid, dumb, vain things that I’ve been feeling and keeping deep inside for a long time. Saturday, it could have affected me in a very bad way.

Don’t be me. Make your health and your care the top priority. Today. Right now. And who knows? Maybe your initiative could serve as an example to someone who’s still hiding their diabetes from the rest of the world.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Random Glucose | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Random Glucose.

July 26, 2012 – 7:29 am

I finally got out my brand new Accu-Chek Nano this past weekend. I’ll talk more about it after I’ve used it a bit. And I’m sure that hundreds of others have already reviewed this product. Anyway, I wanted to try it side by side with my old reliable Contour meter for a few days, so that’s what I’m doing. Each test on a different finger, different hand. And guess what the first reading looked like:

Dinner went down really well after this.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Random Glucose | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Random Glucose.

June 26, 2012 – 6:50 am

This doesn’t happen very often. Or first thing in the morning:

Something like this, on a beautiful 55 degree June morning (breakfast on the porch!) makes you feel like anything’s possible.

I can do this!

Now get out there and get crackin’, you knuckleheads!
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Random Glucose | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

100 Miles. Stick a fork in me.

June 11, 2012 – 7:15 am

This past weekend was my big event for the year. Bike Ride. 100 Miles Saturday, 50 miles on Sunday. Or maybe just 100 miles on Saturday…

After finishing my 100 mile ride (!) in sunny, 90 degree, 75 percent humidity weather, I stopped to receive my medal for finishing, and then collapsed. About 15 minutes later, I hurled. About 15 minutes after that, The Great Spousal Unit decided that I needed to go to the ER. So I spent a few hours at Chester River Hospital Center getting nearly four liters of intravenous fluid pumped into my body. On top of that, I had a potassium count that was way too high, and that had to be remedied.

Needless to say, we decided to bag the Sunday ride, pack up our stuff, and drive home Saturday night.

How did it get to this? How did I finish the ride, then fall apart? Let me count the ways:

1. I only got about an hour and a half’s sleep on Friday night, thanks to a scummy dorm room at Washington College. Great to get riders hooked up with low price housing for the event, but the dorms were awful. I expected typical college dorm room ambiance, but these rooms were nasty. We were afraid to sit on the furniture, let alone sleep in the beds. Made our decision to leave a day early much easier.

2. I was part of the largest team in this event. A friend of mine was volunteer of the year last year, and since this was about the fifth year she asked me to ride, I finally decided to do it. What does that have to do with it? Well, early on a lot of us (10 or 11 of us) got into a pace group, where the person at the front helps pull the line of riders along, then drops back, and the next person takes over for a while. It really helps everyone behind the leader conserve energy. I planned to stay with this group until mile 80 or so, especially since they were making decent time early on. But here’s the problem: when you have 10 or 11 riders, of different levels of fitness, your group can’t maintain a workable pace for long. On top of that, when that many people go into rest stops along the way, they take a long time leaving. Too long. As the day wore on, it was clear that their pace wasn’t working for me. I left them around mile 45. (Note: many in this group dropped out of the ride along the way, and only about 5 of them finished about 1/2 hour behind me).

3. I stayed very hydrated… all day… really. Drank one bottle of 1/2 water, 1/2 Gatorade between each rest stop; and a full bottle of water after arriving at each stop. There were rest stops about every 12 or 13 miles along the route. I also had a banana at every other rest stop. When we were talking about it later, it became obvious. I had pretty much eliminated the salty carbs from my diet the past two weeks. And I skipped all of the salty stuff they were handing out during the ride. Because it was a hot day with a minimal amount of shade, no matter how much I drank, it wasn’t going to be enough. I was just sweating it right back out again. Some extra sodium would have helped me hold some of that in longer. Four liters of fluid post-race told me that. Sorry to be gross, but here’s the evidence: At the stop at mile 49, about 11:00, I stopped to pee. I didn’t pee again until about 9:15 that night.

4. I tried too hard at the end. Mile 90 was the last rest stop. I made a quick stop, then I was back at it to the finish. I knew I was tired, that my quads were barking, but I just felt that this was the way you felt after 90 miles. Also, I was running way later than I thought I should be. I didn’t want to have the embarrassment of being pulled off of the ride when they closed the course (turns out, I was way ahead of that). But I was definitely thinking that the sooner I got going, the more mileage I put behind me, the better my chances were that I would finish. Add to that the fact that I am always a strong finisher who’s fastest hundred yards are often the final hundred, so to speak. I probably pushed way too hard in the final few miles.

So that’s the story. I loved doing the ride, but in the end, it’s probably my last 100 miler. Metric centuries (63 miles) are probably all my 50 year old body can handle now. Here was the exchange between Maureen and I Saturday night:

The Great Spousal Unit: So what have you learned from this experience?
Me: One Hundred miles? Never again.
TGSU: Damn Skippy.

Now, a few more points about the experience:

– Maureen was fantastic again. She was up with me at 5:00 a.m., she volunteered all day at the 80 mile rest stop, she stayed with me at the hospital, and then she drove all the way home Saturday night. She’s right when she says, “I get first refusal on your next big exercise thing”.

– The local medical staff on hand for the event? Not so great. One helper (I think he was a helper), who was nice, helpful, but couldn’t do much, because he didn’t have any authority. And one doctor, who, while I was convulsing in the grass after the finish, wanted to explain how I probably don’t have type 1 diabetes at all, because they probably didn’t know enough about it then, and if I exercised enough and maintained a proper diet, I could probably go off of the pump, and possibly wean myself off of the insulin. Really? Now, while I’m gasping for air and my quads are spasming? I looked at him, and gasped six broken words… “21 years. Type 1. Trust me”.

– Temp basal rate for the event: 0.575 units per hour, for 9 hours. Worked great. BG at mile 49 (lunch stop): 140. BG at mile 80: 130. BG right after the ride: 160. Thank you Dr. Pao.

– On the other hand, the medical staff on hand that were hired by the event promoters? They were great. Asked the right questions, gave me the right answers, without a lot of medical double-speak crap. Even helped transport me to the ER, which I’m sure is not in their job descriptions.

– By the way, at the hospital I learned that there were 5 or 6 other riders who were being treated upstairs, all worse off than I was. Doesn’t make me feel any better about my experience; but yeah, it sort of does.

– Okay, seriously… I know how bad I felt when they wheeled me in there (literally). I really, really feel bad for those people if they were worse off than me.

– The staff at Chester River Hospital Center were Sen..sa…tion…al. Sensational. Very attentive, very helpful, asked all of the right questions. We were definitely in good hands. Thanks.

– All of the volunteers at the rest stops were nice, and helpful, and giving, all day long. Sometimes in the direct blazing heat with no shade. That kind of job is way harder than you can imagine.

– When you do a long ride like that, the crowd gets pretty thin at the end. In the last 40 miles, there were a few times where I would go 30 minutes at a time without encountering another rider. Just going along by myself. For the first time, I really had to rely on my cue sheets and the signs volunteers put up at intersections. Again, thanks volunteers.

– I always seem to forget until I’m out there, but Maryland’s eastern shore is just beautiful. Early on in the ride, I saw an eagle at one of the rest stops. A golden eagle, I think. Later, a blue heron flew right over us. And near the end, around mile 85 or so, a big bald eagle swooped down over a farmer’s field and up into a tall tree. I think that picked up my spirits enough to keep me going the rest of the way. Coming back into Chestertown at the end of the ride, you ride along the river, past the marinas, and through their beautiful little downtown. Definitely worth the visit anytime.

So when I think back, I think, “Wow, I can’t believe I did that”. But I’m also glad it’s over. I was going to post some pictures, but this post is long enough. So I think I’ll put those up tomorrow.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)