Living with Diabetes

                  Living with Diabetes means many different things to many people. For example to me diabetes means 2 finger pricks a day to calibrate my Dexcom CGM, 1 needle stick every 3 days when i change my insulin pump site, lots of carb counting, correcting with insulin for highs and treating with candy/juice for lows. These are the main things that i do to kinda keep my blood sugars under control. Some people have multiple injections a day and lots of finger pricks. Some people just take a pill and watch there diet to control there diabetes.
                 Diabetes is different for everyone know two diabetics deal with the exact same things in the same way it just doesn't happen. Its all about preferences like someone may prefer treating lows with juice instead of candy or glucose tabs. Some people can bring there high numbers down with more exercise and less insulin were others need more insulin. The point of me saying this is so people now that you cant compare your diabetes to someone Else's what works for Jane may not work for Joe. don't let it get to you keep your head up talk to your doctor and try something new or different.
                Having a good support system helps tremendously whether is family, friends or a Facebook group that you can talk and vent to. I used to feel so alone when i was first diagnosed like know one had any idea what i was going through. I didn't know anyone else with diabetes and my family and friends new way less about it then i did. I recently have found blogs, facebook groups and even Youtube channels showing me that there is a whole community of people that know what your going through. These are the things that make me feel normal again and not so alone. I have used these tools to help educate my family and friends that are close to me so that i know i am safe and the people around me will no what to do in case something happens.
                There are so many things involved with living with diabetes it can feel very overwhelming at times but that's when you need to step back and do something fun, relieve some stress. Its not good to be stressed about your diabetes because stress and make your blood sugar go crazy. So don't let it stress you just take a minute and take to someone or my favorite diabetes related stress reliever is to watch diabetes videos on you tube.
               Hope this helped and gave a bit of insight into how i deal with things and how you can to.

Unexpected High and I Don't Know Why

                     Today is Sunday so on Friday i was running kinda high most of the day. Probably because I kept binging on junk food so my fault. Although i was taking insulin for everything i ate i just continued to stay high in the 300's. By later on that night i was still feeling fine and my numbers were finally coming down but i couldn't sleep to save my life. So about 3:30am rolls around i look at my dexcom and im steady around 109 so just to be sure i check my sugar on 2 different meters and both say around 109 so i think i'm good.

                        

                        By about 4am my numbers are still around 107 but now i'm so thirsty and my belly is flipping but i have no idea why. I figure im just really tried and it's hot so that's why i am feeling yucky. I turn the AC on and finally fall asleep. Flash forward to waking up about 5 hours later and i feel horrible so i check my sugar and its 389 omg how did that happen over night. For no reason i didn't eat in my sleep (i don't think) so my am i so high. I take a correction bolus and very quickly my numbers come down in range and i start to feel better after drinking tons of water. 

                      

                         This has never really happened to be before I mean i have highs but always because i ate to much and didn't bolus enough but i have never gone to sleep in range and woke up that high. Still don't have a good explanation for it but 'im feeling much better now which is great.

  Has this ever happened to any of you and what did you do to fix it. Let me know i would love to hear your stories 

Things people say to diabetics

          So these are some of the things that people have said to me since being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and how i answered. 

Should you really be eating that?

 I can eat anything i want that's why i take insulin as long as i take my insulin I can eat anything that you can eat.

Your not fat so how do you have diabetes?

You ate way to much sugar that's why you got sick.

 I have type 1 diabetes which is an Auto-immune disease/chronic illness. I didn't eat my way to diabetes. My immune system fought and destroyed the beta cells in my pancreas which made my pancreas stop producing insulin. 

 This is a common misconception.

If you start eating better won't the diabetes go away?

 There are 2 types of diabetes Type 2 can in some cases go away with proper diet and exercise. I have Type 1 there is no cure for this it is a chronic illness which means i will have it for the rest of my life no matter how good i eat, how much weight i lose, or how much i exercise. 

Did you test your blood sugar?

Did you take your insulin?

 Thank you for your concern but please don't worry about that. Checking my sugar and taking my insulin is my job to make sure i do not yours. The only people that need to worry about that is me, my fiance' and maybe my kids but really thanks for caring.

Is your diabetes finally under control?

 Well there really in no under control I mean some peoples diagnosis might say controlled diabetes but no one really has full control. You will always have good days and bad days. There are more things then just food that play into high and low numbers. Stress is a big one I know when I'm stressed my sugar goes crazy up and down its nuts. So no i am not fully controlled but i know what I'm doing now and I'm getting much better at it.

So those are just a couple of the things people have said to me in the last couple years. If have had people say crazy/funny things to you leave them in the comments i would love to hear them and how you responded. Thanks

My Omnipod insulin pump

                      So for this blog post I wanted to tell you a little bit about my omnipod. I have been using the omnipod insulin pump for about a month now and it is a bit different them my old Medtronic pump which you can read about in a previous post.
                        Now the number 1 way the omnipod is different is that it is tubeless yes you read that right a tubeless insulin pump who woulda thought. The fact that it is tubeless means a lot for me Know have a few more options on where I can put it on my body. I used to always wear my old pump on my belly which over time has cases me to have some slight scaring there but not to bad. I have been wearing my omnipod on my arm which is almost painless and I have much better absorption there. Another big plus for me with the omnipod is that it is waterproof which means no more disconnecting to take a shower or go swimming which is awesome. The last thing is that it because it is directly attached to my body and not clipped to my pants I have more freedom to run and play with my kids and not have to worry about it falling off my pants and pulling my infusion set out.
                    What I really love about the omnipod are the many ways you can personalize it. I like to use nail polish and temporary tattoos to decorate my pods I'll post a pic of the first box I did. Another great thing for decorating your pod or Pdm are pump peelz they are sticker skins you can buy to customize your diabetes supplies I'll tell you a little more in a future post.

Well that's all for now if you have questions leave them in the comments and I'll be sure to reply. Thanks

My Medtronic insulin pump

                      So wanted to tell you a little bit about the medtronic insulin pump that i previously used before i switched about a month ago. This pump was great the Medtronic minimed 530G it was exactly what i needed when i got it and i loved it. In fact I still do love it and I still have it incase i may ever need to use it again.

                     So a little about this pump well first of all it is just like most other pumps in the way it connects to u with tubing. I used the Mio infusion sets with a 6mm cannula and 18in tubing this was perfect for me but you may prefer a different set or maybe longer tubes its all in preference. The best thing i liked about having this pump was that it does all the math for you it takes in to account ur blood sugar and ur carbs and if you have active insulin onboard or even it your sugar is low it will adjust for you. It really takes the guess work out of being a diabetic. 

                      This pump can also be paired with the Enlite CGM this is a device that checks your blood sugar for you and sends the reading to your pump. I was never lucky enough to try this CGM because at the time my insurance would not cover it and they are far from being cheap. 

                        The reason i decided to make the switch from the medtronic pump although it did help tremendously to get my diabetes a little better controlled I personally was growing tired of the tubes. For example i have 2 kids and they like to play I have had my tubes get caught and pull out my infusion set. I also didn't like that it was not waterproof so i would have to disconnect when showering or swimming then i would have to remember to reconnect and it was just a pain for me. I also hated carrying around extra sets because they took up so much room in my bag. So with that being said I mean none of that is a big deal and had my insurance not approved the switch i would have been happy to keep this pump but my new one fits into my life a little better.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please leave them in the comments and i will be sure to answer them all. If you like my blogs please be sure to follow me I will be posting regularly.

My Story

                       Hey everyone i just wanted to start this blog off by telling you a little about myself and what i have been through. This will help you to understand why i decided to start writing this blog. So lets jump right in and get to it.

                 So for starters my name is Ashley and I'm 27 years old I am a stay at home mom to 2 amazing children I have a son that is 7 and a daughter that is 3. I am also engaged for about a year not to the most amazing man ever and my very best friend we have not set a date yet as we have many things we would like to accomplish and settle before we get hitched haha. 

                   As for the reason behind this blog I am a Type 1 Diabetic i was diagnosed just over 4 years ago in march 2013. The first 2 years after my diagnosis were for lack of a better word Hell. I was on insulin injections and it was just not working for me. I'm not gonna lie I was bad I was not eating right and I was not taking my insulin as i was supposed to it was really just an all around bad situation. I just couldn't cope i guess you can say i was in denial I didnt want to be diabetic and have to poke my finger and give myself shot a million times aday so i guess i thought if i didnt do it then it would go away. WRONG!!! I was hospitalized several times with DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis). I would say this happened maybe once a month to every other month so quite often and usually I was admitted for about a week each time. So after 2 years of this i was finally able to get my insurance to cover an insulin pump which was so awesome. I will tell you more about my pump in other posts but for now lets move on to present day.

                     So as I said my insurance finally approved my pump 2 years ago this was the Medtronic Minimed 530g. I loved this pump it was great but recently I needed something that would provide me with that much more freedom and mobility. I decided to try my insurance again to get the omnipod insulin pump. My Dr wasn't sure if they would cover it since my Medtronic pump was still under warranty but low and behold they did I think because it is a different kind of pump. So after they approved my omnipod my Dr wanted me to get a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) so we went with the Dexcom G5 mobile and the insurance cover it. So I am currently using the omnipod insulin pump and the decom g5 cgm and I really love both of them.

In closing just let me say thank you for reading this blog and please subscribe for more diabetes related posts and please please leave comments. i wanna hear your questions i will try to answer them all and i also what to hear what you would like me to blog about i am always up for new ideas.