Dexcom, Weddings, and Alcohol

I absolutely love this thing.

It's a Dexcom reciever. Part of a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. The sensor and transmitter are pretty small, and currently attached to my abdomen. Every 5 minutes, the Dexcom gives me my glucose levels.

These are not yet accurate enough to totally replace traditional glucose meters. Before you ever give yourself insulin based on your current BG, you have to stick your finger. But the number on the screen isn't what's so awesome about this device. What's so awesome is that you can see where your blood glucose is going!

Three examples of when I loved this thing this week:

Wednesday: I was driving to an appointment when Dexcom buzzed to tell me my BG was dropping fast. I knew (and it showed) that my numbers weren't high enough to stand such a quick drop for long, so I chowed down on some glucose tabs. 5 minutes later, I could feel that my BG was getting low... but very shortly after that, the glucose tabs kicked in and I felt better, and Dexcom showed my BG starting to slowly rise to safer levels.

Friday: At my birthday party, I decided to have some wine. I rarely do this for fear of what it'd do to my blood glucose levels, but I had Dexcom to tell me about any sudden drops... which I did not have. Dexcom gave me a view of my BG trends all evening, and I kept it where it would wake me if I went low during the night. I didn't have to stress.

Saturday (last night): I went to my cousin's wedding with an already elevated blood glucose due to eating fast food for lunch. At the reception, I gave myself insulin and made myself wait until Dexcom showed my BG starting to lower before beginning to eat my dinner (thus avoiding an even worse spike). This meant that, when it came time for cake, I didn't feel horrible about eating sugar. Again, I took my insulin a few minutes before eating the cake and saw that my numbers were starting to come down slightly before I ever put the first bite in my mouth. In fact, after that cake, I finally saw my numbers begin to return to a healthy range. Then, about three and a half hours after the cake, Dexcom buzzed me and showed a sharp drop in BG. What?! I tested to confirm and yes, I'd had a sharp drop. Aided by Dexcom (and the occasional finger stick to confirm whenever I was shocked to not see a rise in BG), I started consuming carbs. A small cookie... nothing. Another cookie... nothing. A 10-carb box of apple-carrot juice... A slight drop?! Glucose tabs... a slight rise, so wait and see.... no change? Finger-stick shows a BG of 88, which is too low for bedtime with such a downward trend and the knowledge that I'd had alcohol two nights in a row! I ate a 16-carb South Beach bar and sleepily watched Dexcom's numbers rise to almost 100 (with a slightly-upward trend arrow) before nestling it next to me and going to sleep. Dexcom shows I reached the 190 range in the night (which, I've discovered, means I was probably closer to 170 or 180), but the glucose meter showed me a 112 (Dexcom showed 130) when I got up late in the morning. I'd rather not go that high, but I think two evenings of alcohol threw my system through a loop, and it was necessary.

I've found the Dexcom numbers off by 20 points pretty often, but it's been an invaluable tool already. This was just a "trial" week, required by my insurance before they'll actually cover Dexcom, and I'm now more convinced than ever that I want one. It's helped me learn more about the timing of my insulin (I'm now trying to take it 15 minutes before I eat, when I can, to avoid spikes) and has helped me live a slightly more normal life (normal for me!) without worrying that I'd have a middle-of-the-night emergency. (I also learned that something last night didn't work for me. Was it two nights of wine in a row? Or did I guess horribly wrong about the carb content of cake? Or did even that small amount of dancing bring my BG down? I'll now have a much more watchful eye on all of those elements until I figure out what the problem was.)

Dexcom, you rock.

The Other Side of 30

So today is my 31st birthday, and last night was a celebratory game night with close friends (which wound up feeling more like a party than I expected, which was cool!). I opted against the rather large parties we tend to have partly because I still occasionally feel frustrated when faced with some food and drink situations, but also partly just because I wanted a smaller get-together.

Food and drink awesomeness:

1. I made low carb peanut butter balls, which took a little modifying (1 oz of chocolate was not enough!) and recalculating but turned out great and made 35 small balls at 1.3 carbs each (mmmm!).
2. Two desserts arrived with me in mind! Jenn brought cupcakes (with sugar-free penutbutter cups in them, FTW!) and told me upfront how many carbs were in them, and Jess (quite a famous chef in our group!) brought a low carb plumb tart with an almond crust. Yum!
3. I had three glasses of red wine and, while I let myself run slightly on the higher side for the evening, I wasn't afraid of dropping too low since I have a trial Dexcom unit this week (what great timing!).
4. No one brought anything super hard to "count," and I didn't feel pressured to eat out of courtesy.

Rock!

Other awesomeness:

1. GAMES! We played Ultimate Werewolf and Quelf, both of which make for goofiness and fun!
2. Friends! I felt really loved.
3. Fun and thoughtful gifts! One of the things Jenn and Bonnie gave me was a set of Russian nesting dolls that double as measuring cups!!! As Bonnie is also type 1, they probably knew how handy it is for me to have plenty of measuring cups around (and these are so cute!!!). Liz and Matt also gave me some cool vintage fabric with the thought that I could use it for making purses or meter cases to carry all my stuff, and Melissa and Jade gave me a copy of Quelf!
4. A really awesome husband! It was Chad that arranged all of this, and it turned out to be perfect. He's so sweet. :)

It was an awesome birthday celebration. I have to admit that, a couple months ago, I worried my birthday would be depressing. But surrounding myself with just my closest friends and not facing down a giant, sugary cake (and happening to have a Dexcom to help make drinking safer!) worked out beautifully. I felt normal, and yet not pressured to be normal.

Chad has commented a couple times that, after this diagnosis and some other less than pleasant issues this past year, we should be glad to say goodbye to 30. I think I agree with that, but I also think I've come out the other side of 30 in better shape than I went in. I suspect I went into it with this disease already in development, and now I've finished it with it under pretty good control and... overall happiness.

This was not the most pleasant year for me, but I think I'm better off for having gone through it.

Party Pooper

I have to admit that this learning phase is starting to bug me.

First of all, I'm a little impatient, and a lot independent, so I want to be in control of managing my own diabetes now.

Second, I'm sick of my records dictating some if my actions. I could eat that giant cookie (and take insulin with it) at 4 in the afternoon, but then my before-dinner numbers would be useless to my diabetes educators when they review my records to decide on any changes to my insulin treatment. I could drink at a friend's birthday club-hop tonight, but that'll throw my numbers out of wack for at least a day and, again, make them useless to my educators.

I'm not a drunk and I don't "need to drink to have a good time," and other such cliches... But I do drink, and it is a part of my social life.  I've only briefly mentioned my social anxiety, but it's affects my life a great deal.  I'm no recluse and I don't start hyperventilating the second someone talks to me, but socialization (except with certain people I'm very comfortable with) often brings about more stress than enjoyment for me.  So when I'm in any sort of "party" environment, the relaxation and uninhibition (is that a word!?) that comes along with a couple drinks helps a lot.

Plus... it's fun.

Because I'll Never Completely Abandon My Vices...

Had my first alcohol since diagnosis, tonight: One decent-sized glass of Pinot noir.  I'm keeping a very close eye on my blood sugars with my sexy little red (cheap cheap CHEAP) back-up meter.  So far, a consistent drop that seems a little faster than I'd otherwise expect.  But since I started with a slightly high number, it's in more-than-safe levels.  I'll test again for my bedtime snack/shot... then once more before sleep, just to be safe.  I just hope that one glass doesn't make things plummet overnight!

Most alcohol causes blood sugar to drop (though it might cause an initial spike), despite the sugars in it.  My initial reaction to reading this was that, hmmmm, Intensive Alcohol Management might be slightly more fun than Intensive Insulin Management.  But... I don't think I'll be bringing that up to my diabetes educator anytime soon!