Thankful for sensors that go in on the first try! Also, thankful for this disease. Hear me out: I’ve had diabetes 21 years now, so essentially my whole life. It’s shaped me into the person I am today, and it’s been with me through every hardship and good moment. (half of which it caused I’m sure!) It helps me make healthier choices, and think long term about my health. It links me to an amazing community of other diabadasses. It makes me stronger, braver, and more hardened than I’d be without it. Yes I am hoping for a cure and would cut ties in an instant, but for now I’ll be thankful to have this never-ending love/hate relationship. ❤️ Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Today’s post is full of good news!! I’ll save what I find the most exciting for last. First off, The Groomer told me today she’s wanting to transition me into doing the prep work on the dogs!! She’ll have to work it out with me still being in boarding and whatnot, but it sounds like she’s wanting to start that pretty soon. I’ll keep you posted on what I find out, but I wasn’t expecting that so soon! I’m really looking forward to it though! 😀
Secondly, this is very first-world of me, but I just wanted to say that I had some of the best service and food from Olive Garden the other night! Randy, Lucas, and I went out to eat on Sunday for a late Christmas dinner. We went to Olive Garden, and everyone working there was super friendly, very attentive without being overbearing, and just all around excellent! The food was delivered so quickly we remarked on it and they offered to take it back and wait until we were ready! Of course we just took the food then, hah. I’m not sure if we just lucked out that our Olive Garden is fantastic, or if they all are, but I would definitely recommend going!!
The final great news is that American Girl is coming out with a diabetic care kit for their dolls starting on January 1st!! The kit is $24 and will include: an insulin pump, glucose meter, lancing device, insulin pen, glucose tablets, medical alert bracelet, insulin pump skin stickers, diabetes log book, and a bag! These items are all things I have used, or still currently use with my Type 1 Diabetes. I’ve been a big fan of American Girl for many many years, having had dolls in the past as well.
This is such fantastic news for me, being a Type 1 Diabetic, and knowing that other younger girls going through what I did will have this to keep them company and feeling ‘normal’. Not only that, but other kids who don’t have Type 1 Diabetes can also get the kit and maybe learn a little bit more about their peers before jumping to their own conclusions.
Anja Busse (now 13) started a Change.org petition in January 2014 after being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. All the credit is due to her for being so brave to take a stand and ask for something from a big company that she felt should have been there all the time. I 100% agree and commend her for working so hard on it!! You can read the Daily Mail article here.
Here’s the doll complete with insulin pump!!
All the Diabetes supplies!!
Ahh!! If you can’t tell, I am super thrilled by this news, and I hope everyone else is too! Type 1 Diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease, and it really sucks. I applaud American Girl for taking steps to make it a little less horrible for children everywhere, thank you!!
I took the first dose of Celexa (10mg) on Tuesday night, so tonight was the fourth night of taking it but only the third day on it. The side effects can include drowsiness or feeling as if you’re overly caffeinated, so morning or evening is best depending on how it affects you.
The time I wake up varies quite a bit, so I figured taking it later in the evening would work out best for me. I decided on 8PM for a few reasons. I go to sleep usually anywhere from three to six in the morning. When I have to wake up the next morning at six for work however, I go to bed at ten. (Try to anyway) I definitely wanted to take it before ten, otherwise I’d have to take it early on the days I had to go to bed early. Every Saturday we stream on Twitch starting around nine, so I didn’t want to have to remember to take a pill mid-stream. Eight seemed like the obvious time, and so far it’s been working just fine. It has made me a little sleepy I think, but once I’m over that bit of drowsiness I’m fine.
The first night about seven hours after I took it I started feeling like I had drank three pots of coffee and did a line of blow. I told Lucas that exactly. I don’t know that it was actually the Celexa though, it may have just been from drinking coffee, being tired, and getting loopy. Who knows?
Headaches are also a side effect, and I’ve been getting lots of headaches. Before starting Celexa I’d been having lots of headaches though, so I don’t really think that’s why I’m having them. However, they have been a lot worse than they usually are, so that may be attributed to the Celexa.
Lastly, something I think the doctor probably should have mentioned, no, he DEFINITELY should have mentioned, is that it can make your blood sugar low. That’s something SUPER important to tell a Type 1 Diabetic. The first two nights I woke up with a low blood sugar. That should have been a clue that it was the Celexa, but I do wake up with lows sometimes so I didn’t piece it together right away. I finally did though, and changed how much insulin I get from midnight to seven on my own to experiment. (I’m on an insulin pump) I just did that last night, so we’ll see if the changes I made were accurate.
That definitely isn’t a deal breaker for me, and honestly it might help control my blood sugars more! Other than that I haven’t noticed any side effects, and none of the bad ones so that’s really good. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going! 🙂
I get paid on Tuesday’s (as of now, not sure what it’ll be when I start my job at the vet clinic!) so at midnight, although I still say it’s Monday, Lucas and I go to Wal*Mart and shop. It’s a fun thing to look forward to and I always enjoy our little excursion together. On this particular trip, I had just gotten off work and was rather hungry. I’d woken up late and didn’t get a chance to eat anything before going to work. This usually isn’t a matter of concern, but I’m a Type 1 Diabetic so by the time we got to Wal*Mart I was feeling a little shaky and like my blood sugar was low. We did our shopping and got some doughnuts- I LOVE doughnuts!- and I ate one on the way home. It was delicious, by the way. We get home, put everything away, and I heat up a sandwich and eat that along with some chips. Yes, I love food and like I said I hadn’t eaten anything-don’t judge! 🙂 After this I eat a few Runts because we’re watching movies and what else are you supposed to do?? I bolused for eating, but alas, forgot I had eaten that doughnut. By the time I’m getting ready for bed my blood sugar is 485. Everyone who is a diabetic is different in what the margin should be for their blood sugar, but mine is 80-130. So as you can see without even knowing much more, 485 is WAY higher than it should be. I bolused for that, damning the doughnut in my mind because I knew I had forgotten it earlier when bolusing for everything else. I went to bed, figuring it would all be better in the morning, and slept. It wasn’t meant to be. When I got up today my blood sugar was at 380-something and I felt like crap. I bolused for that, and an hour or more later it was down to 290. Good to be going down, but it planed out at about 270 which isn’t what I wanted. I’m feeling much better than I did earlier, but it’s still sitting at almost 300. I guess the moral of the story is to never forget that doughnut! Also, I’ve recently started doing better with checking my blood sugar and have a sensor (I’ll tell you all about that in a different post) so being able to tell my blood sugar is high is a drastic improvement. Before it’d be that high and I wouldn’t even notice which is really bad. So that’s a good thing in all the bad of feeling crappy all day. Next time you eat a doughnut, don’t forget to bolus, or if you have a working pancreas, give it a high-five for never forgetting you ate one! 🙂
For those of you reading who don’t know, I am a type 1 diabetic. I would like to now take the time to share with you what it feels like when your blood sugar goes from high to low at a rapid pace. This is what I am currently experiencing. Now, I have also had it go from high to low at a slower pace, and that doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t even notice it. (And please note, this blog is about me and my perceptions/feelings. I’m not saying all diabetics feel this way) So I checked my blood sugar about an hour and a half ago and it was 331. I felt fine, not even like it was high so probably a good thing I checked it. I have an insulin pump and it gives me the correction accordingly. There’s more that goes into it, but I won’t bore you with the details. At first I felt nothing, and then I felt it dropping. At first my head started hurting, and then I started to feel nauseous. If you’ve been on a Silly Silo or its equivalent, imagine stepping off of one and that’s pretty much the feeling. Then, I start having trouble breathing. Not really trouble, I just feel short of breath and have to take deep breaths and it feels like I had exhaled for far too long before taking the next breath without realizing it. Then, I begin to feel shaky on top of everything else and my hands start to shake. I’m lucky enough to have a sensor along with my pump, and right now it shows that my blood sugar should be around 180 and dropping. Hopefully it will stop and plane out soon, if not I’ll have to take care of a low blood sugar and then it’ll probably spike and the vicious cycle repeats! So there you have it, for all those wondering (and I know you all have been) about what it feels like to have your blood sugar drop rapidly, go ride a Silly Silo and find out. 🙂
Lydia 