ADA Advocate

I’m registered with the American Diabetes Association as a Diabetes Advocate. Why? Well to tell you the truth, I’d love to be able to write my senator and congressman / woman and tell them to support Diabetes related issues every now and then, but I just don’t have time. So the ADA has a neat way of doing most of the work for you online. You just click away and your respective representative gets an e-mail from you about the issues you care about. Here’s the latest I got from one of thier e-mails, minus the fancy logo. Sign up, and forward it to a friend….

>> Forward to a Friend
Dear Diabetes Advocate,
$174 billion - that’s how much diagnosed cases of diabetes cost the U.S. in 2007. With an additional 6 million people believed to have diabetes but not yet diagnosed, the actual cost of diabetes may be much greater.
Yesterday, the American Diabetes Association released a new study showing the economic impact of diabetes on our country. You can find out how much diabetes costs in your state by going to the ADA’s diabetes cost calculator (www.diabetes.org/costs). This will give you the estimated costs of diabetes in your state (or congressional district), as well as the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in that area.
The Administration and Congress will soon begin working on the FY 2009 budget, and it’s important for them to hear that diabetes doesn’t just effect on individual, or one family, but that it takes a toll on all of us. Please click on the link below and tell your members of Congress it is time to properly fund diabetes research and prevention efforts to we can put a stop to this public health crisis.
Take Action Now!http://main.diabetes.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=1162

Insulin - Is it in you?

It’s amazing what the body can (and in some cases cannot) do under certain circumstances. I’ve done a ton of endurance competions; marathons, triathlons, biathlons, I even ran 31 miles on a treadmill once (just for fun). And each time I compete in a competion or push myself in a workout I have to call on my body to perform. I have to push my body to its limits – and I always do. In all these situatons my faith in my ability and my emotions run the gammet; from feeling invulenrable, to questioning if I can keep my pace. But even if I slow, my body is always able to keep going.

But sometimes (and thank goodness it’s only sometimes) something happens…something happens with my insulin. In some cases my infusion set kinks, in this last one the insulin had gone bad (and yes, it can go bad). Without insulin in my body, I get so weak and cramped from the high BGs that walking up the steps is a challenge, let alone even trying to prepare for my next race with a workout. Heck it’s even tough to get out of bed and go to the bathroom (which when your BG is high you do about every 15 minutes).

It’s humbling sometimes, that for as strong as I might be physically I know I’m essentially helpless without insulin. Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day.

IT IS THE INSULIN!!!

I’ve been battling the hibyy BGees all day, so it’s gotta be the insulin. I’ve doubled up on my doses and I’m just barely under 180mg/dl. I’m gonna change out as soon as I get home but I thoght I’d write a quick note in case I go into high BG road rage on the way home and smack the car up.

Toodles.

Hi again!?!

Woke up this morning with a 263 mg/dl, and that was after correcting for a 230 mg/dl at 2am – so NO bike ride for me this morning. It wasn’t what I had last night. I was at 98 mg/dl before bed and hadn’t eaten in hours. (This disease really blows sometimes.) I changed my infusion set but it looks like its fine. I’ll plan to ride tonight instead, if I can make it through the day. I’m always dead tired when I’ve slept all night with a high BG, but that’s the way the BG bounces.

Today is really going to suck.

Did I mention it was cold?

Ran 9 miles before work in about an hour and one minute (or 6.50 pace). It could have been faster though. Why you might ask? Well for those of you playing along at home, you have a choice of A, B, or C:

1. My BG hadn’t been 250 when I started (ugh)!
2. It wasn’t 18 degrees (and dark)
3. All of the above

Yea that’s right running with a 250 BG is never a good time. I knew I should have changed my set out last night when I woke up with a 254 mg/dl, but I’m not always exactly with it at 3am. Well hopefully I’ve learned from it (who am I kidding? I’ll do the same dumb thing next time.)