My blood sugar was 6.4 this morning, which for us is good, in America that should indicate that I shouldn't even be here! Because in America, the equivalent is 115.2! Which wouldn't even read on my meter.
In America, if their machine said 6.4, to us it would be 0.35556.
The reason for this is that in America, they work out their sugars according to mg/dl (not that I know what that stands for), and we work ours out according to mmol/l (nor do I know what that stands for either).
This was the reason why when my literature teacher checked her blood sugar out online, and went onto an American site, she panicked because it told her that by rights she should be in a coma by now, because for them it would have been below 1!
I find the differences interesting to be honest, because I remember when I first heard an American diabetic speak, and he said that his blood sugar was okay and it was at like 126 (which is 7 to us) and sat there and thought how on earth is he still alive? :)
Pointless post really but ah well :)
Keep Smiling
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
New Regime?
Just a quick one about something I just saw on the news which may be of interest.
Apparently, there is a new regime in which instead of taking 2 (or 4) injections a day, we can take one a week.
Now I don't know the in's and out's of this yet, the news report was very vague, in fact it wasn't really a news report as just reading the title of the front cover of another newspaper, but I sort of like the idea.
What I don't get, is how we would control things on one injection a week, I know on the regime that I am on, my 4 consist of fast acting control when I eat, and slow release control when I sleep, so it would be interesting to find out more about this new regime, see who they tested it on and the results ect.
If it is possible, and available, then I am totally for it! I reckon (and this is just a guess) you'd have to take more blood sugars until you managed to get used to the new regime, but I think between a choice of more blood sugars and more injections I'd definitely take the blood sugars any day!
I've been trying to research it on the internet, but haven't found much. I'll do some more research and when I know more about it i'll post it up, but I think in theory the idea is very good.
I love how we are advancing all the time, things are so different now from what they were when I was first diagnosed! It's all steps in the right direction :)
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
Apparently, there is a new regime in which instead of taking 2 (or 4) injections a day, we can take one a week.
Now I don't know the in's and out's of this yet, the news report was very vague, in fact it wasn't really a news report as just reading the title of the front cover of another newspaper, but I sort of like the idea.
What I don't get, is how we would control things on one injection a week, I know on the regime that I am on, my 4 consist of fast acting control when I eat, and slow release control when I sleep, so it would be interesting to find out more about this new regime, see who they tested it on and the results ect.
If it is possible, and available, then I am totally for it! I reckon (and this is just a guess) you'd have to take more blood sugars until you managed to get used to the new regime, but I think between a choice of more blood sugars and more injections I'd definitely take the blood sugars any day!
I've been trying to research it on the internet, but haven't found much. I'll do some more research and when I know more about it i'll post it up, but I think in theory the idea is very good.
I love how we are advancing all the time, things are so different now from what they were when I was first diagnosed! It's all steps in the right direction :)
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
Friday, 14 October 2011
Fun In My English Lesson (with diabetes :D)
I've said before, that to get someone to truly understand, you have to make them see. You have to let them see what it is like to be you. And I let my english teacher in on it more than I'd ever thought I would at the start of the year the other day.
I was late to lesson, and low, very low. I (stupidly, but it happens) didn't have any hypo treatment on me, and my speech was slurred so I sounded like I was drunk. My teacher looked quite shocked when I walked in, I just slurred "sugar" at her, at which she seemed a bit ruffled as she didn't have any. She said she would go and see what they had in the staffroom, and what happened next has to be the most interesting set of things to help a hypo I have ever done. A friend of mine had a mouthful of a cup of tea left (which had sugar in it) and half a chocolate biscuit which he gave to me while my teacher was out looking for something. Then, she came back with a tub of nutella and a spoon, and told me to eat. Now I love nutella, so I wasn't complaining, but it was funny eating nutella like a yogurt. She asked me if sugar would be better, I said probably, so leaving me with the tub of nutella she went, and came back with a cup of raw sugar and a spoon, which I began to eat and felt better for, my speech at any rate returned to normal.
Things settled after this excitement, and she started to talk to the class again, I got my BM out and tested and it makes a noise which diverted her attention away from what she was doing and towards me. She asked what she would be if she tested it, I told her our normal averages and asked her if she wanted to test hers. She said yes (though this took a while because she was very nervous about it and kept nervously asking me questions), eventually she managed it and ended up with a blood sugar of 6.7, which I told her was fine (anything between 4 and 7). I explained to her why a person without diabetes goes lower after they eat and higher if they haven't eaten for a while ect. Then when we'd all settled down to work, she looked on the internet, the trouble was (and I told her not to do this) she looked on an American site, now in America a blood sugar reading of 6.7 should mean that you are well and truly in a coma, and that's exactly what she read, and I looked as her face slowly drained of colour and she told me what she was reading. I think she was reassured when I started to laugh and explained things to her. From that, some of my friends said they wanted testing aswell, so we spent a lesson testing blood sugars and discussing how a diabetics blood sugars differ from a person without diabetes.
This, was a really good way of letting them into a little bit of how it feels to be a diabetic. Some of them took ages to do a blood sugar, saying they were scared it was going to hurt (my reassurance was that they didn't HAVE to do it, and when I first had to do it I was 4 years old and it didn't hurt me one bit). And just talking about it, letting them ask me questions, so my whole English group is now as clued up on diabetes as I am!
And I know it worked, I went low again today before history, and my english teacher passed me as I was trying to sort things out, she noticed the signs of my sugars messing up, asked if I was ok, I told her yes and she walked away and on her way back she waited with me until I'd checked my bloods again, and then commented that they were "a bit on the low side", and I was so pleased with that because before that point, even though I have been her student now for over a year, it was not something she knew, but I've made one more person understand about diabetes, and I am happy about that :)
Let someone in, make them understand. It's not something they need to feel sorry for you about, just a fact of life that their pancreas works and ours doesn't. It isn't like it is contagious or anything, but at the same time we are not born with knowledge, we need to be taught these things, I know this stuff because I have grown up with it, but if I am talking to someone who hasn't got diabetes, or doesn't know anyone with diabetes, well then I can't expect them to understand unless I am patient enough to explain it to them.
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
I was late to lesson, and low, very low. I (stupidly, but it happens) didn't have any hypo treatment on me, and my speech was slurred so I sounded like I was drunk. My teacher looked quite shocked when I walked in, I just slurred "sugar" at her, at which she seemed a bit ruffled as she didn't have any. She said she would go and see what they had in the staffroom, and what happened next has to be the most interesting set of things to help a hypo I have ever done. A friend of mine had a mouthful of a cup of tea left (which had sugar in it) and half a chocolate biscuit which he gave to me while my teacher was out looking for something. Then, she came back with a tub of nutella and a spoon, and told me to eat. Now I love nutella, so I wasn't complaining, but it was funny eating nutella like a yogurt. She asked me if sugar would be better, I said probably, so leaving me with the tub of nutella she went, and came back with a cup of raw sugar and a spoon, which I began to eat and felt better for, my speech at any rate returned to normal.
Things settled after this excitement, and she started to talk to the class again, I got my BM out and tested and it makes a noise which diverted her attention away from what she was doing and towards me. She asked what she would be if she tested it, I told her our normal averages and asked her if she wanted to test hers. She said yes (though this took a while because she was very nervous about it and kept nervously asking me questions), eventually she managed it and ended up with a blood sugar of 6.7, which I told her was fine (anything between 4 and 7). I explained to her why a person without diabetes goes lower after they eat and higher if they haven't eaten for a while ect. Then when we'd all settled down to work, she looked on the internet, the trouble was (and I told her not to do this) she looked on an American site, now in America a blood sugar reading of 6.7 should mean that you are well and truly in a coma, and that's exactly what she read, and I looked as her face slowly drained of colour and she told me what she was reading. I think she was reassured when I started to laugh and explained things to her. From that, some of my friends said they wanted testing aswell, so we spent a lesson testing blood sugars and discussing how a diabetics blood sugars differ from a person without diabetes.
This, was a really good way of letting them into a little bit of how it feels to be a diabetic. Some of them took ages to do a blood sugar, saying they were scared it was going to hurt (my reassurance was that they didn't HAVE to do it, and when I first had to do it I was 4 years old and it didn't hurt me one bit). And just talking about it, letting them ask me questions, so my whole English group is now as clued up on diabetes as I am!
And I know it worked, I went low again today before history, and my english teacher passed me as I was trying to sort things out, she noticed the signs of my sugars messing up, asked if I was ok, I told her yes and she walked away and on her way back she waited with me until I'd checked my bloods again, and then commented that they were "a bit on the low side", and I was so pleased with that because before that point, even though I have been her student now for over a year, it was not something she knew, but I've made one more person understand about diabetes, and I am happy about that :)
Let someone in, make them understand. It's not something they need to feel sorry for you about, just a fact of life that their pancreas works and ours doesn't. It isn't like it is contagious or anything, but at the same time we are not born with knowledge, we need to be taught these things, I know this stuff because I have grown up with it, but if I am talking to someone who hasn't got diabetes, or doesn't know anyone with diabetes, well then I can't expect them to understand unless I am patient enough to explain it to them.
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Jobs And Diabetes :D
I found the most wonderful job interviewer in the world. And the reason I love her? There were no discrimination's :)
Before I went for my first ever interview, I was told "Unless they ask, don't tell them you have diabetes, let them see you work before they find out that you are diabetic". To me, having had diabetes for such a long time and not being treated any differently because of it, this seemed like a strange sentence, and not a sentence I liked. Why should they not want me just as much as anybody else? What right do they have to tell me I am any worse at doing a job simply because I am diabetic? I didn't think it was conceivable that any workplace would be like this, but I kept the advice in mind. But the issue of my diabetes came up, I told her it was well controlled and when it dropped etc (which I am more prone to doing than it going too high) it is easily sorted. But the change in the way she looked at me sealed the deal, and I knew then why I had been given that advice.
Needless to say, I didn't get that job. It was a shame because everything else seemed to have gone well, she even said she could learn a lot from the way I look at life, me, the 17 year old girl!!! She complimented me on my personality and said I was very "bubbly". And I honestly think it was my diabetes that let me down.
Just recently though, I have had another interview (well, 2 interviews to be precise). I went in with the advice given to me firmly in my head, and then found myself being asked about it again. I came out this time and said, "will this impact whether I get the job or not?", she smiled at me and told me no, and that they had another diabetic working there, and that if I ever needed to sort my blood sugars out all I would need to do is tell someone, and then go and do it, no questions asked. And I got the job :D No discrimination there :)
Due to my first experience, I would say what I was told, dont tell them you are diabetic unless they ask, never lie, but if possible let them see you work before they find out that you have diabetes. It's a shame that it has to be that way, but all they are looking for is someone who can work well enough to generate some money for them, and if the person you are talking to doesn't have much experience of diabetes, then they may have misconceived ideas of it and of the way that you can work with it.
You and I know, that being a diabetic does not have to be limiting. There are certain things that the government or whoever it is that decides this tells us we are not allowed to do, such as join the military, fly planes, teach people to drive cars, drive busses, (and in a way, though I hate to accept that we may have limits, I understand this, because it would be catastrophic if we were to have a low or go too high while we were doing these things and put others lives in danger because our bloods were clouding out thoughts and judgements) but the fact remains, that for the majority, we are no better or worse at performing than anyone else out there, and I want a non diabetic to read this, to read it and understand it. Its my pancreas that doesn't work, not my brain.
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
Before I went for my first ever interview, I was told "Unless they ask, don't tell them you have diabetes, let them see you work before they find out that you are diabetic". To me, having had diabetes for such a long time and not being treated any differently because of it, this seemed like a strange sentence, and not a sentence I liked. Why should they not want me just as much as anybody else? What right do they have to tell me I am any worse at doing a job simply because I am diabetic? I didn't think it was conceivable that any workplace would be like this, but I kept the advice in mind. But the issue of my diabetes came up, I told her it was well controlled and when it dropped etc (which I am more prone to doing than it going too high) it is easily sorted. But the change in the way she looked at me sealed the deal, and I knew then why I had been given that advice.
Needless to say, I didn't get that job. It was a shame because everything else seemed to have gone well, she even said she could learn a lot from the way I look at life, me, the 17 year old girl!!! She complimented me on my personality and said I was very "bubbly". And I honestly think it was my diabetes that let me down.
Just recently though, I have had another interview (well, 2 interviews to be precise). I went in with the advice given to me firmly in my head, and then found myself being asked about it again. I came out this time and said, "will this impact whether I get the job or not?", she smiled at me and told me no, and that they had another diabetic working there, and that if I ever needed to sort my blood sugars out all I would need to do is tell someone, and then go and do it, no questions asked. And I got the job :D No discrimination there :)
Due to my first experience, I would say what I was told, dont tell them you are diabetic unless they ask, never lie, but if possible let them see you work before they find out that you have diabetes. It's a shame that it has to be that way, but all they are looking for is someone who can work well enough to generate some money for them, and if the person you are talking to doesn't have much experience of diabetes, then they may have misconceived ideas of it and of the way that you can work with it.
You and I know, that being a diabetic does not have to be limiting. There are certain things that the government or whoever it is that decides this tells us we are not allowed to do, such as join the military, fly planes, teach people to drive cars, drive busses, (and in a way, though I hate to accept that we may have limits, I understand this, because it would be catastrophic if we were to have a low or go too high while we were doing these things and put others lives in danger because our bloods were clouding out thoughts and judgements) but the fact remains, that for the majority, we are no better or worse at performing than anyone else out there, and I want a non diabetic to read this, to read it and understand it. Its my pancreas that doesn't work, not my brain.
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Clinic Yesterday- There Are More Rules Than I Thought...
Was in clinic yesterday. It's okay.Things seem to be alright. I've been given a few months grace period before they start talking about moving me to the different clinic which is good.
What struck me today was that there are a lot more rules for adult diabetics than I ever thought. Like there are rules with driving, I have to let the instructor know I'm diabetic, and if I have to travel with my blood moniter and hypo treatment. And If i feel myself dropping, I have to pull over, take the key out of the ignition, get out of the car and get into the passenger seat and then do anything I need to sort my blood sugar there, even if I am parked if a policeman catches me in the drivers seat I could be pulled up for dangerous driving because in the drivers seat instantly assumes that I am still in control of the vehicle, even if it is parked which sounds pretty stupid to me. And I aren't allowed to set off unless my blood sugar is above 5. And I have to renew my lisence more, and my eye sight has to be checked more regularly.
We were also talking about pregnancy (not that I intend on getting pregnant yet). Apparently, unless blood sugars have been spot on perfect for a few months before conception it is hard for a diabetic to have a normal pregnancy, meaning a pregnancy would most certainly have to be planned. I asked about what if I accidently got pregnant, I didnt expect the answer, I got told some people aborted the pregnancies, others went through with it and either had a horrible pregnancy with a lot of complications or an ill baby, or both! So that is something I'm going to have to watch out for.
We spoke about drinking swell, but drinking is something I have already mentioned and already done my research on, so I could tell her just as much about drinking with diabetes as she could tell me!
That was just an update, I am happy they haven't moved me to the transition clinic yet, though she was saying yesterday they do do it gradually, it's not like they just throw us into it and leave us there which is a good thing. And she said the doctors and nurses in the adult clinic are just as nice as the ones I have already met in my children's clinics, I said I've yet to meet a horrible doctor which gives me some hope at least :)
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
What struck me today was that there are a lot more rules for adult diabetics than I ever thought. Like there are rules with driving, I have to let the instructor know I'm diabetic, and if I have to travel with my blood moniter and hypo treatment. And If i feel myself dropping, I have to pull over, take the key out of the ignition, get out of the car and get into the passenger seat and then do anything I need to sort my blood sugar there, even if I am parked if a policeman catches me in the drivers seat I could be pulled up for dangerous driving because in the drivers seat instantly assumes that I am still in control of the vehicle, even if it is parked which sounds pretty stupid to me. And I aren't allowed to set off unless my blood sugar is above 5. And I have to renew my lisence more, and my eye sight has to be checked more regularly.
We were also talking about pregnancy (not that I intend on getting pregnant yet). Apparently, unless blood sugars have been spot on perfect for a few months before conception it is hard for a diabetic to have a normal pregnancy, meaning a pregnancy would most certainly have to be planned. I asked about what if I accidently got pregnant, I didnt expect the answer, I got told some people aborted the pregnancies, others went through with it and either had a horrible pregnancy with a lot of complications or an ill baby, or both! So that is something I'm going to have to watch out for.
We spoke about drinking swell, but drinking is something I have already mentioned and already done my research on, so I could tell her just as much about drinking with diabetes as she could tell me!
That was just an update, I am happy they haven't moved me to the transition clinic yet, though she was saying yesterday they do do it gradually, it's not like they just throw us into it and leave us there which is a good thing. And she said the doctors and nurses in the adult clinic are just as nice as the ones I have already met in my children's clinics, I said I've yet to meet a horrible doctor which gives me some hope at least :)
Keep Smiling :)
Love, Tutti-Frutti
xxx
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