Tidbits and Tricks

Today's Prompt: Learning. Share something you learned from another Health Activist (that everyone should know!).

First of all, I am not a licensed medical professional. I'm not trained to give advice on anyone's diabetes but my own.

That being said, I want to share a revelation that I picked up online that changed the course of my diabetes. It changed my blood sugar spikes. It lowered my A1c. I credit this piece of advice more than any other in getting my body ready for pregnancy. It changed everything.

It matters when you take your insulin.

Online we call it pre-bolusing.

The last few years, continuous monitoring has taught medical professionals a lot about how insulin works in the body. When the newest fast-acting analogs came to market, we were told we could take them right on top of meals. When my doctor started me on Apidra just after it was approved by FDA, we thought it would help me because I usually bolused after meals and this insulin would supposedly accommodate that habit.

Fast-forward to the days of continuous monitoring.

We now know that the "fast" insulins are not as fast as we thought. When taken on top of (or worse, after, meals), Humalog/Novolog/Apidra miss the post-prandial (post-meal) spike entirely. They should be taken earlier. I won't give advice on how early, as I think it can vary from person to person, but I know how many minutes before the first bite of food works for me at most meals.

The pushback I get from most people when I suggest pre-bolusing involves one of the next two arguments: 1) But what if I go low before the meal? and 2) But who knows how much little Timmy will eat? It's easier to bolus afterward.

I'll address each of these valid concerns.

Big Girl Undies

Today's Prompt: I don't really care about today's prompt because it's about smartphone apps and there aren't any good ones for diabetes, so I'm going to talk about pee.

Diabetes management and potty training have a lot in common.

As you can guess, I'm in the thick of both.

We tried potty training at Christmas a couple of months before she turned three. Sweetie wasn't ready. It was accident after accident. This week, however, four months later, she randomly decided she wanted to wear big girl undies.

While I know she is doing great so far, the accidents are frustrating. What works one day doesn't work the same way the next. Some accidents make us cry. Sometimes we have to wash up and start over.

Just when I am celebrating because we had a great trip to the potty, twenty minutes later, she has an unexpected accident. Damn it, I should have been more vigilant. I wish she was picking up on the signals her body is sending.

Diabetes is exactly like that.