Hey Laura...How's that blood sugar?

I happily remember the days where I weekly  posted blood sugar numbers on here. It was a great experience, worthy of a story in MOPS magazine, where my friends followed my health issues and helped me along. I loved the accountability even though I didn't want to post my high numbers.

I think I am a healthy diabetic now because of it. There is room for improvement certainly, but I can speak of my disease and experiment and eat imperfectly without tears or guilt. I've learned my diabetic personality for this phase of my life...which is to check my blood sugar 2-3 times a day for a week and then ignore it for 2 more. Not the conventional way, but I can handle it.

I went to the doctor on Wednesday. I really like my doctor (her office staff is a bit unreliable) but I appreciate how my doctor never settles. Good isn't enough. She wants perfect and to that end she is always experimenting, after considering my input. So for the last 18 months my A1C (three month blood sugar average) has held steady at 7. The guidelines for diabetics to avoid complications is under 7. My doctor is pleased with my steadiness but says that since I presumably have a lot of life left to live, we need to lower it. (Note: My other diabetic stats like my blood pressure, the condition of my eyes and feet, my kidney function are and have always been perfect.)

The fascinating/ frustrating thing to me is how steady my A1C has been. Steady is good right. Well for 9 of the past 19 months I spent at least 3 days a week exercising. But my A1C had gone down. And for one of those A1C I changed the time I take my oral medicine in an effort to reduce my after lunch and after dinner readings. It didn't work.  I guess it is a good reminder that while diabetes offers its hostess some level of control, not every one can just eat well and keep it all under control.

This is my insulin pen. Take off the cap, screw on the needle, dial the units of insulin needed and poke! Super easy.

So now Doctor wants to increase the number of units of insulin I take--try to lower those numbers. I told her this concerned me because sometimes I wake up in the morning with a too low blood sugar anyway and feel wobbly coming downstairs. So we are going to try taking my insulin in the morning instead of the evening. That way, if my blood sugar drops too low, I won't be sleeping and can make adjustments. I think the plan sounds like a good one.