Friday, October 27, 2017

Embracing Low Carb Dinners - And Trying Not To Over Bolus


If at first you don't succeed..... 
Since Monday (OK, really since Sunday, but that was because I had big lunch and didn't feel like eating much dinner,) night I’ve been consciously trying to eat low carb dinners for a multitude of reasons . 
Better blood sugars, trying to drop a few pounds, upping my veggie intake - all that stuff. 
Plus, low carb is easier to cook and requires less clean-up - at least in my kitchen. 
But while cooking/preparing low carb meals have been easy (tuna salad loaded with raw veggies, yogurt and fruit, eggs with 1/2 a baked sweet potato and lots of veggies, Bastard Homemade Chicken Soup,) I tend to over bolus for meals that are considered low carb. And then 9 times out of 10, I end up running low either a few hours after my meal, right before bed (and right after I've put my night-guard on,) or in the middle of the night - all of which negates the whole “trying to eat low carb dinners,” thing. 

So for the past 3 days I’ve been working hard on my bolusing skills for low carb.
As in actually looking up carb counts (which by the way - I’ve been freakishly spot on with,)  and not counting the carbs in my animal protein ( I always count the carbs in legumes or quinoa) at dinner. 
Animal protein is where I usually make my mistake when it comes to bolusing. 
As always, your diabetes may vary.

To be balls out honest, it was weird to see such a small amount of insulin flash up on my Omnipod PDM. 

On Tuesday night I had a meeting with myself and was like: If the 2.20 units don’t work out for my eggs,1/2 a medium size sweet potato, and green beans with hot sauce, no big deal - that’s what a correction bolus is for. 
Things went well. 100 blood sugar two hours later with insulin onboard, a very small glass of cranberry apple juice and a 130 bg blood sugar before bed.  

Cut to Wednesday morning, a blood sugar of 120 and no middle of the night lows. 
I ROCK. 

Wednesday dinner blood sugar was 111 and I made a tuna salad loaded with raw veggies and served with gluten free crackers. 
1.75 units did the trick and again - a little freaked out by the small dinner bolus - but I went with it. 
Went to bed with a bg of 135 and woke up at 116. 
And as I was drinking my coffee I may have uttered: WHO’S YOUR F^CKING DADDY, DIABETES?!

Pickings are officially slim in my fridge, and last night's dinner was a repeat performance. 
Eggs over medium, the other half of baked sweet potato, and the last of the green beans. 
2.75 units to cover my meal and 153 bg - all seemed right with my world. 
178 bedtime bg. 
hmmmmmm and interesting. I chalked it off as being tired - considered a full correction dose - but only gave 0.90 unit instead of the 1.50 correction because I was going to bed and I was worried going low. 
Sidebar: I don’t wear a Dex. I need to be careful with bedtime corrections  because nighttime is the right time for my blood sugar to drop.

Blood sugar this morning: 297

Clearly - diabetes was sending me a message and that message was: WHO’S THE F^CKING DADDY NOW, KELLY!!? 
And sometimes diabetes likes to f^ck with me.... because it can. 
Also, I should have known something was up when I woke up at 4:30 to go to pee and then couldn’t go back to bed.

This morning required a 6.25 correction bolus in the form of a shot and including insulin to cover the carbs for copious amounts of coffee. Then like we all do every damn day when it comes to living with our diabetes, I forged ahead. 

By lunchtime my blood sugar was 159. 
Current blood sugar: 131 as of 1 minute ago.

Takeaways
I was once again reminded diabetes is never the same disease two days in a row - and will prove that too you - and just when you think you’ve figured it out.


Diabetes can do whatever it wants - so can I. And want I want to do is to continue trying and fine tuning when it comes to managing my diabetes. 

And I’m going to take it one day... one carb... and one number at a time. 

1 comment:

Rick Phillips said...

When I see such small amount son my pump I am like no damn way. Yet when I go low I am like no damn way. then I stop counting go back to my old habits and think, oh yeah look I am still low. Damn it.