Tuesday, May 27, 2008

And Then I Got High

I started exercising again last week. I had fallen off the wagon a bit, was only hitting the treadmill a couple times a week because of my cold (I needed the extra 45 minutes of sleep in the morning). But since my cold had mostly cleared up, I was back to doing 45 minutes in the morning and even did close to an hour on Saturday. My sugars were doing great.

And then I got high.

For some reason, I was running high on Sunday. I woke up at 117, which is a little off for me—I’m usually no more than 105-ish, and usually in the mid-80s. I didn’t eat anything and went straight to the Home Depot to pick up some flowers before the crowds got nasty. When I got home, I had dropped to 105. I was planning on going outside and doing some pretty heavy work in the garden, so I knew I had to eat something. I ate about 3 carb units and went to work. I weeded, I planted, I lugged dirt, I moved flower pots, I removed approximately 123,546 helicopter seeds from my backyard due to the shedding tree two doors down (the beauty of small urban backyards and huge maple trees combined with a lot of wind). I did quite a bit of work for several hours.

When I came in, I was 95. A good number, and when I saw it, I was glad I carbed up even though I was over 100. I ate dinner and went to bed at 137.

I hate the number 137. When I’m running high, it seems to be the number that rears its ugly head more times than any other one. I wonder if my meter has a predilection to it?

When I woke up on Monday morning, I was 135. Very, very rare for me. This high, this early??? Egad! So I started to try to figure out what was up. True, I had skipped the treadmill on Sunday, but I figured the garden workout made up for it. I hadn’t eaten anything weird that would keep my sugars high. I did have a raging headache from sinus issues and allergies and I chalked it up to that. I sank into my big, fluffy chair, still in my pajamas and let the effects of three Tylenol sink in. About an hour and a half later, I had dropped to 115 or so, and was starving, so I ate about 2-3 carbs for breakfast and did some more work outside. When I was through a few hours later, I was 90. I ate a snack, then fell asleep on the chair (it was humid and I had woken up way too early after going to bed way too late—wait, why am I explaining a nap? I’m almost 40—I’m allowed to nap with no excuse).

I ate dinner (only about 2 carb units) and went to bed at 126.

This morning I was 109 when I woke up, so I hope whatever trend this was has decided to subside. I did about 15 minutes on the exercise bike this morning (although this activity has zero impact on my blood sugars) and I ate a regular breakfast. I guess I’ll just have to wait to see what happens today.

I’m also just a tiny bit curious about the insulin. I’ve been using my Lantus SoloStar pen for the past week and last night was my last shot from the pen. Tonight I’ll go back to the vial and syringe. Perhaps that had an effect? Who knows? I’m just going to focus on getting back into a routine with the exercise, my eating habits, my injection times and my sleeping and eating schedule (which were a little out of whack due to the three-day holiday weekend) and hope that the good numbers start appearing again.

No offense to Afroman…

As always, more to come…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you stay motivated enough to workout every morning? I try and it only lasts a week. Also, I wish I could wake up with a 137 in the morning. I have been filled with 250+ readings for a while now, and I can't fix them.

Lora said...

How do I stay motivated? The big question. First, let me say that I hate exercising--really, there's nothing I like about it. I try to make it as easy as possible. I leave my gym shoes right next to the treadmill. I bought slip-on exercise clothes. I get out of bed, walk directly to the closet and get in my workout gear, even before I go to the bathroom. Once I'm up and dressed, I may as well, right? And it became easier when I gave myself permission to walk instead of run. I don't run unless someone is chasing me. I walk on the treadmill at a pretty good clip, but I don't run. And I read. I love to read so I read the whole time I'm on the treadmill--good books that are entertaining and that I like. And sometimes, even if I really like the book, I won't let myself read it unless I'm on the treadmill. So if I really want to finish the book, I have to walk on the treadmill. Finally, I can't deny the effect that exercise has on my sugar--it's huge and makes a very substantial difference in the numbers I get. And frankly, I'm more terrified of the high numbers than I am of exercising.

So I guess you could say I'm motivated by good writing and fear.

Hang in there with the high numbers--you'll figure it out and when you do, oh what a thrill!

Lora

Anonymous said...

Your blood sugars are pretty close to perfect in my opinion. I've had diabetes for more than 14 years and while my A1C has been right around 7%, my blood sugars are swing quite a bit. I don't know how you've managed to stay in such a tight range. 137 mg/dl is a perfect blood sugar for me, I can't imagine ever thinking that's "high." High for me is anything over 180 mg/dl, though I correct no matter what my blood sugar is because the pump can do the math for me.

I know dozens (probably over a hundred) people with diabetes, and I don't know anyone who has control good enough to say that 137 is high! You should consider yourself a very lucky lady. How long have you had diabetes? I didn't see it written anywhere on your blog.