See how good I am doing.

Here is a graph of my blood sugar readings.

And Here is a graph of my weight readings. You can see that just before I got diagnosed on April 7th, I was literally digesting myself alive and it probably wouldn't have been long before I disappeared entirely.

You can see that I am clearly back into a normal range now. I like to use a daily weight reading as a way to monitor how much I am eating relative to how much I should be eating. I've been doing it for years and works great.

As for my medication, I am only taking about half of the insulin as when I first started. It turns out that if you just go running more, you can eat more and take less insulin. Score another point for running.

Up next, my first attempt at camping this weekend. Camping for me typically involves one or two exploring runs or bike rides a day. I'll let you know how it goes.

So Far, So Good.

I’ve had some good results and some not so good results this week but finding time to blog about it is harder than I thought. That’s probably why I couldn’t find the info I was looking for online.

The first thing I learned is that blood glucose (BG) levels don’t necessarily react the same to something like a soccer game than they do to a normal slow jog.
I played my first game of soccer since the diagnosis and overall it was fine but I’ll need to make some adjustments. Here's how it went:
First of all, I had to play the whole game since we had no subs. Second of all, my idea to just stay back and play defense doesn’t work when there are no subs because everyone was tired. Third of all, I need to remember to think of three things before starting lists.

I had a normal BG reading before the game so I had a normal sized snack (15 g of Carbohydrates) then I sipped on Gatorade during the game. At halftime, I’m not sure if I really felt low or was just afraid that I might be low so I had a PowerBar Gel for 25 quick carbs. I finished the game while still sipping on Gatorade every few minutes or so. Then after the game I tested and was way too high. I decided not to play the second game and that was probably a good move because an hour later I was low. So I’ll have to go back to the drawing board on that one.

I talked to someone about this and apparently when you really push it, your liver can let out some glucose to cover you so that might be why I was so high. But maybe it was just the PowerBar Gel.

The next week I played again and this time everything was much better. Besides scoring 3 goals, I went into the game and came out at good glucose levels. I started at 120 and had a half sandwich on the drive to the field. Then I just sipped watered down Gatorade every 10 minutes or so. Success.

Ok, so I can check soccer off my list of things I am still able to do.

So far, so good.

Good first week.

My goal this week was to run 6 times. That means I had to make sure to get out the door every day except Sunday. I wanted to see what my insulin needs would be when I am in good shape and running every day. The goal is that if I want to race again, I will need to be able to handle 6 to 9 workouts a week.

The good news is that I did it. I missed on Friday but I ran twice on Saturday just to see if I could handle two in a day. (I also counted a soccer game on Tuesday as the run for that day.) The bad news is that my blood sugars were all over the place. But that is ok, I am learning that I need less insulin when I am in good shape.

So I am going to lower my Lantus (long lasting) insulin by 1 unit this week and try again. That will put me at 16 units a day.

I'm not running very fast yet but I am doing a consistent 4 or 5 miles at 7 minute pace at the same time every night. I find that if I eat 30 grams of carbohydrate before the run, I can finish the whole run and not need to eat until about an hour later.

Next week I will try eating only 15 carbs and see how far that gets me. The goal being that it would be nice to not have to eat so much right before a run because that can get a little uncomfortable.

I bought a running belt that holds a small water bottle and a pouch for emergency food. I carry fruit snacks and a PowerGel just in case I get too low on a run. I tried it out on Saturday night and it is a little bit annoying but I'm sure passing out on the side of the road would be more annoying so I'll stick with the belt for now.