So, I've had a lot of low-blood sugar issues lately. Literally every night around midnight, right as I'm trying to get to sleep, I get all shaky and hot and I go and test my blood sugar and it's relativley low. Along with a few times periodically throughout a week at other times, it gets low. The only thing I can attribute it to is not eating enough. I was just raised up to 850mg of Metformin twice a day, but my doctor assures me it shouldn't have too much of an affect on my blood sugar since I've been on it so long. So I'm trying to eat more frequently, without grazing.
Since I've had this issue going on for a few months, I thought I'd share some tips on preventing low blood sugar, and how to raise it.. and keep it at a good level.
My dad is hypoglycemic, but has no metabolic issues or anything. Other than smoking, and an inoperable benign brain tumor, he's relatively healthy.... Works a hard labor job, etc.. Whenever his drops, he can grab Reese's Peanutbutter Cups and it'll go up and he'll be fine. He doesn't ever really test his blood sugar. He can just tell. On the few occasions we've tested it just for fun to get an idea, he doesn't start feeling it untill his blood sugar is about at 40.
Where for me, I can start feeling it in the 60's. Which isn't even that low. (So you can imagine how bad it is when it gets down into the 40's-50's..) But I've always been like this. I've been overly-sensitive. I can estimate what my blood sugar is at any given time, and I'll be within 10-15 points of it. It's annoying.. but it's become a good tool.
But most people aren't like that. They can't tell what their blood sugar is very often. So you need to test a little more often to get an idea, rather than only when you feel high or low.
I know Type 1 diabetics need to test close to 7 times a day. At least the few I know, anyway. My grandma who was type 2 had to test fasting, with every meal, and at bedtime. so about 4-5 times. And All my life I had to test 2-3 times a day, up untill the past couple years. Fasting, and 2 hours after dinner primarily. But I say occasionally 3 times, because whenever I would feel sick, as a little kid I culdn't automatically say I knew it was my blood sugar, because I didn't know. So that was always a pre-caution to rule out low or high blood sugar.
Before I get into tips on how to controll it, lets talk about symptoms of the two. Sometimes I used to think i was low, when i was actually high. Obviously the only way to be sure is to test. but here are the defined symptoms of high/low blood sugar:
High: (listed on this website. It describes it all better than I could.) http://www.emedicinehealth.com/high_blood_sugar_hyperglycemia/page3_em.htm
Low: Personally for me, I get dizzy, shaky, irritable, and tired. But all the symptoms are listed here -- http://www.emedicinehealth.com/low_blood_sugar_hypoglycemia/page3_em.htm
So there are the lists of symptoms, and aside from testing to make sure you know where you are, and if your high or low, here are some tips on how to control it.
To prevent high/low blood sugar: protein!! Eat protein with sugar/carbs. If you're going to have something that you know can raise your blood sugar (like for me, a muffin or something like that that I normally don't have..) have milk with it. Or some source of protein. Sugar attaches itself to protein, and It won't raise your blood sugar as much.
To control high/low blood sugar: For high blood sugar, unless you're diabetic and have insulin you can take, there isn'tmuch you can do. Just wait it out. Sometimes if mine's high i'll drink a glass of skim milk and sometimes i think it slowly helps bring it down, but i'm not 100% sure on the science of that, if it helps at all. But for low blood sugar? Eat sugar/carb + protein. Like, peanutbutter toast and a glass of milk. Or strawberries and a piece of string cheese. Occassionally when it's really llow, I'll add in a real meal.. Sort of an egg sandwich. But with only one piece of bread. I'll take a piece of bread, a slice of cheese, and fry an egg and put it on top.. and eat that. It fills me up. (obviously, it may not fill somene up that has a normal sized stomach.. but it'll do.) the carb really helps raise the blood sugar and because there is protein, it stays up.
If it's dangerously low, like, below 40-45 ish... drink orange juice, or have something high in sugar. and once your blood sugar is raised, then add protein to keep it up. it'll happen faster.
So I hope this helps clear some things up for some people, and keep in mind I'm not a doctor or anything. This is just from my 10+ years experience with testing and dealig with high/low blood sugar. Obviously if you have chronic high/low's, make sure you let your doctor know and see if they have any further advice or want to run any tests or anything.
I hope you're having a great day, and feel free to email me or contact me on facebook or something, if you want. (:
---Ashley.
PS: I'm going to my first support group for the sugery, tomorrow... with a bunch of teenagers that had WLS at the same hospital I did. It's a summer event... at a rec center, there's gonna be swimming and sports and stuff like that. I have previously met 2 or 3 of the people that are going, and have talked to a few other people online. But this'll be interesting.. I'll be sure to post about it later. Maybe pictures too, if I'm allowed. (:
First blog dedicated to Weight Loss Surgery for teenagers. To my knowledge it's still the only one! We're also dedicated to teaching/spreading awareness about childhood obesity, metabolic conditions/diseases, healthy lifestyles, and anything in-between. (Started in May 2011)
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
6 month post-op bloodwork..
Here were all my lab results.. I'm starting to make sure I get a copy of everything (and I mean everything.. even the research stuff.) when I go to these appointments (and appointments with my endocrinologist..)
Everyone (well, all of my doctors) know I have this blog.. and they're usually pretty leniant (is that the word..?) with me.. Haha.
Next time I see my endocrinologist I'm gonig to ask if she can write down, or show me so i can write down, (or just print off the graph there is on the computer..) of my bmi over the years and all these different things they've showed me over the years.. i forgot to ask last time i was there.
But yeah. here it is!! i'm pretty sure if you click on the pictures, you can enlarge it all or zoom in to see clear-er. (: [actually, I just found out you can't zoom.. so i'm going to add links to the pictures below each one.. if you click on it the picture will come up.... and if you click on the picture, it'll zoom and you can read it all.]
Everyone (well, all of my doctors) know I have this blog.. and they're usually pretty leniant (is that the word..?) with me.. Haha.
Next time I see my endocrinologist I'm gonig to ask if she can write down, or show me so i can write down, (or just print off the graph there is on the computer..) of my bmi over the years and all these different things they've showed me over the years.. i forgot to ask last time i was there.
But yeah. here it is!! i'm pretty sure if you click on the pictures, you can enlarge it all or zoom in to see clear-er. (: [actually, I just found out you can't zoom.. so i'm going to add links to the pictures below each one.. if you click on it the picture will come up.... and if you click on the picture, it'll zoom and you can read it all.]
Haha alright.. Yeah. That's about it. Just thought I'd share.. I'm not entirely sure what half of this means... I mean, I have a basic understanding.. (I didn't at first.. I called my mom who is an RN who helped me out.. but what she didn't know, i just googled, or asked my endocrine when I saw her.. lol) But a lot of it is still foreign to me.. obviously.. i've never been to med school or in any advanced science/biology/chemistry classes or anything.. lol.
well yeah. I'm gonna go now. (:
Bye.<3
-Ashley
www.twitter.com/ashleyohara_ (don't forget the underscore.. for some reason it wasn't added into the link.. :P but yeah.. the twitter isn't just for this.. its my personal. majority of what i tweet about is music.. but i'll put it anyway.)
feel free to email me at ashleyellen1637@aol.com (I really should actually make an email specifically for this.. but its my personal) if anyone has any questions or concerns or suggestions for/about my blog, or anything related to it... Or just hit me up on facebook. (:
Have a great day. <3
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Logging!
A lot of people log things.. Their food/fluid intake, exersize, blood sugars, insulin (when diabetic) ... I've never been good at it. Ever. When I was really little my mom would do it for me.. Like.. when i was 7.. But i've never been good at iton my own. I'm good at just keeping track in my head.. I can look back and remmeber everything I"ve eaten/drank.. and add it all together... I've been doing this all so long.. i'm almost 100% accurate on eye-balling portion sizes (although i still measure to make sure, majority of the time.) I just stopped attempting to log things.. Because i'd do it for a day.. then sto pfor a week.. do it for half aday, for 3 days, then not do it again for a few days.. It wasn't helpfull at all. and more frustrating than anything..
But this past weeki've been REALLY off.. not remembering half of my meds.. (i seriously have slept maybe a total of 12 hours... the past week.)... I've had a lot going on... It wuoldn't seem like a lotto most people.. But itsa long story.. ANYWAYS. i realized I havent taken my metformin (or any of my meds, for that matter..)thsi week... normally i'm realllllyyyy good with my meds.. I don't typically havea problemremembering them. it's become a habit for me.. But this has just been a messedup week..
I've been out of test strips for my blood sugar for a few months.. I just got some yesterday.. So i thought i'd take it.. i had just eaten.. figured it would bea ltitle high... no glucophauge(metformin), for a week.. and your blood sugar naturally goes up after you eat, right..? even in a totally healthy person.. well.. it was like 80.... .andi took it again later on.. and it was 78... -- uhm...? My blood sugars have never been... like... that great.. i've kept them controlled most my life.. without much of a problem (for which i'm grateful) but that.. without metformin? i was honestly amazed.. I've been on metformin/glucophauge since i as9 years old...
and for whatever reason this motivated me to start logging my blood sugars.. (get back on track with my meds, obviously..)
but i set a goal for myself.. to take my blood sugar fasting, 2 hours after lunch, and 2hours after dinner.. and see where i'm at.. just because this interests me. Now Itypically eat 4 (obviously pretty small) meals a day.. up to 60grams of protein total, sometimes more, and i keep the carbs under 45-50grams a day... so i take it 2 hours after the first meal and 2hours after the last meal... and log it. I'll probably post my numbers on facebook each day.. because this is really.. id on't know. interesting i guess.. to me. to see what my levels are at. the first day i did (today) no glucophauge.. then the rest of the days i'm taking my glucophauge getting back into it..
(I'm not recommending stopping your medications, at all. This was honestly a mistake.. But i figured.. I'll take advantage of it, instead of sit there mad at myself for messing up so badly.)
then obviously i'll keep taking my meds.. like i'm supposed to. :P
But yeah..
So. the point of this post, is i'm going to try logging just for one week.. my blood sugars anyway. I've tried logging food. i just am not able to do it for more than 2 days without givng up.. its too much of a hassle for me.. I can tell you what i ate all day today.. no problem..:
Breakfast: 1/2 yoplait light blueberry yogurt, and a piece of string cheese.
Lunch: half of a chicken cheese quesadilla, and some milk..
Lunch #2: The other half of the chicken cheese quesadilla, and 2 small pieces of a peach.
Dinner: 5 small shrimp(with a little bit of coctail sauce) and a piece of string cheese.
Fluids: eh.. about 60oz.. made up of diluted diet pepsi, sugar free pink lemonade, orange flavored crystal light, and skim milk..
^^^^^. see? (: I made absolutely none of that up, either.
Butttt yeah. Just thought I'd put that out there. (:
but i did draw up two charts.. a food/intake log, and a blood sugar log.. the blood sugar log isn't exact to the one i'm using now, but it's pretty close.. you can use them as a guide to make you rown, if you want to try logging.. or just print them off. if you print off the picture, (just right click it, and click print picture, i believe..) it should show up when you print it, a full page.. the pictures look better enlarged.
Blood Sugar Log:
Food/Intake Log:
But this past weeki've been REALLY off.. not remembering half of my meds.. (i seriously have slept maybe a total of 12 hours... the past week.)... I've had a lot going on... It wuoldn't seem like a lotto most people.. But itsa long story.. ANYWAYS. i realized I havent taken my metformin (or any of my meds, for that matter..)thsi week... normally i'm realllllyyyy good with my meds.. I don't typically havea problemremembering them. it's become a habit for me.. But this has just been a messedup week..
I've been out of test strips for my blood sugar for a few months.. I just got some yesterday.. So i thought i'd take it.. i had just eaten.. figured it would bea ltitle high... no glucophauge(metformin), for a week.. and your blood sugar naturally goes up after you eat, right..? even in a totally healthy person.. well.. it was like 80.... .andi took it again later on.. and it was 78... -- uhm...? My blood sugars have never been... like... that great.. i've kept them controlled most my life.. without much of a problem (for which i'm grateful) but that.. without metformin? i was honestly amazed.. I've been on metformin/glucophauge since i as9 years old...
and for whatever reason this motivated me to start logging my blood sugars.. (get back on track with my meds, obviously..)
but i set a goal for myself.. to take my blood sugar fasting, 2 hours after lunch, and 2hours after dinner.. and see where i'm at.. just because this interests me. Now Itypically eat 4 (obviously pretty small) meals a day.. up to 60grams of protein total, sometimes more, and i keep the carbs under 45-50grams a day... so i take it 2 hours after the first meal and 2hours after the last meal... and log it. I'll probably post my numbers on facebook each day.. because this is really.. id on't know. interesting i guess.. to me. to see what my levels are at. the first day i did (today) no glucophauge.. then the rest of the days i'm taking my glucophauge getting back into it..
(I'm not recommending stopping your medications, at all. This was honestly a mistake.. But i figured.. I'll take advantage of it, instead of sit there mad at myself for messing up so badly.)
then obviously i'll keep taking my meds.. like i'm supposed to. :P
But yeah..
So. the point of this post, is i'm going to try logging just for one week.. my blood sugars anyway. I've tried logging food. i just am not able to do it for more than 2 days without givng up.. its too much of a hassle for me.. I can tell you what i ate all day today.. no problem..:
Breakfast: 1/2 yoplait light blueberry yogurt, and a piece of string cheese.
Lunch: half of a chicken cheese quesadilla, and some milk..
Lunch #2: The other half of the chicken cheese quesadilla, and 2 small pieces of a peach.
Dinner: 5 small shrimp(with a little bit of coctail sauce) and a piece of string cheese.
Fluids: eh.. about 60oz.. made up of diluted diet pepsi, sugar free pink lemonade, orange flavored crystal light, and skim milk..
^^^^^. see? (: I made absolutely none of that up, either.
Butttt yeah. Just thought I'd put that out there. (:
but i did draw up two charts.. a food/intake log, and a blood sugar log.. the blood sugar log isn't exact to the one i'm using now, but it's pretty close.. you can use them as a guide to make you rown, if you want to try logging.. or just print them off. if you print off the picture, (just right click it, and click print picture, i believe..) it should show up when you print it, a full page.. the pictures look better enlarged.
Blood Sugar Log:
(i just scanned the drawing.. i didn't have the patience to try and do it on microsoft excel or whatever the name of the program isthat you can make graphs on.. sorry. :P haha.)
Food/Intake Log:
(I always hate when doctors would give me charts to try and fill out, that there was never enough room to write everything down.. ever. I'm not very good at writing super small.. so i tried to make this one have more space.. its basically for a week. 7 days. You kill more trees this way, but it's also easier to write.. and keep track of, i think.. anyway.. :P)
so.. there we go. (: I hope this helped some.. Have a great day!
-ashley.
Ps: Feel free to email me, or comment on this, or write on my page on facebook! i'd love to talk to anyone who keeps up with my blog.. If anyone ever has any questions or concerns, or suggestions on things i should blog about... let me know! (:
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