To record or not to record my D-life

I am a research scientist and I work with computers all the time. Despite this, I still enjoy reading on real paper rather than from my computer screen. When it comes to keep track of my D life, that is  BG/insulin/carb count/activity, I think of myself at a dead end. There is no diary or computer program that can keep track of it, so I end up writing up everything by hand, in a sort of diary.  I've actually found one program that I like but I can't manage to make it read  data from my meter, so I abandoned it. 

Does anyone else feel frustrated when it comes to keep track of these things?  I have  installed Glucofact deluxe on my mac today (yes, it's finally available on Bayer's website). I cannot say that I like it, but it is quicker than the built-in program on my Contour USB. 

What I'd really like, is a program that keeps track of everything, prints data in different ways (only certain times of the day, and without taking about 500 printed pages to display your  monthly results), let you write down you carb intake, insulin intake, time, exercise, notes, and possibly have a carb counter where I can add the things I usual eat.  That's because I cannot fit all this information in the tiny diaries that are usually given to us. I cannot even communicate it to the nurses or my doctor, as the data is not organised at all. I know the answer to this, I am gonna have to write the program myself...
Said that, I am totally confused by my BG readings. It looks like I hypo before lunch even if I inject only 1u per 25g  of carbs, and now my main meal units make me hypo at about 17:30. So now I have changed to  Breakfast: 1u/35 CHO Lunch: 4u/60 CHO and Dinner: 5u/CHO, and of course 3u of Lantus at night. For a total of 10u of bolus insulin and 3u of basal insulin. These numbers sound really odd to me. Far from the start when according to my previous physician (luckily I am in the UK now) I could cope with 5u of Lantus, strict diet  and lots and lots of exercise. I suspect I need more insulin because I am super stressed because of my writing up...  What makes me worry about my numbers are the peaks I would get with little levels of insulin... It doesn't sound right to me that I have to reduce the insulin carb ratio so much to cope with pre-meal hypos. Isn't it better then to increase the basal again  and reduce the bolus accordingly?  Oh this is a constant fight... 

Long Time No Blog

I admit that I have been busier than usual lately. Thing that seems almost impossible, but is true. I have been trying hard not to get distracted and finish my literature review. Well I might say I am in the process of finishing it, and probably I won’t blog again till I have finished it. I’ve only got one month left to hand in my thesis and finally say goodbye to my student life. It was about time! I’m here, squeezing as much as possible my tiny brain, ready to start a new (more human this time) adventure along the river Cam. What I am mostly looking forward to is not my new job, but the chance of gaining back my life. I want my spare time back. It’s been about 4 years that I have been waiting for that, and with a little more sacrifice, I will put an end to the painful process of getting a PhD.

I am happy to say that the house hunting was succesfull, we found a house!!! I can’t wait move there for good. During the days I was in Cambridge my BG behaved well enough, despite an after meal scone with jam and bread and jam for breakfast... so I am happy!

Anyway, I am here with the same stupid problem of hypoing before lunch and dinner. I'm really looking forward to see my physician now. I feel I don't have any support at all... I don’t really know what to do anymore about it. I cannot lower the basal insulin but I cannot lower the bolus one too much as I get high readings. Am I at a dead end? Please pancreas of mine, what are you doing? Are you trying to give your little contribution too? Please, keep your efforts for worse days. I need you to work little by little as I don’t want to run out of insulin soon!

My first birthday (with Ms Insulin)

My first birthday with insulin hasn't been that bad. Honestly, my birthday was just the right excuse to indulge on something I usually don't eat everyday, that is homemade cake but more importantly marmelade on toast!!! If I had to choose something to eat for breakfast, well that would be marmelade and jam on toast. No butter please. Just the bitter sweet taste on  nice homemade bread. 

On monday night I baked one of my favourite sponge cake -- just realising how fatty and how sugary that recipe is. I think it's around 80 CHO (8 CP) per 100g, and 50g was a tiny piece, as the cake didn't rise properly. 

So finally after more than 2 years I ate cake and marmalade on toast. That was awesome. I should mention that in Italy breakfast always involves sweet cakes. And moka coffee of course! I also attempted a quick carb count of about 80CHO covered with 5u of Apidra. And it went well too. 

Maybe I shold try a bit more often than once a year? 

As a birthday treat I also went to see the DNS nurses to have an opinion on my new insulin medication. Apparently they agreed on my 3u of Lantus by looking at my BG records. As usual, they are very happy with my measurements, if it wasn't for those pre-meal hypos that since I am on 3u of Lantus I only get before lunch ( at least, I'm not getting them before dinner anymore). I came home with the suggestion of covering my breakfast with 1u of insulin rather than 2. If last week I had only 2 very mild hypos, this week I have already had 2 proper hypos around 3 (2 out of 2 days). The weird thing is that I am not feeling them, so I am very surprised when I measure them.  I really hope these are going to stop at some point. 

This evening I am off to Cambridge for our house hunting. If everything goes well we should be back on friday night with a house booked. Wish me luck! 

Lunch time or Hypo time?

And it has happened again, for no reason this time. It seems like no matter how much I lower my basal insulin, I get hypos before lunch. The weird thing is that I was feeling OK! In the last few months I wasn't feeling the hypos until my BG levels were below 3, but at least I could feel I was becoming weaker.
Last week I had 2 mild hypos, both before lunch and both near to 4. I assumed they were caused by spending too much time  in the shower after breakfast. Both days I had washed my hair, and this takes  an infinite extra amount of time. I simply assumed that the insulin in my tummy was being absorbed faster. But today? No weakness at all, just a mere 3.1? Any suggestion? Maybe I need to change my insulin/carb ratio in the morning. I'll try to eat a bit more, but it looks like a visit to the nurses is becoming inevitable!

Maxdog Monday

This is CICO my first dog. We believe him be a poodle/italian pomeranian cross. This picture was taken about 5 years ago.  He's now 15 going for 16 and he's still a bundle of energy, although  a bit deaf, blind, and with a hairless tail:

I have to admit he's a very well educated dog. In fact,  we studied together  in high school and in uni!

Now that he's retired, he prefers spending his time on his favourite armchair, from where he can follow any food movement in the kitchen...

I miss him so much...

Updates on thesis + house hunting + BG levels

Apologies for disappearing... but recently I have been trying to focus on my endless thesis during the day, and I've spent all my evenings looking at houses to rent.

Thesis-wise  things seem to have improved a lot, especially after a 4 hour meeting with my supervisor, on a Saturday. Things are looking good, at least now everything seems to make more sense. It might sound strange, but after 4 years spent researching, I could hardly see the "big picture". But everyone I know that got a PhD told me this is normal. As my supervisor told me at the beginning of my PhD, "if a PhD was easy, you wouldn't need 3-4 years to complete one". As long as I get one in the end, I don't mind much.

We're going down to Cambridge for viewings on Wednesday and hopefully we should be back by friday night. We have already 8 viewings arranged and another 4 would be good. I've decided not to bring work with me. I don't think I would have any time, and the option of carrying a laptop with me all the time does not appeal me anymore. I am very picky when it comes to houses, so I am glad that we haven't got enough time to spend on this... or it would turn to be an endless search.
We are going to stay in a B&B nearby the area we are wanting to move, so it'll be nice to have a glance at what's next. With the thesis writing I haven't had much time to think or be excited about it!

It's been a week now that I have lowered my Lantus to 3u, and I can say that the unexpected hypos and all the lows that I was feeling (regularly) before meals have disappeared. My measurements are also showing that my BG are stable around 4-5mmol after 4 hours I have eaten, which I guess it's good! What was worrying me most was that I was already developing some hypo unawareness, and honestly, I didn't really like feeling weak just before a meal...
Of course I've had to increase the basal insulin, so now I inject about 1u per 12g of carbs, for an average of 12u of bolus and 3u of basal units a day. A huge difference from when I started, when I was doing a 7u of rapid and 5u of basal insulin. Anyway, I feel like I should let my nurses know next week and see if  they agree this is the best solution for now. I suspect they'll be giggling as usual for my tiny insulin requirement ("baby amounts", that's what they say). Does anyone else get this kind of response from them? They're really nice and helpful, I really have no complaints about them but a very good opinion. Sometimes I do feel like they're not taking me seriously, though!