Stress-O-Meter

  It's hard to deny that we all live a hectic and extremely fast paced life. With juggling multiple schedules, managing work, family, pets, and life's obstacles; where does diet and exercise fit in to our day?!?! When you are stressed out; your blood sugar naturally rises. So what if you are a diabetic? Now what happens to your already elevated suagr? And.. What about dinner? Do you get to go home and cook a well balanced meal every evening? If you can do that, God bless you! For many of us, eating on the run is more frequent that most of us would admit. Eating in our car is even more common for some of us!
  So with that being said; stress, eating on the run, and food choices are a HUGE problem for everyone, especially diabetics. How do we manage a busy lifestyle, cooking healthy, and getting that 15-30 minute workout in during the week? I know my family and I have not yet mastered how to alleviate our unwarranted stress. It take a family effort to make our ship sail smoothly every day. Do you ever wake up in the morning and just wish you didn't have to immediately start stressing about the day ahead? Although there is no medicine or quick fix for living with stress; there are some recommended resources for you to read.


  Joseph P. Napora, PhD, LCSW-C wrote a great book titled: Stress-Free Diabetes.
Stress-Free Diabetes covers:

• Stress and the body and the mind
• Being emotionally smart
• Essential people skills
• Setting realistic goals
• Staying grounded and mindful
• Anticipating problems and solving them
• The importance of humor

This information was located at www.shopdiabetes.org . This book goes into detail and explains some creative way to manage stress while living successfully with diabetes.

Also, another great resource is visiting www.JDRF.org . They are my go-to site. I have supported JDRF for many years and 100% believe that they are an amazing global organization that supports diabetes research. Their site and volunteers offer so many ipportunities and resources for diabetics. I love taking on the role of delivering Bags of Hope to newly diagnosed diabetics. If you or someone you know is a newly diagnosed type 1, send them my way!!

Kid's First Diabetes Second

I just finished reading the book Kids First, Diabetes Second, by Leighann Calentine. I would definitely reccoment this book to a newly diagnosed family! It comes from a mom of a young diabetic, just like me. It definitely gives many suggestions and insights to show that we all go through very similar day-to-day issues and experiences with our diabetic.

I knew I'd enjoy this book when I read page 8. Leighann stated
" I can't think of many medical conditions other than type 1 diabetes where the patient, or for young patients, the parents, manke any number of life-and-death decisions daily. other medical conditions are overseen by a doctor who prescribes a method of treatment and expects you to follow a very specific protocol. With type 1 diabetes, the care team trains you then sets you free."

This is exactly right. we get roughly 2-3 days of training on the hospital (not like we aren't watching every move our little kiddo is making at that time and still in a blur with what is going on), then they send us home to keep our child alive by every single carb count, injection, sugar check, middle of the night monitoring, etc.. This is such a life shock to us that we felt so lost and helpless. This is where JDRF stepped in for me and my family. They gave us a Bag of Hope, and introduced us to other diabetics in our area. We were able to 'fit in' our own skin by learning other habits and ideas from other diabetics. We felt like we had our own new family!

Over the past 8 years, my JDRF and diabetic family has grown tremendously. I am very fortunate as Mrs. West Virginia International to have opportunities to travel the state and meet so many newly diagnosed type 1's, as well as what I call 'ole pros' at diabetes. I still learn new information and tips every week. It doesn't matter how long you've been a diabetic, there are always new things to learn in daily living; even if it's just a new recipe to try out!

I highly recomment trying to reach out to a newly diagnosed type 1 and refer them to us at JDRF. We have 100 chapters and 7 affiliates WORLD WIDE!! We can get your support, education, and mentorship where ever you are. If you don't have a support group in your area, I will make one for you.

Google's contacts for Daibetics!!

http://www.wdtv.com/wdtv.cfm?func=view&section=5-News&item=Google-Contacts-Could-Change-the-Way-for-Diabetics-17047

I ran across this on a news channel this morning and couldn't believe my eyes 'no pun intended'!! Could this be real? Will a diabetic be able to just wear contact and have a CGM? I pray this is works.

I read into this a little futher with the Wall Street Journal and this is what was said. (compliments of Rolfe Winkler and Andrew Morse)

On Monday, the two companies said Novartis's Alcon eye-care division would license and commercialize "smart lens" technology designed by Google[x], a development team at the search engine giant. Financial details of the partnership weren't provided.

The smart lenses, which Google unveiled in January, are part of a growing number of wearable technology and software products used to monitor health and fitness. Last month, Google debuted its Google Fit platform to track health metrics, such as sleep and exercise, on devices running its Android mobile operating system.

The lenses contain a tiny sensor that relays data on glucose contained in tears via an equally tiny antenna. In a news release earlier this year, Google described the electronics in the lenses as being "so small they look like bits of glitter" and said the antenna is thinner than human hair.

Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez said the move toward wearable health technology, like the smart lenses, was part of a broader trend to involve patients in managing their own health. Such technology has the potential to lower the cost of managing chronic disease.

"This will be a very important growth area in the future," Mr. Jimenez said in an interview. He added that the smart lens technology had the potential to become a "large revenue stream" for the company.

Monitoring glucose levels through the lenses could prove to be easier and more comprehensive than current techniques, which generally require diabetics to prick their fingers for droplets of blood.

About 382 million people—one in every 19—around the world have diabetes, a class of diseases in which the body is unable to deal with sugar, usually because of inadequate or no production of insulin. In the U.S., more than 29 million people, or 9.3% of the population, suffer from the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Mr. Jimenez said the smart lenses may also be used can also correct vision in a manner similar to the lenses on autofocus cameras.

Novartis hopes to have a prototype available for research-and-development reviews by early 2015.

I am excited to keep up to date with this information to see where it goes.

What are your thoughts?

No More Carb Confusion

I came across this articel on the One Touch website. I thought it was pretty interesteing with their spin on Carbohydate info. I suggest surfing their website. They do have some good info available!!!

http://www.onetouch.com/articles/nomorecarbs?cat=

Just One More Bite!!

Why is it that diabetics are constantly hungry? My daughter thinks she needs to eat all day and often times, finds herself constantly thinking about food. It's already unfair that diabetics can't eat like the rest of the worls, but then they get stuck with obsessing about food all day too!

Recent studies show that higher sugar levels will cause unecesary hunger. The body gets confused in that it thinks it needs more food when that'a the farthest thing you need right? Kidney-Cares.org said that you can help manage ot by doing theese three tricks:

How to manage constant hunger in Diabetes?
1. Prevent stomach from being empty:
Stomach hunger occurs when diabetic's stomach is empty, even if they have ingested enough calories and nutrients. Therefore, preventing stomach from being empty is very essential. To achieve this purpose, Diabetes patients can eat some foods like raw vegetables, pulpy fruits or grains which can stay in the belly longer. Besides, according to study, these foods take up more space than do sweets, tats and most proteins.
2. Avoid eyeball hunger
Make your food various. Food is not just fuel, but also a major source of pleasure and comfort. With simplex foods, you stomach maybe satisfied, but you may still have a strong desire to eat when you see other kinds of foods. Therefore, try to enrich your food types, not just amount.
3. Eat slowly
Eat slowly and try to drink much more water while eating which will help to full stomach.
Constant hunger is caused by insufficient consumption of blood sugar, so the above management only helps to remit control it, not remove it. If you want to get this symptom removed, helping our body to use blood sugar is essential.


William Lee Dubois, Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, answered

Yes. No. Sort of. Well, ok, here’s the deal. The shinbone’s connected to the thighbone, the thighbone’s connected to the…. Diabetes can cause high blood sugar, and high blood sugar can give you the munchies. So diabetes doesn’t, by itself, make you hungry. It’s the high blood sugar that can come from out-of-control diabetes that does.

Which is crazy, if you think about it. For the most part, the human body does a really great job of maintaining a stable state using a process of small adjustments and counter-adjustments called homeostasis. In the case of blood sugar, the body normally keeps the sugar level just right by balancing little squirts of insulin from the pancreas with little squirts of sugar from the liver. If the liver is running low on its sugar stores your body will give you an advanced head’s up that you need to refuel by sending out hunger signals.
Where things get weird is that if your blood sugar is already high, the last thing you need is more sugar (in the form of food), right? But in fact, high blood sugar does cause hunger, even though you do not need more food. This is caused largely by a miss-communication within the body’s sugar homeostasis system.
Every cell in your body relies on sugar from the blood for food, but they need insulin to get to the sugar. It’s insulin that moves sugar from the blood to the cells. If there is not enough insulin, or if it isn’t working very well, sugar piles up in the blood while at the same time, it’s not getting into the cells where it’s needed.
Being in a state of high blood sugar is sort of like starving to death in the Chef Boyardee warehouse because you don’t have a can opener.
The cells don’t really realize that there is a ton of sugar just beyond their membranes; all they know is that they are not getting any and so they send out the message: let’s eat!

So... Basically, there is eally not a ton of help for feeling so hungry all of the time. Try to do your best in having fluids with you to sip to keep something on your tummy. The higher your sugars are, the more hungry you'll be.

Let's keep on hoping that JDRF finds us a cure for this life threatening disease. I urge you to go to www.JDRF.org if you haven't been there yet. They are a vast resource of knowledge!!!

The love/hate relationship of hypo and hyper glycemia.

Well.. What can we say about highs and lows, other than they stink!!

I have had to endure a few hypoglycemic episodes myself, but they are far and few between. I couldn't begin to imagine living with frequent highs and lows on a regular or even a daily basis. This is the typical cookie cutter explanation of both hypo ad hyperglycemia:

Compliments of www.JDRF.org

Hyperglycemia Too high a level of glucose (sugar) in the blood; a sign that diabetes is out of control. Many things can cause hyperglycemia. It occurs when the body does not have enough insulin or cannot use the insulin it does have to turn glucose into energy. Signs of hyperglycemia are great thirst, dry mouth, and a need to urinate often. For people with type 1 diabetes, hyperglycemia may lead to diabetic ketoacidosis.

Hypoglycemia Too low a level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. This occurs when a person with diabetes has injected too much insulin, eaten too little food, or has exercised without extra food. A person with hypoglycemia may feel nervous, shaky, weak, or sweaty, and have a headache, blurred vision, and hunger. Taking small amounts of sugar, sweet juice, or food with sugar will usually help the person feel better within 10 to 15 minutes. See: Insulin Shock.

What are your symptoms? My daughter's biggest symptom wit her lows are itchy stomach.. She jitters her hands and scratched her belly. I've never heard of another diabetic with the itchiness. I'd love to hear more about what you feel!!

What about your highs? Do you think the symptoms are all the same? I have noticed that when a diabetic is 'high', their breath smells really sweet. Maddy doesn't urinate alot though with her highs. The most common side effects are blurred vision, stomach ache, and extreme thirst.

Ten things NOT to say to a diabetic (compliments of JDRF)

Ten things NOT to say to a diabetic
I ran across this article this morning and throught it was great!!  We, as a whole, have many questions to ask people with different complications and illnesses, and sometimes they may come across as offensive or insensitive. We have had a few of these asked to us with Maddy's diabetes. I thought I'd share with you to see what you thought.

Breakthroughs with the artificial pancreas!!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I looks on my local news station and read about the bionic pancreas!!

http://www.wdtv.com/wdtv.cfm?func=view&section=5-News&item=Bionic-Pancreas-Brings-Hope-for-Type-1-Diabetics-16506

I will be meeting with Dr. Povroznik very soon to discuss this more in person. I am so excited to hear more about this study.

JDRF has been dedicated to studies such as this as well. I'm praying hard that this vision becomes a reality soon!

What are your thoughts on the bionic pancreas? If you are a diabetic, are you interested in trying this out?
I'd love to hear form you!!

Diabetes Statistics world-wide

World-wide diabetes statistics

I was doing some research on what the world's diabetes statistics are and WOW.. I was amazed.. I added the link for you to look through, but let me say  that I was stunned that the top five are as follows..
1. China (92.3 million)
2. India (63 million)
3. US (24 million)
4. Brazil (13.6 million)
5. Russia (12.7 million)

I am sure that the total population has something to do with these stas, but I really didn't expect to see China as #1!!
I also found this info on the site.

Diabetes across adults and children

The following figures indicate the differing proportion of the two main types of diabetes across age groups:

• Adults: 10% have type 1 diabetes
• Adults: 90% have type 2 diabetes
• Children: 98% have type 1 diabetes
• Children: 2% have type 2 diabetes.

Adults and children combined:

• 15% have type 1 diabetes
• 85% have type 2 diabetes

What are your thoughts on this?

Grazing

I have always been a snacker. My girls have followed my foot steps as well; we'd rather 'graze' all day than eat large meals, but it isn't that easy to do with diabetes. Today, we were at a fundraiser that had little snacks available. Maddy had just been nibbling throughout the day with a cracker or a little bite here and there and her sugars paid for it. She ran steady in the mid 200's.. We were just so boggled by this. She wasn't eating very carby foods, and it was literally just a bite here and there. Of course, she would check her sugar every couple of hours, but we were taught if she was eating a snack under 15 carbs, she doesn't need to treat for it (as long as sugars are good). What happens if she prefers to just nibble throughout the day? Does she need to treat herself for every snack, every other snack, or is she not able to 'graze'? These were all questions going through my mind..

I did a little research and found that diabetics really just can't graze. It's tough enough to constantly check your sugars, treat with insulin, battle highs and lows, and watch every single thing you put in your mouth; now you can't be a snacker.. It seems a never ending losing battle for diabetics. But the good news is; you can be a frequent eater by eating 6 small meals a day instead of 3 large meals. I found a great article explaining this.

http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2008/oct/the-art-of-grazing.html

So afternoon sacking may not be an option, but frequent and well chosen meals can make your small appetite easier to manage.

Here is a blog that I read: http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/Blog/Flashpoints/graze-or-gorge/

Teenage drama with diabetes

I'm sure that I can speak for many parents with a juvenile diabetic between the ages of 11-16 or so, when I say that they try so hard to forget about being a diabetic. At first, I thought that Maddy was just rebelling against me by sneaking sacks and hiding wrappers in her room. I noticed that when I uploaded her pump readings, she wasn't checking sugar with the meter, but she would rattle off sugars to me throughout the day... I was so upset with that that I would ground her and think that she was doing this just to defy me...
    I began to look into this a little further and found out that this is extremely common with teenage diabetics. They already are dealing with hormonal imbalances, acne, peer pressure, and everyday stress of being a  teen; but to top it off, they have to be 'different' and can't just go out ad grab some ice cream on a hot day or pig out on some pizza. They get so frustrated with the constant food watching, sugar checking, and injections that they rebel against themselves; not us as parents.
   After I had spoken with our diabetic educator, she explained to me that this is a very common part of coping with diabetes during the teenage years. They no longer have to rely on us for food and they are finding their independence with managing themselves. They are testing their limits (sadly they don't fully understand what they are doing long-term to themselves) and their abilities to 'control'  what they ultimately can't control without actually doing what's right with their diabetes. This phase is normal parents. I promise, you are not alone and they aren't sneaking foods, fibbing about sugar checks, forgetting their sugar kits, etc, to upset you. Please check out the sites I found to help.

  I found this on the JDRF site:
http://jdrf.org/life-with-t1d/type-1-diabetes-information/control-and-management/helping-your-child-or-teen-live-with-type-1-diabetes/

http://www.healthmonitor.com said that:
No matter your situation, you can help your child manage their condition and get the most from their teen years. The key is to touch base frequently, so you know how their diabetes management is going. Parents who praise their teens’ self-care successes—rather than criticize or punish them for failures—are most successful at helping their kids stay on top of their condition, according to a study published in Diabetes Spectrum. Here’s how to handle the most common stumbling blocks: 

1. The problem: Your teen is fudging their A1C numbers.
Some teens worry that their parents will be upset about a “bad” number, so they doctor it. “Children with diabetes see the hurt in their parents’ eyes and hear it in their voices,” says Kelly Kunik, a blogger and diabetes advocate, who has had type 1 diabetes for 30 years. “They figure that if they change the number, they will make their parents happy.”
The solution: If your child comes home with a poor reading, don’t get upset. “There are no bad blood glucose numbers; there are challenging blood glucose numbers,” says Kelly. “I think if teens can understand that—and know that their parents will remain calm—they’ll be more likely to test.”

2. The problem: Your teen is refusing to monitor their blood sugar or is going on food binges. Children who have always been compliant about managing their diabetes may suddenly rebel in their teen years. One reason is that the condition causes them to feel “different” from other kids their age. Also, teens are expected to become self-reliant, so if their blood sugar levels spike despite their best efforts, they may feel frustrated or inadequate. Finally, many teens balk if they feel their parents are overly controlling. “I had much of the normal teenage angst, rebellion and noncompliance,” recalls Brandy Gunderson, a 39-year-old mother of two who has had type 1 diabetes for 24 years. “I rarely tested my blood sugar and was morbidly underweight throughout my teens and twenties. People don’t realize just how much diabetes controls every aspect of your life.”

The solution: Let your child know it’s not their fault if their blood sugar is difficult to control. During the teen years, a hormone that stimulates the growth of bone and muscle acts against insulin, causing swings in blood sugar levels, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Encourage your child to take an active role in their diabetes care. Help them set small goals, such as cutting back on sweets, and praise them when they meet those goals. Also, help your teen connect with other kids who have the disease. Ask your healthcare team for a referral to a local support group. And consider sending your child to a summer camp for teens with diabetes; more than 400 exist worldwide. To find one near you, go todiabetescamps.org.

3. The problem: Your child is forgetting to test their blood sugarToday’s teens are often just as busy as adults, with hours of homework, soccer practice and music lessons—not to mention outings with friends. As a result, it may be difficult for your teen to juggle the additional responsibility of staying on top of their blood sugar level.
The solution: Even though your child is old enough to handle most of their self-care, you should be involved. Consider saying, “I know you’re very busy. What would help you remember to test yourself?” You might offer to text them reminders. You might also consider checking your child’s meter history once a day to pinpoint when they are forgetting to test.

Finally, ask your teen’s healthcare team, school nurse, coaches and friends for help. Give the school staff a copy of your child’s diabetes care plan, and meet with them to discuss how it can be implemented at school. Also, if your child is receptive, talk with them and a few of their friends about ways they may be able to help your child stay on track. For instance, the friends can easily remind your teen to do a blood sugar check.

I have recently created my website!!! Please check out the first phase of many to come. I pray that my information and resources help my fellow diabetic families.

www.diabeticfamilies.com

A little update

The past few weeks have been so amazing with JDRF! My Kids Walk for a
Cure raised almost $3500.00 in just 5 days. The children and I
celebrated the entire afternoon outside in the sun with our Walk for a
Cure for Diabetes. My family and I also attended the West Virginia
Branch JDRF Walk for a cure at the state's capitol. Hundreds of diabetic
families and many diabetes related vendors came to support JDRF. The
Walk for a Cure took place around the entire capitol complex. It is such
an amazing experience to be a part of raising both funding and awareness
with JDRF. I also hosted a middle school dance last weekend. It was such
a blast. I actually dressed up in a silly costume and learned a few line
dances from the  kids! It felt great to have so much support from the
teenagers.

I got to have the most moving moment with a mother at church last
week. I had spoken at a school the Friday before about what diabetes is,
and the effects of both types 1 & 2 diabetes. So Sunday came around and
a mother of a 2nd grader approached me after I finished teaching
children's church and said "I don't know what you said to those
children, but I had 3 different groups of children knock on my door this
weekend selling JDRF sneakers." She went on to say, "What the amazing
part was is that all of the children were able to tell me what JDRF and
diabetes both were!!" Of course, my eyes welled up with tears as I
hugged that mother and thanked her for sharing such amazing news with
me.

I have recently shared an amazing triumph with a newly diagnosed 16
year old boy named Justyn. He was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in
February. He was so ill with a diabetic term called DKA, that he just
lost both legs from below his knees down, and 8 of his fingers. Type 1
diabetes comes on so quickly and parents just don't know what is going
on  with their child until they are so ill that hospitalization is
required. It's the worst feeling in the world, as I have endured that
with my daughter Maddy at age 5. But the amazing news is that Justyn was
just released from the hospital yesterday to go home!!! He gets fitted
for his prosthetics in a few weeks and has such an amazing support
systems through me, diabetic families, JDRF, and many prosthetic
families to keep them up and running. He has such a great heart and
amazing personality. Justyn and my daughter Maddy are just 2 of my
little heros that struggle with diabetes. God bless Justyn and his
family!!

I have also had the pleasure with meeting many newly diagnosed
diabetics. One of my favorite jobs with being an advocate and
spokesperson with JDRF is that I get to deliver Bags of Hope to the
newly diagnosed diabetics. This past 2 weeks, I have worked with a 5
year old named Evan and a 33 year old named Tom. Type 1 diabetes has no
age limits, and is increasing it's diagnoses every year.. Every 30
seconds, someone in the US is diagnosed with diabetes.  JDRF is working
so hard at slowing and eventually stopping the prevalence of diabetes.
"Together, we are working on creating a world without type 1 diabetes."

My book is coming right along as well!! I have made the decision to
make it a 60 page cookbook/tips for cooking for diabetic families on the
go. My friends and family have titled me as an expert at 'kid and
diabetic friendly' meals and snacks. I absolutely love being able to
make sweet goodies and tasty meals for my family that we all enjoy and
that won't negatively affect Maddy's blood sugars. I will not be selling
my cookbook. I am in high hopes to add it to the information given in
the Bags of Hope to newly diagnosed diabetics. I know how tough it is to
find meals, school lunch foods, and snacks that kids enjoy and that you
don't have to worry about them eating, so my gift to our new diabetics
is a started kit to guide them through the process of learning how to
safely manage their diabetes but still have food that tastes good.
  I have a busy month ahead with holding more Walks for a Cure and will
be at various health fairs across the state. My family and I feel so
grateful and blessed that we have the opportunities to offer love and
support to other families that are learning how to live with diabetes.
We feel very fortunate to share our knowledge and experiences to assist
new diabetics.