After the Tour _ Now What?

There is a lot to catch up on, work for one thing, sons surgery and planning the rest of my cycling adventure. Oh yeah...and figure out how to get BS in control.

Lets just say I have had a few set backs, one being Mint Girl Scout cookies... I love these cookies and have no control in pacing myself. BUT.... they were not involved in the next few set backs.

The weekend before the Tour de Cure, I went for a group ride with an incline. The problem was I was going to meet up with the group at a certain point closer to my house. I called the group leader that morning made arrangements, only thing was we got our wires crossed and by the second call, they were already 1/2 way up the hill. The issue was I waited 30 minutes for the group to come by while my BS began to elevate. Normally by that time, I would have been already riding and using up the carbs I had eaten for breakfast. Then to top it off, I hiked up the hill as fast as I could. When I hit the top, BS were not registering on CGM because they were too high. I eventually brought it down again, but the same thing happened today.

Normally, I ride Tues, Wed or Thurs, with some combination of 2 -3 days... I may ride all 3 days or just ride 2. Well, today not one of my alarms went off today, except my husbands, which was set 45 min after mine. I get a little stressed when this happens, especially when I have only 15 minutes to eat, get dressed, get on bike and meet up with the group by 7am. By the time I got into work today my BS were in the high 300s. I am wondering if anyone else has this type of reaction to stress or when your adrenaline gets pumping. I took 10u of humulog to get it back to normal... It was if the insulin wasn't working or I had serious issues with counting my carbs, which was 1/2 of a protein shake that I gulped down to have something to help with the insulin I had already taken.

My BS are like a roller coaster, everything seems fine and then I eat and it shoots up like a Roman Candle firework. I have never seen a trendline stay level through out the day. I am also getting challenged with allergies. My regular commutes which have been easy rides in the past have now become a struggle and my legs feel heavy. I don't know if I should just ride it out or stop and take a week long break. I am taking antihistimines as well as a decongestant along with an anti - asthma medication only for the days I ride (sports induced). Still I struggle.

I am riding again tomorrow, because it just feels so great to be outside, to ride, to be cold then hot, to roll into work after a great work out and then shower and get ready for the day ahead. My attitude becomes even more focused on possibilities instead of challenges, but when I have a morning like this morning and no amount of insulin seems to fix the problem, I worry. Eventually it all straightened out again, well at least until I ate again. Hmmm maybe I should become a breatharian and live on air, I am sure I could control my basals better than my boluses then.

Ok, good news for tonight my BS is at 139, the bad new is I just ate and it is on an upward trend. Ugh! Heading to bed for a 6:45 AM start to my ride tomorrow seems tiring given that I know I could end up with some night time highs... Guess I will take a couple units of Humulog and sleep until my lows or my CGM alarms signals me to wake up. Thankfully I still feel my lows and get woken out of a sleep with serious sweating. Makes it hard to tell the difference between a low or early onset of menopause! Ha.... ain't it all fun.

Here's hoping I get to sleep through the night and wake up on time tomorrow.

Cheers
Penny

"Quiting is never an option for a diabetic"

Tough Week in Traveling with Dexcom

Not sleeping well, traveled to Silicon Valley, airport issues and only one day of riding. All this contributed to sporadic blood sugars and frustration throughout the week.

While I was on the road this week and only having been on the Dexcom Continuous Monitor for 2 weeks, I was not sure how it should all work when going through the airport. In Tucson's airport it all went fine. I requested a pat down so I would not take the receiver or the transmitter through the metal detectors. Everyone was very cooperative and friendly. Once on the plane, it was smooth sailing through the first day.

The second day was interesting, beginning with heading into work and the company's buildings (11 in all) which are all wireless. I set up my laptop to begin to take advantage of the site's state of the art technology as well as the culinary specialties... Well, the culinary specialties started the rise in BS but it was the wireless environment that interrupted my readings getting recorded on my Dexcom. Not sure why, but hardly any reading recorded throughout the day. So, I spent the day testing and taking alot of shots. I was trying to be discrete but the insulin pens still draw attention especially when I was using it every hour or so. It drew some attention and questions. Most folks didn't realize I was diabetic and they were surprised given my level of fitness (not pro but fit). If they only new how frustrated I was during this point in time.

Well, the saga continues... As I headed to the airport, I asked again to get a pat down. One of the security assistants told me to wait, which I did. He then told me to walk through the metal detector which I thought for some reason he turned off. Well he didn't but what he did do is call for a female assist. Great... Well at this time my Dexcom did not provide any readings that night and throughout the following day, until I changed my sensor.

Word to other Diabetics, not sure if this is typical but Dexcom Tech Support recommended I not go through the metal detector unless absolutely necessary. I never had a problem with my pump at the airport but it wasn't wireless like the CGM. To make it worse, airport security was not familiar with the continuous monitor like they were with my pump. Need to get cards made by Dexcom to explain the CGM and how airport security should handle the situation.

Until the next post,
Stay well, stay happy, stay healthy

Getting Use to my Dexcom Seven

I have officially had my continuous monitor on for a week now and it has been great. The biggest advantage for me is when I am on my bike or rock climbing. I've done both this week and not having to worry about my BS has been great. I still have a lot of work to do for a decent trend line of my BS, but I worry a lot less about lows which gives me a huge sense of relief.

Each day that I ride, I look at my BS trend on the receiver to see which way I am heading. Once I have a sense if I should carb up or hold steady, I head into my activity with a new sense of confidence. Even though I know I am still on the upside of mid life, I love riding and the for the first time, I have been classified as an athlete due to my weight and body composition. Yeah! Now if I just had the road performance to compete at a Masters Level. Well, not sure I am ready for the effort it will take to get there right now. Tooo much coming up. I will take great health as a success to get me through the summer.