BeingDiabetic.co.nz » BG

An end to finger pricking?

Nic — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:45:52 +0000

I see that Reuters (and many other sites) have reported that an implant has been tested in pigs which measures and transmits blood glucose levels wirelessly. It’s not exactly mentioned where ultimately this would be transmitted to, but there is a mention of cellphones.

Apparently this has been tested in pigs and worked in one for a year, the other for ten months – wahey! The not-so-wahey bit is that the implant is actually 3.8 by 12.7 cm – where on earth are they implanting that puppy?! Crikey!

I have to say though I love the sound of this, taking the CGMS to the next level – no regular changeovers of sensors, no chance sensors can fall out, and no…

Blatant consumerism.

Nic — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:57:47 +0000

I went out to brunch with Aaron and another friend Flash yesterday. My husband was looking after the baby, so I left him with the nappy bag and all the other baby paraphernalia, and packed myself a separate bag (normally I keep all my stuff in the nappy bag too to save taking more than one bag). Unfortunately, I also left my BG tester in the nappy bag.

I remember times long ago when I would regularly go out without my tester, but since all this pregnancy malarky I guess I’ve gone a bit OCD with the need to know my BG, so not having my tester was playing on my mind a little (and I was planning to be…

“What does it feel like when you’re high?”

Nic — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:02:00 +0000

…. ok, ok – I’m sure there are a few of you witty ones who were thinking of drug references when you saw this headline…. not so, I’m sticking with the diabetes for now.

I was on the phone to a woman the other day. She has an eight month old son with type 1, and I’ve had several chats with her over time about what it’s like. One of the things she mentioned to me in our recent conversation is that she has some, but ultimately not very much, idea of what it’s like to have high blood sugars. There is a limit to how well her young son can articulate it, and of course she can’t feel it…

You had me at hello.

Nic — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:09:07 +0000

Wow, wow, wow. This week I came across something which has literally changed my life (from a diabetes point of view). The only thing cooler than using this system to log my BGs, carbs, insulin and exercise would be, ermmm, not to have to log my BGs, carbs, insulin and exercise at all. Check it out!

The little beauty of a system can be found here: https://www.logforlife.com/.

Seriously, I downloaded this on Sunday night and it has already spurred me on to record my blood sugars and all that goes with it in more detail.

Here’s the skinny. You can use this just as a web-based tool, but where it has spun my wheels is…

How to convert mg/dl to mmol/l.

Nic — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:52:44 +0000

If you’re like me, you might read the odd article/tweet by an American, citing their BG in mg/dl. It tends to be a little tricky to empathise with them when they complain of a BG of 40, or 240 – what on earth does this mean?

I found this even more tricky when I trialled the Dexcom CGMS. It was all in mg/dl so I had to get good at conversions in my head.

The simple answer? Multiply your mmol/l result (e.g 5.6) by 18 (to get 101 mg/dl). More background on the measurements here. Suffice to say the rest of the world is using mmol/l but our Yankee friends are still using the traditional mg/dl measurement.

Back on track.

Nic — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:40:08 +0000

I dusted off my BG record-keeping sheets today, determined to write down some numbers for a whole week and stay on top of basal rates, carb ratios, correction factors etc. That’s the thing with pumping – if only you could put in the hard work at the very beginning then sit with those ratios for all time – not so! I always knew I’d probably slacken off a bit after about 16 months of hard yakka and conscientious monitoring and record-keeping over my pregnancy and beforehand. Heck, I reckon I deserved the break. But, it’s now 12 weeks after my baby was born and I’m determined to put some systems in place to make sure I keep up a good…

Guest Blog: Senile you say?

Aaron — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:49:07 +0000

I was feeling a bit annoyed when I arrived at work on Tuesday having woken up at 2.8mmol/L and it only being the second day back and all but I got such a nice surprise in my inbox which helped snap me out of it so I thought I’d share it with you guys too.

I’ll start by saying that I have some of the most thoughtful work colleagues. A couple of them who sit nearest me have been privy to the incessant blood testing, swearing and cursing at high and low BGs and the constant wipping out of the pump and so now, whenever they see a site or hear a news article about diabetes it invariably comes my…

My earliest post on record.

Nic — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:57:40 +0000

This post comes to you from a time when hopefully you are all sound asleep. It’s 5:30am as I start writing this. I’m writing with an air of despondency (is that a word?). I was going to say I’m angry but I promised myself (a la this post) that I wouldn’t waste my energy getting mad at irrational high or low BGs this year and I intend to try to keep that promise at least until the end of Jan!

I raced around the house last night getting all my stuff ready for a 6am RPM class this morning – went to bed at 10:30 with a BG of 6.7. Perfect, right?

My husband was…

Updates.

Nic — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:34:09 +0000

A couple of updates for y’all:

1. My friend who wrote this great post about gestational diabetes has given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy. He weighed a normal 7 1/2 pounds, and his sugar levels were excellent when he made his debut into the world. Well done that lady!!

2. In an update to my most recent blog, my BG has now got itself back to 6.1. And I avoided a hypo by taking BG tests every half hour between 7:45 and 10:30. Finally off to eat something now – couldn’t have breakfast until the levels came down then got busy with work.

Guest Blog: Out the other side?

Aaron — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:56:54 +0000

In belated celebration of world diabetes day my friend and I decided to plonk ourselves on my back lawn in the sunshine on Saturday over looking my daisy infested lawn and knock back a glass or two with some nice cheese and a baguette. One thing turned into another (i.e. one bottle turned into two) and we ended up getting slightly rouge as well as a little merry.

Inevitably, about 2 hours after she arrived we turned to the topic of diabetes (having done the CHO count of the baguette we had just demolished with an entire slab of Boursin) and it struck me just how far we’d come in such a short period. It felt like the…