1. The type of food I eat makes no difference whatsoever. Wheat bread is not better for my BG than white bread (it just tastes better).
2. Using the elliptical makes my BG go up for 4-5 hours three hours after I stop. It does lower it while I’m exercising, though. (this is the opposite of everything I have ever read on exercise).
3. The BG spike from two ounces of amaretto is negligible.
4. Orange juice used to treat a low wears off 20 minutes later and I’m low again. Whole milk works better.
5. Combo/extended boluses really work. I usually set mine for 50% now, 50% over the next half hour.
6. If I eat breakfast, my BG will go over 230. Always. If I take a lot of extra insulin, I will first go over 230, then go low. Skipping breakfast shows my basal is fine.
7. Stress does not seem to affect my BG at all. Or, my BG is so sensitive to stress that it is constantly affected by the stress of waking up, the stress of driving, the stress of working, the stress of not working….
8. The low BG alarm on the monitor is embarrassingly loud during the day, but will not wake me at night (possibly because by the time it thinks I’m below 100 I’m really below 50). It doesn’t wake my husband either.
9. The best week I have ever seen for BG was during Christmas, when I ate tons of baked goodies, drank lots of sweet booze, was under a lot of stress both at work and home, and did no exercise. Go figure.
10. Even having a continuous readout, doing ten or more fingersticks a day, and going over everything with my CDE once a week does not get me to an a1c of 7.0.
11. Some days, my BG numbers are just completely random. I have not yet tried seeing if there is a correlation to the Dow (Val’s BG went up after hearing news of the dollar’s weak showing against the yen). Don’t laugh, I’ve tried everything else.
12. I work backwards. I can pretty much read what is supposed to happen for the “typical” diabetic and know I’ll be the opposite. This includes exercising (higher not lower), junk food (spikes less than health food), menses (high for 2 weeks after, low the week before), and being sick (runs lower when I’m sick).
13. Decaf coffee raises my BG. A large decaf coffee with ½ cup milk I have to treat like 20g of carbs. Don’t ask my why, that’s just how it works.
14. Just because I can see my BG is high, doesn't mean I can do anything about it.
