Diabetes

As you know, I live with Diabetes, Steve is Type 1 Diabetic.

As I laid in bed the other night, after he had had a small hypo! I thought about how you would best explain it to someone who didn't understand it totally.

This is my simple explaination......

Imagine if you will a bank account, now the balance of this account can be anything between 4 to 10 (in the US their blood sugar readings are measured in a different unit, but you get the idea) Now the whole idea is that you need to keep the balance in this range.

When you eat, the balance goes up. You body then produces Insulin and the balance comes back down to the right place. IF you don't eat anything but you do lots of exercise and use lots of energy then you balance starts to go down. You start to feel like crap and you need to eat and drink to get the balance back to where it should be.

If you have Type 1 Diabetes, then when you eat your balance goes up but it does not automatically come down. This is where you have to test you Blood Sugars to find out what the balance is and then take the correct amount of Insulin for what the balance is.

If you do not have the Insulin then your balance will stay at the high range and make you very thirsty, constantly wanting to pee, and generally feeling very unwell. This is known as Hyperglycaemic Attack (Hyper)

At the other end, if their balance falls below the recommended range then they start to feel faint, dizzy, sick and general really yucky, this is called a Hypoglycaemic Attack (Hypo).

So once you have had the correct amount of Insulin, then your balance comes back down to the correct range, but if you have not calculated correctly or you do exercise and have the Insulin then you can make the balance go down even further.

Generally they start to know when their balance has gone below the correct range because they feel unwell and they correct it by eating some sugar. Unfortunately at night sometimes this can happen and they can be so deep in sleep that their body does not wake them up with the signs and symptoms, this is when they fall into a Diabtetic Coma.

They do give off signs and symptoms but not enough to wake themselves up but enough to wake someone lying next to them sometimes.

Steve will start moaning, or as has happened the last few times, he jerks his arms around and his body does the odd shake. This has woken me because the bed has moved and as I turn to him I can hear his breathing and if I feel him he is cold and very sweaty. That is all the signs I need to know what to do.

So that is Diabetes 101.

Sunday Reading

Today's lesson comes from Kathryn: Chapter 9: Verse 110

"And so as the haze passed at 3am, Kathryn was heard to proclaim to Steve, as part of her monthly nag....Always check your blood sugars before you have your Insulin!"

Here endeth today's lesson

Highs and Lows

As I have posted before Steve has diabetes. He has Type 1, which yes, means he injects himself with Insulin up to 4 times a day. He has had it for the last 24 odd years, so this is nothing new.

Yesterday he came home from work and went outside to finish clearing some of the garden. After dinner he spent another hour and a half out there with the boys.
The boys finally went to bed late about 8.30 and him and I sat down to watch a movie. We finally watched 'St Trinians' with Colin Firth and Rupert Everett, it was a good laugh.
In the evenings Steve will sometimes have a snack, keeps him going, and last night was no different although he ony had a snack size packet of chips.
I went to bed about 11.15 and I think he followed a little while later.

At 2.10am I got woken up by Steve as his arm jerked across the bed. I thought Ben was with him and had maybe kicked him, which he is good at doing when he is sleeping with you, but 2 minutes later Steve did it again.
This time I leaned over to check for Ben and realised that he wasn't there, and that got my brain ticking because Steve didn't ask me what I was doing!
I quickly got the light on and there is Steve laid there staring having these jerky movements. Of course the first thing I did was ask him if he was ok and of course all I got back was this glassy eyed stare.
Now you have to remember that it is 2am and I have just woken out of a deep sleep, so the brain doesn't work as fast as normal at that time. So of course it took me more than a second to realise that he was having a hypo.
So I quickly got a chocolate bar from the box by his bed and then had to ask him to eat it!
It is very weird asking someone who is not communicating with you, who doesn't have any idea what is going on, who probably at that moment thinks the world is a triangle and that green men do exsist! to eat a chocolate bar. Infact after this time Steve asked me why I had woken him up? Because they have no idea this has happened until they come out of it when they go very low.
Luckily for me this time he happily opened his mouth and chewed the bar down, in fact he happily chewed down 4 mini choc bars and a whole glass of juice. The problem I have is that I don't want to give him too much because otherwise then you make him feel like crap because his blood sugar goes so high, but you need enough to get him out of the hypo. The other problem is there is not an instant reaction, in fact last night it took 20 minutes before he was actually talking sensible to me. In hind sight I should have jabbed him with the small glucose injection I have, but as he was able to eat for me then I went down that route instead, but I suppose I could have done both, but hey, there is no manual for this sort of thing, it is a feel as you go situation at 2am all on your own! If I can get him to eat for me then I can get him out of it on my own, but if he is unable to eat then I jab him at the same time as calling for an ambulance. They don't ever have to take him to hospital, but when you have an uncooperative semi consious man help is always nice.

Is it scary? Well my heart is racing the whole time, it is a pain having to race down the stairs to get stuff from the kitchen.
Am I scared of him? Sometimes, unfortunately they get snappy when having a hypo and you are never sure what they will do, although when they go as low as Steve did last night I kinda had no worries as he was never going to be able to physically move off the bed so I knew he was in no harm. You have to use humour during the episode beacuse otherwise you get annoyed with them and they can't help it.
Last night I couldn't work out how to use the blood sampling kit, couldn't get the stabbing pen to work, so there I am trying to test his blood, but I was actually unable to get any. I finally got some with his help after he had come round enough to assist me.
That is the other problem, this is not a regular occurance so 18 months can go by and in that time I kinda forget the silly little things or more to the point I don't forget them but your brain is not thinking straight at 2am when you are suddenly woken out of a deep sleep!

What happened last night....well he informed me that he had forgotten to have his drugs after dinner, so he took them before he came to bed. No problem with that but he forgot a few vital things to take into consideration at the time...

1. He didn't test his blood to see what it was so he could adjust the amount to take
2. He forgot to take into consideration that he had used a lot of energy in the garden after dinner, thus burning off a lot of what he had eaten and therefore not needing as much insulin.
3. He hadn't eaten much during the evening
4. He took his drugs so close to going to bed that due to points 2 & 3 when the insulin took his blood sugar so low he was in a very deep sleep so he didn't wake up when it started to go low, thus the reason his body woke him, sort of, when it got very low and he was now past the point of being able to help himself.

It is difficult to get annoyed with him, you can't at 2am and then at 7am it doesn't have as much kick to the annoyance. But this is what does scare me.....

We have 2 gorgeous boys, who are a little too young to know what is going on. If I wasn't there last night what would have happened? The boys wouldn't have found him until 6/7am.

My best friend thought it was weird when she realised that I had never had a night away from Steve and the boys on my own. But when I explained to her that I have 3 people to think about at night she kinda saw my point. My first ever night away was at my Hen's Party, it crossed my mind several times and Steve told me to go away one of the times I called home, but it was too bad, I had to call so I knew all was ok at home.

He did spend 3 weeks on his own last year when we moved to Hamilton, so I know he is a big boy and can look after himself, and I have to keep remembering that when I go away, but it still doesn't make it any easier, because I think about the boys.

Oh well, that is a big look into what I live with. Don't get me wrong, this is a rare happening. As I mentioned this was the first time for 18 months that has happened in the night and I have had to assist with. So life is pretty normal to us, just every now and then it has some drama!

Low or No Sugar

As you are aware Steve is a Type 1 Diabetic.

Has been for many years now, like 23 odd or so.

Yes it has its moments, but nothing too over powering to our life.

Food is food and I haven't been totally radical and banned sugar completely, I mean there are sometimes when we need sugar in the house, and believe me when we need it we need it, can't make the excuse of 'hang on, just nip to the dairy and get some!' when Steve is feeling low in blood sugar and needs some pick up.

Ok we don't posess a sugar bowl and unfortunately anyone who comes to visit and wants sugar in their coffee, well they have to scoop it straight out of the 1L Tupperware container that holds the castor sugar! Castor sugar because I do use sugar in cooking and this works better than granulated sugar.

We do however have diet products in the house, again not because we are all diet crazed, but because low calorie or no sugar products are to a certain point benificial to Steve.

Only problem we have is Alex. He likes Steve's jam.

Now I am not a person who spreads jam on bread or toast thick enough so you leave teeth marks! I have a thin layer, enough to get the flavour but not ruin the toast.

Now I could go on about people's preferences on toast but that can be another post for another day!

I am happy to let Alex have some of the jam occassionally, Steve is not.

As he is not constantly eating products filled with sweetners and is getting adequate calorie, vitamin and nutrient intake as required for his little growing body then I have no problems.

I came across this website that mentioned the harm of Aspartame in children. This is what they said:

Studies have documented that aspartame is safe for use by children. However, children need calories to achieve proper growth and development. Thus, parents should supervise their children’s diet to avoid dietary excesses or nutritional deficiencies.

Exactly what I just said, we are not using them as a dietary supplement, we are just letting him have jam on toast occassionally and a mouthful of Pepsi Max from our glass.

Holiday Recipe Share Time

One of the blogs I view daily is running a recipe swap for the holidays.
As everyone is always on the look out for new exciting things to cook for their families I think this is a great idea.
Unfortunately since living in New Zealand I have lost a lot of my Christmas spirit, think it has something to do with the sunshine!
Christmas to me is cold, dark with lots of food, hot chocolate and beautiful lights shinning from all the houses in the street. You wrap up warm in those new sweaters you received on Christmas morning and you spend time all sitting round a blazing fire.

Now I am not saying we don't do Christmas in style here down under, but a BBQ on the beach just isn't the same, plus people don't go all out with oodles of food like they do else where. I do miss that.
So I don't really have any old family holiday recipes that we recycle each year or a special recipe that I just have to remember to make, but I do have a recipe that is right for Christmas with the way life is changing nowadays.

This recipe I stole from my mother, who in turn got given it by a neighbour. I have made it several times and in fact the last time was the best.
My recipe for this holiday recipe swap is Diabetic Fruit Cake
A very simple recipe, but with no added sugar. Which for diabetic people is wonderful and for people watching their weight there is no reason why this can't be useful.
Now I have never adapted the recipe, but in fact was just talking to my partner (who is diabetic) and thought there is no reason why you couldn't add a few of the spices you add to ordinary Christmas cake recipes and probably no reason why you couldn't lace with a little brandy.
I am not altogether sure on the shelf life of this cake, although when I do make it Steve can keep it in an air tight container and have slices for about 2 weeks.
Anyway, here is the recipe:

Diabetic Fruit Cake
1kg Mixed Dried Fruit
2 cups Tea or coffee or Orange Juice
2 cups Self Raising Flour
(spices you could add = 1tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp nutmeg, 1/2tsp vanilla essence, 1tsp mixed spice or all spice)

Method
Soak the fruit in the desired fluid over night in a large mixing bowl. Tea or coffee does not have to be cold when used.
Preheat oven to 170c / 325f. Line a 23cm cake tine with baking paper.
Stir the flour into the presoaked mixture. (this is when you would add all you favorite spices if using any)
Place in the cake tin, smooth the top and bake for 1 3/4 hours.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, turn out onto rack and leave to cool. Store in air tight container.

Enjoy :)

Now it does not affect the flavour depending on what fluid you use. Steve says there is no difference over tea, coffee or OJ.