UPDATE ON SMOKING CESSATION

On Nov. 7, 2011 I posted that I had been 1 week without a cigarette. I had been taking champix to assist with quitting and was in my 4th week of using it. It is now Jan. 3, 2012 and a brand new year has begun. I am still not smoking.... for the most part. 

Till around December 4th, 2011 I did manage to stay completely cigarette free. So I was doing really well, even though the Champix made me feel sick to my stomach most of the time and aggravated my hiatus hernia as well, making that area hurt. Such was my resolve.

Then Frodo blew a disc in his back for the third time. I know from previous vet consults that this can cause euthenasia to be the only option. Of course I stressed majorly. I broke down and had two cigarettes that day and each day for the next two days as well. Once he started to appear to be out of danger I didn't have another cigarette for a week or so... then I had one again. Another week without a cigarette, and I had part of one. I have been weaning myself off the Champix and am down to one a day, which I take in the evening. That way some of the worst of the side effects have faded somewhat.

I am feeling better, I think. I do know I breath far easier now. But I have put on weight again, which can feel very disheartening after fighting to get it off. I haven't gained it all back.... just 12 pounds of the 50 I had lost, but that is enough. Another effect of quitting is that my insulin needs went up almost instantly and have, of course, increased as the added weight was gained. I sure hope I am able to lose it again. For me, being overweight is something that undermines my confidence in many areas. Psycological to be sure, and not how I feel about others who carry too much weight. It's a personal thing pertaining to me only.

I want to decrease my need for  insulin again as  well, and weight reduction does that, though I can see I will have to lose more than the 12 pounds I gained to get back to the same place. I think, if I can get down to an ideal weight for my height and build, I may be off insulin and just be able to work with diet and oral medication. At least that is my hope.

I am keeping an eye on my blood pressure too, as it seems to have increased some with the cessation of smoking. That may balance out again, but is something to keep a close eye on.

All in all I would say that I am doing quite well and 90% of the time I don't even think about having a cigarette. Nor do I often  feel a need for one. I don't beat myself up over breaking through and having one on the days I am stressed to the max.. I get hold of my will power and carry on from there.

I will keep you updated on the progress from here. I know it can't help but improve my health to quit smoking and I am almost there!

WALKING IS BENEFICIAL

    Hello to my readers. I have been away now for quite some time. My computer/laptop bit the dust and for several months I was off line because I just could not afford another. At around the same time I lost my work and then my vehicle. I was forced to walk everywhere for everything.

    Now don’t get me wrong. There is a bus system in the small city I live in. However, each time I tried to use it, it did not seem to run on any fixed schedule. I would arrive with at least five minutes to the next supposed pick up, only to wait anywhere from 20 minutes to 35 minutes. It is supposed to run every 30 minutes. Once I waited over 45 minutes.

    I can be a little impatient with standing out in the cold. I decided that the town was not THAT big and I started to walk instead of wait. Most times I get where I need to faster than waiting for the blasted bus. And I walk slow due to the arthritis in my back and hips.

    In a few weeks I started to see some unexpected benefits. At first it was finding my clothing becoming a little loose. I didn’t think a whole lot of that because I had gone through it before without losing an ounce according to the scale. But my next doctor’s visit confirmed that I had lost 10 pounds. Oh, happy day!

    For a number of years now all I had seen was the numbers going up. I am insulin dependent and was caught in the spiral. The more weight you have, the more insulin you need... the more insulin you take, the more weight you gain. I had cried many times after taking my weight at the doc’s to find it had gone up yet again.

    Now here I was with a whole 10 pound reduction! I was ecstatic! Maybe it was only ten pounds, but to me it was a great achievement. And I hadn’t even been trying, having given up trying to lose. The next checkup I had lost another 10. Then another 5.

    During this period I started having lows in the morning, so I reduced my night time injection of Lantus. After meals I started having lows as well, enabling me to reduce my injections of Novo-rapid. My appetite went down, thereby reducing my caloric intake and further helping me lose the weight. Over the next several months I lost a total of 45 pounds without making any changes except that I had to walk.

    Some other benefits have been that my breathing has become easier. I am able to walk further, faster, and easier than I have for years now. There is less pain in my hips most days because I am not carrying so much around. I feel so much better about myself, too.

    Until I became diabetic I had been around 100 pounds. I had been tiny all my life. Then came diabetes and insulin. I spiralled up to almost double that. In fact, for me one of the first indications of diabetes was a very rapid weight gain, unlike many who experience a rapid loss. Insulin dependence just exacerbated the problem.

    Now I started feeling like I was getting my life back. For years I wouldn’t even look in the mirror. Now I was starting to feel like I could get the old me back. Oh, not the youth and ability to do many of the things I could no longer do. Diabetes isn’t my only drawback. But I can stand to see me now.

   

    I am still walking. I am benefiting. My little dogs are benefiting too, for now they get a walk after dinner every day, no matter what other walking I have had to do. I will lose the last 25-30 pounds. I can’t wait until I am in a size 5 - 6 again.... but I will be satisfied with a 7-8 if I must. After all, I am getting older.

    Until next time, my friends.

Diagnosed with Diabetes (part 2)

Well, I have tried most of the day to figure out what I am going to write today. I woke up this morning and took my blood sugar reading. Down around a 4. Not a good start to the day.

When you start with a slight low, you need to be able to adjust the amount of insulin you take with your first meal of the day. But it also means that much of the day, at least for me, will be spent in a fog. The brain just does not want to work right. Getting into any project can be a struggle. I feel scattered and unable to settle for more than a minute or two.

And that's from only a slight low.

I try to keep my numbers in the 6 range, but under a 7. I used to feel anything below a 5. These days I don't feel the lows until I hit around 3 or less so I tend to take more readings during the day than most people. If you are a professional driver you are not supposed to even get behind the wheel if you are under a six and insulin dependent. If you're caught by the DOT you can have your drivers license suspended or revoked! They like you to stay between a 6 and an 8.

One thing I have been able to do, right from the start almost, is self adjust my insulin based on what my numbers are, what I am going to be doing, and most importantly, what type of meal I am eating.

Anything high in carbohydrates is going to mean a little more insulin. A full meal versus a sandwich will make a big difference in how much insulin you take. A salad will require very little insulin, a loaded sandwich with all the trimmings will take more than a plain one, and a full meal will require more yet.

You must eat a protein with everything you eat, be it a snack or a meal. Protein helps your body process what you have eaten a little more slowly and enables your insulin to work better by doing so. Sugar or carbohydrates are a "quick" boost and sometimes your body will process these quicker than your insulin works, resulting in a low. This is one reason that when you have a low and take whatever glucose tabs or liquid you take, they tell you that, if your next meal is more than a half hour away, eat. The sugar/glucose boost will only act for a short time and your body needs food to work with the insulin.

It doesn't take much either. 4 oz of meat with a meal, a handful of peanuts with a snack or one egg with your morning toast. I keep a variety of things on hand like peanuts in the shell, a trail mix, pre-boiled eggs in the fridge. I have little packages of glucose tablets all over the place. In my van, my purse, some of my coat pockets and at home. I am likely to find one almost anywhere that I frequent. Being a security guard I even have some in my "kit" that I take to work with me. Most of what it holds are things to make the time pass. Like a portable DVD player, (DVD's chosen just before I head out), police scanner, two way radios, a book, CD's and Walkman, stuff like that. But in there too are things like a tin of nuts, glucose tablets, maybe some candy or a chocolate bar.

It is always advisable to keep these things around where you are. At your desk, in your vehicle, purse and anywhere handy so that when you do have a low you can deal with it right away.

One thing I don't do is use sugar substitutes. I have researched a lot of them and from what I can glean, most of them are capable of causing more problems than they are worth. But that is my choice. I know a number of diabetics who drink a lot of diet pop and use things like Stevia or Splenda as a sugar substitute and they seem to do fine. I don't like the back taste many of them have either, so I just limit my sweets.

Carbohydrates are the big problem for me, and most diabetics and lets face it, carbs are the cheapest food. For those of us on very limited incomes this can pose a problem. Proteins are expensive for the most part. Meats and cheeses (not the processed stuff) are expensive and on a limited budget many of us don't get much of it. But there are other things available. One very high protein is various types of beans. Chili con carne is almost all beans and meat and very high protein for example. A good bean salad is a good protein source. Lima beans, if you can tolerate them, are also good. Even a can of pork and beans can replace meat for a meal.

One of the hardest things, especially at this time of year, is being invited out to a meal. Many times there are treats and specialty items that are really not good for diabetics.

I remember being invited to a Christmas get together at a friends house when I first was starting to learn about controlling my disease. There were platters of treats all around the house and I didn't take any. I was afraid to. I had eaten my dinner, taken my insulin and now, here was all this extra food hanging around. There were chips, cookies, cake bars, candies, dips etc. just waiting to be nibbled on. Anyone who knows me well, knows I am the original cookie monster. I love cookies (as long as they don't have chocolate bits in them). And potato chips!! MMMM.
Another favorite snack food of mine.

After that I didn't take any invitations. I was afraid to. I was just new to this and didn't know what I could eat and get away with. It's not that way now. I eat pretty much whatever I want, but I limit the amount I eat. It may be only a nibble, a bite or two, but I can say that I had some. And that makes me feel that I am not left out of things.

There are many good cook books out for diabetics now and I would suggest you invest in one or two. Especially if you are newly diagnosed. Places like Save-on-Foods also have free "clinics" where they will teach and show you many of the products you can have. Go to one. Go to a few. Everything you learn about your disease will help you to learn to control it, and sometimes it's even fun. Some of my friends even cook diabetic for me when they invite me over. God Bless their hearts.

It's not such a bad idea to invest in a small kitchen scale. I found it handy when I was newly diagnosed. When I went to the diabetic clinic, the teaching on proper amounts of each food per serving was done in measurements. With the scale I was able to measure the amounts and get a good feel for "diabetic" serving sizes. This helped to be able to start judging how much insulin I would need for a meal. Even if I ate more than suggested serving sizes, I was able to start judging how much more insulin I would need for that meal. And keeping track of that also helped me judge the insulin needed for smaller sized meals.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you're enjoying the posts and that they are at least somewhat informative. Back soon with more.