Comments on: Betting Our Lives on Guesses

By: Chrissy Ryan

Chrissy Ryan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:50:25 +0000

Haidee – I call it SWAGing – Simple Wild Ass Guess. I’ve had Type I for 43 yrs. The longer I have it the more I hate it. I just get sick of everything you have to do to stay alive. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad I’m alive but I do have my down times. Sometimes I just cry in my doctors office. Other days I’m fine. I just allow myself the down times to grieve what I’ve lost because of this disease. I’ve had far too many Endo’s who I feel like I’m going to the principals office for. I dread going if my BG’s or A1C’s aren’t perfect.
Actually lately I just do the best I can and if they give me grief I tell them what I think. The amount of things we have to each day just to stay alive is crazy. I wish the doctors had to walk a week in our shoes and see how they feel.
I could go on and on. I do know things are much better than when I was diagnosed thankfully. I still hate it and am sick of it but I’m glad there are things like the pump. I haven’t been in the ER since being on it. Well I’m rambling now so I will stop. It’s nice being here with fellow diabetics who get it.

By: Haidee

Haidee — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:44:50 +0000

My friends and I call it W.A.G.ing (Wild-Ass Guessing) when we randomly shoot insulin to counterbalance food. I’m with Scott (above) we are very primitive, “it’s an inexact science.” Don’t worry, it’s just my life. (My cartoon looks blurry.)

By: Scott K. Johnson

Scott K. Johnson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:47:14 +0000

It’s amazing to me just how primitive our tools are. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for them. But in the end we’re squirting some “stuff” into us and bleeding on sticks to see if we guessed right.

Really?

By: Khürt Williams

Khürt Williams — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:13:36 +0000

I don’t guess. I weight, measure, read labels. If I don’t know what it is, I don’t eat it.

By: grand rounds 6.11 – the broadway edition « nuts for healthcare: a healthcare blog

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:47:49 +0000

[...] Tenderich at DiabetesMine talks about the constant guessing game that goes on when a diabetic individual has to administer [...]

By: Sysy Morales

Sysy Morales — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:15:48 +0000

It is important to have a balanced diet. We all know that. Yet, it is even more important-in fact crucial, to have blood glucose stay as close to normal as possible.

This means we could all go on an extremely low carb diet and thus only require tiny amounts of insulin with each meal or snack. Small doses of insulin equals small errors equals better control. At this point one would need to make sure the basal setting is right on and should perhaps consider following a workout/exercise routine to also help with control.

Obviously our busy lives and all sorts of different circumstances makes things complicated but, where one can simplify and improve control-one should do so.

The old information given to type 1 diabetics about eating complex carbs at every meal and just properly dosing with insulin is out dated. Substancially reducing carbs has personally been my ticket to a 4.6 A1c.

By: riva

riva — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:05:54 +0000

I often say managing type 1 diabetes is like flying a plane. A plane is off-course most of the time and the pilot checks his instruments to bring it back on course. That’s type 1 diabetes.

We’re off course most of the time and our carb counts and meters just help us get back on course. The truth is with all our technology it’s still all a guessing game and we’re all just winging it best we can. And yes, when you really think about that, it can be scary as S__T. riva

By: Val

Val — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:27:55 +0000

Thank you for putting into words exactly what creeps to the top of my frustrations list every once in a while – “I’m completely winging this, people! Do you even know or care?” The carb content of our food is a guess. The potency of our insulin is a guess. The reading on our meter is a guess. What the heck all the other hormones in our bodies are doing today is anybody’s guess…

How many diseases do you know of where patients are required to calculate exact dosing, up to half-a-dozen times a day, of a medicine so potent that mistakes could literally knock them out or kill them?

Actually, the only thing that came to mind in answer to your question was that maybe we have more in common with heroin addicts than just the syringes…

By: DS

DS — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:50:52 +0000

A tighter control without going hypo is the goal of every D-person, I’d guess (tongue-in-cheek). One very obvious thing I’ve discovered again and again, so obvious that we tend to forget it, is that foods which come in their natural state–unprocessed and resembling the original plant, cooked or uncooked–contain fewer carbs. And you can eat a whole lot more of them and feel satiated. Not only do you feel full, you feel good. That’s a good start. I’ve noticed that in the last half of the last century, up till today, diabetes diet is all about carbs. Carbs are so stressed in the diet, that it becomes the omnipresent factor of eating, thus enjoying food. Try something new: try enjoying a diet of vegetables. Cut your starches in half–who gave them so much importance, anyway? (Read Michael Pollan) Why would you want to style your life around the American guidelines for a healthy diet–antiquated and innacurate and profit-driven–look at the average padded citizen.

It’s true, the guessing is so frustrating! I back-slide, too, grabbing the cookies around Christmas time…but with some positivity, with some trial-and-error, it might be possible to get closer to your ideal numbers without plummeting.

By: TAG - Total Available Glucose | LADA Life

TAG - Total Available Glucose | LADA Life — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:26:39 +0000

[...] Today I was reading a blog post by Amy Tenderich over at Diabetes Mine called , Betting Our Lives on Guesses. [...]