Illness and levels

Sorry I haven't written on my blog in a while, I have been busy because of work experience and then I was ill this week. This gave me the idea of writing a post about how being ill can effect your levels. Illnesses and infections as well as stress will make your levels go high because as part of the body's defence mechanism for fighting illness and infection causes more glucose to be released into the bloodstream and prevents insulin from working properly. This happens even if you are off your food or eating less than usual.

Last weekend after I had just finished my work experience my levels started running high and I couldn't work out why. I thought it might be because a had a bit of a cold or that I was upset about leaving the work experience because I was going to miss the children and babies.

On Monday norming I woke up at 1am and I could hardly open my left eye because it was all gooey so I showed my mum and she said it was probably conjunctivitis so I cleaned my eye up and went back to sleep. I didn't sleep well though because I kept waking up in the night because of my eye. I woke up at 1am, 2am, 4am, 5am and 7am so in the morning I was really tired and felt rubbish so I didn't go to school or do my paper round. In the morning my mum rang the doctors and said that she couldn't drive me to the doctors because of the operation she had on her back and then she explained to them that my eye was really gooey, bloodshot and sore and my levels had been running high. They said that we could buy some eye drops at the chemists. So my stepdad brought them on the way home from work for me. I started using the eye drop on Monday but my levels where still running really high because of the conjunctivitis in my left eye.

On Tuesday morning I woke up in the morning and I could hardly open my right eye as the conjunctivitis had spread to my right eye as well as my left eye. So I went and did my paper round and then came home and told my mum that the conjunctivitis was in my right eye as well as my left eye. So my mum put the eye drops in both of my eyes and said I was alright to go to school. While I was at school my eyes started to really hurt in science so I closed my eye for a bit as it made them feel better, I nearly fell asleep though. Then at lunch I took some paracetamol as my right cheek started to hurt and I felt so rubbish so thought it might make me feel better. Everyone of my teacher kept asking if I was alright because my eyes were so swollen and bloodshot they thought I had been crying when actually it was just because of my conjunctivitis.

On Wednesday morning I woke and went on my paper round. When I got home I didn't have school as the school was on strike for the day so I just sat down and relaxed for a while. I then started doing some of my patchwork blanket because it is the last thing I need to do to complete my Duke Of Edinburgh bronze award so I thought I would get some of it done. My right cheek started to hurt again but it hurt more then yesterday so I told my mum and she said to take some paracetamol because that should help, I also checked my levels and they were really high so I thought I would put a temp basal on off 170% to try and get my levels back down. I then went to sleep for a pic so that I wasn't in pain anymore and when I woke up my right cheek still hurt so I told my mum again, she said my cheek was really red, swollen and hot. So I checked my level again and they were still over 15 so something wasn't right as I was having 70% extra insulin and my levels were still really high. My mum called the doctors and explain what had happened with my eye and my cheek and that my levels were still running high even when I was having loads of extra insulin, The doctors said that it was classed as an emergency appointment because of my diabetes so they fitted me in an appointment at the end of  the day. So my step dad took me to the appointment when he got home from work as my mum couldn't drive there. The doctor said I had conjunctivitis and sinusitis which was why my right cheek had been hurting so much so they gave me some antibiotics to help with the conjunctivitis and sinusitis, they also said that my levels were running so high because of the infections I had and that I needed to keep the 170% temp basal on and keep checking my levels to check what they were. My mum told me that I should tell the paper round lady that I wasn't able to do paper round on Thursday morning as I wasn't well enough to do it and she told me that I wasn't going to be going to school on Thursday either as she wanted me to rest so that I would feel better on Friday.

On Thursday morning (today) I woke up feeling a little bit better. So I had some paracetamol, my antibiotics and my eye drops and relaxed for a bit as I didn't want to over do it and make myself feel more unwell. At lunch time when I did my levels they were 9.1 which is the best they have been in ages and I didn't even have a temp basal on. At dinner my levels went up to 23.3 and I started to feel ill again, my right cheek started to hurt again and my levels weren't helping at all. I gave myself a correction and then put a temp basal of 150% on to try and get my levels down again.

When you have an illness or an infection your levels will go high and it can be really annoying as it can make you feel worse. The best thing to do is not to panic because if you panic that will make your levels go higher, so if you have any questions or you are unsure on what to do stay calm and contact your diabetes team because they will able to help you. You should test your levels more often, like every 1-2 hours so that you can make sure your levels aren't gong higher or dropping too quickly. Try and stay well hydrated, so have a bottle of water with you because high levels can make you really dehydrated. You should test for ketones if your levels are running high, if you have ketones and you aren't really sure what to do, don't panic, just contact your diabetes team can give you some advice on what to do.
I know it can be really annoying when your levels are high because you are ill and you aren't doing anything wrong to make them high but just remember you will get through it because you are stronger than you think

Exercise

Exercise can effect your levels a lot. It can make your levels go low but it can also sometimes make your levels going higher after you have exercised. I have always wondered why my levels sometimes when I test my levels before PE at school they will be fine and then after doing PE when I test my levels again they are a little bit high then before PE but normally my levels do go lower after I have done exercise.

I thought I would look it up on the Internet to find out why our levels go low and sometimes high after doing exercise.

"When you exercise your muscles need more glucose to supply energy. In response, your liver increases the amount of glucose it releases into your bloodstream. Remember, however, that the glucose needs insulin in order to be used by your muscles. So if you do not have enough insulin available, your blood glucose levels can actually increase right after exercise. Basically, stimulated by the demand from your exercising muscles, your body is pouring glucose into your bloodstream. If you do not have enough insulin available to "unlock the door" to your muscles, the glucose cannot get into your muscles to provide needed energy. The end result is that glucose backs-up in your bloodstream, causing higher blood glucose readings." https://www.joslin.org/info/why_do_blood_glucose_levels_sometimes_go_up_after_physical_activity.html

Yesterday my friend asked if I wanted to walk the dogs round the village with her and I said yeah sure as it was I really sunny day and I had been inside all morning doing homework and cleaning. So my friend came to my house and then we went on a long walk with the dogs round the village and then we sat on a bench near the park and let the dogs of there leads and run around after each other. Then my friend said about going to the post office to get a drink and something to eat but the post office was closed so she said we could walk to the bp (petrel garage) and eat something from there. The thing was it was a really long walk to the bp and I didn't really want to walk that far just to get a drink and some food so we walked back to my house and got a drink for us and the dogs. Then my friend persuaded me to walk to the bp with her but we weren't going to take the dog as it was too far for him to walk. Before we went I checked my levels and they were 8.6 so I had something to eat and didn't but it in my pump as I knew my levels would drop while we walked there as it was a long walk. When we got to the bp the walk didn't actually seem as long as I thought it would have but I think that because we were talking and listening to music the whole walk. I checked my levels again to see what they were and they were 9.4 so I brought a drink and a bay of crisps and me and my friend walked to Ely and sat on the grass and relaxed for a bit. Then we followed a path to see where it took us and we ended up at a park, so we played at the park for an hour and then we started walking back to the roundabout where the bp was. It was starting to get dark so my friend rang her mum to see if she could come an pick us up and drop us home, her mum said that she would so we waited for her to come. While we were waiting my friend said that I should test my levels again as we had been playing and messing about in the park, when I tested my levels I was 6.5 which was really good. I had a really fun day with my friend and my levels had been really good however my feet did really hurt when I got back home.

Exercise can make your level low however I always I always check my levels before I do exercise and if my levels are bellow 8 I always have a biscuit to make sure my levels don't go low. Sometimes I have a biscuit if my levels are bellow 10 but it depends how much exercise I am doing and what exercise I am doing because different types of exercise effect my levels differently. Remember everyone's diabetes is different so you need to see what happens when you do exercise. Since doing my Due of Edinburgh bronze award where I had to walk 8 miles on the first day and 7 miles on the second day, I have leant that my levels always drop when I go on long walks so I always have something to eat before I go if my levels are under 10.

Hopefully you now understand why your levels go low and sometimes higher after exercise. I know your diabetes can make it harder to exercise but all you have to do is check your levels before you do exercise and have something to eat without giving yourself insulin if you think you need to so that your levels don't drop while you are doing exercise or after.       
Always remember you are stronger than you think.  

The year of 2013

So its nearly the end of the year so I thought I would write a post about how much my life has changed and how much I have achieved in this year. You might sometimes feel like you aren't moving forwards with you diabetes and that it is stopping you from doing things, I feel like that quiet a lot of the time. However if I think back to at the beginning of this year I have achieved so much and I am sure you have too.

At the beginning of this year I was ill and unwell because I hadn't been looking after my diabetes how I should have been. I went through a stage where I didn't want to be diabetic, I wanted to be like all of my friends at school. I wished I wasn't diabetic. I ending up in hospital because my levels were so high.I totally regret doing what I did. I made it stand out more that I was diabetic and different to everyone else at my school because I had to have time of because of how ill I felt and I had to go into hospital. 

After when I was out of hospital I realised that if I looked after myself I would feel a lot better and my diabetes wouldn't affect me as much when I was older. So I started doing what I was meant to do. My levels were so much better which meant my hba1c was so much lower, its the lowest I have got it in a long time (:

While I was in hospital I got told about some Facebook group that were for Teenagers with type one diabetes. So when I got home I joined some of them and they made me feel so much better because it made me realise that there are loads of other people going through exactly what I was going through. The groups have helped me so much because you can ask questions on there and then people will answer your questions. The people on the groups are so lovely and are always happy to help you. I have made some great, amazing friends on there who live in places like England, New Zealand, America, Canada and some other places.

Also this year I have learnt to change my line on my own, I know it probably sounds stupid that I was 14 years old and I had never been able to change my line by myself. The reason why I had never changed it before was because I have a really bad phobia of needles and my mum had always been there to change it for me. The hospital told me that I need to learn to change it myself because I was getting to old for my mum to keep changing it and my mum isn't always going to be there to change my line, for example she wasn't going to come round my house when I had my own house just to come and change my line, haha. It came to the point were I really wanted to do the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award which is an award which is given for completing a programme of activities that can be under taken by anyone aged 14 to 24. We got told you picked a skill, physical and volunteering activity and we would do an expedition which meant sleeping in the middle of nowhere in a tent for a night and walking 14miles over 2days. This meant I had to learn to change my line myself or I wasn't aloud to go. I really wanted to go and I didn't want to let my friends down so for the first time I changed my lie by myself, I was so happy when I did it. Now I change my line myself every 3 days (:

Since being able to change my line myself, being able to control my levels better and being able to carb count, I have been able to go to so many more things without my mum. I have been able to do the Duke of Edinburgh, go to the O2, go to Cambridge and go round friends houses for sleepovers more because my mum feels a lot happier and doesn't worry about me as much. Also I have been able to get a paper round that I do Monday to Saturday every week. I have to get up at 6am everyday to be able to do my paper round which I wouldn't have been able to if my levels were high because I wouldn't have felt well enough. I wouldn't have even thought about doing some of this stuff this time last year.

This year I have also made this blog, I cant believe how many people read my blog. I just wanted to have somewhere where I could write stuff that was on my mind and things that were bothering me but at the same time be able to help other people with diabetes and show them that they are not alone. Always remember you are a lot stronger then you think! If you ever need someone to just talk to or need any help I am always more then happy for people to send me a message or comment below and I will chat to you (:

 I have realised that I have achieved so much this year. I am more independent, happy and more well then I was last year. Even though I have had some times when I feel so fed up of my diabetes and just feel like giving up, when I look back I am so glad I never gave up and I kept going on because I wouldn't be where I am today if I had given up. Remember you are stronger then you think

The Duke of Edinburgh

A couple of months ago at school we had a assembly about The Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. The Duke of Edinburgh bronze award is an award which is given for completing a programme of activities that can be under taken by anyone aged 14 to 24. We got told you picked a skill, physical and volunteering activity that you would have to do for 3 months or 6 months. We also got told that we would have to do a expedition where we would have to plan a walk from the bus to the campsite and then we would camp for one night and then we would have to plan a walk back to the bus, each walk hade to be 7-10 miles long. We also got told we would have basic training on how to cook on a trangia, first aid and how to set up a tent. I really wanted to do it!

While I was sitting in the assembly I was thinking how fun it would be if I was able to go, I would have so much fun with my friends. However I didn't think I was going to be able to go because of my diabetes. At the end of the assembly I picked up a letter about it to give to my mum. I hoped she would let me do the Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. When I got home I should my mum the letter and told her how much I want to do it. She told me it was going to be a lot of work, I told her that I didn't care it was going to be loads of fun. So my mum filled out the form and said I was allowed to do it.

The next step was to choose what skill, physical and volunteering activity I wanted to do. For my skill activity I choose to make a patchwork blanket for 3 months, for my physical activity I choose to do Pilates for 3 months and for my volunteering activity I choose to help out at football training for 6 months. Next in my group we had to plan a practise expedition so that we could learn  all the skills and work out what we would need to take on the real expedition. It was all going really well and my diabetes hadn't stopped me from doing anything everyone else was doing.

However when it came to the real expedition there was a problem. I couldn't change my line to my pump myself, so the hospital wouldn't let me go. If you read my post called Changing my line, you will find out how I changed my line myself for the first time, so the hospital let me go on the expedition at Grafham water.

The expedition at Grafham water was so funny, I had so much fun with all of my friends. On the first day we were meant to walk 8 miles but we got really lost and ended up having to ring one of the teachers and they tried to find us. The teacher asked us what was around us, the funny thing was all that we could see around us was trees and fields so the teachers had no idea where we were. Luckily the teachers found us and then we carried on walking to the camp. When we eventually got to the camp we worked out that it had taken us over 9 hours to walk 8 miles. It took us so long because we had got lost so many times. All the other groups had cooked dinner, put their tents up and had a shower by the time we got to the camp. One the second day we walked 7 miles and we didn't get lost once. We had a much better days walk on the second day, this was because everyone was looking at a map and we had better maps then on the first day.  It took us about 4 hours to walk 7 miles on the second day. Overall we had a really fun time and I will never forget it. The best thing about the whole expedition was my levels didn't go low once while we were there, even with all of the walking. I didn't go low because I checked my levels every hour and I put a temp basal on my pump of 70% the whole expedition. My diabetes didn't stop me from doing the expedition and I would recommend people to do it because I felt so proud after I had completed the expedition and it was loads of fun!

Just because you are diabetic doesn't mean you can't go on trips like the Duke of Edinburgh expedition. You can do everything other people can do.