Fibre May Keep Diabetes At Bay?

Saw a report the other day on Yahoo website. There is this article that says that fibre MAY keep diabetes at bay. Wonder will is also help to reduce the glucose level in our body?

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20091029/tts-health-australia-fibre-79adaf4.html

Day 3 of Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Finally it's Day 3! This morning, I realised that there's water in the dressing!! How did water get in there? Is it my perspiration from my jog or it went in after shower? Oh no, will it spoil the device? Need to change dressing?
Actually, I am very hesitant to touch anything or change dressing coz I am scared that I will screw it up and add pain to myself. I am even willing to endure the itch than to change the dressing. But the water inside is a little too much. If the device is spoilt and did not record the readings, then the previous 2 days of endurance is down the drain! No choice, I pluck up the courage to tear out the dressing. Ouch! A bit tight to remove and I pressed the device too hard to my stomach!!!
Think I pressed on the device a bit too hard to my stomach and I can feel the slight pain even after I have replaced with a new dressing. Whole day is so uncomfortable. Cannot wait to have it removed tomorrow!!!!
Wonder how is she going to remove it for me.......Pain again?

Day 2 of Continuous Monitoring

While I was in my dream land, my CGMS device "beeped"! I woke up sleepishly to see what happened....the screen showed "Memory Low". Again, not sure why it beeped, I just follow the steps to "turn" of the beeping.
I have to find a skirt with big pockets for me to put the huge device. Other than that, the day has been quite smooth with this device just a little uncomfortable and not able to stand straight because I am afraid it will be too obvious. The transparent dressing is not making me comfortable either. In fact, my skin starts to get sensitive to the dressing and it starts to itch at the area around the dressing. Just tell myself, ensure 1 more day and I will get this removed!
Went jogging with this device today. Other than the comfort level, everything is fine.
Went home for dinner after my jog. Took my pre-dinner testing with my meter and it reads 4.9 mmol.....at the low side. Inject myself with 10 units of Humalog and took my Hokkien noodles. Yummy......
So, while I am waiting to do my 6th calibration, I am blogging now. The device "beeped" again. This time round, it says "BG Meter Now". Not sure why this device just like to beep out of no reason. Anyway, time to go for bed and I need to do pre-bedtime calibration.

Day 1 of Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Today is the day that I am supposed to wear the CGMS device. Reached the medical center in the morning. At that time, I was still clueless about this thing and how they are going to use this to monitor my glucose level. The thing that kept ringing in my mind: Is it going to be painful? Is the needle going to stay in my stomach for 3 days? How to bathe since it is not really waterproof? Is it going to bring lots of inconveniences to me in terms of my daily work?

Very worried and scared when I went into the room. Guess the assistant is able to sense my fear from the questions I asked and my worried look. She told me that she is going to insert a needle to the stomach which will be taken out soon. So meaning to say, the thick long needle will not stay in my stomach. Instead it will be another so called "tube" that will be there. She explained to me what will be attached to my body will be a little device which you see in the picture which I took.

It's indeed small but still will be obvious if you wear tight clothes. So for the time being, I will avoid wearing these clothes. Then there will be another device which looks like a pager (in fact, I think it's bigger than a pager) which I need to carry it along with me all the time because it will be sensing the blood level from the small device. The distance between this small and big device cannot be too far apart. Even when I shower or sleep, I need to have this close to me. Sigh! Then I need to have this thing strapped to me coz I tend to move around all the time and might forgot to bring this along.

Finally, the time came when she is going to poke the needle to my stomach. Gosh! The pen is so huge and I kind of worried. Before she click on the pen, she told me not to look at her. So I took a deep breathe and within seconds, it's done. Ok, not that painful afterall. Just like my usual injection. To answer my question on how to shower with this thing? Well, she pasted a plastic over it to ensure that the device is well protected. After some instructions and explanation on the use of this device, I will be on my own.

Actually, I am kind of worried about using this device again. Why? Because they teach me basics only. What if there is any "out of the blue" condition that happens, what should I do? Guess I am more worried about spoiling the machine if I play around with it to get my problem fixed.

The first problem came for my first calibration. The device was not set to be in mmol. Gosh! How to input my readings? No choice, got to call the medical center in charge to help me. He has been very helpful and nice. Patient too coz I am a bit clumpsy with the buttons and he gave me step by step instructions. Phew.....done.

Second problem came for my third calibration. The device suddenly "beeped". Shit, what happened again. So, I got to call the medical rep again @ 9pm to ask him what happened? As usual, he is really patient and friendly. Explained to me not to worry about the CAL ERROR which I see on the device and how to fix this error.

Shower time! Hesitant to go shower coz not sure whether will it wet the device on my body. Ok, think i worry too much. Things went on fine. But I guess, I am sensitive to the plastic that is pasted on my stomach coz somehow I feel itchy.

Ok, me going to bed with this device and the "pager" is going to be near me under my pillow.

Tomorrow I will be back in the office and my jog. Might encounter something different again....

5km training @ East Coast 4 days before my Great Eastern Run...Glucose Level Crisis

Decided to go East Coast for my 5km training with my colleagues again. Before I left the office, I tested my glucose level. 15.3mmol. Hmm...should be ok thinking into consideration that I took a slice of bread 1 hour earlier. I remembered Dr Tan told me that my glucose level will go down after exercising.
I started running from Fort Road all the way to the Sea Food Center non stop. It's around 5km and I took around 30 minutes this time to complete this run. After which, we strolled back and decided to settle dinner at Sushi Teh near to Big Splash.
Without my meter with me, I do not know how much is my glucose level. Anyway, I just ordered my usual, Karakaige Udon and Diet Coke. Without my pen with me, I am not able to inject insulin as well.
After dinner, we walk back to our cars and I took the opportunity to inject myself 10 units of Humalog taking into consideration that the low glucose level will still be effective for 24 hours. I do not want to run into Hypos in the middle of the night. One and half hour later, pricked myself again. My meter gave me 15.4 mmol. Hmmm.....that is high considering it's 1.5hr after my injection and my run. But there is still possibility of me running into hypo later in the evening. So, I guess I will not inject anymore insulin to bring it down. I just cross my fingers that the readings will be normal when I test next morning......
CGMS tomorrow. Hope everything goes well.

Food Regret....#1

As usual, went home for my dinner. My prepared this new dish which she bought from NTUC. It's fried fish nuggets. Frankly speaking, I like fried stuff and the moment I saw this, I picked one up and put into my mouth. Yummy!!!!
I think there about 6-7 pieces of it left on the plate and since I am the last person to have dinner, I conveniently finished all of them not forgetting my 1/4 plate of rice, boiled chicken feet soup (**slurp**) and vegetables. How can I leave out my post dinner fruits which is 4 slices of pear.
Before going to bed, I decided to give my finger a prick to check which is my sugar level like. To my horror, the numbers reflected on my meter is showing 16.3 mmol!!!!! Unbelieveable and shocked. Quickly gave myself another additional 3 more units of Humalog before I turn off the lights and go to bed. Kept thinking what went wrong to have such high numbers......
This morning, before breakfast, checked my glucose level again. This time round, it's 7.3mmol. I still cannot believe what happened the night before and I suspected it could be the fish nuggets. Took out the packet of fish nuggets out from the fridge and true enough, this could be the reason for high glucose reading the night before.


Look at the Total Carbohydrate per 100gm. It's 28! And I took around 6-7 pieces of it. Furthermore, 1 of the ingredient is sugar. Does this already mean that it overshot my daily 15 portions of carbohydrates? My god!
This lesson tells me that I should not be greedy and eat in moderation. Maybe best is, I reject it right away.

Does CGMS Hurt?

When I told Dr Tan that I am now doing regular exercise, she suggested that I do CGMS. Not sure what that stands for but I know it's a device that is "hooked" onto my body and test my blood glucose level on a daily basis.
Finally, almost a month after my visit to Dr Tan, someone called me to arrange for CGMS. Still do not know what it stands for but he confirmed my understanding that it's a device that is "hooked" to my body and it's for 3-4 days. For this 3-4 days, it's going to cost me $300. But I think, it's good for me to use this because I am not able to test my blood sugar while I run. Dr Tan will then have the results to see if I am doing well with my glucose control. Maybe Dr Tan will tell me to reduce my insulin intake! Yeah! That will also reduce my risk of having cancer......
The arrangement will be best if one of the days is my exercise days. Just nice....it's 1 week before the run and I need to train myself up. Definitely will hit my jogging day.
Today received a call from Camdeen Medical Center. Confirmed my appointment with Dr Soh and I will be going down on Wed to get the device. Wondering how big is the device and will it be painful to have the needle poked to my stomach all the time (coz I need to wear it everyday even when I am sleeping!). So scared now. Guess the next time I need to know is: can I still shower? Cause doc said that this device is not water proof and might spoil if water gets into it.

Will get a pic of this device when I see it on Wed....... Scary....

My Very First Long Distance Run...Great Eastern Run

Not been an avid long distance runner. Worst still, I stopped running actively after graduating from school. The most I ran on the treadmill is only 2.4km and I am already struggling.
In recent years, there has been lots of marathons and long distance runs. Never never ever thought I will sign up for any of those long distance runs in Singapore because I think I will drop "dead" before I even complete 2.4km.
3 miracles:
(1) Not sure what got into me.....I signed up for the Great Eastern 10K Woman Run after an invite sent by my colleague! Good thing is, Great Eastern is so kind to have 5km Fun Run for people like me :) Before I even dare try 10km, I better make sure that I can complete 5km Fun Run.
(2) Not sure what got into me again......1 month before the run, I was so active in training myself! It's just a 5km Fun Run! I can either choose to walk all the way OR run then walk. I am not going to get any prize for being first in this fun run. Some of my friends who signed up for 5km Fun Run did not really bother about training.....Not sure why I trained almost every week to get myself prepared for this run. I guess 3 things: 1. I wanted to prove to myself that I can make it and run all the way for this long distance run 2. Do not want to loose face 3. Wanted my blood glucose level to go down. \
(3) I started to swim! I have not swam in almost 10 years!!! Wanted to build up my stamina and my breathing. So decided not to be lazy and hit the swimming pool.

During my recent runs, I noticed that my blood glucose level will go low but manageable. Sometimes I will go hypo in the middle of the night. It happened again yesterday night: I went swimming and swam for about 8 laps at around 5.30pm in the evening. Before my dinner (around 6.30pm), my blood sugar level was 15.7 mmol! So I inject myself with 13 units of Humalog. Before I go to bed(@ 11pm) , my readings was 8.2 mmol. Thought was ok. But in the middle of the night (@ 1.30am), it went to 2.8 mmol! Got to wake up and give myself something sweet to drink before I can get to sleep. Seems like some form of exercise will definitely reduce my blood glucose level. My aim is to reduce my dosage of insulin intake.

With this aim, I really push myself to exercise. After completing this 5km run, I am going to go for regular runs and I want to train for the Standard Chartered half marathon next year!