Personal Intro - New to Forum

[rosscraw]

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis related diabetes (CFRD) in late 2008, not long before my 13th birthday and I can certainly say it's been a bit of a bumpy ride ever since. I was terrible at monitoring my blood glucose, embarrassed to do my injections in view of others and just generally feeling awful for a great deal of time after my diagnosis and unfortunately a lot of this carried on until recently.

In February my HbA1c was found to be 85 and as a result of this I was removed from the waiting list for sinus surgery to remove nasal polyps, as they would not operate on anyone who had an HbA1c greater than 70 making me realise how bad a position I was in in relation to my diabetes control, but I never really changed anything at the time. Then in March of this year I was admitted to hospital (for the first time in 10 years relating to CF) due to a pretty bad chest infection and it was then I like to think I turned things around for the better (for both my diabetes and CF). I was informed how high blood sugar helps the infection grow and as I was experiencing it firsthand I realised I really had to take control otherwise this was going to be a regular occurrence.

Since being discharged I feel as though I have taken control, I'm monitoring regularly, worked out my insulin to carb ratio, my carb counting has improved, and overall my readings are so much better. I keep an excel spreadsheet for my glucose readings, which keeps track of my average and predicts my HbA1c if this is maintained. So far I've managed to reduce my HbA1c from 85 in February to 53 (my spreadsheet estimated around 49 at this time, but given I hadn't been in control properly for the full 3 months before I think that was a fairly good estimate) when it was taken at the end of May, meaning I can arrange to get myself back on the waiting list. Currently my June average for my blood glucose readings is 6.6mmol/l (predicting HbA1c of 40) and I'm hoping this can be maintained, or maybe even further improved!

You really don't notice how bad a position you were in until you improve, and having now realised it really has made me motivated to continue!

On another note there are two areas which I'm still uncertain about and if anyone has advice, whether it be personal expereince or not please let me know:

• Alcohol consumption - I know avoiding completely is the best approach, but let's be realistic, how do you manage blood glucose and alcohol on nights out?
• Excercise - Weight Training and how it affects blood sugars

Thanks a lot for reading, and I hope in future I can contribute to this forum!

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hello and welcome,

I can't answer any of your questions as I'm a Type 2 and not on any meds. I just want to say hello, and well done for starting to take this seriously. This forum is a good place to be for help, advice and support.

 

[noblehead]

Welcome to the forum @rosscraw

That is quite a turnaround in your diabetes control and you must be so pleased, hopefully you won't have to wait too long now for your surgery.

• Alcohol consumption - I know avoiding completely is the best approach, but let's be realistic, how do you manage blood glucose and alcohol on nights out?

• Excercise - Weight Training and how it affects blood sugars

There's no need to avoid alcohol completely unless you want to of course, I drink red wine now and it has a negligible effect on my bg levels, I don't drink beer very much now but had a pint of real ale last week when out for a bar meal and just included the carbs for the pint in the bolus calculation for the meal. I think with alcohol it's sensible to drink in moderation as the effects of alcohol can sometimes lower bg levels up to 24 hours after drinking.

As for exercise, I generally exercise within an hour or two of eating so take 50% less bolus because as I tend to go low otherwise, but from reading the forum over the years exercise can both lower and increase bg levels depending on the type of exercise, I'll tag @TorqPenderloin into you thread as he does weight training. Best wishes.

 

[4ratbags]

Hi and welcome to the forum @rosscraw its great to see you are getting on top.of your BS. I drink spirits and diet fizzy and I find it.doesnt affect my BS levels at all.