Trapped

Yesterday I mentioned I had a headache. Well somewhere around 4am I realized it was more than headache, and more like a horrible migraine. I woke up and took some Excedrin, only to toss and turn, hit snooze to cancel any plans of working out, and toss and turn more. It made the workday pretty unbearable, and a 2nd dose of Excedrin still did nothing for me. In the afternoon I decided maybe a massage would help, my shoulders felt super tense and hurt when I rubbed them anyway. Luckily I was able to get an appointment in right after work.

The first thing my massage therapist asked was whether I had any issues. Yup. I explained the pain I had in the left side of my head all the way down through my neck and to my left shoulder. Instantly she said, "It's your Trapps." Huh? She explained that is the exact description of the pain people feel when their Trapezius muscle is tense or knotted. Sounded about right to me.

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She spent the next hour working that baby out. She pinched it, she pressured it, she rolled on it. She couldn't believe how bad it was, and she kept finding little balls of knots. She actually remembered me from the last time I was there a couple of months ago and reminded me how she had told me then I needed to schedule an appointment to just work on my shoulders. It was the least relaxing massage I have ever had, but anything to make this headache go away.

It was actually interesting when she would put pressure on different spots and ask where the pain referred to. One spot she pinched resulted in pain in the front of my head, and one I could feel pain down my upper back. She said it was so bad that she would honestly recommend accupuncture over more massage.

After the hour was up, she told me to get up slowly since I had been on my stomach the entire time. She wasn't kidding. Once I got up I felt SO dizzy and unable to balance. The pain in my head seemed to worsen, and on top of it, I felt nauseous from being hungry too. She warned that I may start to feel like I have flu like symptoms tonight, and to keep my shoulders warm. Ick!

About an hour after the massage and my headache is gone - and I feel great! Wow, thank you massage therapist.

I am going to work on being more aware of when I scrunch my shoulders. I am guessing I do that during spin and probably during Body Works when my arms get tired. It's amazing how our bodies work, and how little I know about it. I think I need to take intro to Biology again or something???

Things That Make Me Go Hmmmmm

I have a headache and can't imagine posting anything too insightful, so instead here are the things running through my diabetic brain right now:

1) How did I manage to keep such awesome BG numbers Thanksgiving Day and the following days, while still enjoying in my favorite homemade pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and chocolate caramels (yes, I indulged in all of the above)?

2) How come after getting back to work and my normal routine, including a good and sweaty spin session this morning, now my BG numbers are so high? I hope I am not getting sick.

3) Why have I been hungry all day, even after eating half a bag of almonds during the day and big fettuccine alfredo meal? Normally, it would be because of my workout this morning and my muscles storing up all the glucose they can, but then I would expect lower BGs, which as #2 indicates is not the case.

4) Why did pricking my fingers hurt soooo bad last week? No matter which finger I tried? Thankfully, that has come and gone.

5) Why does the nursing room at work always have to be in use when I want to check my BG and/or take some insulin? I guess some people actually need to use it for it was intended.

6) When will taking insulin in a public restroom ever become normal and not gross to me?

7) How come sometimes when I poke myself I bruise or bleed or it just really hurts, while other times I feel nothing?

8) Maybe having a pump would help solve many of my questions/issues? But then which pump, how much would it cost, how difficult would changing infusion sites be, how would I hide it under my clothes, etc???

Well on that note, I think it's time to schedule another appointment with my CDE!

Wordless Wednesday from ND!

Thursday Monday

Due to dire weather forecasts, we have decided to head back home a day early. This means tomorrow is FRIDAY! Coming to that realization today, and just in general being super excited to spend the holiday with family, I had a really hard time focusing all day at work. I am ready to go NOW (seriously all packed, ready to go)!

Looking ahead, the rest of my year is pretty much booked up:

1st weekend in December: 30th Birthday Party for my lovely sister! We also signed up for a Jingle Bell 5k. It will cold, but fun (I hope)!

2nd weekend in December: 2nd Annual Hilarious Ornament and Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Last year my purple glitter mosquito ornament was quite the hit. I am on the search for another ridiculous ornament.

3rd weekend in December: Heading to Florida to visit my husband's brother, celebrate my husband and niece's birthday, and have an early Christmas. I can't wait, and a break from MN winter won't be bad either!

(Somewhere in the middle of all that I need to find time to do some Christmas shopping and have other mini-Christmas' with friends)

Then its Billy Elliot and Lori Line, and then Christmas!

After that, I only have oral surgery to look forward to. Time to get these wisdom teeth out, all four. Apparently they are quite large, so it's going to be a long process. And the Dentist thought it was a better idea to use sedation and keep me awake during the surgery, rather than laughing gas, due to my diabetes. Something about being coherent enough to check my BG and treat if necessary after the surgery. Lovely.

Then its 2011. Holy cow, I am not ready to think about that yet. Here's to a happy holiday season just about to begin!!

Sugar free please!

Yes, I will admit that I am addicted to and love lattes and mochas. Normal drip coffee just won't do. I need the espresso and frothy milk, with a little flavoring to make my day start out on the right note.

However, I also am trying to be budget conscience. $4+ a day on a morning beverage is little much. I have tried to limit myself to one per week, but usually it ends up being more like two or three. My justification is usually that  I deserve at treat after waking up before the light of day and getting my sweat on at the gym. The current temperature drop isn't helping either. 

I do have my own espresso machine, but I accidentally dropped the piece that froths the milk in the garbage disposal and broke it. The replacement part has been ordered, but is taking its sweet time getting here. Another reason I can justify an extra stop at Caribou (when I feel especially like treating myself my order = medium skim dark chocolate mocha with less chocolate. Ah, soooo good and surprisingly only about 35g of carbs.) 

Today was no exception. It is COLD out and the freezing rain is keeping me indoors. But I wanted a hot drink! My hubby and I decided to walk to the nearby Starbucks with the dog, a little fresh air and a latte = heaven! I ordered a sugar-free non-fat cinnamon dolce latte. When the barista handed me my drink she just said non-fat cinnamon dolce latte. I asked nicely "Is this sugar-free?". She blankly stared at me and stated, "No." She was not happy to have to remake my drink and made that quite clear by throwing it dramatically in the sink, and making a different drink for someone else first. She asked if what I wanted was a "skinny cinnamon dolce". Um, I guess if skinny means sugar-free and non-fat which is how I ordered it, then yes. Sorry barista lady for not using the correct Starbucks lingo. 

I can't even imagine how my blood-sugar would have spiked if I had drank the first one she made. I am glad I double-checked before leaving, but I really didn't appreciate the attitude. Isn't the customer always right? I mean I did order what I wanted, and I wasn't being rude or mean. I just can't have a sugar-packed drink! So even though Starbucks is more convenient (location-wise) than Caribou, I think I will stick to my favorite Caribou (generally good service and to me much better espresso).

On a side-note, the last couple of weeks my blood sugars have been awesome (knock on wood)! I have had a couple of lows, but just barely below the line. I have got to learn to eat a snack in the late afternoon, because for some reason towards the end of the day work seems to get busier or stressful, causing my BG to drop. Anyone else have that problem?

Back to laundry/football day!

Early Christmas Present???

Today I got a new glucose testing meter! Um, am I only one excited about this? I was actually excited all day, thinking about how after work I would go pick this bad boy up. Yup, big dork.

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So here's the thing: the other day I found a coupon in my almost empty box of needles. It was for the Bayer Contour USB meter. $20 off. I checked it out online and found out it was also on sale at Walgreens for $29.99, regular price $75. Can we say DEAL!

I currently use the Bayer Contour, the regular old meter, and I like it just fine. It was the one I was given the day I was diagnosed. I have ventured to try other meters, free of course, including Freestyle and OneTouch, but didn't find them any better than my current meter.

So on top of the awesome deal, this new meter, as the name implies, has a USB on it, so I can plug it into my computer. It comes with software that allows me to see my history of results in a pretty graphs and charts, which I can then share with my CDE or endo.

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Still not as excited? Well if you knew how much of a pain it is to remember to log your numbers every time you test (which usually doesn't happen and results in my spending hours getting all down right before my doctor appointment), you might be. I am also excited that it lights up, which will be a handy feature when I need to test in the dark (yes, sometimes while riding in a car or in the middle of the night I do a quick test).

Well my fancy new meter is currently charging, so I can't say it if its all I hyped it up to be - but I hope so!

Ready. Set. Go!

Since yesterday was a big time lounging day, I had to do my weekly grocery shopping trip tonight after work. I really lacked any motivation, but knew yogurt and instant oatmeal wouldn't cut it for lunch two days in a row. Grocery shopping (and laundry) is my responsibility in this household, (yeah, I was wondering too how I got the short end of the stick?). On a side-note, if it wasn't my responsibility we would have a lot of hot dogs and Doritos. So I found a way to motivate myself. We had thrown a meal in the oven that needed to bake for 45 minutes. I decided to take it as a challenge to drive, park, get everything on my list, pay, bag, load and unload all the groceries in time to pull the bake out of the oven.

Luckily, we live only a few blocks away from the local grocery store. I cruised through the produce section, finding exactly what was on my list. Grabbed the canned goods I needed. But then I found myself distracted in the cereal aisle. Another side-note: cereal use to be my go-to breakfast, snack, and on occasion dinner. After being diagnosed with T1D, my cereal consumption has completely dropped-off a cliff. Cereal is a tricky one. Its so good, but not worth the blood sugar spike. But B. had put in a special request for some cereal and pop-tarts (see what I mean when I say I have to do the grocery shopping?). So after a little perusing for old-time sakes, I grabbed the requested Raisin Bran and hustled to the dairy section. I was able to cruise through the rest of the store, mostly sticking to my list (may have strayed slightly when I picked up some dark chocolate syrup to make my own mochas).

The challenge was a success. Grocery shopping done and on the counter with just 1 minute to spare on the dinner timer! Since I was able to get my butt out of bed early this morning and get a 4 mile run in, now I can spend the rest of my evening relaxing and not feel bad about it!!

Happy Monday!