And the Winners Are…..
Our readers continue to send us inspiring, humorous and sometimes quirky stories about how they deal with their diabetes. There are so many great stories, it’s so hard to choose winning entries, For this issue our winners are Rachel and Annis, and you can read their stories here. Congratulations to you both, $100 Westfield vouchers are heading your way.
And click here to read other great testing stories, we really enjoy receiving them, so keep them coming. If its funny, different, amusing, shocking, or even a little daring, we’d love to hear about it!
Name: Annis
Story: My work involves animals of all types (zoo and domestic.)
Due to travel times and disconnects I found myself in the 'back of beyond' pulling up old pineapple plants for food for the working elephants. Hot, tired and getting more grumpy I suddenly remembered 'forgot to test'. I need food and I need food now. (I now recognise that internal anger as a very strong warning sign of hypoglycaemia.)What to eat? Amongst these plants are often baby pineapples which the elephants love but they are so very prickly. Could I get one of those before our elephant friends bashed them against their legs to soften them and eat them. Short answer was 'no'. Getting somewhat desperate suddenly there was a bunch of bananas being carried by a villager on a bicycle. I bought them, ate three, immediately felt great and gave the rest to my large, grey, elephant friends. I am much more mindful of available food or a snack now.
Name: Rachel
Story: Last year we had a school trip to Ruapehu. We spent 3 nights at Ruapehu Lodge having great fun and 2 days on Happy Valley learning to ski! Rachel (6) picked it up much more quickly than I did, although if she fell she couldn't get her ski's back under her. Getting her off the slope to test was darn near impossible so I tested her in the chairlift as we rode back to the top. I dreaded dropping the meter or pricker as we went, and I'm pleased we had the Performa with us as it worked really well in the cold conditions.
Other great stories from our readers!
Name: Rosalie
Story: On holiday on the West Coast of the South Island and unable to return to my home town of Timaru, due to snow closing Arthur's Pass, Lewis Pass and Porter's Pass. I fast ran out of medications including my insulin and with a brain that was not ticking over very well I was soon in Panic Mode. What the heck was I to do re the insulin situation??
Then my 7 year old grandson said to me "You have your cellphone with you Grandma why don't you ring your doctor in Timaru?"
One phone call to my own GP and the problem was solved. The GP faxed a prescription to the Westland Pharmacy in Hokitika and all was well. 3 months supply of insulin was delivered via the bus service between Hokitika and Whataroa and the Panic was over.
Never again will I go to the West coast of the South Island in Winter with out at least 6 months supply of insulin.
Name: Alison
Story: My GP doesn't agree with Type 2's testing BSL's, but I wanted to so I could monitor for myself how I was doing, what foods affected me the most, how my exercise programme was helping, etc. I was on 500mg metformin with dinner only at that stage and as I started testing, initially with a morning fasting test, I could see it wasn't enough as I was still 7, 8 and 9 in the morning. So, thinking that I would be going up as the day went on I also started checking at work, before lunch and again before dinner, and to my surprise my levels went down during the day. I spoke with my Diabetes Specialist Nurse Cushla and she suggested I had a 'leaky liver' type thing going on, where my liver was making or releasing sugar overnight, so during the day I was burning it off, and at night of course, asleep, I wasn't. So we added an extra metformin at dinner time and my morning fasting and HbA1c all came down! So I strongly believe in the benefits of testing as a Type 2!!!
Name: Mae
Story: Was at a pipeband contest and had to take my insulin at the back of the band bus with 15 bandsmen standing guard. Should have planned it better.
Name: Chris
Story: I have type 2 diabetes, and take 1 Metformen
tablet morning and night.I normally do a blood test before break in the morning. I have good control and mostly test between 6-7.I also take 2mg Hytrin at night for prostrate. A lot of times I had a problem to keep my blood glucose below 7. I stopped taking Hytrin for about one week and my blood test are below 7 every morning. I now only take half a tablet hyrtrin 1mg. My water works are OK and so is my blood sugar level.
Name: Dot
Story: I had just got home after getting my new performa meter and I was feeling abit low I thought I was hypo I first must explain that I am vision impaired not diabetes related so my husband said that he would do the reading for me as this was a new meter. Well I did the test and waited for the result.
Vince my husband said I was definitly not hypo more the other way I asked what the reading was and he said E.9 I said there is no such thing well look for yourself, I did he had it upside down.. Men don't you love them.
Name: Madhu
Story: While traveling in India recently we had to catch a local flight at 4.00am. Breakfast was served on board. How do I inject myself?
Next to me sat a young Indian girl on a business trip.I excused myself and proceeded to pull my shirt up, unbuckling my belt before that. She became very nervous. When she saw the needle, she got up to call for help, and fainted. I was a suspected drug addict for a few minutes, till I produced my doctors' letter. Never travel without it.
Name: Jill
Story: Last year I won $10,000 world travel on an Internet site. I had never travelled overseas before, and because I have several health issues I wanted to travel alone so I only had to worry about one person...ME! I decided to visit Internet Friends in USA and Canada, and set off in April 2008 for my big 6 week OE. On the first week into the trip, on a bus Tour of Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, several of us came down with a very severe gastic enteritis. My room mate was an 80 yr old German Canadian and very difficult! On my second sick day I woke at 1am shaking and headed for the bathroom with my testing kit. My sugar levels were 1.9 and for the next hour I sat on the loo, drinking ginger ale, nibbling raw banana, and NZ mini Krispies to try and raise my sugars! Nothing taken in stayed put! But after several testings my sugars began to come back up, and I was able to creep back to bed! And my room mate stayed asleep! But insulin was a no-no for the next two weeks until I began to eat real food again!
Name: Allan
Story: We were holidaying in Thailand and after dinner decided to go to the local night market. While walking round I had a sudden low. My wife had to rush to find something to give me, as we had left our emergemcy kit at the Hotel. No matter where in the world you are there are always some kind helpful people. And that is what we experienced. Three young ladies came to my wife's aid and helped me to a chair and quickly appeared with a dish of hot chicken and rice. They really did help us out of what could have become a very sticky spot.
Name: Lesley-Ann
Story: I once tested my blood glucose in the waiting room of a pathology laboratory as we were waiting to have bloods drawn for our residency application! That didn't win me a sympathy vote and I still had to wait in the queue! Not that I minded!
Name: Brion
Story: I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Easter of 1953 and consequently do not have any physical symptoms of hypoglycemia. I was driving home from my daughter's place the other night (after a very substantial meal) when I suddenly realised that I didn't know where I was, it was about 11pm. I was on a lonely country road. I parked up and I took out my best friend (My PERFORMA) and found a blood glucose reading of 3.3mg. I consumed more than my fair share of jelly beans and and had a bit of a snooze. After about 15 minutes I went out for a stroll and found that I was about 25k from home. (my daughter's home to my flat is about 6k) I arrived home at 12.45.
Name: Clive
Story: Hi everyone, I have just come back from 6 weeks in India, traveling all around by train, and also to Nepal and Sri Lanka-- my dream holiday that I had been planning for a long time.
I was amazed with all my treating, especially in India where for thr first time my readings(I have had type 2 diabetes for 11 years now)were mainly in the fours or fives!! Usually they were in the nines or tens, it definately proves to me that an active lifestyle-- I did plenty of walking and a lot of sweating- and a simple diet of mainly rice and vegetables each day helps to control diabetes a lot.I n facy for several weeks I began to feel very dizzy and light headed, which gave me an excuse to eat some friuts and icecream occasionally.
When I was staying in a Nepalese village and also the Sri Lan kan village they all saw me testing myself and wanted me to test them as well!I did actually with different needles as it was a abit rude to refuse I guess, and they were all very knowledgable about the condition and how to control it, but in boith places they commented on how it is getting more and more prevalent-- it was great to share experiences and information with them and in both villages!
Name: AJ
Story: Over the years I've hurt myself a few times in the garage and in the garden, resulting in bleeding.
Along the lines of waste not, want not and just to save having to have yet another pick ...
I've gone inside and tried to use the split blood but I've learnt that you have to be fast to get inside, set everything up and do the readingbefore the bloods dries, gets wiped away or thickens!
Name: Brendon
Story: In October I was on an international flight to Germany with work for 2 weeks when I realised that I had left my blood glucose test kit back in at home. I had automatically put my Performa back in the draw after doing my test prior to leaving home. AHHHHHH!
Upon arriving in Germany I phoned my wife and she called Roche who told her that I couldnt get a Performa in Germany but did give me the Roche 0800 number in Germany. That didnt help much but I found an Apotheke and was excited that they had complete kits for sale over the counter for 10 euro (NZ$20)An Accu-Chek Compact Plus that came with 17 strips. To purchase another 30 strips was 40 euro (NZ$80)!! I calculated that when I ran out of strips it was cheaper to keep buying a new machine with 17 strips than extra strips. I thought I was saved, and at a cheap price, and i had a spare machine to use when i got home (always useful).
Anyway it looked like a great machine and very relieved I went back to the hotel to do a test.
Back at the hotel I realised that the strips came in a rotating drum that had to be inserted into the machine in a specific way and all the operating instructions were in German, with no English translation. (I had naively thought that most electronics items have manuals in multilanguages - I was wrong). That is also why the extra strips were so expensive. So I spent quite a bit of time flicking through the manual trying to make sense of the pictures and I finally worked out how to operate the machine. I thought I had it sorted.
Then I did my first test and imagine my surprise when the result was 130. After further crude German\English translation of the manual using an internet translation website I discovered the readings were in mg/dl not mmol/L! This was completely new to me, and it didn't look like it was possible to change the machine to report in mmol/L - if it was I couldnt work it out.
So I then had to derive a reference table from mg/dl to mmol/L, using the internet and the add reference in the manual. This eventually got me through my travels, but what an effort. I won’t leave my kit at home again.
So now I have to give away a very nice German Accu-Chek Compact, please let me know!! Comes with instruction booklet in German and possibly some test strips - I cant work out how many are left!!!!!
Name: Johann
Story: I love kayaking fishing. Blood glucose levels can drop because of the exercise. Have you tried testing yourself in a wave pushed kayak ? Its a juggling act of keeping your balance and not getting the equipment wet! I am getting better and better at doing it out at sea. So if you see a kayaker doing something "strange", it could be me!