Normal Blood Sugar Level!

Last night while I was trying to give myself as insulin shot, I couldn't get it to 30 units. I didn't know what to do since hubby is already gone for work. So, I checked on it. Finally I figured out what was wrong! It was because the insulin in the cartridge was almost down to zero. I only gave myself 22 units instead and then changed the cartridge.

In the morning when I woke up to check my blood sugar level...to my amazement, it was back to normal which was 95! I haven't had this low in years...it was great considering I only had 22 units shot last night. I am so pleased and so is my husband. I hope it will stay that way, so that eventually, my doctor will take insulin out, and just leave the oral pill. That would be sweet!

Insulin and Blood Sugar Level

My last follow up visit with our family doctor for my diabetes went well. We really like our doctor for he cares for our health. He didn't even get mad at me when I increased the dosage of my insulin to 20 because 10 didn't work. And so he increased it to 30 since I told him that my blood sugar was still high. I wonder why my blood sugar is still up...considering I have been eating good food in small portion. I guess the next thing for me to do is exercise and lift weights. I have proven it to be effective since I have done this before. I better start exercising tomorrow.

Reasons Why I Need to Lift Weights

While surfing the net, I came across a website that interests me most. Ten tips written by Elizabeth Quinn on how lifting weights can be beneficial to my health. Here they are:

1. You Will Be Physically Stronger...weight training can increase a woman’s strength by 30 to 50%.
2. You Will Lose Body Fat...average woman who strength trains 2 to 3 times a week for 2 months will gain nearly 2 pounds of muscles and will lose 3.5 pounds. As your lean muscles increases so does your resting metabolism, and you burn more calories all day long.
3. You Will Gain Strength Without Bulk...women typically don’t gain size from strength training, because compared men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy.
4. You Decrease Your Risk of Osteoporosis...weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density by 13% in 6 months.
5. You Will Improve Your Athletic Performance.
6. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Injury , Back Pain and Arthritis.Strength training not only builds stronger muscles, but also builds stronger connective tissues and increases joint stability.
7. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease...weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering LDL (bad) Cholesterol, increase HDL (good) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure.
8. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes... weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23% in 4 months.
9. It’s Never Too Late To Benefit......strength improvements are possible at any age.
10.You Will Your Attitude and Fight Depression.
A Harvard study found that 10 weeks of strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms more successfully than standard counseling did.

I am pretty sure when I follow these tips, I would lost weight, lower my bad cholesterol, lower my blood sugar level and stabilize my blood pressure.

Lantus and Opticlick

Here's the opticlick kit my doctor gave me to help control my blood sugar level which I am using now with Lantus. This is so cool because it is easy to use and less pain than the old fashion one. I like that it only use tiny needle when giving myself an insulin shot. I am still nervous and a little bit afraid using it, but it is better than the normal syringe with bigger needle.

Lantus is a once a day shot slow release insulin that is very new. I am glad that my doctor prescribed it to me :-).

Diabetes and Medications

As my Doctor and I partnered on controlling my diabetes, I need to make our goal realize bby doing the things that needs to be done aside from medications. I can couple the medications with home treatments as mentioned below that I read on webmd.

Getting blood sugar under control isn't always difficult. Sometimes all you need are lifestyle changes -- eating right, getting regular exercise, losing weight -- to get it into a safe range. If you're a smoker, there's no question -- you've got to quit.

Also, finding ways to ease the stress in your life helps control blood sugar, as does treatment for depression. Both stress and depression increase the level of cortisol, a hormone that affects blood sugar. "Cortisol makes the diabetes worse," Ziemer tells WebMD. "There is evidence that treating depression may help blood sugar control." He is heading a study investigating that link.

For some people, taking just one diabetes medication helps tremendously. Complex new drugs like Byetta, Januvia, and Symlin work from different angles to attack high blood sugar. "All the new drugs hold a lot of promise," says Ziemer, who is also a professor of endocrinology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

If you need to take insulin, you'll find the injections aren't that bad. "The new versions of insulin are far less cumbersome," Ziemer explains. You don't need to lay out a lot of needles and vials on the table. The insulin can be discreetly injected via a little pen -- much like a cartridge writing pen. Insulin mouth sprays and insulin patches are being developed.