Too much insulin. Not enough carbs!

For those who don't know, keep in mind that the more carbs a type 1 diabetic eats, the more insulin they will have to take to maintain a normal blood sugar.


I believe every person deserves a day they shouldn't worry about what goes in their mouth and diabetics are no exception! Over the last year, I have really cut back on the junk I put in my mouth. I use to be the cupcake queen! Little Debbie was my b*tch (LOL). Though I've cut back on junk food, I do have a day every couple months that I splurge and I just don't really care about what I eat. Well, today was one of those days!


For lunch, I had THREE slices of pizza. Pizza makes my blood sugar sky rocket so I should of only eaten one slice. Maybe two. But I was starving so I had to eat three slices.


There's usually 30 g of carbs in one slice of pizza so I should of had a total of 90 g of carbs. Since, my blood sugar spikes when I eat pizza, I added an extra 10 g of carbs.


A few hours later I was craving a frozen mocha from Panera bread. Before I drank it, I checked my blood sugar. When I checked, my blood sugar was 70. A little low but not bad at all considering I ate a lot for lunch!




Usually, frozen mochas leave my blood sugar higher than it should be so I thought that I better Google how many grams of carbs it has in it. I was shocked when I found that a medium frozen mocha has 94g of carbs in it! That's a ton more than I had expected! It's no wonder my blood sugar is always high after I drink one! I wasn't counting for enough carbs (I wasn't getting enough insulin)!


I let my mom have a few sips of my tasty drink and I don't think I realized just how much she really drank. Less than 2 hours later after I gave myself insulin, my blood sugar was 45!

I had just left the grocery store when I started to feel funny. Of course I didn't notice the symptoms when I was sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store. I had to be driving! I pulled over to the side of the road as soon as I found a safe place. I had a few glucose tablets and I managed to find some old gummy bears in my purse so the problem was easily solved!




9 times out of ten when I have a day I eat a lot of carbs, my blood sugar ends up high but today the complete opposite happened. I had too much insulin and not enough carbs! Sometimes it's hard to judge how many carbs you've actually eaten.

Check out this App!

Just like any other young adult I'm constantly using my phone....I'm a snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagramming fanatic! So of course when I find an app that helps me control my diabetes is amazing! It's called Carbs and Cals. It is great for carb counting! It doesn't measure portion size by asking how many cups of corn did you have...it shows pictures! There will be a picture of a large plate and there will be different pictures with different amounts of corn in each picture (I'm just using corn as an example). I'm going to try to upload some screen shots to explain better how it works. I could just do a video but I'm not sure I'm ready to record myself yet! Lol. There's an option called "My Foods" and you can program any of your favorite foods in there so you can always have the amount of carbs on hand! You can also scan bar codes, and from the bar code the app will find your food in the data base. I haven't used this feature much but it's still pretty cool! The only thing about this app is that it costs about $5.00. I was a little hesitant on buying it but I figured I would use it a lot and if it helps ne have better control on my blood sugars then it's definitely worth it! This app isn't just for diabetics! If you are on a diet and you have to count calories or carbs then it will also be a huge help to you! Now, let me see if I can upload some pictures of the app...

Here is what the list of categories looks like. The picture doesn't show all of them...there are more! It's pretty cool because you can search by brand name, what kind of food you are looking for like fruits, vegetables, or bread.

I honestly think this is the coolest part of the app! This is how the app measures portion size! Who in their right mind wants to go through the trouble measuring out a cup of peas, etc. Once you figure out which portion size you had you click on it and add it to your meal. It's pretty simple!

I hope this app helps other diabetics with their carb counting and other people that are looking to count carbs and calories! FYI... I'm wearing my "Insulin Powered" t-shirt today! :)

The things they don't tell you...

Being diagnosed with diabetes when I was 11 years old was very hard. I got my treatment and education for diabetes at AI Dupont Hospital in Wilmington, DE. Everyone there did a great job helping me transition from a "normal" life, to diabetic life. As I have gotten older, I have come to realize that there are some things they DID NOT tell me and some things that misled me.
When I was getting my training with the diabetes educators, they taught me how to count carbs. They did not tell me that sometimes, no matter how accurate you are at carb counting, some foods will still make your blood sugar spike. For example, when I eat pizza and pasta I am pretty good at figuring out how many carbs is them, but within an hour my blood sugar rises higher than normal. 
When I was discharged from the hospital, they told me I could have a 15 grams of carbs "free" snack. Which meant, I could eat something that wasn't more than 15 grams of carbs and I didn't have to give myself insulin for it. Looking back on that, it makes no sense as to why I could that! You would be surprised by how much 15 grams of carbs raises your blood sugar.
 I was misled to think that I could eat whatever I wanted, when I wanted. I guess that is true but if I don't want my blood sugar to go through the roof, I really have to watch what I eat and make sure I count carbs as accurately as possible. For example, at parties there is usually a lot of delicious food and everyone snacks on everything. I have found that I can't do that without my blood sugar going through the roof. Even if I give myself insulin, my blood sugar still is high. I eventually lose track of what I eat or my insulin can't keep up with my constant snacking.
 The major thing they didn't tell me was that insulin makes you gain weight. The more insulin you get, the more weight you are going to gain. When I was younger, I got about 50-60 units of insulin a day. Now, I get about 80-100 units a day. That is A lot of insulin being used and I have gained a lot of weight (40 lbs. in two years). The last few weeks or so I have cut my insulin down to about 65-80 units a day and I have lost some weight since this started. It's not a lot of weight but it's enough that I noticed! I watch to see how many grams of carbs I am eating, because the more carbs I get the more insulin I get.
I'm sure that there are a few other things that I could think of that the diabetes educators did not tell me or misled me about. If I think of them I will write another post!

My body is so confusing!!!

So, for days now my blood sugar has been shitty...like 200 and above. The last 2 days, it has been getting better...A LOT better actually. Lately, before I go to bed my blood sugar is below 100 so I eat a little snack so it stays up over night. Then, I expect it to be high when I wake up in the morning and It's not! It's been around 150 when I wake up and usually its in the 200's. I am almost always high after breakfast but all day today I have been below 120! I think It's helping that I have been measuring EVERYTHING I eat so I know exactly how many carbs I'm getting. Aslo, I have been taking my symlin shot more often when I eat. I really hope that as long as I keep doing all this, my blood sugar will stay under control