OKAY, Here Goes:
there are many things that i have learned to do along the way that have helped me to feel unlimited. However, the greatest thing i’ve done to show me that i can be Unlimited is my swimming. after the long haul of dedication and devotion, willingness, and blind trust and encouragement from our wonderful community, i learned to dare myself one day at a time. it was a slow process. but, i never quit. recently, i have achieved what i thought was totally impossible: daring myself to get into the pool with BG numbers below 100.
last night, i had planned to go with my husband to eat Japanese food for dinner. when it came time to leave the house and walk 20 minutes to the restaurant, my BG was only 65. i thought, F-it. we should just bag it for tonight (we had a commitment right after dinner and had a tight window wherein we could squeeze our dinner, so i didnt have the luxury of waiting out the time it took to raise my BG with juice or some other fast carb.)
my husband said to me, “WTF, just take 2 tabs or some Jelly Beans and we’ll walk over, and by the time we get there, you’ll be right back in target.” so, i dared myself and just went for it. in the past, i would never have left the house with a BG of 65 for a 20 minute walk!!!
another thing that i have been doing to dare myself is eating strange foods where i dont know how on earth to bolus for. i just take a wild, somewhat experienced guess and enjoy the food!!! i used to only eat what i knew would give me “safe” and “expected” results.
this kind of stuff is HUGE for me. and it all started bc i wanted to swim!!!
so what’s your story? and, what dreams and goals do you have for yourself?
For me, one of the things that makes me feel really unlimited is cooking and baking. Specifically, cooking and baking foods that are free from my allergens and low in carbohydrates. I know that a low-carb diet isn’t for everyone, but for me I feel so much better (digestion-wise) and have such better control when eating that way. I never would have imagined that I’d actually like to cook and bake, but it’s become something of a hobby and challenge for me.
My challenge is to make anything I want to eat in a version that’s safe for me. This weekend I made a dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, low-carb chicken Caesar salad. It was at least as good as anything a restaurant could have made! I also enjoy posting my creations to Facebook and having people (without dietary restrictions) ooh and aah over them.
My upcoming big challenge will be making fermented nut- or seed-based cheese. I’m just acquiring the needed equipment now.
It’s awesome being able to make anything I want from scratch.
I completed yoga teacher training and now teach beginners classes at my school’s studio. Breath practices from training help me stay calmer when dealing with a hypo. Overall, I feel a lot safer exercising and doing yard work and (most important) playing with my grandkids!
Like you, @daisymae, a good chunk of my motivation comes from my desire to be physically active… at will, on demand, for as long as I like, whenever I like. My entire life I’ve celebrated the gift of being able to engage in whatever type of physical activity I choose and excel at it, use it for its many benefits, or even just to have fun. Then I gots the diabetes. And that was a real blower. All of a sudden, I just couldn’t. I was hard headed in the beginning and tried powering my way through it, but once my diabetes was done laughing at me, it leveled me again. Over the years, I phased out one kind of activity after another because I genuinely was losing pleasure in them. I phased out cute clothes because there was no point when I knew I’d sweat through everything. I phased out dinner invitations, getting into the pool with my kids , nights out on the town… traveling… Wow. It really owned me there for a long time. And I learned the ultimate bad habit of running up my blood sugar in order to do anything that was outside of my comfort zone, and my comfort zone really was only at home with my children.
Also like you, daisymae, I’m running the show a little differently today. And it really has been running that has helped me make the leap. Like you, I would never head out on a 65… I’d head to the pantry for a pre-emptive carb strike. Running has helped me understand the potential in my numbers as a result of my recent actions. A number is no longer something to fear. If I am able to understand what has led me to the number, I’m able to handle it. This is a far cry from what I once felt… which was just completely vulnerable to whatever diabetes wanted to throw my way. Always feeling vulnerable is very much like always being the victim. It’s nice not to feel like a victim to my disease.
I have been feeling a little glum probably for the last couple of months and have been trying to get back up on top of it. I know being victorious is a clear sign of being unlimited, but I’d also like to think refusing to fail is. Things aren’t perfect, some days are better than others, but I’m aiming to fix rather than to disappear. So maybe that’s it… fighting even when things get thick… and feeling pretty confident about it…
I’ve never really felt limited. I think for me the title of this thread would be “Things Other People Have Done to Help You Be Unlimited.” Starting with my parents, who never fussed, obsessed, supervised, worried (visibly), hovered, monitored. Like I said elsewhere, it was barely on the radar at school. My diabetes was there, it needed to be dealt with at times, but it didn’t change what we did as a family or what I did as a kid. It was very, very rarely a focus.
And so that’s how I grew up and how I’ve lived. It’s there, but it isn’t at the forefront of my awareness (unless, of course, when it needs to be – when I’m about to eat or my Dex is beeping). If anything it should probably be a little more near the forefront, so I don’t keep forgetting things like setting a temp basal before going to the market on Saturdays. @docslotnick said a while ago in another thread, about not forgetting he has diabetes, “Do you forget to breathe?” No, but I forget that I am breathing. And I forget that I am diabetic. From two-week solo canoeing trips in remote places as a teen to making a split-second decision to move to Italy to work, to my reputation as a cake and pastry baker (and eater), diabetes has never prevented me from doing something. I suppose a sensible person would think things over first: What if I lose my insulin overboard? What if a bear eats all my food? What if I can’t get my kind of insulin in Rome? But then a sensible person wouldn’t have had some memorably life-shaping experiences.
Pretty dark I know. But then remembering where I was 8 years back when I was really enjoying all kinds of food, any craft beer, possibly a cigar, all nicely balanced by 5-7 mile jogs 3x a week, this thing that now hangs around my neck every day kinda sucks the unlimited thing outta me.
On the upside, I still manage to work out up to 3x a week and walk 3 miles almost everyday, which I do out of fear of the alternative. I have been known to push myself, doing something extra strenuous but those times don’t usually work out too well. My BG drops pretty fast when I do things like chopping wood, shoveling snow, running in the heat, or spreading mulch. Also in swimming. I actually tried swimming this year and yeesh… Started with numbers in the 145 BG and 20 minutes in and I seeing stars. Then again I swim like a rock. There’s a lot of sinking involved.
I have been eating a bit more carb laden dishes lately - for instance after dinner I get a sweet tooth so I’ll put a few spoons worth of low sugar vanilla ice cream into a cup of lite greek yogurt. It’s a sweet treat that doesn’t hit me like a train. Yogurt doesn’t increase my BGs too much and a few grams of sugar can be cut back with a few points on my pen. I feel pretty normal there…
All in all, eight years in with LADDA and I clearly know my limitations. So, what I do is adapt to those limits and make the best of the space in between. It’s my new normal.
today i swam with bgs in the 60s!!! I am a daredevel with great aspirations and an appitite to grow. after today, i truly feel unlimited!!!
this site and this community makes life large and inviting.from all the wonderful and endless support i have gotten here, my life has become exceptional.
i have learned to participate in my own life. its awesome
I also love swimming @daisymae but in shorter increments. I’m pretty satisfied with an intense 30-40 minute swim. I leave feeling happy and rejuvenated. Because my swimming is for a shorter time, it tends to be pretty straightforward for me. As long as I don’t eat for a couple hours before the swim, I tend to stay pretty flat. If my swim is too intense then I might get a rise, but it’s generally nothing I can’t manage with a little insulin once I get out.
Over the last couple of years I’ve become very passionate about hiking and enjoying the natural world. I’ve learned that preparation is the key to enjoying those experiences, and with more experiences under my belt I can expand my adventures further.
In the next year, I have several multi-day hiking trips planned. I’m most excited to do the Laugavegur trail next summer in Iceland. I can’t wait to see the beautiful rhyolite mountains and lava fields. As I said, we have a few multi-day hikes and backpacking trips planned over the next year, so I should be prepared for this trek by the time it comes around. We’ll be going with a tour guide in a small group, and I think that’s a good idea at this point in my hiking experience. I have had lots of hiking adventures so far, but none in an area that prone to weather hazards. It will be nice to leave that stuff to the guide, and I can focus on my bg levels and the beautiful scenery we’ll be hiking through.
Planning and working my way up slowly makes me feel capable and unlimited. I feel like learning my boundaries and ways to work with or around those boundaries helps me expand my hiking experiences to new and exciting adventures.
I also love to travel! I just love seeing new, interesting places and learning about other parts of the world. Planning is also key here. With each new destination, I learn more and feel comfortable traveling to places I once would not have felt capable of visiting. As with hiking, I feel like each new experience expands my boundaries as I learn more about the practicalities of travelling safely with diabetes. I’ve never felt more unlimited than on my international trips.
This sounds like a wonderful trip! I think hiking definitely qualifies you for being UNLIMITED!! BG challenges of hiking can be hazardous in isolated areas. I am planning to hike the Grand Canyon and as someone not used to so much direct sun, or mountain climbing, I’m a bit anxious. I totally agree with you, experiencing the natural world is why I love running on trails, too!!
Oh it’s so beautiful!! I hope you have a wonderful time.
Also, do you have a hat like this? They’re super helpful in protecting your skin in desert areas. I fry like a lobster, so I wear it on any unshaded hiking trips. I love this hat!
I just bought it, yesterday!!! Thank you!! Well, not the Ultra but the standard Afternoons Adventure hat. I’m not sure what the difference is. Yes, I’ve been reading on the FB GrandCanyon group how a hat is necessary!!!
@Katers87 is brilliant. I burn my neck ALL THE TIME and no one wants skin cancer. I have a giant hat, but that one looks rad. The key is ear and neck coverage.
Also, remember you can get it wet if it’s miserable hot.
@Katers87 That’s a great idea! I think there is suppose to be a creek running along one of the trails, but of course I plan on carrying lots of water, just in case!!
My goal is to be fearless and well controlled while living spontaneous life with my kids/husband.
My biggest challenge is two fold:
(1) Giving too much weight to other people’s advice for what works for them and not trusting myself for what I know works for me, and
(2) Bolus control and forecasting future activity.
I use wayyyyyy less basal than “most” diabetics as far as I can tell. But I need wayyyyyyy more bolus than a lot of people, too. That never bothered me before joining the DOC and then I started thinking I was doing something wrong.
I also get a lot of action out of Novolog over five hours…with it being pretty strong in hours 2, 3 and 4. If I don’t prebolus well, it’s an ugly “up and stuck” until it crashes later. And if I end up being more active than I anticipated in those subsequent hours, it can really spin off into some funny looking graphs. But a girl’s gotta eat. So I’m gonna prebolus. I’m gonna bolus big. And I’m gonna eat. And if I end up riding bikes or swimming after that, I’ll deal with that then. I obviously plan as much as I can…but sometimes that gets too regimented with kids. I want them to remember their mom playing with them…not sitting on the sidelines freaking out about What Ifs.
I just spent the Best morning digging for fossils and hiking with my family for hours. No drops. No spikes. No worries. I didn’t check my bg one time and never heard any alarms or felt weird. My husband and I both noted the freedom that comes with studied control. My son said, “You’re like a normal person now, right, Mom?!”
I wouldn’t go that far…lol.
But like @daisymae, I’m going to be an active participant in my own life. And the lives of my kids.
That can be a tough one in our modern connected world. My advantage is that I didn’t start out with much in the way of other people’s advice: there were no books, there was no internet, there was my substandard-later-suspended-for-misconduct family doctor, and then much later my CDE. It’s quite a shift to be in online forums and hear what other people are trying, what works for them, and then sifting out what’s worth trying for me.
Get back to me when you figure that one out! I’m still working on it, after nearly five decades.
I’m just acquiring the needed equipment now.
, nights out on the town… traveling… Wow. It really owned me there for a long time. And I learned the ultimate bad habit of running up my blood sugar in order to do anything that was outside of my comfort zone, and my comfort zone really was only at home with my children.
LOL.
but in shorter increments. I’m pretty satisfied with an intense 30-40 minute swim. I leave feeling happy and rejuvenated. Because my swimming is for a shorter time, it tends to be pretty straightforward for me. As long as I don’t eat for a couple hours before the swim, I tend to stay pretty flat. If my swim is too intense then I might get a rise, but it’s generally nothing I can’t manage with a little insulin once I get out.