There is a lack of sushi in my life...

An abject lack of sushi.  And not because of a lack of availibility.  Alas, whilst there is pretty good sushi to be found in Huntsville, its a simple consequence of the fact that I'm a diabetic that I can't eat sushi rice.  It spikes my blood sugars like something crazy, presumably because the carbohydrate absorption rate is funky and the rise and fall of my usual rapid acting insulin doesn't match the carbohydrate absorption rate of the rice.  :(

So, I came up with a plan.  As I'm soon going to have an OmniPod, with the ability to more or less mimic the insulin output of the pancreas, all I need to do is find published carbohydrate absorption rate curves for sushi rice.  I mean, they should exist because sushi rice has a published glycemic index value (GI) and the GI value is essentially the area under the carbohydrate absorption rate curve.

But can I find them?  Can I heck!  I've looked everywhere, and no such luck, even Google is not my friend on this one.  I figure, OK, I'm a scientist,  so stand back, I'm going to try science!  I can make my own (crude) carbohydrate absorption rate curves.  All I need are 10-20 volunteers who are willing to eat a meal of sushi and then allow me to attack them with a blood glucose meter every half hour, for the next 3 or so hours.  Who's in?!

Bad Science! Or people just don't understand the nature of errors.

So yesterday, I bought a bottle of "Essentia" water that apparently is infused with electrolytes -- so basically Gatorade without the sugar.  I figure it might be helpful, given how much I end up sweating at the gym and when out dancing. I haven't tried it yet, saving it for tonight, but as I saw the label this morning, I feel compelled to post this picture:

WTF??!  I'm sure that purified waters do require a calibrated pH meter for testing, but there's still going to be an error, even if its "just" a random measurement error.  Its a measurement.  Of course there's an error associated with it!  Really, if you're going to try the science, you should do it properly!

The OmniPod

OK, so in my previous post, I talked very briefly about the new(ish) insulin pumping technology that I'm getting my grubby little mitts on this week called the OmniPod.  This is a fantastic pice of kit, IMO.  It comes in two parts -- a pod of insulin that you fill up with the rapid acting insulin of your choice, and what's known as a "personal diabetes manager" or "PDM" that sends commands to the pod.  The pod of insulin is basically taped onto your body, and when "primed" and activated, inserts a cannula under the skin, and stays there for three days.  Over that three days it delivers a continuous low-level stream of insulin to your body, rather like your own pancreas would.  When you eat, you tell the PDM you're going to eat, and it delivers the insulin you need for your food.  If your blood sugars go too high, you input your blood sugar and it calculates and gives you how much insulin you need to get your sugars down to normal.  Its essentially a semi-bionic pancreas, and because it attaches directly to your body, there's no need for tubing or anything like that.  My omnipod's supposed to arrive on Wednesday and really, I can't wait!  I'll be keeping you all updated. :)

A restart!

Yes, I'm restarting this blog... And a promise to actually spend more time updating it too!

So what's going on?  Well, there's a new location, where I've been for a year or so now (most of you know this though), and a bunch of stuff going on thanks to the diabetes.  An official type 1.5 diagnosis, together with confirmation that the three remaining beta cells in my pancreas have more or less quit working.  Apart from those times when Larry, Curly and Mo wake up from their strike and decide to help out!  And of course, this has meant insulin.  This is now my favorite molecule!

So, insulin huh?  Yep, injected, subcutaneously, 4-5 times a day.  Woo.  Not.  I have bruises from my midsection to my midthigh.  My bruises have bruises.  It is so not a good look!  So, I started looking into alternatives, and that's what the next post is going to be about... My transition from multiple daily injections to a tubeless insulin pump known as the OmniPod. :)