A month ago I rented a dexcom, continuous glucose monitor from Integrated Diabetes Management.  Integrated Diabetes is where I have chosen to have my CDE, Judy Tripathi.  They are located out of Philadelphia, but I work with Judy remotely from my DC area home.  

I called Judy because I was having some unusual readings and we couldn't get a sense of why this was happening.  So Judy recommended that I rent their dexcom for a two week trial. She sent me the dexcom and I wore it for 12 days, which was the length of time the sensor would work.

Obviously, I was thinking I would have some revelation about why my numbers were highs and lows and we would make adjusts to my current pump settings.  But this ended up being validation for my choices of self care!

I've written about yoga, running, massage and reiki, being tools I use for self care and better diabetes management!  But everyone has to take my word for it!  I have research statistics from NIH I can point people to look at, but it does not say: excellent choice Ann!  And then there are the doctors who feel it is a "feel good" opportunity, but does not have relevance for long term diabetes care.  

Thanks, to my 12 days of dexcom management, I have numbers to show it does change the blood glucose numbers and in ways, I never knew! It's like a chance to peek under the skin!

I love the way running makes me feel and I love the way it makes my body look.  But the dexcom showed me that running dropped my numbers fast and I would struggle to regain balance after.  I think with the pump I need to have a lot of time to calculate bolus and basal settings to get a run where I don't plummet within the first 20 minutes and spike after.  On the other hand, yoga, which I've long believed was my zen, proved to be just that!

In 4 classes my numbers were very telling about what it does for me!  In my first class I had a 150 at the start and 67 by the end of class.  The next class I ate sushi before and my post perandual blood sugar was 237 (very normal for me and rice) and 75 minutes later I was 85.  With the third attempt I shut off the pump and had bolused half my normal amount and I walked in with 150 and left with 110.

What I noticed for couple days following yoga was very manageable sugars!  I found that even after running, my blood glucose had fewer spikes.  Belly dancing and Tai chi were less significant, but I'm still in the early stages of learning both and that may have been the problem.  I didn't just mentally and physically relax.

Meditation was another interesting phenomena.  Numbers would come down provided I let go of the "brain storm"! Meaning the constant thinking and control issues most small business owners have :), which added stress to my circuits.  If I could quiet the mind and allow myself to enjoy the moment, I often lowered my blood glucose during the hour I was doing my meditation class.  I talked with my colleague who does biofeedback and psychotherapy at my office about biofeedback and blood glucose and he had some interesting research on biofeedback and type 2 diabetes to share.