about last night...

I'm not sure why, but I was so tired and my head hurt. I wanted to go to bed early, but the girls were still squirming around at 10 pm. Sometime last winter, I started laying down on their bed to help them settle down. That was fine, but then it took longer and longer for them to settle and now, they expect me to stay down until they fall asleep--give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Two nights, little Miss Three-a was awake past 11:30. Really? I gave up on her and told her it was ridiculous that she was still awake. twoK cries if I try to leave early, but last night I said, "If I don't leave, I'm gonna cry because my head hurts, and I can cry louder than you." She let me go.

Today, my head is much better. I volunteered in oNe's class and twoK's class and went to Zumba. If I'd gotten to hang with Three-a, it would have been a perfect day. I did get to have coffee with a friend I rarely see, so that was fun. I also went to Target to buy a blood glucose monitor. The last two times I've had my blood checked, my blood glucose level has been high.

If you looked at me, if you saw the foods I eat, and if you add in Zumba, aerobics, and pilates (6 work outs a week usually) you would NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS think I should have high glucose. My friend, L, suggested I go buy a glucose monitor and see what happens at home. All told, for 50 test strips, and 50 lancets, it cost $80. I tested after I had eaten my lunch (since that was what was going on when I got the monitor). ~45 minutes to 1 hour after eating my blood sugar level was 136. Perfectly respectable for ~1 hour after eating.

I'll use the monitor to take my blood glucose level again first thing in the morning. The night before the blood test, I ate oatmeal at 10:30 pm. It was regular oatmeal with a little brown sugar (less than a teaspoon) and some sea salt... YUM. Could that have raised my blood sugar. It shouldn't have, as I did wait 12 hours for the blood sugar test.

I did read that niacin can raise your blood sugar. I'm taking niacin because of .... errrrrrr.... I haven't written about my trip to the special rheumatologist, we'll call him Dr. RR here. I need to write about that and tell you about what Dr. RR recommended for me. In general, I got some good new, but he wanted me to start taking a high dose of niacin for its vasodilating properties. I'll have to fill you in, but needless to say, some of the rise in blood sugar could be accounted for from the niacin. I'd *heard* that glucosamine could potentially raise blood sugar, but it looks like there's not a ton of evidence for that, but who knows.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the blood sugar, I know you'll be on the edge of your seats. Here's some links that I found today that were interesting. Feel free to browse if you are an information junkie like me.


Graph of normal blood sugar/insulin during the day. (From Wikipedia)


Cool new/future technology for blood sugar monitoring!

Niacin and blood sugar.

Another one on niacin and blood sugar.