Friday, September 23, 2011

Hippies, Sweat & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Don't Forget this!
Okay, thought I'd drop a quick line on the ole Blog.....

Or my latest adventure in the fitness realm.

So, as I'm getting home from my hour long boxing class, my wife has this brilliant idea to invite me to her late evening Yoga class. To quote her directly, "Its not that hard, relaxing really."  So I say, alright, and off we go.

On the way she pulls out a giant water bottle and tells me I'd better drink up. I say, alright, as I knew we were on our way to a "Hot Yoga" class.  I down a few gulps to rehydrate my already dehydrated body, remember, I'd already done an hour of sweating.

We arrive, and the place is all ZEN and hippyish.....conversations like, ya, made this really awesome vegan dish last night, totally delicious.....Buddha in the corner and the overwhelming smell of SWEAT, not to mention the scantly dressed young people strolling around, looking like they'd been swimming, and in dire need of a serious baconator super sized meal....you get the picture. Anyhow.....

I walk into the studio area, dimmed lights, mats and half naked (kidding) people all around, and roll out my yoga matt my wife provided, and my, get this, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle towel atop my mat, and follow suite. Lying flat, the fans shut off, and this small Yoga lady who would likely kick my ass, enters and soothingly, in this meditative , I am going to put you into a deep trance, type voice says, "Welcome, find your breath, own your breath, let go of today's worries.....etc....." Then, the HEAT hit me, and the torture commenced, upward and downward dogs, kids poses, dancing and warriors poses.  By the 30 minute mark my thighs were knotting up and I was cursing my wife for bringing me here post intense, dehydrating workout.....I WAS DYING FAST.....and the skinny little man in the front was oh so effortlessly, twisting himself into these wacky postures. 

The class finally ended, my sodium was likely borderline critical, and I'm surprised I didn't seize, froth at the mouth or just drop dead, but yes people, I endured. And I didn't go into kidney failure.

On the way home, and a litre of fluid later, I started to feel really good, relaxed, calm, limber, almost an energized focus, with out the intense buzz I'd get after an intense anaerobic workout. I felt damn good! A little stinky but good!

My diabetes, kinda behaved itself.  Before class, 7.2 mmol/L(multiply by 18 for USA)post 13 mmol/L likely due to the 2 classes in a row and the dehydrated state I was in. 

I Enjoyed Sweating my Ass Off - and have now put my notice in at the Thai Boxing place to join the Hot Yoga instead.  Now any Macho people out their, remember don't knock it until you try it.
Anyone else try this out? How does it effect your Diabetes?


Cheers!
Trev

Friday, September 2, 2011

Temper Tantrum - Diabetes vs Emotional Dysregulation

"Rowan and Cadee - In a calm state"
Let me start by clarifying the title.  Is this temper tantrum diabetes related or is it simply my kid throwing a fit?

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now and what prompted this post was a discussion this morning with my non-diabetic kids day-care provider.  The day-care worker told me that Cadee was throwing some extreme tantrums in an attempt to get out of quiet time. We discussed reasons etc....And I left thinking, well she is three and has been testing boundaries at home lately.  This lead me to think about Rowan our youngest type 1.  She was 18 months when Diagnosed. Right before the onset of the "Challenging twos"

It made parenting her tricky, as we knew that fluctuating sugars can result in moodiness.  I am speaking from my own personal Jekyll and Hyde episodes that I exhibited with Highs and lows.

When Rowan had a temper tantrum we would normally chalk it up as your typical toddler exhibiting  dysregulated emotional behavior. We would always, pause, test, and ensure it wasn't diabetes related. Then in the back of my mind I would be thinking; you just wait, if this is just you being a toddler, you're going straight into a time out,  or we'd redirect in an attempt to dissuade her undesirable actions. 

This really sucked for us.  It was one more step in an already emotionally draining parenting situation (that any parent can attest to). One of the hardest parts of parenting is having to discipline your child(ren) who just aren't quite there yet, emotionally, verbally, developmentally. Parenting's hard enough, but throw Diabetes into the mix and it is one more element to consider before handing out the sentence --- 2 minutes no parole...on the naughty bench.

Thought I'd share this conundrum.  Now Rowan is old enough to explain that she is probably highly emotional or upset for more then just the situation at hand, but also because her sugar is high or low. 

My heart goes out to the parents caring for type 1 diabetic kids, it is not for the faint of heart.

Take care.

Trev  

PS:  How do you handle the above scenarios with you little diabetic?