Run-Fail-Why?

Run - fail :(

I was all set this morning for a good run of around four miles or so up and down some of the local hills – blood sugar was at a good starting point (9.3mmol/l – 167 mg/dl), legs had recovered from Friday’s run, I had food in my belly and the weather appeared good, overcast and a little humid, but dry. However, within half a mile of setting off I felt absolutely awful! For some reason, as soon as I set off I felt a surge of adrenalin course through my body. Adrenalin is fine if you’re a sprinter, but for long distance, aerobic running it’s something that you only really want when you need to pass the runners in rhino costumes at the end of a marathon to save you from humiliation! The effect of this was to make my heart start racing, my breathing to become por and erratic, and the muscles of my legs to fill with lactic acid, making them instantly weak and devoid of energy. Within half a mile, I felt I had no choice but to stop running and try walking for a while whilst I recovered. By now, I was feeling very hot and light-headed. After I had recovered a little I tried running again, but very quickly the sensations came back and I took the decision to turn round and return home.

I absolutely HATE giving up on a run! It’s this stubbornness that has got me to the end of many a race, often miles past the point where something was telling me I ought to stop – most notably in The Hague half marathon in 2008, the year of my diagnosis. I’m sure that, had I known my blood sugar levels during that race I would have been flagging down the ambulance – but I made it! So what happened this morning? It has taken me a good hour or so to feel fully recovered, although I still feel a little light-headed. My blood sugar had remained largely unchanged at 9.6 (173) on my return so it wasn’t a sudden rise or fall in that. Thinking about it, I appear to have suffered all the symptoms of a panic or anxiety attack, but with no discernible cause.

The only thing I can attribute it to is that last night I took the first increased dose of my blood pressure medication, so I’m wondering if the symptoms were a result of a sudden rise then fall in my blood pressure at the start of my run. I’m tempted to go back to the old dose of medication, as I know my blood pressure has been improving and I suspect the slightly high reading the doctor took last Thursday was high partly due to the anxiety of having it checked. Given the huge changes in my blood sugars and insulin requirements over the past couple of weeks, it’s perfectly reasonable (in my head!) that I might also be getting a significant improvement in blood pressure that simply wasn’t indicated in the single test performed by the doctor. However, since I don’t have any equipment to accurately test my BP at home – I have a wrist monitor that invariably shows the same figures! – this can only be speculation. I’ll have to weigh up the options of whether it is worth ignoring the doctor’s advice and not increasing the medication.

So annoyed that I couldn’t complete my run!

Running the Southampton Alps!

Cobden-Mousehole-Peartree

I’m starting to get into a bit more of a routine now with the running, with three runs in the past four days. I had to take yesterday off as my legs were a little on the sore side from Thursday and Friday’s runs. It seems I may be getting a little addicted to the challenge of big hills at the moment. I could have gone for a relatively fast and flat run through the park alongside the river this morning, but I had a route in my mind that was an extension of last weeks ups and downs, but without the unintended loop back due to the map inaccuracies. This would take me on a wider loop, which turned out (as you can see in the pictures) to be almost heart-shaped!

Why all this determination to get back running again? Well, apart from the fact that I have the Great South Run to run in October, I got a bit of a shock the other day. A week ago I went for my annual diabetic retinal scan. After they’ve taken the pictures you have to wait to see if they will send you a letter. Getting the letter is not good news – at my hospital they only send you one if they have found something of concern. Unfortunately, on Thursday, I got the letter. It said that I have ‘moderate diabetic eye disease’, which is a worsening from the ‘background retinopathy I was told I had last year. My first thoughts were that I was going blind and I’ve only been diagnosed two years – how can this be happening to me? My HbA1c has been practically perfect since I got things under control, with numbers of 11.8, 6.8, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6 and 5.6 (the frist number was diagnosis, the one after about six weeks later). What do these numbers mean? Well, ideally, the HbA1c should be below 6.5 in order to minimise the damage that diabetes can do to the small blood vessels – particularly those in the eyes and kidneys. With my numbers I am well under that figure.

So, why has my retinal scan shown deterioration? The answer is more than likely the high blood pressure I have been suffering for several months now, as this is also a big factor, alongside diabetes, in determining how healthy or otherwise your eyes are. So, it’s a warning to me that I have to get the BP down so no further damage is done. As things stand, it is unlikely that I will need treatment, just more regular eye checks. The problem may even improve if I start looking after myself better. So, that is my aim – I already have very good blood sugar control, now I need to take every possible step to make sure my blood pressure is perfect!

Cobden-Glenfield

A lot of the steps I will be taking currently seem to involve running up huge hills! I’m happy to say, though, that I have seen a rapid improvement already in my pace around these hilly courses. Thursday’s run was 11 min/mile pace, and Friday’s 10 min/mile pace over the same route. Today’s run was slower, but I’m building more distance already, so now up to 3.1 miles (5k). I’m sure I could have managed a much quicker and longer run if I had opted for the flatter route! Main thing is not to get injured. My legs are not as young as they used to be, so can take a little longer to recover – I need to resist the cravings for endorphins and make sure I take rest days. Might not be too difficult, given the weather that is being forecast!

Feeling the Pressure

I went to the doctors yesterday to find out the results of some blood tests I had done earlier in the week. I was feeling a little nervous as I haven’t been particularly active over the past couple of months due to the hot weather and my knee injury – try as I might, running is the only form of exercise that I enjoy, and anything else is a poor substitute that bores me to tears!

First up was the HbA1c, the 6-12 week average of my blood sugar levels. Last October it was at a very comfortable 5.6%, but I expected an increase this time. Happily not! I was 5.6% again! Hurrah! Next, liver and kidneys – both fine, inner sigh of relief. Being less active and trying to stay cool in the hot weather had led me to imbibe rather more of the amber nectar than health authorities might recommend, so pleased I had escaped admonition. Then – cholesterol. I stopped taking the statins I had been prescribed eight months ago because I was suspicious about the effect they were having on me. Thankfully, my cholesterol was also fine at 4.5!

All well and good so far, but then came the deflating blow – my blood pressure is still high. This, despite increasing my medication. Very disappointing, although I still think there’s a big element of white coat syndrome that makes it high simply because I’m anxious and fearing the result! After discussion with the doctor we agreed that it may be due to the fact that my weight has increased quite a lot over the past few months, and reducing this (though I’m not actually overweight) should help lower the blood pressure. So it’s time to get serious and get out running regularly again! Strange for me – I’ve never had to think about losing weight before in my life, so I can only blame the diabetes…well, why not!

I need to lose nine kilograms,
That’s twenty pounds or so.
I lost an ounce, or twenty eight grams –
There’s hundreds more to go!

So thank you diabetes,
I’ve never been this way,
I’ve always been light, and that was despite
Eating four thousand calories a day!

A horse between two bread vans
Would constitute a delicate snack,
I’d eat at least two on my way out to work,
And another two on the way back!

It’s not because I am lazy,
Or fill up my belly with junk!
It’s you that I blame diabetes
For the fact that my gravy boat’s sunk!

So I’ll say farewell to you biscuits,
And go put my running shoes on,
I’ll be lighter than air and they’ll all wonder where
That nine kilos of lard can have gone!

Icelandic volcano? No – my blood pressure!

A couple of weeks ago I went for a routine check up at the doctors and had my blood pressure taken. The doctor could hardly believe how high it was, and checked several times to make sure the equipment was working correctly! She told me to double the dose of my BP medication and book another appointment, which I attended yesterday. This time, it was still far too high, although an improvement on the previous visit, so I am to double my medication again (although this is still a relatively small dose).

Blood pressure, or rather the high or low varieties, are something unseen and largely unfelt. Low blood pressure can sometimes cause dizziness or fainting, but high blood pressure can often not show any symptoms at all. If high BP is allowed to continue for any length of time, however it can do major damage to the arteries, kidneys and eyes, os it’s something I have to tackle quickly. Hopefully, the new dose of medicine will make an appropriate contribution, but I am also staying well away from alcohol and being especially careful of things like salt content of food. I’m also back to running again, now that I have recovered from the bad cold that I suffered with last week, so hopefully this will bring more improvement. I have to report back in about a month’s time and am expecting to hear the words ‘130/80, that’s perfect!’

Blood pressure setting is on overload,
My arteries will burst, my head will explode!
My kidneys will leak, my eyesight will fail!
My systolic pressure is right off the scale!

I could pump enough blood to sustain a blue whale!
I must change the ending of this sorry tale,
My diastolic pressure is over the ton,
Like the cold hard metal of a loaded gun!

How could I have got to this stage of distress?
I must be a wreck, a physical mess!
But no, I don’t feel it, what hypertension?
No symptoms to speak of, or not worth a mention…

But I’m not too dismayed, though the figures are bad,
For to fret and to worry, why I’d drive myself mad!
So I’m working on ways to bring it right down,
And try to keep smiling, and never to frown.