Monday, October 31, 2011

Be A Halloweenie - Part 2



I hope everyone has a fun and happy Halloween tonight. 

Here a few extra helpful pieces of information if you are a first-timer.

From the JDRF website, a link to Halloween Fun Size Candy Carb Counts.

If you are on Multiple Daily Injections (MDI), you can check the JDRF list ahead of time to see if there is any candy that you can safely eat as a "freebie" while trick or treating. 

If you are pumping, consider printing the list - like we will - ahead of time to tuck into the trick or treat bags so that you know what amount of carbs to bolus for. 

For MDI, another great tip is to incorporate the Halloween candy into a meal so that you don't have to give another injection.  Even though we pump insulin, we like to trick or treat around the neighborhood and then come home, count the candy and have a mini meal before bed.  This also helps with dealing with low blood sugars that often come from excercise.  That trick or treat walk usually adds up to a few miles around here - just enough to bring a low around 2:00 a.m..  Eating helps!

Don't forget to pack your blood glucose meter, strips and even alcohol wipes.  If you taste-test along the route, you will probably have sticky fingers... so an alcohol wipe is necessary for the trip.  Most likely, you will have candy, so for the first time ever, you can probably leave the glucose at home!  Just be sure to swipe a piece of candy from your own stash before starting out because like in restaurants, you never know when the food is going to arrive.

Bring a mini flashlight if your meter doesn't have a light.  Many a time we have fumbled with readings and wasted strips because while we thought we had made a poke, all we actually did was to lay a strip on a bare finger.

If you forget your flashlight, try using your cell phone.  The light is often just enough to help make sure the blood is on the strip.  A cell phone is most important too because if you are like me and have good intentions on printing the JDRF candy list and do not, well, then you can use your cell phone to look up fun size candy!

And have fun!  Enjoy Halloween with type 1 diabetes.  Like on Peanuts, Tricks or Treats is the best day of the year as long as you get more than a rock.

Oh, and if you have any leftover Reese's peanut butter cups, be sure to send them my way!


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