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Permalink Reply by nel on March 29, 2011 at 9:10pm

Does the comment from the writer in the Diabetic book : " to take one day off from worrying about it " really mean to Not take one's BG , Eat what ever ???? ...relaxing and still doing the above mentioned tasks can have quite a different meaning ....this is what I read in between the lines .

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on March 29, 2011 at 9:10pm

OK, so a lot of us have weighed in on not taking a vacation from testing or eating well. But what would a healthy "vacation for diabetics" look like?

The whole point of "vacation" is taking a break, resting, not having to try so darn hard all the time, right? Chillaxing?

Hmmm...

Maybe a healthy way to play hooky from diabetes would be:

-- get pampered on a "spa day": massage, facial, manicure, yummy low-carb spa salad and ahi steak made by someone else (yay!), the works;

-- rent the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy -- and watch them with friends, back-to-back, with healthy, pre-measured snacks prepared the day before -- already weighed, measured into portions and labeled with carb values so you don't have to do the math. Pretend the Dark Lord is really Lord Diabetes and be prepared to shout, "DIE minions of Lord Diabetes!" every time an orc gets it in the neck. Be sure to shake your fist, too, to get the full effect.

-- get a truly trashy, comic novel and enjoy it while curled up in the nicest spot you can find, planning to spend the entire day napping and reading -- no phone calls, no e-mail, no internet, no news, no worries, no stress -- just pure escapist brain relaxation punctuated with an occasional peaceful sigh of contentment and the well-timed, healthy snack;

-- plan ahead (snacks, water, back-up diabetic gear? check, check, check) and take your show on the road: mountains, beach, someplace far from the madding crowd, to-do lists and fluorescent lights. Just get out of Dodge and have some one-with-nature time.

One of my favorite things: having NOTHING on my calendar. A day with absolutely nothing that I have to do is...magical. I can wander the city doing whatever strikes my fancy: walk in a park I've never noticed before, browse in a weird little antique store, even if the weather is iffy, I can sit in my car with the windows cracked open at a beach (yes, we have beaches in Seattle) watching the gulls flap around like flags of cloth being battered by the wind and the tips of the whitecaps kicking of froth. As someone else said a long time ago: "I'm a human being, not a human doing." Sometimes we just need to be.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on March 30, 2011 at 9:44am

Beautiful, Jean! I've been suggesting "mini-vacations" from all of life's pressures for years, and I couldn't have said it better myself!

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Permalink Reply by lala_wolf on March 31, 2011 at 6:01pm

that is what i was trying to ask all along!!!

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on April 3, 2011 at 11:54am

Thanks, lala_wolf, I thought that might be what you were trying to get at: how can we just relax once in a while without all the constant worry, worry, worry. ;0)

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Permalink Reply by Jeannie on March 30, 2011 at 4:17am

I have always felt that T1s should be able to pause the disease for all national holidays. It would be nice to have the ability to pause it on trips too!

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Permalink Reply by She Ra on March 30, 2011 at 4:28am

I never take a whole day off because I will be dealing with it the following day all day long, so from time to time I take 1 meal off. I say "I'M HUNGRY" and have something naughty like chips and salsa and a nice taco salad with the bowl and I eat some of the bowl!!! LOL or Bean Burritos, I love Bean Burritos, or,,,,,Pizza. That is what I do. Doc says "hey, you are only human" and he is right, you have this one life to live and you need to be happy in it, if that means eating pizza once in a while, so be it!!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on March 30, 2011 at 5:12am

I agree with the consensus that taking holidays is a bad idea. I resent the implication from the author that this would somehow be a good thing for anyone.

I would like a holiday from dealing with insurance companies idiotic pronouncements about "200 test strips/ month", "letters of medical necessity" (wtf do you think a prescription is, Sherlock?) And all of that Mickey Mouse.

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Permalink Reply by HannahNitz on March 30, 2011 at 5:09pm

Unfortunately not checking blood sugar may be a little scary for type 1. I mean, we can still "eat whatever we want", we just have to take the insulin :) Want to eat an entire cake and call it vacation? Go crazy! Just take that shot/bolus!

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Permalink Reply by Julia on March 30, 2011 at 6:09pm

I totally agree! I mean their are major things that could go wrong without taking your insulin and eating crazy amounts of food!

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Permalink Reply by DARGIRL on March 30, 2011 at 7:11pm

It's not my kinda vacation. If I do not test or take my insulin it may be a permanent vacation. I occasionally do have "eat what ever I want days." I do enjoy those type of vacation days. But sometimes it is hard work to return from that vacation.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Doyle on March 31, 2011 at 5:25am

Since I started on insulin over 52 years ago I have always eaten whatever I want and have never worried about it. Of course, eating whatever you want means taking more insulin. I try to average 150-200 carbs a day, which is about 55-60 U a day. At one time, when in my teens and early 20s I was taking over 100 units a day. However, I stopped at a 7-11 every morning for a honey bun on the way to work. But not to worry, I had a diet coke with it to make up for it.

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