We were out to dinner with a couple of our friends and I had bolused for a whole meal. Later, it became apparent that I would not be able to finish my food. So I was sitting there thinking about the food left on my plate and the number of carbs I thought I would consume but hadn’t. Then I started thinking about how much insulin was in my system and how low I might end up going.

When asked what the crazy expression on my face was, I explained the situation. Our engineer friend asked, “Has your mental math improved since you got diabetes?”

Amazingly the answer is yes. I used to break out the calculator on my phone when I fist had to do the carb math. Now, my handy dandy personal diabetes manager (aka my personal assistant) does a lot of that for me, but I still do the math thing in situations that might require me to be hyper-aware of potential lows.

Oh yes, in case you’re wondering, I avoided a low from an incomplete meal thanks to correct mental math.

I don’t however recommend diabetes as an appropriate way to improve math skills!