Hello faithful followers....I hope this finds you all well....Me? Not so much...... Here's how I know-
I just bought a Medical Alert bracelet.
Yes, you read that correctly. If you haven't followed me on Facebook or in any recent blog postings (and if this is you, why wouldn't you want to???) I was diagnosed with Diabetes this past Thanksgiving. Honestly, I think I knew for awhile that it was a possibility, but I didn't really let myself believe that it could really happen.
You see, my parents are both diabetics. My paternal grandmother was a diabetic...all of them type 2 and all of them (seemingly to me) older when they received their diagnosis. My grandmother died when I was 13 from complications of a stroke. As far as I know, she never took insulin. I laugh because I can remember her telling me that she'd drink the sweet tea from the TOP of the container since it had "less sugar." I'm thinking she probably ate what she wanted, when she wanted.
My parents both take insulin and have for years. My mother is quite the cook and can make anything sweet taste good and be sugar free. I just never thought I'd be diabetic and would have to eat sugar free.
Earlier in the fall, I noticed that I had to urinate a lot more than normal. On a side note, I take a diuretic pill for other things (high blood pressure and Meniere's disease) so in the back of my mind, I attributed it to that. So I did a little experiment and stopped taking it. My frequent urination urges decreased a little, but not enough to have the answer as to why I was having to go so often. Also, I've been a light drinker...meaning that I don't require much to drink during the day. During this period, I found that I could drink close to two liters of water in one sitting without a second thought. Then, I noticed the weight loss. It seemed that in a matter of a few weeks, I dropped close to 25 pounds.
So I did what anyone would do in that situation: I made a doctor's appointment to find out what was going on. Of course they wanted me to fast to get some blood work, so I did. I wasn't happy about that at all. They took my blood glucose sugar reading and it turned out to be 285. If you don't know what that means, well, a normal blood reading after fasting is under 100. Given my other symptoms and that blood sugar reading, my doctor told me that what I feared was true: I was indeed a diabetic.
My doctor wanted to start me off on insulin, but I asked him to wait until our appointment to go over the blood tests later that week. At that appointment, my doctor told me that my A1C number was a 13. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's a 3 month reading of your average blood glucose levels that is converted to a number scale. Most normal people's A1C is a 6 or under. Someone at a 7 or 8 is considered borderline diabetic. A high score for a diabetic is a 12. Did I mention that I WAS A 13???? That would explain why I started taking insulin that day.
So what does that mean? It means that I have had a drastic life change in regards to diet and exercise. I eat very few carbs....I know...sad, right? No bread, no rice, no pasta, no potatoes, no corn, no peas, no fruit, no sugar......so sad. I exercise more than I did before, and hope to make it a regular part of my daily life.
The only good news in all of this, is that I've maintained my weight loss. Also, for awhile, my vision was very blurry, but now that I'm getting the blood sugar levels under control, my eyesight has returned to normal. I'm hoping that I'll be able to become more healthy and lose a few more pounds.
The bad part of weight loss is that your wrinkles become more prominent. But that comes with old age, right? All I need now is to contract gout or arthritis....and now that I have a medical alert bracelet, I can add those ailments. I left plenty of room, just in case.
Until next time, friends.....
Toodles!
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