I have wanted to write a blog on the topic of diabetes for some time now. I've waited until tonight because I finally decided if I don't just write it, it's not going to be written. I wanted this blog to be perfect, stats, numbers, blah, blah, blah. If I would have have waited to write this blog until I gathered all of the statistics I thought I needed, my hair hair would be as gray as my goatee. I can write this the way I write all of blogs, through experience, my words.
Look, I'm not going to sit here and claim that I know everything about diabetes, because I don't, all I know is, you don't want it. Two of the nicest ladies I know have diabetes, and they will tell you the same thing, I'm sure of it. They say that around 40 million people were diagnosed in 2011 with pre diabetes, meaning all the conditions are right for these people to develop diabetes. If one little thing that I say in this blog, helps or prevents one person from developing diabetes, then I will be one happy George.In late 2005, I started developing the symptoms for diabetes. My wife would say, "it's diabetes, you need to get checked, go to your doctor." I would say, "it's not diabetes, diabetes doesn't run in my family." Besides, I asked her, "aren't all diabetics overweight?" I believed I weighed 138 at the time. I noticed I had come increasingly thirsty, when I say increasingly, I mean 8 to 10 gatorades every four to six hours. I was urinating every 10 minutes. The day I was diagnosed, I was almost blind, everybody and everything was very white and blurry. January 5, 2006, I went to a doctor, they told me I had diabetes, I was put on insulin injections at that time. The doctors couldn't tell me why I had diabetes, I had none of the underlying factors for it, they were as puzzled as I was. It has been an uphill battle since that day. I'm trying to keep this simple, because if your not familiar with diabetes, some of the terms used may as well be written in a foreign language
I have uncontrolled diabetes. This doesn't mean that I don't follow doctor's orders, this means that my body just doesn't react to the insulin I inject and the oral medications I take very well. One day one amount of insulin might be the perfect dose with a certain meal, another day my glucose levels bottom out and I'm rushing to raise my levels back to normal. One day, I may eat a slice of wheat bread, my glucose levels stay near perfect, another day, I eat a slice of wheat bread, and my glucose level jumps 200 points---unconcontrolled diabetes. To assist in controlling my diabetes, I take an oral diabetes medication twice daily, I inject a 24 hour hour insulin every night before bed, and inject fast acting insulin up to eight times per day, usually four to six times per day. I need an insulin pump, but can not afford one. If you should have the unfortunate luck of being diagnosed, high blood pressure and high cholesterol come hand in hand with diabetes, so your taking those meds too. Diabetes is a sneaky disease too, last May I was diagnosed and hospitalized for eight days with complications from my diabetes, my organs had started to shut down because I had an unusually high ketone count. Thank God for the staff at Theda Clark Hospital.
Today, uugghh, darn diabetes, I have damage to my nerve endings in my feet and legs, called Diabetic Neuroapathy, let's just say that some days are better than others. The doctors tell me that all they can do now is to manage the pain.
If I hope you went away with anything at all from this blog is that if a skinny 140 pound guy can get diabetes, you can too. Be more aware of your diet, and if anything feels out of whack with your body, get to a doctor. I hope by laying out some things I have to experience on a daily basis, maybe, just maybe, you'll take some precautions so that you don't develop this nightmare of a disease. Any questions, feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer, I have a diabetes educator that I can ask for you. Until tomorrow. Love.
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