Wow Three months...

I can hardly believe that 3 months have gone by since I was first diagnosed and on June 20th I had my  followup with my GP.  <Drum Roll> I was able to get my A1C down to 6.3 in that 3 months. My GP was extremely impress. She told me how she really thought that I had taken control of my Diabetes where so many people often remain in denial for years after the diagnosis.

Well - I had to.  I had see family and friends who did not take their diabetes seriously.  I've known a person who was going blind, a person who lost his foot....At 38 years old, I have my whole life ahead of me and don't want to be hampered by things that could have been prevented if I had just watched my sugar levels. 

I have to admit - I have days where I eat things that I know I shouldn't and have days where I want to just give up.  It is very hard.  But I think of how much harder it would be if I started to lose my eye sight, or if I started to lose sensation in my feet or hands.  Then what?  I would have no one to blame but myself.

I find that my philosophy right now is not concentrating on what I can't or shouldn't eat. I can pretty much eat anything I want - in moderation. If I am thinking about Ice Cream or cake...I check my BG level and make the decision.  Is it hight?  well then probably not a good idea to add more.  Is it lower?  I can have a small amount. 

Through this journey - my husband has been nothing but supportive.  He has often denied himself because he didn't want to eat something infront of me that I just couldn't have at that time. I am still learning.  But it is definitely getting easier.

I've continued to lose some weight.  I've lost a total of 32 pounds so far.  still quite a bit to go, but I'm working on it (some days more than others).

My first month....

Well...it's be a month since my initial diagnosis and boy has life changed; in a good way.  I am eating much healthier. I've trying to exercise (although my schedule lately has been getting in the way of my desire to exercise).  But I'm feeling much better than I did a month ago.

I've read quite a bit over the last month.  I read "Diabetes for Dummies" by Alan L. Rubin, MD which did give me some really good information.  In reading the common symptoms - I think I was suffering just about every one of them.

·         Unusual Thirty – I was constantly thirsty. I felt like I couldn’t keep up with my thirst.  I would drink and drink but still be thirsty. The glucose in your blood actually takes the water out of you blood and this causes you to become dehydrated = making you thirsty.

·         Frequent Urination - Of course this I thought was because I was drinking so much.

·         Extreme Fatigue and irritability – Ok so I was a little grouchy ( Ok sweetie – I was very very grouchy).  I didn’t seem to have the energy to do anything and by the time I got home from work each night I just wanted to be left alone.  My husband would ask what was wrong – well nothing was really wrong.  I just was exhausted.

·         Frequent Infections – I don’t know if I had infections but I was getting sick more often. And the colds that I was getting didn’t seem to go away fast enough. In fact it was the 2 bouts with Bronchitis that had worn me out to the point where I was in the ER where I found out I was Diabetic.

So now that I am eating better, my blood glucose is coming down. Slowly.  But I am also learning that some things about Diabetes you just can’t control.  You can eat all the right foods. You can exercise consistently. But it is your pancreas and liver that may be the culprit.

·         The Pancreas produces the insulin to get glucose into the cells where it is needed to help you function. Your pancreas either doesn’t produce enough insulin to get the glucose out of your blood stream and/or the body is not able to use the insulin effectively.

·         Your liver produces glucose to help you function. When there is not enough glucose, the liver creates some to help you out. Sometimes in Diabetes, your liver is really confused.  It starts making glucose but doesn’t know when to stop.

So sometimes, your body is just not working properly and so, you still can have high blood glucose. This is where medications and insulin are sometime necessary.  Also, sometimes over time, the types of medications and dosages need to be adjusted to help you out too. 

I think one of the biggest things that I just learned the other night – and boy was it an important one for me – no food is really off limits. Here I was for the last month thinking:

1)      I can’t eat pizza because it will jack my blood glucose through the roof.

2)      Cakes and cookies are off limits because they are loaded with Carbs.

3)      Don’t even think about having a donut.

Actually as long as you work them into your diet, you can pretty much have anything you want.  Yes – it is recommended that a woman keep their carbs to 40-50g per meal (15-20 for snacks). If you go over every once in a while – it won’t hurt you.  They mostly go by your A1C. This is the test that shows the average Blood glucose over the last 3 months. It’s not really the peaks or valleys that you have to worry about – it’s the overall blood glucose levels.

Over the last month, my average blood glucose has been around 160 (when my A1C was 9.1 – this meant that my average was around 220).  This would be around an A1C of 7.  I have a Dr Appointment next weeks – so it will be good to show her my numbers and see where I stand.

The Beginning of my journey

OK – I decided that since I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes on Thursday (3/11/11) I would try to blog about my journey getting myself healthy and getting my BG (Blood Glucose) under control.  My mother has Type 2 and my father was also a Type 2 diabetic.  I think you can even go back to my grandfather on my mom’s side was Diabetic.  So there is a family history with the disease.

This all started last week. I had not been feeling well for quite a while. I had battled 2 bouts of Bronchitis and so I was really exhausted.   Last Tuesday I had come home from my ladies meeting and my chest felt some pressure. It felt like my heart was going a million miles an hour.  I took my BP and it was kind of high. My husband suggested that I take a hot shower and try to relax myself.  I did just that and it seemed to pass.

I worked from home on Wednesday and felt OK.  But when I got to work on Thursday – again I felt some tightness in my chest and my heart was racing again.  Being kind of nervous, I called my husband and had him take me to the local ER. 

They did an EKG, which came back normal.  My BP was not extremely high (higher than it should be, but then again I was sitting in the ER, what do would you expect). When the Doctor came in with the results of my blood work, she casually mentioned my BG was kind of high.  I could have just let that slide, but I didn’t.  I told her that there was a history of Diabetes in my family.  She suggested they run the A1C test, which they didn’t typically run in the ER.  Again, I don’t believe that this was a coincidence that she recommended this test.

The rest of my blood work came back clear, but since the enzymes that are released into your blood stream during a heart attack sometimes take 4-6 hrs to show up, she recommended we wait and run the test again to be completely sure.  So I sat in the ER until 3:30 when all the blood work was run again and came back clear.  All except the A1C test.   Since there was no evidence of anything Cardiac related, the released me, with instructions to follow up with my Cardiologist and GP.

I got home and made an appointment with my Cardiologist to wear a Holter monitor to see if they could see a cause for my heart racing.  The phone rang and it was the doctor from the ER telling me that the A1C had returned and that the normal results should be around 6. Mine had returned 9.1 and that I should consider myself a Type 2 Diabetic.

The Holter monitor showed that everything looked good with my heart. The heart rate was in the normal range.  And over the last week I have been trying seriously to get my BG under control. Which has not been as easy as it might seem.

My GP had requested that I be sent to a Diabetes and Nutrition class. Great! I can learn how to get this disease under control. Unfortunately , the class is not until April 4^th.  So I am trying to read all I can and learn what I can now.  But it is still feeling very overwhelming.

Take Breakfast as an example.  I decided this morning that I would have a healthy bowl of Raisin Bran. High in Fiber.   Whole grains.  Until you look at the fact that there are 47g of Carbs.  So 2 hrs after eating my BG was 206.  Doesn’t really help that I had pasta for dinner which pushed my BG to close to 300.  My BG after not eating all night started the day at 175. 

The one thing that we have done that has felt great is my husband and I (along with Gabriel) have begun going out for walks after dinner.  A brisk 10 minute walk.   It has really felt great.

I intend to try to blog to pass on the information that I’m learning.  To be an outlet for some of my frustration.  And I think just as a way to write out the journey that I’ve begun.