In case anyone’s wondering, I thought I’d fill you in on the last couple of weeks. So if you want more details on the diabetes news, keep reading. Here’s my first diabetes post.
The first week was rough. I was overwhelmed with the whole idea. I felt sick from the medicine. That made it hard to want to eat better, or at all, and I slept a lot. And that made it hard to want to do anything else, including exercise, which I know is even more important for me now that it was before. But I had people checking in on me with texts, calls, and even a sweet visit. I definitely felt loved!
Here’s the basic science of diabetes:
Most of the food we eat gets broken down into glucose, or sugar, for the body to use as energy. Insulin is a hormone created in the pancreas that helps glucose get into cells to be used. If there is no insulin, little insulin, or it doesn’t work well, glucose builds up in the blood causing high blood-sugar levels.
In Type 1 diabetes, your own immune system starts to attack the beta cells in the pancreas that create insulin. It’s an autoimmune disease. It only affects about 5% of people, and generally develops by the time someone is in their 20’s.
Type 2 diabetes develops usually from a combination of genetics and extra body weight. The body becomes insulin resistant and no longer uses insulin effectively. About 40% of women who have gestational diabetes later develop type 2.
What I have is a late-onset type 1, called LADA, or sometimes 1.5 (because I’m just not young any more 🙂 Test results show that I am still making insulin for now, but it’s on the lower end of the normal range, and I have antibodies present so it’s the auto-immune variety.
I met with my diabetes dietitian yesterday and she took me off of Metformin and started me on insulin injections. Metformin really only works in Type 2 patients. I’ll do one shot with a tiny needle in my stomach every morning. Hopefully that will bring those glucose numbers down over the next couple of weeks. Then I’ll meet with her again and see if we need to adjust anything for now. She also told me to keep eating healthy, but not freak out over anything and not worry about counting carbs right now. That was a relief too. I’m going to make smarter choices, but can still have a treat now and then.
I’m feeling much more encouraged, and that this will probably help me see results and feel healthier again. Inability to focus, sleepiness and mood swings can all be related to high blood sugar – and I sure wouldn’t mind if I noticed some of those things improve!
To sign off, I’m leaving you this video that’s pretty funny, and I should probably make sure all my friends watch now 🙂
(affiliate links)