One of the most frustrating things about being a Diabetic is that when you get sick, your blood sugars go haywire and everything spins out of control. A common cold can send your Diabetes into a downward spiral and give you crazy numbers for days.
On the other side of this really fun spectrum is the fact that a lot of common health problems or aches and pains you have are caused BY Diabetes. So because of that, every Diabetic has to deal with that elephant in the room: Type 1 Diabetes. You can't have ANYTHING medically wrong with you without medical professionals or the people you're close to asking if it's because of your blood sugar.
And this pisses me off. My poor parents have gotten the worst of my backlash from this. But the truth is, sometimes a headache is just a headache. It's a my-blood-sugar-is-100-not-600-every-day-headache that requires Advil, not insulin. Sometimes it's not even a medical problem that raises suspicion:
Me: I need to pee.
Mom: Have you checked your blood sugar today?
Me: It's hot in here. I'm sweating.
Dad: What are your sugars?
And
I get it. Parents worry. But what's really fun is when you actually
have to HIDE your Diabetes from health care providers in order to
receive treatment for some other problem. I'm talking to you, TCU Health Center.
Every time I have gone into the university health center for some issue, they circle it back around to my Diabetes. This includes holding me hostage, putting an IV in me to flush my ketones (even when there are none there to flush), calling my mother, and sending me to the closest hospital for Diabetic Keto-Acidosis.
Seriously, y'all. I can remember 3 instances where I went to the on-campus clinic and my Diabetes was blamed for my health issues. Those 3 times I had the flu, Pink Eye, and a sinus infection consecutively. Rather than focusing on these issues, the doctors hounded me about Diabetes and created imaginary disease-related problems.
While it's good to be on top of things, the problem is that it makes me wary to even inform them of my Diabetes on future visits.
This past semester I sprained my ankle really bad and as I was filling out the paperwork in the waiting room I got to the line that reads, "Do you have any chronic illnesses?" Nah.
Call me paranoid, but I knew that these crazies would probably find a way to blame my Diabetes for my sprain. Something along the lines of my Diabetes ran up behind me, twisted my ankle, and voila! There's your problem.
Now, I won't be stupid about it. Health care providers need to be aware of chronic illnesses in their patients. But they also need to be aware that people with these illnesses can have other, unrelated things wrong with them.
So when you hear hoofbeats, it's really not always horses. Every now and then you get diabetic zebras.
One of the best things about having a chronic illness is that everyone seems to have a "cure." You will always meet someone who has a brother who has a girlfriend who has a squirrel who has a diabetic squirrel mom and here's what SHE did to cure it.
The sad truth is, until scientists can "fix" our pancreases, we will never be cured. We can control this annoying disease and live completely normal lives. But we'll never be cured. Ever.
Not that that stops people from giving advice. Most of it is given out of love, concern, and pure faith that their technique works. It's almost NEVER given out of spite. Here are my top 3 favorite "cures" that have been offered by loved ones lately. While they won't "fix" my pancreas, they at least brought a smile to my face.
#3 Pickle Juice
This one is one of my favorite because of its source. This cure comes from the padre of my best friend, Lexy. When we moved in together freshman year of college, her dad found out I was a Type 1 Diabetic. At some point when she went home this is what she was told, "Your friend with Diabetes. Tell her to drink pickle juice and it will fix it. My friends dog had diabetes and he drank pickle juice and is cured." We still laugh about that to this day. Gracias, Armindo! I do love pickles.
#2 Gastric By-Pass Surgery
First of all, that's a brave soul to tell a curvy, 22-year-old that she needs weight loss surgery.
OK, so he totally didn't mean it like that. (Trust me, I asked.) But still.
The person who gave this little (not-as-sweet-as-the-pickle-juice-gesture) tidbit of advice is one of my dads closest friends and is actually very kind. He told me about this "cure" about 8 whiskeys in to my dad's birthday party a few weeks ago. So I'll let him slide. He said that everyone he knew who had Diabetes and got the gastric by-pass surgery woke up from the procedure without it.
Maybe he meant Santa Clause and The Easter Bunny.
#1 Aloe Vera Juice with Whiskey
This one comes from one of my favorite people in the whole world: my gay, Vietnamese, adopted brother. Everyone has one of those, right?
He was recently diagnosed with Diabetes and swears by this "cure." Now, it is a little more promising when someone who actually HAS Diabetes gives you advice, but the fact is that your pancreas is still kaput.
Quang has a bubbly personality that lights up a room, and honestly he could probably get rid of his Diabetes by telling it to go away nicely. A few days ago when he was begging me to try his daily aloe vera/whiskey concoction I mentioned that I'm not a huge whiskey fan. "Not a problem!" he exclaimed, "You like gin. You can use that!" Well now we're talking.
And here's the thing. I actually will try almost anything that is supposed to help. (Well, minus the invasive surgery.) If there's a rumor that drinking pickle juice will do the trick? Sure, why not? And I'm actually looking forward to trying Quang Le's miracle cure. Diabetics follow little tips every day (ie: cinnamon helps stabilize blood sugar.) But when it comes down to it, no matter what natural or alternative remedy comes along, I'm not going to stop taking my insulin.
But to the people offering up their advice, I truly do appreciate you and your love for this feisty little diabadass. Keep the suggestions coming.
I've recently been working out with a trainer in the effort to transform my body into something Beyonce-esque. Or something like that.
Here's the problem. Diabetes can make working out difficult sometimes. For the most part, as long as your blood sugars are normal, working out is perfectly OK. But when your blood sugars are all over the place, things go haywire.
The relationship between blood sugar levels and working out is one of the most mind-boggling, ironic, and just all around hot mess of relationships. Let me try and explain:
First of all, working out lowers your blood sugar. This goes for "normal" people too, not just diabadasses. This is wonderful and is one of the many reasons working out is great. Until (and you saw this one coming) your blood sugar gets TOO low and you have to get some sugar in your body at which point your brain is screaming, "I AM TRYING TO WORKOUT TO BE HEALTHY AND LOSE WEIGHT AND BECAUSE I'M DOING THIS I HAVE TO EAT SUGAR WHICH JUST MAKES ME NEED TO WORK OUT MORE, @#$%!!!!"
Here's another kicker: it's really, really dangerous and unhealthy to use working out as a way to lower a high blood sugar. So even though it logically makes sense, medically it's a no-go.
Oh, but wait! Your brain has yet another opinion: not working out just because your blood sugar is a little bit high just makes you a wimpy lard. So you do it anyway. You double-up on your water intake and head out to trainer anyway. And even though you are running slower than a turtle stampeding through peanut butter and are breathing like an asthmatic fish in the desert, you are proud be working out! Take that, diabetes.
CRASH. No surprise here. Once you get home you collapse on your bed, go to sleep, and don't wake up until you hear the helicopters from the search team your family and friends have sent out for you.
And that's the vicious cycle.
Now it's not obviously always like this. Most workouts are as normal and enjoyable as a workout can be. But if that number is just a little off kilter, all hell breaks loose.
But that just means that when my trainer and I get me to that Beyonce body it'll be that much sweeter. Pun intended.
