Sugar Turned On Me

There are times where I feel like I’m a poser diabetic. My case is pretty mild and what I need to do to keep it in check is pretty trivial. I don’t feel any different than I did a year ago (well, maybe a little more energetic). There’s no visible signs of my disease. At times I’ve even wondered if my doctor told me I was diabetic just to make me stop downing three Baconaters a week.

I might have not changed my life at all except there were these numbers. Like 450, which was my triglycerides which made my  bad cholesterol numbers incalculable. Then there was 6.5, which was my A1C, a number that I didn’t even know could be measured before I was told it was confirmation that yes, I was diabetic.

Last week, I wrote that I’d gotten a little scared by my daily blood sugar measurement being at 120 and a nice lady responded encouragingly that the number wasn’t that high. I’m thankful for the consolation, though in truth I already know that I’m dealing with much less of an issue than some others. The only reason it made me concerned is that it was bookended by two days of 100 mg/dl. I have a good number of days were my blood sugar is only two digits, so a 20 point deviation is a big deal to me, even though I know there are people who are happy when theirs is below 300 on a given day.

Despite my diagnosis, I consider myself lucky. I think my problem got caught early on enough that I have a good chance of minimizing it’s impact on my health and on my life. The temptation is to think that because my case is mild, I don’t need to worry about it. But I’ve got these numbers and that’s enough to keep me honest.

In three months, I dropped my triglycerides to 175 and my A1C to 5.7 and I’m really happy about that. It would be easy to let myself think I’ve gotten this licked and in another three months be back to my old diet, putting myself at risk. But in this case, it’s good for me to take great care of small things and up my chances I’ll be around to see retirement.

Diabetes, after all, is serious business.

I’d like to ask, for my perspective and for the perspective of anyone who might be reading this that if you know what your blood sugar was this morning, reply with it. It might help someone like me understand how good we’ve got it… or where but for the grace of the gods we might go. Thanks. 

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