Sunday, March 05, 2017
Emotional Response to Diabetes Diagnosis - 3/5/17
This is my practice in telling my story and figuring out which sections inspire people to take charge of their health, see if anything is counter-productive, and how much details people want about this journey.
So at the end of November I was told that my blood sugar was high and that I should get re-tested. I was going to put it off for a while. I went in a couple of days later. I got a call that night that my potassium level was low on Monday and even lower on Wednesday and that I should go to ER. I called a few people to get second opinions and feedback. There was consensus that I should go. Before I had hung up with the nurse I asked her what my A1C was, and she said 9.3 but the potassium was urgent. I told her, "I've always had 5.5." She responded with, "last year you were at 6.5." I wish they would have made a big deal about that.
The next morning I got a call about my diabetes and that I had a prescription available. I said I was going to decline meds for now. I wanted to think it over. I had learned that one of my blood pressure medications was draining my potassium and didn't want to get on any more. I had an appointment that afternoon and received a glucose meter. The nurse said to "eat normal" for a couple of days to see what was going on. I tried if after a chili cheese, chili burger, and fries for dinner. My sugar was 283 two hours after dinner. That made up my mind, no more of that.
So I knew I wouldn't have any more sodas for the foreseeable future. I was not sure what to do. The advice was to eat yogurt, salads, snack a lot, switch to wheat bread, etc. I went with that. I was really scared and had done some basic research on diabetes in the past so I put it to work. The next post will be about what I actually did.
I went from super scared to super determined. I asked friends with diabetes, friends who worked in the medical field, and others if they thought I could decline meds. There was support and I could tell some people thought I should get on the meds for a while.
From this space I started working on dealing with being diabetic. I was at best hoping to get things "under control."
So at the end of November I was told that my blood sugar was high and that I should get re-tested. I was going to put it off for a while. I went in a couple of days later. I got a call that night that my potassium level was low on Monday and even lower on Wednesday and that I should go to ER. I called a few people to get second opinions and feedback. There was consensus that I should go. Before I had hung up with the nurse I asked her what my A1C was, and she said 9.3 but the potassium was urgent. I told her, "I've always had 5.5." She responded with, "last year you were at 6.5." I wish they would have made a big deal about that.
The next morning I got a call about my diabetes and that I had a prescription available. I said I was going to decline meds for now. I wanted to think it over. I had learned that one of my blood pressure medications was draining my potassium and didn't want to get on any more. I had an appointment that afternoon and received a glucose meter. The nurse said to "eat normal" for a couple of days to see what was going on. I tried if after a chili cheese, chili burger, and fries for dinner. My sugar was 283 two hours after dinner. That made up my mind, no more of that.
So I knew I wouldn't have any more sodas for the foreseeable future. I was not sure what to do. The advice was to eat yogurt, salads, snack a lot, switch to wheat bread, etc. I went with that. I was really scared and had done some basic research on diabetes in the past so I put it to work. The next post will be about what I actually did.
I went from super scared to super determined. I asked friends with diabetes, friends who worked in the medical field, and others if they thought I could decline meds. There was support and I could tell some people thought I should get on the meds for a while.
From this space I started working on dealing with being diabetic. I was at best hoping to get things "under control."
