Letters to the Editor
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Where is the talk of exercise among these professionals?
It never ceases to amaze me that so many people treat diabetes strictly with diet/insulin.
Exercise has proven to help regulate blood sugar levels in diabetics as well as 'normal' folk.
You wanna know how to keep weight off and eat a lot?? Lift weights. I lift several times a week and I can eat more (granted, I don't eat many high glycemic carbs) than I did when I ran marathons. I ate a pound of Ahi Tuna last night. A POUND! And I'm 5'10 and 150 pounds, much of it muscle.
My advice to the diabulimics is to eat very well, lift weights and do some form of cardio on a regular basis.
Their body will thank them and they won't put on a ton of weight when they follow their insulin.
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To Shark
I agree with you about the lack of information out there about diabetes. Two of my family members had it, and until I was diagnosed I didn't even know what it was. It does get old having to explain things, too. At weddings, people are always amazed that I can eat the cake. When I go out to eat dinner, people stare when I program a bolus dose on my pump. I never get mad at things like this, however, because I know there just isn't enough information available to the public about diabetes, which is amazing to me since more and more Americans are being diagnosed.
One thing I've noticed, too, is that a lot of diabetics do a poor job of informing the people around them about the disease. It's important, for example, to explain to your co-workers what a low blood sugar level means and how to recognize it in you.
And I do apologize for making the pump sound so horrible. Like I said, I'm on one, too, and I like having it. I just get very nervous at the suggestion of people having control over my or anyone else's body. People can make decisions for themselves. But you're right, they should be informed decisions, and doctors should make sure the pump is explained to their patients.
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I don't see the point of this
Or any Salon article where we can't blame some nameless nefarious cabal of people we imagine are plotting all our deaths.
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To Shark...
You made a very good point about awareness not being what it should be regarding Type 1. I didn't articulate that point well. Awareness is an issue that needs to be addressed. If it were better then I wouldnt have to keep posting critiques of these continuing god-awful articles that misrepresent the disease. We also have a horrible problem with access to care. Many times I have lamented to my friends and family that there is nothing superior or special about me and I feel badly for those who havent been as lucky as I have been- I have always had good insurance coverage. It gave me the option of using insulin pump therapy. But everyone should have that choice if they want it.
My sister in law worked for a time doing home health nursing. She told me of multiple times that she found her diabetic patients cutting their blood sugar strips in half to make them last longer- of course the readings were marred and their blood sugar uncontrolled as a result. THAT is completely sad and unacceptable. And yet we still don't have universal coverage in the US.
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And Pandora83 and I can agree to disagree...
On whether insulin pump therapy is invasive. Everyone is different. But...a technical quibble. Pandora makes it sound like your only choice is to live 24/7 with a needle under the skin like an IV. Not true. Very few people choose what is called the "bent cannula" type infusion set. Most people use one that is inserted rather painlessly with a "guide" needle, and then the needle is immediately pulled out leaving a tiny piece of flexible cannula under your skin. This can even be done with an inserter device so you don't have to stick yourself if you are squeamish. You cannot feel the cannula once it is in there. This is attached to your skin with a round piece of adhesive about the size of a quarter. There is little that is icky or overly clinical about it.
I just want to point that out in case there are any Type 1s out there reading these posts who are on the fence about trying a pump. Try it- it will likely change your life forever. And if you are one of the few that just cannot adjust, you can always go back to injections. However, I do agree that if you are on multiple injections and dont mind a more rigid eating/exercise schedule and can keep your A1c in the 5-7 range then why fix what isn't broken? I personally could however could no longer handle the restrictions injections placed on my lifestyle.
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blood sugar testing
>>Blood sugar testing is annoying yes, but its not that big of a deal. Its virtually painless.<<
like hell. jabbing a pin into a fingertip 5 times a day to make it bleed-- i am not a big baby, but i will swear this is painful (unless your fingers are remarkably callused and insensitive to begin with.)
i've been diagnosed as diabetic for nearly 20 years now. the disease has altered my entire life. for 15 years i was insulin dependent even tho i was type 2-- none of the little gluco-whatever pills worked for me. in the beginning i was sure i could handle this monster through diet and exercise. i was in control, i told myself. but i couldn't control stress and i couldn't control accidents, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and so i was hospitalized, repeatedly, as incidents occurred and my blood sugar soared.
do you know what irks me? no, it is not the way the general public is led to despise diabetics. it is those who purport to represent aids or alcoholism equating their issues to diabetes. nothing is like diabetes. nothing.
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Beuchel
You are right. There is no other disease that places as much responsibility for your health on the individual as diabetes- of either type. That is the truth. If we end up with some complication it is our own fault right? It is so easy for people to judge and speculate. No one can judge us until they have been in our shoes for a bit. Most people wouldn't last a day before they were crying like a baby. I hope that people don't misinterpret my "just deal with it" stance as being nasty or harsh. I have just found over the years that I have become cynical regarding the "race for the cure". There is no race (see other's posts about Big Pharma and how much JACK they make off of our need to manage this monster) and I am fairly certain there will not be a cure anytime soon- at least not in my lifetime. So my personal way of coping is to suck it up and try to live my life to the fullest and not let Type 1 define me. In re-reading my posts I see that that has come across as somewhat strident and for that I apologize. It is very tough. I don't deny that or feel that I am superior in my control simply because I am one of the lucky ones and have been spared trips to the ER in my lifetime (I only had two "zone out" hypos in 30 years- one when I was in the 7th grade and one last year right after I had my only child-both times were very frightening and I really feel for folks who have that happen regularly to them). But most of having been spared those episodes is just luck. I have also had two spinal surgeries over the years and used little pain medication after either- so I have been told that I have a high threshold for pain. So I am sorry for being so dismissive of the physical pain aspects of being diabetic. No one would wish a lifetime of needles/fingersticks on their worst enemy. But ultimately we are all trying to reach the same goal- not simply survival to find find good health and happiness- bastard illness be damned.