I'm Beth. I was diagnosed in 2006 with Type 2 Diabetes. I am not the greatest at managing it, so I thought I'd start writing about it — my successes, my frustrations and the odds and ends things that happen each day that make me shake my head. If you have it, or Type 1, you'll know what I mean. If you don't, maybe you can learn a thing or two, or teach me a thing or two. I don't have it figured out.
Yesterday I was at Target. A very dangerous store. I have a friend who calls it the $100 store. I can get out of there for less than $100, but there is usually something I buy that I shouldn't be buying. Yesterday it was candy corn. It caught me in a moment of weakness. It spoke to me from the point of purchase shelf saying, "you know you love me, and it is Halloween time after all."
So, I've been eating it. I know, I know. It's bad. Pure sugar. PURE SUGAR. What's it made of? Corn syrup and sugar. These are things that make my blood glucose rise. What is blood glucose you may ask? Well, Google it, 'cause I'm not going to take the time to offer a major explanation here. When you have Type 2 Diabetes, you don't make enough insulin to get that sugar out of your bloodstream. When that sugar hangs out too long in your blood it can wreak some major havoc on you. Heart disease, blindness, stroke — and can also cause you to lose sensitivity in your extremities. Meaning you could step on something, not feel it and it could become infected and you might have to get your foot cut off. It's not pretty.
So why eat sugary stuff? I'm a stress eater. I'm a bingy stress eater. I can eat healthy. I know as much about healthy eating as anyone. Kale and Salmon are great! Chock full of Omega-3 goodness. Yum! But I have a dark side. Candy and cookies talk to me, and I listen. Not always, but sometimes my willpower isn't the best.
So, today I ate candy corn and then met a friend for lunch. Before I left my house I tested and my sugar was very high (as one could expect), so I gave myself some insulin. I take a form of insulin called Novolog. It is a fast-acting insulin pen that has a very small needle. I give myself a shot in my stomach. It's no big whoop.
After lunch I tested again. Still high, darn it! Calculated and gave myself some additional insulin.
An hour or so later, I went to Sam's Club. You know Sam's — the warehouse for all things bulk. I buy coffee there and other things. I went to check out and could feel I was going low. When you're blood sugar drops below 80, you are low and you need to correct it by ingesting sugar. I didn't have any with me (my bad), so I headed over to their concession stand.
Sam's has giant carts and mine was filled with coffee, toilet paper and paper towel. I was shaking and sweating (side-effects from going low), and before I knew it, I rammed into a table. The lady sitting there was elderly and on oxygen. She was eating a pizza. If I had been more aware I would have asked her why she came to Sam's to eat pizza, but time was of the essence. I apologized profusely and asked her if she was okay several times. She nodded, but if looks could kill I wouldn't have needed to worry about getting myself a sugary soda.
I maneuvered my way to an empty table and tested my sugar. It was 58, which is concerning. I made my way up to the cashier. The only size drink they have at Sam's is a 32 oz. soda. I really only needed 8 ounces, so I paid for this giant thing and filled it up a quarter of the way with Coke.
I drank the Coke and made my way to the exit. Put my stuff in the car and found an apple leftover from my Panera lunch. Scarfed it down (low sugars can make you very hungry) and waited until my sugar was back up over 80 to drive home.
It was an ordeal and pretty much all self-inflicted. Candy corn is so not worth all of that. Not even at Halloween.
