MFM (My First Meme: Diabetes) |
| Articles - Diabetes Articles | |||
| Thursday, 12 May 2011 13:56 | |||
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What type of diabetes do you have: When were you diagnosed: What’s your current blood sugar: What kind of meter do you use? Not a very perceptive meme, are you? I use a Dexcom CGMS and a FreeStyle Lite meter (with the awesome new ZipWik strips I told you about). How many times a day do you check your blood sugar: test less.
What’s a “high” number for you: The high alarm on my Dexcom is set at 120, not because I consider 120 to be too high, but because if I catch a rise at 120, I can usually keep it from crossing the renal threshold, which is 140, which is what I always try to avoid. I usually do this with an intra-muscular injection, a la Dr. Bernstein, only I use a pen instead of a syringe. My low alarm is set at 70. I don’t like to be in the 70s, but I don’t really feel it either. I just don’t want to spend a lot of time marginally low in case it increases my potential for hypoglycemia unawareness. Of course, by the time Dexcom registers a 70, unless I’m dropping reeeaaalllly slow, I’m probably already below that. What’s your favorite low blood sugar reaction treater: Describe your dream endo: What’s your biggest Diabetes achievement: What’s your biggest diabetes-related fear: Huh. I don’t really have a recurring one. My biggest fears these days are more practical things like losing my CGM or being caught at a good restaurant without my insulin and having to just watch everyone else eat (it has happened). I also worry about hypoglycemia when I’m surfing and not being able to make it back to shore. Who’s on your support team: I tell a lot of the “diabetes lies” described so well by Karen at Bittersweet so I often feel like it’s mostly me steering the ship, which, ultimately is how it has to be. I am 100% on board with the TCOYD guiding principle that in order to be in control of your Diabetes, you have to take total ownership of it. That said, my wife is very supportive when it comes to being vigilant with our insurance, being sensitive to my [occasionally obnoxious] low-carb leanings, and, as I wrote before, giving me the motivation to live a long, healthy life. My endo is also wonderful, and I wouldn’t ever trade him. I tried some sessions with a CDE/nutritionist, but when the non-D nutritionist asked what my goals for a pre-meal blood sugar were, and I said “between 80 and 90, the same as yours” and she told me that they would never recommend that, I lost interest. Do you think there will be a cure in your lifetime: If there is, it means that I will have lived an awfully long life. What is a “cure” to you: A cure to me is returning to what life was like inside my body (more or less) before I turned 30 and started needing all these needles and what not. You know, the same way that a cure for cancer would be not having cancer anymore. The most annoying thing people say to you about your Diabetes is: Honestly, I didn’t know much of anything about Diabetes other than some of the symptoms before I was diagnosed, and I have a type 1 uncle and a type 2 grandfather. There are lots and lots of things that I’m ignorant about, that, even though they aren’t important to me, could be life-or-death issues for others. So I try not to be bothered by things other people say about Diabetes. I am confident about how I manage mine, and someone else’s ignorant comment isn’t going to affect that in the slightest. What is the most common misconception about Diabetes: I think the most common misconception is that it’s one disease. People tend to use “diabetes” in the singular, as though it’s a monolith, but there are such huge differences between type 1, type 2, gestational, LADA etc, and such huge differences even among those groups, that talking about Diabetes like it’s one thing is very misleading. If you could say one thing to your pancreas, what would it be: I know it was you, Pancreas. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!
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