As a newly diagnosed diabetic, I dread this.......
OK, here's the thing about being diabetic...you know this no doubt, but I'll reinforce it. The problem is that you can feel fine with diabetes for a long time, if you even do a bad-to-meh job of taking care of yourself. This leads to later problems. One day you wake up on a hospital gurney with a breathing tube in your throat, wires coming out of your chest, and a foot long surgical incision where your chest was cracked open.
And that's if you're lucky and they catch a problem in time.
It is an insidious disease. It's happening all the time, no matter what you do. Don't be like me. Don't ever fool yourself into thinking that you can go back to being like everyone else, not checking your blood sugar, not eating properly, failing to exercise, etc. You must, must maintain tight control and it's hard, because the disease will fool you.
It's not like you can take care of yourself for a few months, and then slip back into your comfort zone, like you can with a broken leg that heals. Diabetes NEVER heals. It never gets better. It's working away, all the time, 24/7, until they find a cure. Which doesn't look likely any time soon.
The excess glucose from diabetes isn't absorbed by the cells, and it causes the blood cells to become stiff; these stiffer cells scrape against the tiniest of your veins and arteries, the ones in your kidneys, your eyes, and near your nerves, and cause them to become inflamed and irritated. The inflammation attracts plaque, and causes further issues.
The problem isn't that diabetes will kill you. It can do that. But the bigger problem is that diabetes will destroy your quality of life if it can.
So diabetics get neuropathies, kidney failures, blindness, infections, etc. more than the general population.
If your large veins and arteries get irritated enough, the plaque builds in the ones near your heart and brain, and this is why diabetics have many more times the risk of stroke and heart disease. I have heart disease. You don't want it. I have neuropathy that required another surgery. You don't want it.
I spent my first 14 years as a diabetic blissfully ignorant of the long term consequences, and told myself I was fine. I took my meds, but didn't test properly, or watch what I ate carefully until disaster struck.
Please think of me on that gurney the next time you think you don't have to test your blood sugar, or feel like that extra piece of pie.
I now have these rules:
Test before every meal and before bed. That way you know where you stand, and your doctor can look at the meter and prescribe the best medical solution.
Eat carefully.
Exercise often.
