feeling overwhelmed?
Actually, control is at hand
It used to be that everyone knew someone with diabetes. People either contracted Type 1 as children or Type 2 in middle age as a symptom of weight gain. Now, mysteriously, as a fit adult, that someone is you.
Now that you’re in it, you’ve learned of many other adults in the same boat. Where did this seeming tidal wave of Late-onset Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults, otherwise known as LADA, come from? There is little consensus. While the pundits debate, we need to grapple our blood sugar back into control. Were you overwhelmed when you first received the diagnosis? I was.
Take heart! It really isn’t as bad as you think. This blog is my personal story of conquest. It recounts my journey to date, and reveals how I’m managing day to day.
My quick bio: I became diabetic as a 34-year-old after a stressful startup experience and six months after my wife’s first child. After several months of textbook symptoms, my blood test revealed an A1C of 13.5. The doctors went into DEFCON 1 panic. Understanding what I had done to put myself into this mess, I declined medication, changed my lifestyle and diet. Within four months, I was back down to a Rx-free A1C of 5.9. I now use insulin, but I delayed using it for about eight years, and even today, I use much less than most diabetics. This is my story.
Four Conquest categories
Diet
Understanding food and how our bodies process it is the cornerstone of diabetes management.
Exercise
Activity is critical to both blunting the body’s reaction to sugar, and recovering when you’ve had too much.
Medical Hacks
“Hacks” may be a loaded term, but understanding what’s going on helps you make better choices.
everything else
Some tidbits of wisdom don’t fit into the other three categories, so they get a home here.
What others Told me would happen
John Walker
My first general practitioner insisted I needed to take lots of medication. She prescribed a class in nutrition for diabetics that focused on low fat foods for weight loss, but which recommended common high-carb alternatives. I wasn’t over weight and I knew from my own research that carbs caused my blood glucose to rise, compounding my condition. That didn’t make sense.
Melissa Taylor
I worried that I would invite other health problems if I blindly consumed the pharmaceuticals they prescribed. Rumors about Metformin’s connection to heart failure spooked me. Statins “for vascular health” seemed unnecessary if my cholesterol and CRP were low. I didn’t want to deal with the muscular complications that statins invite if I could avoid it.