I’ve been wondering what angle to take with this blog. As you can tell, it has been a long time since I posted anything. The fact is that my blood sugar condition varies greatly from day to day. Last week I went without any insulin. The week before, I couldn’t get enough. I wonder if this is indicative of life-long Type 1 diabetics, but in my case, the fact that mine is late onset, and I’m getting such insulin-dependency swings, makes me believe that my pancreas as not completely given up.
Some days my pancreas seems strong, and seems to produce ample insulin, like last week. Some days it seems weak, like the week before. I guess this is what it means to be LADA (Late-onset Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults), and why this still feels like a relevant topic to reflect on in a public forum like this. I frequently hear of yet another person someone knows who recently became diabetic. So, I reason that there are a lot of us out there wrangling with questions of what do we do now, how do we manage, who do we listen to, and how do we live fully?
The more narrow focus that seems to resonate for me further is also dig into the still highly unresolved topic of how to live an active life and use insulin. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this blog, my endocrinologist and nutritionist believe I’m an outlier who held off from using insulin initially for much longer than normal, and who even now, uses much less insulin than most. That said, one area that I do not feel I understand all that well is how to exercise (which causes my blood sugar levels to drop) and use insulin at the same time. My initial experiments in this area result in my levels crashing dangerously low, that led to my not using insulin at all if I planned to exercise. I’m sure there are downsides to this as well. So…all that said…I’ve got some experimenting to do. I thought I’d share here my reflections as I travel down this path.
So here goes…