Misconceptions

This is a post that I started some time ago and am now finally just getting around to finishing it. . . . So i heard something on the radio that really made me mad. The hubby and i were driving to work and as usual he had ESPN radio on, listen to Colin Cowherd. The guy was talking about Jay Cutler and his non-performance in the NFC championship game that took place the day before. Apparently there was a serious uproar about Cutler not finishing the game. Cowherd was going on and on about Cutler when all of a sudden he is saying how Jay Cutler is a type 1 diabetic so he can’t do the things that other players can. Excuse me???? Did i hear that correctly? Yes i did, this guy is saying that because Jay Cutler has diabetes he cannot not function and perform as well as any other player who does not have diabetes. Is this guy an idiot? Or does he just not know about the disease? While on one hand I feel this guy knows correctly about the disease and is just saying this because he wants to get this kind of reaction, I still can’t help but being highly annoyed by it! Even if he is uneducated about diabetes, he should have made sure he knew what he was talking about before he said it. If that is the case then it all just makes him look like an ignorant fool for just spouting that crap out.

Just because a person has diabetes that doesn’t mean that they cannot do everything that a person without the disease can. As long as a diabetic takes care of themself then they can anything they want. Having diabetes doesn’t mean you have to stop living your life. Yes, you might have to be more cautious in regards to some things, but you can still do what you want to. I hope people take the time to really learn about the disease so they are better informed and do not end up making ignorant comments like I heard on that radio show.

New start

So things have been very quiet around here for a while. But that needs to change. Last week i celebrated both my 34th birthday and my 7th wedding anniversary. I realize that i need to really make a go at getting healthier so there are many many many more. Which means i need to make a lot of changes, some big some small.

One of them is that I need to post more, not just for anyone who might be reading this, but also for myself. I need to put things in writing to it is more real for me. And it doesn't hurt that is is a form of support for my journey. Another change that i have already made is that i have decided to completely cut soda out of my diet. I was down to just having one bottle of soda each Sunday, but now i have decided that I do not need that. So today is the first time in a while that i did not buy that bottle of soda. Instead I treated myself to some chocolate milk, go calcium!

So hopefully things go as planned and you will see a lot more posting from me and a lot less of me, physically!!

Body Blahs

Well on a person health front things are not so great right now. I went last week for my first check-up of the new year. I left feeling great since I was able to stop taking one of my blood pressure meds. That lasted until yesterday when I got the results back from my blood work. First off i found out my Vitamin D levels were low. So my doctor wants me to take a prescription vitamin D for 8 weeks and then start taking OTC vitamin D once done with the script. Then i found out not only did my A1C go up, but it went up a lot. It went from 7.3 last time to 8.1 this time. I was floored! The only change I really made since the last test was that I started Weight Watchers. So i can only assume that the diet I was on with that messed up my blood sugar and whatnot. So WW is out and I am going back to counting carbs. Which means I need to wrap my head around a new way of thinking. I have been thinking about food in terms of points for so long now it is going to take a little time to get used to thinking about my carbs again.


Maybe this is why I really didn't lose much weight while doing WW. I know everyone is different and one lifestyle won't always work for the same people. Oh well, it is trial and error . . .

Diabetes Alert Day - What will you do to Stop Diabetes?

I am sure not very many people I know will know that March 22, 2011 is Diabetes Alert Day. It is the one day where all of us who know about this disease are encouraged to go the extra mile to get out and make sure that America knows just how serious Diabetes is. Early diagnosis is so important when it comes to this disease because Type 2 can be delayed and maybe even prevented by making some easy lifestyle changes.

March 22 is exactly two months away, so i am going to start planning now just how I want to do my part and get the word out. I have already thought of one idea to step the word at my workplace. The human resources department at my workplace sends out the occasional health related e-mails, so this year I am going to put some information together and contact the necessary person to see about getting a company-wide e-mail sent out on Alert Day. That is just one thing I plan to do. I am going to work on more ideas while i have the time. I also welcome any ideas and suggestions you may have.


Diabetes Fact: For many, diagnosis may come seven to ten years after the onset of the disease.

Ideas . . . .

I really want to write more in this here blog of mine, but sometimes I just really don't know what to write about. I know I can just write about my life and such, but there is just a mental block sometimes. It was so much easier to write when i had my topics picked out for me in November when I started this blog. So please, any ideas and suggestions are welcome!!

One less pill

It is amazing how happy one can be about taking one less pill . . . .

This morning I had my first check-up of the new year. My weight remained unchanged from my last visit, which in a way is good. My blood pressure was great also. I had a good talk with my doctor about the usual things, mostly centering around my diabetes and weight. I did mention that I had joined Weight Watchers online and so far i have lost 7 pounds on it. It would be more if I was more consistent with my exercise. It is nice to have a doctor that I can talk to. It makes a lot of things so much easier. We talked a bit about my acid reflux meds. My insurance company started getting bitchy last year and wouldn't cover the dosage that i was on even though I had been taking the same drug at the same dosage for years! So I am hopeful that I have found a way around it. I will find out tonight when I go to get my prescription filled. I am excited about not having to worry about heartburn anymore!

We also talked about my blood pressure medicine. Years and one doctor ago I was diagnosed with borderline high blood pressure. I had wanted to go on the pill and my doctor then didn't want to put me on it with my blood pressure being what it was. So I went not only on the pill, but also a drug for blood pressure. Well I was never good with remembering to take it (I am still bad at taking my meds sometimes) so after a while she still didn't like my numbers so she put me on a second blood pressure medicine. Well fast froward some years to now. I decided to buy my own blood pressure monitor recently in an aid to help get me off some of these drugs i am on. So this morning I discussed things this morning. I told her that really the only reason the second drug was added was because I never remembered to take the other one. She agreed with me that with how my numbers have been it looks like I don't really need to be on two medications for blood pressure. So as of this morning I am no longer taking two medications for it!!! I am extremely happy about this! I am hoping that as i track my numbers these next few months that i do not see it going back up. Being off this one pill is the first step in getting off most of the medications i am on! This is a big achievement for me.

And I don't know that I would have talked to my doctor about it had I not had such a good relationship with her. So this just goes to show that having the right doctor is just as important as the rest of the things you need to do to take care of yourself. Having the right doctor is like taking the right medication. So if you do not have a god relationship with your doctor, it might be time to find another one.

Truth or Myth . . .

As with anything in life Diabetes comes with its own myths. If you are uneducated in regards to this disease, then what you think you may know might not be correct. There are many misconceptions surrounding diabetes and I am going to explore a couple of these with the help of the following two articles: Diabetes myths & 10 Diabetes diet myths.

I think one of the biggest myths regarding the disease has to so with sugar and sweets. While diabetics have to watch the foods they eat more closely, they can still eat what they want, including sweets. The key is moderation. As long as you don't overdo it, you can still have your sweet treats. Exercise is also key when adding sweets into your diet as it helps lower your blood sugar. So just remember, being diagnosed as a diabetic does not mean you have to give up all your favorite candy and desserts. Eating too many sweets does not cause diabetes.

Another myth surrounding diabetes is that if you are overweight, then you will develop diabetes. This just isn't true. Yes being overweight adds to the risk of developing the disease, but so do other things such as family history and age. You are just as likely to develop diabetes if you are fat or skinny.

I think these are the two biggest myths that revolve around in one's mind when you think of diabetes. Just because something sounds logical and true doesn't mean that it is. So please, if you are not sure of something, look it up before you spread more myths rather than truths.

Me and Hannah Montana

So I was sitting here today watching Hannah Montana (yes it is a guilty pleasure for me) and it was the first time I had seen this specific episode. It was the one where Miley and Lilly learn Oliver has Type 1 Diabetes. While watching it it made me think of the knowledge, or lack thereof, that I had when I was diagnosed. I remember when I had the appointment to have my blood drawn just prior to my diagnosis I had the thought I better not eat anything too sugary the day before because I didn't want it to skew my blood work. Little did i know that it really wouldn't since the blood test measured a 2 to 3 month average of my blood sugar. I think i can honestly say I really didn't know anything about the disease prior to being diagnosed. Of course I had heard of it, but i really didn't know how it worked, or rather didn't work.

It is things like this that make me really want to spread the word and help educate those who do not know!

The Holidays, Treats, & Parties

Things have been busy here these last couple of weeks, so i have not really had time to post. But i was recently asked the following question and thought I would share it all with you:
So do the holiday treats and office parties have any impact on your diabetes?

I have to say I am lucky in this regard because we don't really have office parties. So I do not need to worry about all the treats and food. At most my department has a holiday luncheon, but it is a voluntary thing and you don't have to participate if you don't want to. I usually don't; because i am usually such a picky eater and a lot of times we don't know what there will be for food. So it is just safer for me to bring my own lunch. And these luncheons are not the kind where everyone just sits down together and eats. Most people just take the food back to their desks and keep working, so i am not really missing out on much.

Usually the only holiday treats I see at work are when someone might give me a card that has a candy cane attached. As this happens rarely i don't have to worry about it. The only time i really have to be careful is when i go home to my mother's for the holiday. There is always so much good food there for our Christmas meal I have to be careful how much i eat. And if i am not, then i just need to make a point to get in more exercise to counteract all the carbs I ate.

Bonus Days: December 1 - What’s next?

Even though American Diabetes Month is over, diabetes continues to be a 24/7/365 disease. What will you do to keep America’s focus on diabetes?

I know, this is a day late because i just did not a chance to post it yesterday. Better late than never!

I know that the odds of just one person being able to keep America's focus on diabetes is slim, but I can certainly do my best to keep informing my friends, family, and blog readers about Diabetes and the things they can do to help. Even though American Diabetes Month is over, I plan to do my best to keep blogging about diabetes. As stated, this is not just a month ling disease, but something that requires constant attention. So that means we should always be looking to spread the word about diabetes.

As I mentioned before, I added a red streak in my hair in honor of American Diabetes Month. Well that month is over, but the red streak lives on in my hair. I plan on keeping it indefinitely in honor of all of us who have to live with diabetes. Any time I get asked about it, i will gladly explain what it is all about. I feel it is one little way that I can keep the focus on diabetes. I also plan to do whatever I can to help the cause. This year i had participated in my first Step Out event and I plan to do it again next year. I have even already started a change jar to start raising my own donation for next year and have passed the amount i donated this year already. I am even hoping to try to put together a team next year. So far my husband is on board with this and will be participating in next year's event with me.

I also plan to start looking for other events in my area that i can participate in. I have decided it is time for me to become more involved and plan on taking the steps necessary to do this. Odds are I am going to have to live with this the rest of my life and I don't plan on sitting around doing nothing about it. Every person I can help educate means they can then pass that information along. I can end up informing lots of people this way. So that is my goal, to bring awareness one person at a time.


Diabetes Fact: Among adults with diagnosed diabetes (type 1 or type 2), 14% take insulin only, 13% take both insulin and oral medication, 57% take oral medication only, and 16% do not take either insulin or oral medication.