Dogs? Ducks? Dicks? (NO! What is wrong with you?!) ‘The D’, in this case, stands for Diabetes.
Roll back a few months, if you will, to July 2016. I remember thinking to myself ‘everything is just falling into place’. I had a great full time job, was looking forward to moving into a new house with my amazing partner, and would soon be graduating with a First Class Honours degree. Sure, I was feeling a little under the weather, but nothing to worry about; feeling tired, UTI’s, dizziness… *SPOILER ALERT* It was something to worry about.
It became a tad more troublesome when I started getting these weird leg cramps. Every night for weeks I woke up, searing pain in my calves, whimpering. One night I also woke up my boyfriend, who asked if I could suffer in silence. Apparently he heard me the next night crying into the pillow to try and muffle the sound – true love. People were suggesting all kinds of reasons for this – I was low in salt, low in potassium, had too little exercise, needed to destress. I tried all of these things and, of course, they didn’t work.
It’s about this point I should have gone to the doctors.
But I didn’t, and instead woke up on the day of my aforementioned graduation after another nights broken sleep, interrupted by cramping and needing a wee at regular intervals. Now I had lots going on, so I needed my strength right? I’m going to run you through what I ate that day:
- Toast
- Porridge
- Pineapple
- A Twix and a Mars Bar
- Two Hash Browns
- Two pieces of Victoria Sponge Cake
- Various Nibbles at the Graduation Reception
- A Pulled Pork Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries
- Onion Rings
- Half a battered fish (my nanna was full!)
- A Piece of Chocolate Fudge Cake with Ice Cream
- 2 Courses of Savoury Buffet
- 2 Courses of Sweet Buffet
- A whole Bar Maroc Pizza
- A Cheese Toastie
And I was still starving. At this point I should DEFINITELY have gone to the doctors.
I eventually did make it to the GP about two weeks later after my periods went irregular – it’s amazing, that my body could literally wave a big red flag at me going ‘SOMETHING’S GONE WRONG HERE!’
When he said those words to me, ‘you have Type One Diabetes’, I don’t think I really processed it. I didn’t know anything about Diabetes – well, except that it was bad, and that it was probably my fault for eating too much sugar, and I could now only eat special chocolate that costs 7 quid from Thorntons. Before I had to go to the hospital I ate a whole bucket of ice cream, because I thought it would be the last ice cream I ever ate.
Of course that was totally wrong, and after 8 months with the Calderdale Diabetes Centre (who are absolute stars) I have an A Level’s worth of scienctific bumf bouncing around in my head to manage my condition and live normally. But it did get me thinking- I knew nothing at all, and what I thought I knew was totally wrong. So I want to try and inform you guys about what diabetes actually is. And what it really isn’t!
It’s Not My Fault!
You wouldn’t believe it, hearing the constant news of the strain diabetics put the NHS under. It is true that sometimes (though not always!) Type 2 Diabetes can develop because of lifestyle and weight issues. About 90% of diabetics are Type 2, and I’m in the other 10% of Type 1’s.
Basically I had a virus in March last year which my antibodies fought off. Except that when they’d done killing the bad guys, they destroyed my own cells too – think Arnie in Terminator 2. The antibodies killed off beta cells in a part of the pancreas known as the ‘Islets of Langerhan’ (ooh very exotic!) and hey presto, bye bye insulin production!
High/Low Sugars
Before diagnosis I thought the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes was that one meant high blood sugar and one meant low. *EH EH* (That was my impression of the buzzer from family fortunes). The difference really is that as a type 1, I am unable to produce any insulin. Type 2 diabetics do produce their own insulin but their bodies resist it. Either way, sugar from food can’t access the cells which need it for energy, so it just hangs about in your bloodstream – this is why high blood sugar can make you so hungry!
‘She’s Fainting – Quick, Get Her Insulin!’
Please don’t do this. Never do this! Some popular TV dramas (naming no names, but it rhymes with smasualty) have scenes where a diabetic passes out and they treat it with insulin. Chances are, if I’m fainting, insulin is the LAST thing I need! A common side effect of insulin treatment is that if you accidentally take too much, or burn off calories you accounted for, blood sugars drop too low, known as ‘hypoglycaemia’. Early hypo symptoms are shaking, sweating and confusion, and need to be treated with fast acting carbs such as sugary drinks or jelly sweets. Severe hypos can be very dangerous, but mild lows aren’t all bad, as it means I get to have haribos or full fat coke with the justification that it’s life-saving medicine – woohoo!
A much rarer complication of high blood sugar is Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), and this would require insulin treatment, but fainting isn’t a common indicator of DKA. Things to look out for are dehydration and vomiting.
‘Should You Be Eating That?’
Newsflash! I can have chocolate. I can have cake. I can have booze!
For years supermarkets and confectioners have been offering ‘diabetic’ products, cutting out those pesky sugars we can’t handle. These products are expensive, high in fat, and contain artificial chemical sweeteners which will probably make you shit yourself. Now that would be a bad day!
The truth is there’s sugar in most foods in the form of carbohydrate, including lots of healthy things like milk, fruit and starchy veg. And I don’t see anybody trying to sell diabetic potatoes. Insulin dependent diabetics have to count these carbohydrates and match them with the correct amount of insulin, mimicking the pancreas with an injection or pump.
So with a little planning and a little maths, I can eat normally. And yes it does mean four or five injections a day – but I’ll take that over a life without ice cream!!!
Many thanks for reading to the end! I try not to let diabetes be my identity, because I am more than just my faulty pancreas, so unless there’s some new revolution in my treatment, I won’t bombard the internet with more sugar blogs. But hopefully this little bit of education could help you save a life one day – or at least save a diabetic from being denied a big piece of chocolate cake!
Much Love,
Faye
afayewithwords 