Sugar is my frienemy

Ah, sugar. How I loath and love you. Diabetic or not, my sweet tooth lives on.

I was diagnoses with Type 1 Diabetes when I was 20 years old. It was a delightful summer. I was newly married, loving our new life and had just lost a bunch of weight without even trying. I was finally back in my "high school jeans" and I truly thought life couldn't be sweeter. I made no connection between the unbelievable thirst, the frequent potty breaks, the sudden need to revisit my eye doctor (a guy I had not seen in over 6 years), or the easily - but much welcome - weight loss. In my mind, none of these things had anything to do with one another. Little did I know, I was a textbook example of a type 1 Diabetic.

In fact my brainy biology undergrad friend Jessica diagnosed me. I was at her place one evening that glorious, skinny summer and we were watching Jaws II. I asked her not to start the movie - I had to pee.  She asked me what I wanted to drink and I must have opted for a sugar-laden drink of some kind or another. Who's counting "calories" when I am dropping weight with so little effort? I went pee, settled into the movie and asked for another glass of pop while I made a bee-line for the washroom half-way through the thriller.

At the end of the movie I got up to use the little girl's room in her apartment for the third time. I must have walked out with a quizzical look on my face because she asked what was wrong. I asked if it was weird that I pee more than a banshee. She said yes and in her best RN voice (she was a nurses' aid on the preggo floor at the hospital at the time) she asked what other symptoms I had.

I told her about the unquenchable thirst and consequently the ridiculously frequent potty breaks. Must be the summer heat, I added. Little did I know it was the other way around: I was peeing so much as a defense mechanism my body devised to get rid of the extra sugar kicking around and therefore I was thirsty.  She reminded me that the "great butt" I've been sporting might be a symptom too.  It suddenly dawned on me - you can't lose weight without trying... there must be something going on.  Don't get me wrong.  I was never fat.  Not even slightly overweight, but we all have that ideal weight - that one pair of jeans you hang on to just in case one day you'll somehow manage to button it up.  And those days that pair was to ONLY pair of jeans that weren't falling off.

Anyways I don't remember whether I also told her about the slightly blurry vision or that the tip of one of my index fingers was sorta numb sometimes. But when she opened up one of her gigantic text books to "Symptoms of Diabetes" I had at least 6 of the 7 symptoms for the past month or so. I left concerned and perplexed. Diabetic? Me?

I got home after midnight and tried to wake my sleeping husband. "Hon, I think I'm diabetic." He mumbled something like "that's nice" and I knew he didn't hear me. I went to sleep.

The next day my doctor confirmed it. Little old me was a diabetic. The test results came it with a fasting blood glucose of 17.3 I think. That is ridiculous considering you're supposed to stay within 4 to 7 ALL THE TIME.

My very old family doctor (he was over 70) put me on pills at first. What was he thinking?! I was a 20-year-old. Clearly a Type 1 Diabetic. I wasn't a pound over-weight - there was no way I was Type 2! I think I saw an endocrinologist within a week or two and he quickly switched me to insulin and needles. Not so fun but I started seeing my sugars comes down and I was glad.

Within a year a friend lent me his old pump (it used to click as it delivered insulin) and then I got my own 3 or 4 months later - a sleek new charcoal “pager” (MiniMed PARADIGM 522) that clips on to the back of my pants or jean pocket.

I was on the pump during my first pregnancy and was able to have my HbA1c results of 5.6% which I worked very hard for. Although my pregnancy was considered “high risk” I was able to have a natural birth (in the hospital of course) with no complications or C-section or nothing else that was crazy invasive. I nursed my little one for about 10 months and he is happy, healthy and amazing! I love, love, love being his mom.

Now our second child is on the way, due Sept 2nd, and so far so good.

I've had many ups and down with this disease. I have a crazy sweet tooth.  My downfall is chocolate.  But I try to keep things in check.  I don't test as often as I should but as long as I have a sensor in - I'm good. They are a pain to keep paying for and would love some free sensors... but such is life. 

I've never fainted or been hospitalized and I praise God for that. I have other diabetic friends who have woken up in the hospital or on the floor at their work surrounded by concerned co-workers. Thankfully that has not happened to me ... yet. While I don't like to say "yet", I understand and expect that at some point or another, we all fall.  Pun intended.