A great question, one I must confess I have spent very little time on over the years. For me personally, I didn’t want to dive into research and learnings about all the ins and outs of diabetes. I just didn’t want it. Yet over the years I have come to realise many things about living a life with diabetes.
So how would I describe diabetes to the average curious friend or colleague in a very non-technical or informative way is quite simple. I say, it is because my pancreas is under pressure and unable to cope with the stresses in the body. It is not producing the insulin required to support my system. Insulin is a hormone designed to attach to the sugars and proteins from the carbohydrates when we consume food and take it where it needs to go. But because it doesn’t we end up with excess sugar in our blood and stress on our whole system. Why? Well that is some of the most confusing searches known throughout my 33 years of diabetes. I believe the term now is mystery illness. It can be a combination of many things and everyone has a different view on the why’s behind this.
So what does it all mean on a practical sense. Each and everyday we monitor our blood glucose levels, frequently checking for highs and lows. Our readings can scale anywhere in between 1 – (excessive low to 30 (excessive high). just to give you an example, most average people would fluctuate between 4 and 7 with an average usually around the 5 mark. This I what I commonly refer to as the diabetic dream. Balance is not so simple. Most type 1 diabetics are injecting 3 -4 times a day. I personally average 4, one long acting and 3 short acting to align with meals. So yes as you probably guessed it, every time we eat we are having to take into consideration our food, carbohydrates, activities and how much insulin to inject ourselves with.
That being said, times have changed and the advancements in technology from when I was first diagnoses it huge. Most kids these days won’t inject so regularly. There are pumps that automatically link to aps on your phones which moitor your blood glucose levels. So i’d say I am not the average diabetic in that sense, I’m old school and i have my reasons for that.
Okay so that by no means sums it up, and there is SO much more to learn but it can be a bit of an endless topic depending on how deep you dive and what your search criteria is. My mum was the guru in this field but even over the years all the information keeps changing so it is hard to keep up with it all. I think ‘mystery illness’ is probably the best term to summarise it.
So let’s talk misconceptions…
The biggest misconception, particularly around type 1 diabetics is that it is all about what you eat. I would very commonly get, but you don’t look like a diabetic. But you seem fit and healthy. Diabetes is NOT actually got much to do with food at all. It definitely isn’t the root cause of it, and although there is a direct link to what you eat and how your body processes the food it is not fair to assume that any one person is the cause of this mystery illness by unhealthy eating habits.
The diabetic low – this is most commonly described and even in first aid training as just like being drunk. Well it isn’t – at ALL. I had many years through my youth of intoxication and the symptoms are NOT the same. But I do find it an interesting comparison as the cognitive function whilst undergoing a diabetic low does impair the cognitive capabilities. Your brain is not getting enough sugar to fuel itself properly. So I can understand this misconception with alcohol – although there is plenty of sugar floating around these bodies to fuel itself, it too is impairing cognitive functionality and dimming down the senses and capability of the brain.
A diabetic high – quite often, particularly through the teen years you will catch a diabetic saying, I am going high. It is much simpler than saying I am having a diabetic high or my readings are going high. But wow do you get some poor assumptions here. I am not and have never been into the drug scene but let me just go ahead and say NO, it is in no way similar and 100% can’t compare. High blood sugar levels are causing a strain on your entire system, makes you excessively thirsty, headachy and for me often a lot more intolerant.
Type one and type 2 diabetes is NOT the same thing. Everybody has a cure for diabetes. But in actual fact the work they have done is more often in the realm of type 2 diabetes. This can and has been proven reversable diagnosis. Type 1, is not so common in this area and through my searches over the years I have often found a lot of false hope in this arena. Personally however, I must clarify, I do not believe that Type 1 diabetes is incurable. More on that later.
Okay, that’s enough for now, I will be diving into my experience as a type 1 diabetics more in future blogs. But for now, let’s just end this off by saying, diabetes is one of the more complex of diagnosis that exist. There is not one formula that suits everyone. There are a myriad of different contributing factors to blood sugar level control and it does take an incredible amount of work (24/7 monitoring). To all the fellow diabetics out there, I feel you. We may appear normal on the outside, we do normal things, make the most of life but internally there are soooo many stresses our bodies are coping with each and everyday.
