Life as a Type 2 Diabetic - Part 1
My name is Andrea. I'm 31 years old, and I've been a Type 2 diabetic since I was 17. I was diagnosed at 19, but I believe the trouble started when I was younger, as all the signs point to it.
It used to be fairly unusual to be under 20 years old and have Type 2 diabetes. In fact, when I would tell people that I was diabetic, they would immediately assume that I was a Type 1. These days, it's really common to meet kids who are Type 2 diabetics.
The difference between Type 1 and Type 2 is complicated, and often blurred these days. The main difference is that a Type 1 diabetic has a pancreas that doesn't produce insulin, because their immune system attacked their pancreatic cells. Type 2 diabetics do produce insulin, but for reasons not entirely understood at this time, their bodies are unable to use that insulin in processing their sugars.
I won't really go into great detail about what diabetes is like - there are many good resources for that on the internet, and I would likely not do an adequate job describing the vast array of experiences that diabetics go through. I can only tell you my story, and walk you through my attempts to beat this disease.
When I was initially diagnosed with diabetes, my doctor put me on a drug called Glucophage, which means "sugar eater". The generic name of this drug is Metformin. Metformin is a pill that helps a diabetic's blood sugar levels by reducing gluconeogenesis and prompting regular cells to absorb sugar from the blood stream. Metformin also reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
It also causes extreme gastrointestinal distress.
I was put on this drug, and not warned about the side effects. There was nothing on the bottle that indicated how severe the side effects could be. The usual "may cause dizziness" warning was there, but nothing else. The side effects took a long time to hit me, and when they finally did, I didn't connect the cramping and diarrhea to the drugs - I thought I was lactose intolerant. I became a strict vegan, but continued to suffer for 9 months before another doctor mentioned, offhandedly, that some people experience stomach problems while on Metformin.
This was sad for me. Not only did I spend months in agony, downing Immodium AD by the handful, but Metformin did such a wonderful job controlling my blood sugars. It didn't cause me to gain weight, and I never had hypoglycemia with it (that's when your blood sugars drop to low levels, and you feel dizzy, nauseated, and sometimes cranky or even violent). But I couldn't continue living that way, pretty much always staying without 50 feet of a bathroom stall. And the pain!
Anyway, after trying other oral medications, I decided to start taking insulin. The reason for this was simple: I wanted to be able to eat what I liked. I actually don't have a sweet tooth, and I never really have. I'm not the type to eat a box of candy in one sitting. I don't even like ice cream. What I do like is bread. Pasta. Rice. And these foods are so loaded with carbohydrates that a normal oral medication, such as Glyburide, can't handle the rush of sugars into my bloodstream. Over the long haul, sure, Glyburide can bring my blood glucose levels down, but I'll have to suffer through a few hours of elevated sugar, which causes damage to my cells.
Plus, I feel terrible when I have high blood sugar. Every diabetic has their own range at which they feel comfortable - my blood sugars have to be between 80 and 115 for me to feel good. Any higher, or lower, and I feel awful. High blood sugars result in sluggishness, splitting headaches, and general stupor. Low blood sugars result in cold sweats and fits of anger.
So, I have to carefully balance my sugars so as not to leave this 45-point range of good feelings. Insulin is the only medicine that allows me to do this. And I was satisfied with it until recently.
Recently - well, I can't really explain exactly what it is that happened. A weight gain. A lack of energy. But I suddenly realized that I wasn't getting anywhere. My A1C levels aren't ideal. I'm grumpy a lot of the time, and I went up a pant size (not good). I find myself easily winded, and I have hunger pangs when I shouldn't. I've never been a problem eater, although I am a bit heavy, but I find myself constantly eating.
I've decided to take drastic measures for what I consider a drastic situation. I don't normally believe in drastic diets, actually, because I find that anything drastic is almost a set up for failure. Human beings don't do well with rapid changes. We like things to be gradual, and I generally believe that gradual is the way to go.
But I feel as though I'm sliding down a very slippery slope towards terrible health, and I can't see how moving slowly towards a goal of weight loss and fitness is going to get me there. The problem with gradual goals is that they are easy to let go of. For some people, little changes are all that is necessary. For me, I feel like something big is needed.
That's why today, I'm starting on a 70% raw diet. In a way, it's a gradual form, because I will eat some cooked things in the evening before bed. But I want to decrease the amount of insulin that I require, and one very good way to do this is eat mainly raw foods, or at least, foods that CAN be eaten raw. Grains can generally not be eaten raw, although they can be sprouted and eaten.
But being a raw foodist largely means that you can eat fruits and vegetables - the kinds of vegetables that lend themselves to raw consumption. Eggplant is allowed, but not as easy to deal with as, say, celery.
In my next post, I will go into detail as to why I would embark on such a difficult diet. But first, I wanted to introduce myself and explain my purpose in blogging here. I will blog about more than diabetes, of course - there is so much more wrong with me! I'm an endless fount of medical maladies, so I'll have plenty of experiments to share with the readers of this blog.
Thanks for taking the time to meet me. Feel free to leave any questions that you might have in the comments section, and I'll answer them as best as I can.
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