In the immediate months after I found out I was diabetic, I instantly cut out as much refined sugar from my diet as was possible. The entire month of July 2010 is a foggy blur in my memory. I swear to you, my IQ dropped 10 full points when I removed sugar from my diet so abruptly. My short-term memory was shot. It took me three times as long to perform any basic office task that I had previously been able to accomplish. It was frustrating and unnerving, and I was constantly tired. During that first month I spent as many hours as I could doing research on the internet about diabetes and what foods were safe. I checked out dozens of books from the library about diabetes and cookbooks designed for diabetics.
I didn't realize, until I was a few days into my research, that all of the information I was reading was geared exclusively toward people who were under a doctor's care. There are no handbooks for uninsured people who play a hunch and discover on their own that they are diabetic. I don't suppose there is a large population in America who are out there testing their blood sugar levels without cause, but I thought I would at least find a few things on the internet. I found nothing.
My only real guide was common sense and what Pete had told me about his diet at the hospital: baked chicken with steamed broccoli. No sauces, no gravy, no rice, no potatoes, just protein, fiber, and the very few carbs that broccoli offers. I am convinced that I ate more broccoli in July of 2010 than I previously consumed in my entire life. Even with a newly restricted diet, my blood sugar readings were always between 200 - 300. One day I took a sip of my daughter's Sprite, just for a taste of lemon-lime refreshment. Within minutes I felt that old all-consuming exhaustion. I got out my meter and tested, only to find that my blood sugar had risen to 412. I took a nap to let my body handle it the only way I knew it could: sleep it off.
I learned that month that chromium picolinate aids in keeping blood sugar levels stable, so I bought some immediately and started taking 200mg three times a day. I also started taking capsules of cinnamon, and within a week of starting those pills I started seeing my blood sugars drop as low as 180. I was always happy if I could take a walk before bedtime and go to bed with a blood sugar level below 200. It was always back up in the morning, but it was a good feeling to be able to bring it back down away from 300 and higher.
I spent a lot of time reading labels and learning about the role of fiber and fat in the food absorption process - how they slow the spikes of blood sugar from "bad" carbs. A shining light for me was found at http://www.formerfatguy.com/ - if you have a chance to check it out, I highly recommend it. Rob Cooper is a brilliant man who is truly inspirational. You'll see how he transformed himself from a 472-pound taxi driver to a lean, mean training machine without any gimmicks or fad diets. Same thing I'm doing: diet and exercise. For the skeptics, I assure you that I do not receive anything from Mr. Cooper to share this information with you. I bought his book, and the information he offers has been invaluable. I'm still on chapter 6 - so if you read it, don't tell me what's next. :) Everyone moves at his or her own pace through his program, and it's geared towards overall health - not just minor changes like, "How do I avoid Twinkies?"
In September I discovered the best website in the world for uninsured people like myself: http://www.mymedlab.com/. I was able to go online and order my own bloodwork to find out my A1C number (a measurement of the past 3 months' average blood sugar levels), my cholesterol, and my triglycerides. My results showed that my A1C was 10.1 - which meant that my average blood sugar levels were around 275. I knew I needed to get medicine, but Pete had told me how much it was costing him for insulin and supplies, and he was insured. I knew there was no way I could afford insulin. I started researching diabetes medications and found metformin. Metformin's function is to help your body better utilize the insulin that it already makes. A friend at work brought me a pamphlet from our local grocery chain, Publix, about a new diabetes care initiative their pharmacy was promoting. One of the things they were doing was providing free metformin to customers with prescriptions.
At the end of December 2010 I woke up, as usual, to my favorite morning radio show, Bob and Sheri. At the commercial break I heard an ad for a walk-in clinic that was offering a flat-rate fee for any new patient of $55. I am certain that the ad that played that morning is responsible for adding years to my life. In January I went to the clinic with my bloodwork results in hand and asked about whether or not I was a candidate for metformin. The doctor was surprised that I had been able to order my own bloodwork, and he ordered one final test to make sure that my kidney function hadn't been affected by the untreated diabetes. When I passed that test, he gave me the prescription for metformin. I was finally able to keep my blood sugar consistently below 200.
I went back for a follow-up visit in March, and I asked him an important question. I asked if I lost weight, did he think that the diabetes would go away. He said, unequivocally, that he believed it would. He didn't say that it would stay away forever, but that if I maintained a healthy lifestyle that it would be years (if ever) before I had to go back on medication. He also recommended that I start taking glyburide with the metformin. Glyburide forces the pancreas to create insulin. The danger of taking it is that your blood sugar can dip too low... not a sensation with which I was acquainted.
It has been a strange few months learning when to take the glyburide, and it has recently become more challenging as I've introduced significant exercise into my lifestyle. Exercise naturally lowers your blood sugar. There have been a few scary moments when I knew that my blood sugar was critically low because my muscles in my arms start to contract involuntarily. I usually drink something sugary to fix it immediately, but doing that always leaves me feeling sick. I'm pretty determined to just get rid of the diabetes altogether. Not having been successful on my own over the past year, however, I knew I'd have to do something to help myself get moving.
I sent out a call for help at the end of May to three of my female friends through Facebook. I've met two of them through work, and the other I met through my daughter (our kids are friends). I knew that each of them wanted to lose weight, so I suggested we have a little competition - from June 1st through August 31st - and we each put in $50. Whoever has lost the most weight by percentage at the final weigh-in takes the money. One of the ladies has a scale that measures both weight and percentage of body fat, and that has been a real blessing for me. I started on June 1st at 229.6lbs, and 44.0% body fat. Last Wednesday, June 22nd, I weighed 221.2lbs, with 41.5% body fat.
The weight is, by no means, falling off of me with any degree of ease. The first two weeks I modified my diet and lost about eight pounds. The last two weeks I've been counting calories and walking a lot more... I mean a LOT more. Since I started keeping track at http://www.sparkpeople.com/, I've walked over 37 miles. I'm getting up at 5:15am to get a 3.5-mile walk in before the sun comes up. I have to, otherwise I'll get heat stroke. It's HOT in Florida! I'm really looking forward to November when it cools off enough that I can walk at 7am instead of 5:30am. In a bizarre reaction, however, my body has been unwilling to part with the fat that I have packed onto it over the past 25 years. I am hopeful that, even if the weight isn't coming off, my body fat percentage will drop this week. Wish me luck!
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