Week One With Diabetes

How did we find out?

Six months ago my wife and I decided it was about damn time we got life insurance. To do this we had to have some blood tests run. When everything was said and done we both were covered, but I ended up in a higher risk group and paying more. It turned out the blood results came back showing extremely high triglycerides. At that time they were around 900; normal triglyceride counts are below 150. Something was wrong!

So I went to the physician and they ran more tests and put me on Gemfibrozil to help lower my triglycerides.

Over the last few months though I continued to feel more and more tired, have begun urinating with greater and greater frequency, been extremely thirsty, and am starting to have problems with blurred vision.

All of those symptoms are classic of diabetes. So this past Monday I went back in to have more blood work. Tuesday the doctor's office called and told me my FBG (fasting blood glucose) came back at 260 and my triglycerides were still way up at 825. The nurse then told me that I was diabetic and that I needed to get in asap to see the doctor.

Wednesday morning Chelsea and I went in to see the doctor. He ordered more blood work and a urinalysis. This time they were going to test for my A1C count; this is a test to determine what your average blood glucose levels are for about the last three months. My mother is also hypothyroid which can cause out of control triglycerides, so upon my request they were also going to screen me for my thyroid as well. The doctor prescribed Metformin for the diabetes and more Gymfibrozil for the triglycerides.

The doctor had a horrible bedside manner though; he told us at great length how both of his parents had died from complications of diabetes, that since I wasn't overweight there probably wasn't much I could do to change things, and that since my triglycerides were so high "your blood will turn to sludge, your pancreas will give out, and you will die" is how he put it. Chelsea was in tears, and I was not in the best shape either to say the least!

Wednesday evening the doctor's office called and said that my TSM count was at 12, so I am also hypothyroid and another prescription was called in for Levothyroxine.

What we've started doing

Since then we have been reading as much as we can to learn about controlling diabetes, and making changes to our diet as we are learning. I also signed up on diabetes.org and have visited the forums there so I can discuss with other people that have similar health issues. Everyone there has been very informative.

I purchased several books on diabetes, "Diabetes for Dummies", "Type 2 Diabetes The First Year", and "Diabetes Food Carbohydrate & Fat Gram Guide" to start off.

Chelsea has been googling all kinds of information and she also setup an appointment with an internist/endocrinologist for later this month.

I already started exercising at the gym several weeks ago, and will continue that. Chelsea is going to join the gym as well to help keep me on track.

We are starting to eat more white meats and vegetables and so far I have cut out any types of sweets or processed foods like chips, crackers, etc... and caffeine. Cutting out caffeine is the hardest part for me. I am so addicted that I have had a caffeine headache for the past 3 days.

For breakfast this morning I had an omega 3 egg scrambled with spinach, onion, and cheddar with a glass of soymilk. We read that soymilk was better than real milk when you have diabetes, but I wasn't sure how well I would be able to take that. Surprisingly, the soymilk isn't bad. It is slightly on the sweet side, but it will definitely be one of the easier adjustments.

More to come...