Lil' Ole Diabeetus

When I first saw this picture on FB I couldn't stop laughing. The parody of the Lil' Debbie snacks stems from this commercial with Wilford Brimley and his Southern pronunciation of DIABETES... Little Debbie kinda looks like Wilford... Maybe only people with DIABEETUS get the joke.

I'm a diabetic. I was diagnosed at 16. At the time I was categorized as a :

Type II- Diet Controlled Diabetic.

Meaning if I was careful and controlled my diet I could control the disease.

I tried for a while but I was a teenager...I didn't want to do all the things that you have to do to manage diabetes.

Now I am a Type II- Insulin Dependent Diabetic.

I am 36 years old.

At 22 I wasn't surprised when my dr. told me I would have to start taking oral medication.

This time I got serious. My mom passed away months before due to complications of her diabetes. I didn't want that to happen to me.

I went to the my dr appointments. I checked and recorded my blood sugar levels.  I tried to watch what I ate.  Added walking to my daily routine. I lost the 50 pounds that I had gained after my mom died. Within a year I was doing really well.

Years passed...5 to be exact and I can say proudly that I was at the best state of managing the disease that I have ever been in.

Then I quit my job. It was unplanned so when I couldn't afford my COBRA payments I lost my health insurance.

Roughly the two years after that point is when damage was done to my body.

With no health insurance I wasn't taking my medication. Once I got back on my feet and had health insurance I went straight to the dr.

Oral meds weren't cutting it anymore. My pancreas was slowly burning itself out trying to make insulin for my body. As a teen my insulin needed some guidance.  As an adult my by needed insulin point blank.

I think many Type 2 diabetics will agree that the day you are told you have to go on insulin is kind of like being seen as a failure. Especially if you were trying your hardest to manage this disease.

Diabteeus is a shifty, silent disease.

Looking at the glass half full I am lucky that the damage done is the fact that my pancreas is slowly reaching "E" rather than having my kidney fail (like my mom), or trouble with my eyes, or poor circulation resulting in losing a limb.

Watching what I eat was never fun.  Yet I do it. Having to breakdown everything I eat  so

 



 

I can take the correct dose of insulin is hard.

Whipping out this



gets sooooo tedious.

Visiting my Endo either every 3 or 6 months to check my A1C levels. Going to the ophthalmologist to have my eyes dilated to check for nerve damage is annoying.

Being reminded that I lost my mom (far too soon) to this disease happens often.

All of the steps that I do, taking my oral meds, taking my short acting and long acting insulin, carrying hard candy in my purse for when my sugar is too low, reading  food labels and listening to my body, exercising when I wan can keeps me in control.

As long as I remain in control Lil' Ole Diabteeus will have a hard time taking control over me.

Until next time,

xo