What is this??
After many years of having a blog under my name, I’ve decided to go anonymous for this one. The reason for this is mainly I just want someplace I don’t have to censor myself. In my other blogs, I always said that I would write what I wanted but then something very personal would come to mind and I’d think about friends and family reading it and never write it, and eventually, the blog would go stale and I’d stop altogether. Hopefully, with this one, I can find the freedom to write what I want to.
In that vein, I was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. It wasn’t really a surprise to get that diagnosis given the amount of junk I ate with no exercise. I’ve tried over the years to get my health under control and would do well for a few weeks, maybe a few months but I’d always slide back into the old habits. This time is different. I hate to be that cliche but the consequences of diabetes are dire and very, very scary to me. It’s been almost a month since my diagnosis and since then I’ve stopped eating fast food, junk food, candy bars, and most sugar and all soft drinks. This was done cold turkey and while the first week or so was pretty bad with cravings and headaches I’ve settled nicely into a routine of buying and cooking healthy foods like fish, turkey, chicken, lots of veggies, hummus, and other diabetic-friendly foods. My insurance company sent me a glucose monitor which arrived after that first week and I’m happy to say that every time I’ve checked my glucose it has been within the normal range of <140 two hours after eating and <99 fasting. In the span of a month, I’ve gone from someone who almost cried at the thought of having to do one finger stick a day to someone who has to stop themself from multiple sticks a day just for the data points. I have been checking after some meals just to get an idea of a baseline for me and so far, so good.
Something else I’ve been doing is regular exercise. I know the benefits of regular exercise but it seems like in my process of starting and stopping I just forget how much better I feel. My mind is clearer, I have more energy and my blood pressure, which was also high at my last Dr’s visit, has been within a normal range since I started tracking it. Having a way to monitor my progress via glucose and bp checks is very motivating to me. I am fully aware of the line between “good data points” and obsessing over it and I’m very aware of not crossing that line.
I think this blog is going to be very good for me as this post has just flowed out of me. I’ve only told a few people about my diabetes diagnosis since it’s something I feel like is completely self-inflicted but I think this will give me a great outlet to just get what’s rattling around inside my head out.
Talk soon.