You know - it's funny.
I like to educate myself. I practically have my pre-med degree from WebMD U., I read everything printed about diabetes, and consider myself quite astute in the study of the human spirit, but I HATE school. It's kind of like my doctor's office phobia. Today was no different.
That nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach reminded me of so many first days of school. The only difference was that today I would begin learning about how to control my diabetes. "If this class includes algebra, there's no way I'll pass" I thought as I pulled into the parking lot twenty minutes early.
As the classroom began to fill with 'students' I was amazed at the diversity. I assumed that I would be in a class filled with what was (in my mind) the stereotypical diabetic. First lesson learned. There is no stereotypical diabetic. My class looked more like NATO that a bunch of diabetics. Fat, thin, short, tall, moms, dads, twenty-somethings, seventy-somethings, couch potatoes, athletes - we were all there. (I fit into at least four of the categories.)
Our instructor, Trish, was a pleasant young lady, probably in her early thirties, who was also a diabetic. She gave us all a name tag (ugh), and then called us up for the weigh-in (UGH). Although she was slender now, I assume that she was obese at some point in her life as she knew how to properly execute the weigh-in. We went to the back of the room, one at a time, and mounted the scale. When she had obtained the correct weight she wrote it down on our chart. She then turned the chart around so we could see the number. No announcement, no fanfare, no bullhorn. Cool.
I was never a bad student, but I always had a problem with school - I had this feeling that my time would be better spent somewhere else. The topic of today's class was 'What IS diabetes'. "Here comes that feeling again. I already know what diabetes is. Can we please hurry this along?"
Thankfully, we didn't. Here is how Trish explained things:
When you have diabetes, it means that your blood glucose (sugar) levels are too high. Much of the food that we eat is turned into glucose when it is digested. The glucose is carried by your bloodstream to your cells and it is used for energy.
Your pancreas makes insulin. Insulin is like a doorman. When the glucose tries to enter your cells, it can't get in by itself. The doorman (insulin) has to open the door for it.
If you pancreas doesn't make enough insulin, or if your cells 'resist' the insulin, the glucose can't enter your cells. The glucose just hangs around in your bloodstream. This is when your blood glucose levels go up.
That is diabetes.
Hmmm. So it is starting to sound like all my years of debauchery didn't bring this on.
There are three types of diabetes: Type I, Type II, and Gestational. My experience is limited to type II, so that is what I am going to focus on here.
Type II diabetics can't properly use insulin. Our bodies 'resist' insulin. Our little pancreas's just work themselves to death producing insulin that our bodies then resist.
Ingrates.
Anyway, our pancreas gets tired of doing all this work for nothing and slows down production. That is why many type II diabetics need to take diabetes meds, and/or insulin injections - to help out the pancreas.
Wow! I thought I knew what diabetes was. After doing some work sheets, q&a, and discussion, class number one was over. That nervous feeling was gone. I had learned a lot. And believe it or not, I was looking forward to next week!
P.S. - Thanks to Dianne Salerni (Diannesalerni.blogspot.com) for the great interview! If you haven't done so, please check it out. Also, thanks to all of you who have left such wonderful comments. I am truly humbled.
