Diabetes Lottery

To Drink Or Not To Drink? THAT Is The Question!

After last week's post, I was asked a VERY important question, and I think it should be addressed immediately.  The question posed was:  What about alcohol?

It's funny that I was asked that question, because (of course) I asked the same thing.  Here is what I was told.

Carbohydrate contents:

12 oz. Beer - 15 grams

12 oz. Light Beer - ~ 7.5 grams

1 oz. Liqueur - 15 grams

3 1/2 oz. Dessert Wine (Sherry) - ~15 grams

5 oz. Dry Red or White Wine - negligible

1 1/2 oz. Distilled Spirits - 0 grams.

WHAT???!!!  Did I hear that right?  Beer has carbs.  Light beer has carbs. Liqueur has carbs. Dessert wines have carbs.  Red and white wine have a little bit.  But whiskey?  Bourbon, gin, vodka, rum - ZERO????   YEEEHAAAA!  Booker's Manhattan here I come!

Not quite so fast cowboy.  It is true that distilled spirits have zero carbs, and we all know that carbs are the enemy.  The problem is - distilled spirits actually LOWER your blood sugar.

At this point in the discussion, my brain was going so fast I was hoping no one would notice the wisps of smoke coming from my ears.  

Wow - I think she just said that I can cure my high blood sugar by drinking bourbon!  My blood sugar will be 0 by Saturday afternoon!

Here's the deal.  If you are a diabetic (hyperglycemic), you need to lower and control your blood sugar.  But not TOO low (less than 70 mg/dL).  If your sugar goes too low, (hypoglycemic) you run the risk of passing out, going into a seizure, a coma, or even death.  Drinking too much alcohol could cause your blood sugar to go too low.

I know what you're thinking.  Drinking too much can cause me to pass out?  Thanks for the tip Sherlock!  I thought that was the goal.

I can deal with the passing out part.  Been there, done that. It's the seizures, coma and death part that worries me.  Are diabetics more susceptible to the more negative outcomes of over-imbibing  than non-diabetics?  The teacher didn't say.  But let's just use our heads here.  If you are taking meds to help lower your blood sugar, and drinking alcohol in excess, I think it's safe to assume your risk is greater.  And please notice I said 'in excess'.  Over the last eleven months I have certainly not been a saint.  I have had cocktails on more than one occasion.  Just not in excess.  

The other thing you need to know are the warning signs of low blood sugar.  Diabetics know the signs of high blood sugar all too well.  But I can assure you, I've never been the low blood sugar type, and had no idea what the symptoms were.  When our teacher told us the symptoms, I realized that I have a lot of them on a daily basis.

The symptoms of low blood sugar are:

Sweaty or clammy

Irritability

Weak, lightheaded or shaky

Confusion and Hunger

Well that pretty much sums up how I felt after every night of drinking I've ever had.  

If you are diabetic, you need to pay closer attention to what your body is telling you.  If you have any of these feelings, you should test your glucose.  That is, of course, assuming that you are weird enough to carry your meter and test strips out for a night on the town.  (I would love to tell you that I am, but that would be a lie.)  If you have any of these feelings, you need to treat yourself for hypoglycemia.  How do you do that Bob?  Glad you asked.

Remember the "Routine 15".  If you feel that your glucose is low, you should test your glucose, but whether you've tested or not, eat or drink 15 grams of carbs.  A half of a regular soda, a half cup of orange juice, a cup of milk, or two or three hard candies will do the trick.  In fifteen minutes, you should test again. If you are still low, take in another 15 grams.  If you do this three times, and you are still low, you should call your doctor or 911.  This is not the time to fool around.

Here's one of what I will refer to as 'Uncle Bob's Rules of Thumb':  

Don't be stupid.  

If I am invited to have cocktails, I'm in - every time.  There was a day when I could settle in with a nice bottle of bourbon and spend the evening.  As Stevie Ray Vaughn used to say, "livin' life by the drop."  But that was yesterday. Today it is much more important to me to be healthy.  A couple of cocktails  and then just sit around and laugh at the people who are way too intoxicated.  It's actually quite enjoyable.

So, kids...  What have we learned today?

The world has not ended.  You can still enjoy cocktails... just don't be stupid and you'll be fine.  

I'm tired of typing now.  Think I'll have a drink...  

What To Do? What To Do?

At first, of course, learning that I was diabetic was disconcerting to say the least.  After meeting with Dr. Jim however, I honestly felt that I would be able to handle it.  Dr. Jim gave me a basic understanding of what I should start doing immediately - the exact opposite of what I had been doing for 45 years. 

Dr. Jim explained that I needed to start an exercise program, control what I eat (notice I didn't say diet), and check my blood sugar regularly.  He was kind enough to give me a glucose monitoring kit and showed me how to use it.  It is a pretty benign looking apparatus; a little spring loaded needle, and a handheld monitor.  Prick your finger, touch the ensuing drop of blood to the test strip, and in 5 seconds you have your results.  The snapping noise that the needle makes is a little nerve racking to this day, but it's no big deal.  Glucose monitoring - handled.

I wouldn't say I was ever a sedentary person.  I love being in the outdoors.  I live on 5 1/2 acres, so there is always yard work to be done.  I coached grade school football.  I coached lacrosse.  When I wasn't doing that I was playing football or lacrosse with my kids in the backyard.  Oh yeah - I have a job too.  But even with that schedule, I still found time to watch television.  Lots of television. 

Exercise for the sake of exercising was never my favorite thing to do.  My wife and my sister-in-law run together.  Five miles a day.  Four days a week minimum.  At 5:00 in the morning.  She has been kind enough over the years to invite me to join them.  YEAH, RIGHT.   If I were going to list all of the things I would be interested in doing at 5:00 in the morning, getting out of my warm bed to run 5 miles wouldn't make the top ten thousand.  So I decided to keep up my walking.

After thoroughly depressing myself by learning that I was only physically capable of walking five tenths of a mile in thirty two minutes, I decided to make it a competition.  I would walk for thirty minutes every day and try to go a little further each day.  Please note that I said every day.  Over the top as usual.  If it was raining, I walked in the rain.  If it was snowing, I walked in the snow.  One time the snow was too deep to walk, so I walked laps around my basement for thirty minutes.  Swear to God.  If anyone had seen me they would have had me committed.  Every day without fail.  I started to notice that I was able to walk faster and further on an almost daily basis.  Sometimes, if I was feeling particularly froggy, I would jog part of the way.  By making it a competition, I found I was actually starting to enjoy it.  Being physically able to push myself to go faster and further than yesterday motivated me.  I don't know how far I walked and I don't care.  As long as it was further that yesterday I was happy.

Then I got an i-pod.  Yeah, I know.  I walked for three months in silence.  I'm not very tech savvy.

My oldest son loaded it up with "motivational music".  Hard core rock and roll.  I tried to keep time to the music with my footsteps.  It got to the point that I was actually looking forward to walking.  Who AM I?   Exercise - handled. 

It probably didn't hurt that I was starting to notice that my clothes were getting baggy.  Quite baggy actually.  The number on the scale kept getting smaller and smaller.  And people were starting to notice.  It's really comical actually, to see someone you haven't seen for a while after losing a considerable amount of weight.  You can tell they notice, but they don't know if they should say anything or not.  People would ask my wife, "Is Bob O.K.?  He's lost so much weight!  Is he sick?" 

A word of advice here.  When this happens to you, (notice I didn't say if) DO NOT reply to this question by saying "(insert name here) was diagnosed with diabetes."  This always makes people's eyes glaze over, grasp your hand or shoulder, and say "I'm SOOOOO sorry to hear that."  Now you're diseased.  Probably going to die.  Water cooler conversations begin with, "Did you hear about Bob?"  And trust me, bad news (perceived or otherwise) travels fast.

"DIET AND EXERCISE."  This is the correct answer.  People will look at you with admiration as opposed to pity.  You're not really dieting, but that'll be our little secret.

I was most concerned with this 'controlling what you eat' thing.  I am not a meat and potatoes kind of guy.  I am a meat and carbohydrates kind of guy.  I always thought the food pyramid consisted of meat, bread, chocolate, bakery items, and gravy.  I am sad to report that it does not.

Dr. Jim summed it up for me. (Imagine that.)

Cut way back on the carbs, increase the veggies.  WAY more on this later, but that was a beginning.  He also told me to go to the local hospital for diabetes education classes.  I can't recommend this enough.  There is too much you need to know and understand about this disease that will make your life easier to ever try to figure out on your own.

Controlling what you eat - handled (kind of)...

P.S. Just in case you are as tech-challenged as I am, you can follow this blog on Facebook, (Bob Abernethy) Twitter, (SalsLaxDad) or by clicking the 'follow' link on the sidebar.  Who knew?

Answers To Questions I Didn't Ask

First Things Third

Let me take a step back for a second and do what I should have done on my first post - the disclaimer. 

I am not a doctor.  I watch 'House'every week,  have access to WebMD, and dabble in self-diagnosis, but I am NOT a doctor.  The opinions I share on this blog, the programs I will describe, and the treatment I am taking, work for me.  That doesn't mean it will work for you.  I am not suggesting that you do what I have done, eat what I have eaten, or follow my exercise routine.  It may not even be possible for you to do so.  These babblings are just my experiences, and who knows - maybe they will help. 

I decided to write this blog because I have been pretty successful in dealing with my diabetes (so far) and I know firsthand how confusing the deluge of information can be. Just follow along, and I think you'll see that we have alot in common, and my experiences may help you.

As our relationship progresses, you will find that my attitude towards diabetes my be quite different than yours, (or anyone else's for that matter).  I hope you will adopt my attitude.  It may, at times, seem as though I am taking this disease lightly.  This may hurt your feelings.  If it does, please accept this as my blanket apology.  I realize what a terrible disease this can be.  I realize that some people (TypeI diabetics) can only manage their diabetes.  I realize that some people can't, because of physical limitations or otherwise, get their diabetes under control.  But I also realize that the vast majority of Type II diabetics can get their diabetes under control, and I believe, can beat it. 

So...

You may or may not have noticed that when I searched my Blackberry for diabetes information, I looked for causes, symptoms, and treatments.  I never read the complications that diabetes can cause.  I'm good like that.  Whenever I have a problem I only want to know two things.  Why do I have this problem, and how do I make it go away?  I think it is counter-productive to focus on the complications that may or may not happen, and to be quite honest, I don't really want to know.

Dr. Jim recently moved into a new office.  It's actually really nice, but it's still a doctors office.    Sitting in a room full of sick people is not my idea of a good time.  I know I'm their because I'm sick too, but they're surely sicker, and I don't want whatever it is that they've got.  Thankfully, It didn't take long for me to get to the thing I dread most about a doctors visit:  the weigh-in.

I know that the doctor needs to know how much you weigh but wouldn't it be easier to just ask?  The scale is not a friend of the fat guy.  "Two hundred and fifty two pounds" screamed the nurse in a voice that I'm sure has had operatic training.  People in the Starbucks down the street heard her.  I put my head down and sprinted into the examining room in hopes that no one would see who the freakishly fat guy was.

In the safety of the examining room I exhaled.  It's more difficult than you may think to try to suck your gut in and sprint.  I wiped the beads of nervous perspiration from my brow and waited for Dr. Jim.

As I have previously stated, I like Dr. Jim.  Our kids go to school together, we both coached for the grade-school football team, and he's just an all-around good guy.  That's why I like him as a person.  The reason I like him as a doctor is that he doesn't over-react, he doesn't over-diagnose, and he tells you like it is.  LOVE IT. 

Dr. Jim entered the room and we exchanged pleasantries.  "I'm sure you have alot of questions but let me try to just give you this thing in a nutshell" he said.  "You can do what I tell you, and you will live out the rest of your life with very little, if any, problems.  Or you can keep living like you've been living, and after you go blind, I'll have to cut your legs off."

O.K.  That may not be a direct quote, but that was what I heard.

I don't know about you, but everyone always seems to tell you to change your ways, or you're going to die.  Quit smoking or it'll kill you.  Lose weight or your gonna die young.  That, I can live with (no pun intended).  Dead is dead.  And dead is a consequence that we are all going to face eventually anyway.  Misbehavior may bring it a little faster, but it's coming regardless.

Had Dr. Jim told me that I should change my ways or I would die, I'm sure I would have taken his advice for a while.  But eventually, I'm afraid I would have adopted the attitude that "Everyone's gonna die anyway", and lost interest.

In my humble opinion however, suffering should be avoided at all cost.  Blind with no legs?  Not for this cowboy. 

"You tell me exactly what to do and I'll do it to the letter."

"Then," said Dr. Jim, "we've got this covered."  

Until Next Time:

I will, from time to time, put links on my blog.  These are links to things I find either really cool, really helpful, or really entertaining. 

Look on the sidebar and you will see a link for the book, We Hear The Dead, by Dianne Salerni.  Dianne is actually my cousin, and a tremendously talented author.  I found We Hear The Dead very entertaining, and I'm not alone.  She is now working on the screenplay, so I'm hoping to see this story come to life on the big screen in the future.  Highly recommended read.

Type II Diabetes: The First Year, by Gretchen Becker takes you through your first year as a diabetic, and will certainly answer any medical questions you may have about this disease.  I found it very helpful.

And who doesn't think the i-Pad is cool?