Editor’s Note: Today we are running a guest column from S. Kathryn Lane, who is kind enough to share her personal diagnosis and diabetes care experience with us. Her column tackles an issue many of us living with diabetes worry about. While Diabetes News Hound typically focuses on news, we thought this article would benefit our readers. Please let us know what you think.
I was traveling for business in Europe four years ago. I was traveling, alone. While in Nice it appeared that I was bitten by an insect. Above my eyebrow, this “bite” began to itch and by the time I arrived in Rome three days later, had morphed into an unpleasant burning, tingling bump. Three dermatologists misdiagnosed it as an insect bite and pumped me full of cortisone; orally, by injection and with a topical cream. Turns out I had shingles.
By the time I returned to the US, it also turned out, I was told, that the large amount of cortisone had activated a gene for Type 2 diabetes. Who knew that when people said my father had high blood sugar, they actually meant he was a diabetic. He didn’t seem to know and no one passed this tidbit on to me! Nevertheless my glucose was 213. It had been 90. So, diabetes is a sneaky disease, I learned.
Having been a sugar-hound my entire life, the idea of giving it up became surprisingly easy. For
me it was about, and continues to be about, creative visualization. A month after my diagnosis and still really angry about this turn of events, I went for a pedicure. While in my seat I noticed a middle-aged, overweight, woman come into the salon, using a cane. She looked to be a little older than me, but really looked “older.”
The pedicurist was taking special care with her, seating her carefully and then bent down to remove the woman’s shoes and socks. I thought “wow, how sweet they’re being to her,” until I saw her feet! At first I wasn’t sure of what I was seeing, but as my eyes adjusted I realized the woman only had two toes on one foot and three on the other. It was difficult to look at.
In great deference to anyone reading this who has suffered a similar fate, I want to say I am truly sorry. But please know that this woman was such an inspiration in my life. I looked at her disfigured feet, assumed, and perhaps incorrectly, that this woman had diabetes. I knew about some of the more extreme potential consequences of the disease, which includes amputations of extremities. It scared me.
I promised myself that the next time I was tempted to eat something sweet, I would remember this. Four years later my AIC is usually between 5.8 and 6.2, my glucose between 90 and 130.
People, celebrating with birthday cakes, often say to me “one bite won’t hurt you,” but they don’t realize that it might. One bite, with no consequences, could lead to several bites with consequences. I don’t want to risk getting derailed from my healthy eating routine. I say no. For me, this works.
I have also made sure to take care of my feet. I avoid tight-fitting shoes that might cause blisters and I see a podiatrist once a year. I also use a line of creams designed for diabetic concerns from Triderma.
The company provides free sample packs to anyone who is curious about the products. To get one, click here. If you like it, the site has agreed to offer a discount to customers of Diabetes News Hound until the end of the year.
(Diabetes News Hound does not have a business relationship with TriDerma, nor does it receive any form of compensation from the company.)
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This entry was posted
on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 4:33 pm by Chris Frankie and is filed under Gestational Diabetes, Pre Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 1.5 (LADA) Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes.
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