The Radical Rejection: Everything I've Been Told About Diabetes is Wrong

This is the book I'm currently reading:
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Nation-Hidden-Americas-Deadliest/dp/1401323448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315942041&sr=1-1
I freely admitt I haven't read the whole thing. I finished up the chapter on all the ways diabetes can kill a person and I was so depressed I had to read two werewolf novels to get my head back to normal.

The book is mainly about type 2 diabetes. I'm a type 1 diabetic. But still, it's full of useful information. The author, Jeff O'Connell is prediabetic. He maintains diet and exercise goes a long way in controlling the disease. In fact, he says those two simple things work better than any insulin or pill.

Of course, I was told I needed to eat right and exercise. I was given some guidelines set by the American Diabetic Association. I am allowed 15 grams of carbs in a serving and 45 grams of carbs in a meal. I was told as long as I stuck to this plan I would be healthy.

O'Connell eats less than 80 grams of carbs per day!

It seemed too little. I was told men need more carbs than women, thus the ADA allows men 20 carbs per serving and 60 carbs per meal. Wouldn't my sugar be too low?

I decided to experiment.

Stashing food in my purse just in case I had an emergency, I dramatically cut my carbs. And yes, my sugar did drop, but it was always before meals, in other words, about the time it would drop anyway. And how did I feel after a meal? Just fine.

Oh yeah, and I didn't need fast acting insulin for three days.

It's the lack of insulin shots that has me most excited. I've gotten used to jabbing myself with needle but I'd still rather not do it. You know, the whole freak thing- I don't like being reminded I am different.

If the diet was not the best thing for me, what else is wrong?

I was encouraged to attend the Diabetic Center near the hospital. My insurance paid for three classes dealing with the subject of diabetes. Afterwards, I went every two weeks to be counseled by nurses and dietitians.

I quit the counseling sessions.

It went like this- each time I saw someone different. Each person had a slightly different idea of what I needed to control my illness. Every two weeks, one of them would make a change in my insulin dosage.

Insulin is not something to fuck with. At least, not for me. Maybe other diabetics don't have this problem. But if I don't take the same dose at the same time every day I get sick as a dog. My stomach churns and I want to throw up so bad I don't know what to do. But I never vomit. I just feel nausea rolling up my throat and down again. It sometimes takes around, oh, say two weeks, for me to adjust. At which time another well-meaning nurse would urge me to up the dose.

Maybe the Diabetic Center would have worked for if I had seen the same person every time. As it was, I only liked one nurse and she had once been obese and had gestational diabetes. She understood the struggle with food, glucose testing, and low sugars. I'd like to think she looked at me and saw a person. Every one else saw a patient and some of them were giving me information 10 years out of date.

The book talks about how the medical profession is not prepared to deal with diabetes. In my personal experience, this is very true. My doctor's nurse and a Diabetic Center dietitian utterly forgot I was on two different kinds of insulin, and wanted me to take an excessive amount of NovoLog which lead to many a low sugar. The first emergency room doctor to discover I was diabetic diagnosed me as a type 2 based on my age. It was not until AFTER I got out of the hospital that my personal physician realized I was a type 1. The two types might have the same effects, but they are treated differently. In fact, there is a 'new type' of diabetes in which type 2's have the same problems as type 1's. I don't think there's a new type at all, I think a bunch of adults are being labeled wrong because even doctors forget type 1 is INSULIN DEPENDENT and type 2 is insulin RESISTANT.

In the hospital, I was put on a liquid diet. My first meal was Sprite, Jello, and a Popsicle. All loaded with sugar. I ate it and threw up. I didn't know any better but the hospital should have. My next tray was Sprite Zero, sugar-free Jello, and beef broth. Which wasn't much healthier. Why is a hospital serving soda and processed food? They gave me orange juice in the hospital. Orange juice is liquid sugar and a no-no for diabetics.

No one has told me how certain food will react with my body. No one has said if it is better to eat simple or complex carbs. I got a poster with meal suggestions, six meals in all. That's it? Shouldn't I have gotten a diabetic cookbook and a month's worth of menus?

No one has told me the long term effects of taking too much insulin. I know my body still produces some insulin on its own, but I don't know how much. I don't know if taking insulin every day will eventually cause my body to stop making its own insulin or not. If the whole problem is my body cannot produce enough, why aren't we trying to figure out how to increase my own natural insulin production?

This is the problem as I see it-

1. There is no one cause of diabetes. Like cancer, many factors COULD cause the illness. No one knows how many of the factors must come into play before disaster strikes.

2. There are simple steps to take to manage the illness. But diabetes is a full time job I didn't ask for, don't want, and can't quit. The disease is my whole life and I cannot forget about it. Ever.

3. Diabetes has time on its side. It works slowly, killing you for most of your life before you notice.

4. Type 1 is an autoimmune illness. There is no possible way to defend my body from itself. And it's just a little creepy knowing your own body is trying to kill you.

Those are just the problems with the illness itself. Some other problems are overworked doctors assuming you have brains enough to eat healthy, but not telling you what healthy eating is. Ditto with telling you to exercise, but not telling you what kinds of exercise to do. Information is lacking. One of the first things I learned was my sugar will skyrocket the day before my period. I tried to figure out why and if I should do something about it. I scoured the Internet and could not find one study about diabetic women and menstruation. There's plenty of information about pregnancy and diabetes, but nothing about the daily affects of diabetes on hormones. Nor did I find anything about a woman's sex drive and diabetes. And let me tell you, just prior to going into the hospital, I didn't want sex at all. Poor Kevin thought I was about to kick him to the curb; he was sure I'd found someone else. I guess the medical profession is still squeamish when it comes to talking openly about vaginas.

Actually, they don't seem to be talking about anything at all. No one told my emotions would go wild during a low sugar, that I could become irrational, terrified, or violent. No one said I'd feel tense and angry when my sugar goes too high. No one told me hungry doesn't mean low sugar. In fact, for me, low sugar means NOT hungry. No one told me my sugar will change in accordance with the weather. No one mentioned the headaches. No one warned me about waking up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding, dripping sweat, and not caring if I died, just wanting to go back to sleep.

If you think you can avoid my fate, think again. Diabetes has reached epidemic levels. I've heard everything from 7% to 12% of the American population is diabetic. Chances are, you know a diabetic.

Most people blame the food. We eat junk then lay around and watch tv. I don't think food is the sole cause, but I do know we could all benefit from changing our diets and getting off our asses. So, if you are interested, I will start posting menus each week. I'm poor, so my meals won't be expensive, another benefit to you. I try to eat seasonally, so there's a benefit for the earth-friendly minded. And if you want to know how I keep my flat stomach, I'll post that too.