A Diabetes Story

I turned to the online community to find out what I need to bring with me to my initial Endocrinologist appointment. My doctors are under the umbrella of one medical center which makes records easy to keep track of. This appointment was a consultation.  Even so, I wanted to be prepared.  I read that Endo's like to look at a record of your blood sugar numbers.  I keep track on a calendar / food log.  To prepare for the upcoming visit, I spent the weeks prior to meet my new team member testing / tracking 2 and 3 times a day.

I am a type 2 diabetic who uses medication, exercise and food plan for controlling my diabetes.  I was told one test a day is enough by my GP and Diabetes Educator suggested I track it twice a day.  I had digressed to the one time a day routine unless I was planning for an evening out or if I felt off.  I took the extra time to follow a.m. and p.m. numbers, with random blood testing before and after meals. The recording showed something I had not realized.  My morning numbers are always the highest numbers of the day unless, I eat carbs after the evening mea. Over the course of the 5 weeks, the averages stayed within target however, the morning numbers were getting higher. I was not doing anything differently.  I was eating right, testing, exercising daily.  I entered the numbers onto a chart and went to my appointment with chart and my monitor in case the doctor wanted to check it's record too. 


Since diagnosis, my medication regime was one 500 mg. tablet of Metformin twice a day.I take my diagnosis seriously. I exercise 30 minutes 5 times a week at least.  I record what I eat and I count my carbs.  I do not want to see complications from diabetes creeping up on me and stealing a single  moment of my life from me.  I have worked hard and done an excellent job of controlling my numbers, and losing weight.  I was told losing weight, watching  carbs, and exercising may eliminate my high BG numbers and make possible a reduction or elimination of medication. My sister and a good friend both were able to go off their medication within a year of their diagnosis.  I aimed to do the same thing.   Despite my "ideal' success story, my new team member prescribed an increase in the Metformin to get lower morning numbers. 

If I were to say I am not disappointed, it would not be true.  I am.  I will adjust to the disappointment in about the same length of time it will take for my stomach to adjust to the increased dosing.  In the mean time, I tell myself that I haven't done anything wrong.  It's not my "fault" and I believe that others will benefit if I speak my truth and let it be known that stuff happens.