Life Updates: My Diabetic Story, Career Transition, and Content Creation
A lot has been going on for me, and I wanted to give you a look into what is going on.
First things first, I did a video a while back about some health problems that I was having. I was having some strange Premature Ventrical Contractions that took me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist was concerned about my high blood pressure and my cholesterol and triglycerides. Not wildly uncommon for someone in my demographic. I was put on two blood pressure medicines and two statins. The first statin gave me horrible leg pains, to the point where I couldn't even walk up and down stairs, so I was put on a different Statin mix that I tolerated a little better.
The blood pressure medicine made me retain a bunch of water, to the point where I was getting really bloated and my clothes didn't fit right, so I was put on a diuretic/blood pressure combo in addition to the original blood pressure medicine I was on. I also had a high A1C reading of 6.8, which isn't off the charts, but puts you in the range of the start of diabetes. Below 6 is where they like it to be. This tests kind of give you a sense of your average blood glucose numbers over a period of time, but to fully diagnose you with diabetes, they like to have a second confirming test.
So fast forward several months and I am having issues with what I believe to be the diuretic. Thirsty all the time, peeing several times during the night. Eventually, it got so bad, I was drinking 4 gallons of water a day and peeing 4-5 times at night and pretty much non-stop and with great urgency during the day. I had also lost about 16 pounds in just a few weeks. My vision had also been getting really bad, but I just chalked that up to needing a new prescription.
So it comes time to take another A1C test before an appointment. This time the test cam back at 13.2, which is kind of off the charts. I knew this was something concerning, because both my Cardiologist and my primary care physician called me right away, which never happens these days. My Primary care physician wanted to get me on insulin and get me to an endocrinologist right away, but I suggested that it was such a big jump that I should take the A1C test again again, because it was too big of a jump. So I asked for Metformin to get started and a glucose test kit.
So I got that, I started taking the Metformin and I tested my blood, which was in the 300s fasting. For reference you are supposed to be in the 70-100 range. That's when I realized I might have some issues.
I messaged my doctors saying that we may need to be more aggressive with the treatment, but later that night, before anyone was able to get back to me, my blood sugar went up to 485. People had been telling me that if my glucose gets over 400 I should go straight to the hospital, so I got my wife out of bed and had her drive me, even though I was feeling OK oddly. At the hospital, they took one look at my blood work and they told me I wasn't going home.
I was there for 3 days while they got everything under control. Lots of blood tests, finger sticks and insulin 4+ times a day.
So now I am out, my numbers are much better, and I haven't had to be as aggressive with the treatment. The great news is that fixing the diabetes, seems to have fixed the high blood pressure, the vision, the peeing and the high triglycerides.
Now I didn't have to make many life changes, I have long been a pescatarian, and had a generally low-carb diet. I miss my apples, grapes and bananas, but I am doing good with other things and I am using the Truvia, brown sugar substitute in my tea, which is a nice change from all the sugarless tea I had been drinking.
So if anyone wants to be my dia-buddy, I am open.
Truvia Brown Sweetener: https://amzn.to/3yYKvT2
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