I haven’t posted on this poor ol’ diabetes centered blog in ages – but WordPress blogs use this identity for when I comment and I think that confuses people.  Please feel free to come visit me at zazamataz.com where I babble about other things but still post occasionally about diabetes.

I know I haven’t been posting as planned…… the best laid plans, etc. I’m going to try to get back in the habit, at least, of posting things that have caught my eye during the week. And then maybe I’ll start posting personal stories again. You never know!

A good place to start for what’s happening around the diabetes online community is Around the Diabetes Blogosphere at DiabetesMine. Allison provides links to many great posts from May.

I never miss Wil’s column on Sundays Ask D’Mine. You can also find him on Sharecare. Will has a lot of great information.

Our friend Scott always has something interesting to say. Check out his Vlog on JDRF Advocacy!

In the news:

Drinking Diet Soda Doesn’t Raise Diabetes Risk. I’ve been saying this for years. The conclusion is that most people who drink diet soda are overweight (that’s why they drink diet) and that increases risk for type 2 diabetes. The claims that diet soda makes you fat has always felt like claiming that aspirin causes headaches to me. Not that too much of anything is probably good for you.

Low Vitamin D levels have been linked with type 2 Diabetes. Interesting, but the study concludes that “The best ways to reduce [type 2] diabetes risk are still to exercise and eat a healthy diet.”

Poor Sleep is linked to High Insulin Resistance in Diabetics. Poor sleep is the cause of everything bad lately. As someone with chronic insomnia, this strikes a chord with me. Everything is worse when I’m not sleeping. “In fact, restoring a healthy amount of sleep may be as powerful an intervention as the drugs currently used to treat type 2 diabetes.” Very, very interesting.

And finally, found via Twitter #diabetes: Man Celebrates 85 years of living with Diabetes. Imagine all the changes in diabetes care that have occurred in this man’s lifetime!

Yes, I didn’t get around to writing the last two posts of the week. I’m a bit stymied by the idea of photographing diabetes. I like what Scott did with the assignment and I enjoyed Minnesota Nice’s Vlog post. I really couldn’t think of anything original for me.

What’ve I learned? Oh, over the years, so many things. That there is no right answer. That what diabetes means in my life is not the same as what it means in your life. That what works for you is not the same thing that works for me. That my challenges are not your challenges, your triumphs are not mine. That diabetes is, in some ways, different for every person it affects.

And that we have a lot in common. Many of us really struggle with food issues to the point that we are obsessed and in denial and guilty when we eat. Scott and I have talked about this over the years and it seems that diabetes comes with an eating disorder attached. There probably ought to be a special name for it. Many of us struggle with depression. I think part of that is the whole stress and lifestyle of diabetes and part of it is chemical – caused by the changes in our bodies. All of it sucks. That we all have fears. My greatest fear is for my eyesight. Your greatest fear may be something else entirely. But we are bound by a fear of things we don’t have complete control over – and who isn’t?

There are bunches and bunches of blogs and posts I have not had time to read this week. Keep the link. They are worth exploring.

“Today let’s put a twist on that topic and focus on the good things diabetes has brought us.”

Really, what is there to say? The best thing is the friends.

So here’s to those folks I’ve known only because of diabetes.

Phatz, Fenney, Wolfer, Starr, Marie —- the old DHT crowd along with Eve, Buddy, Kara, oh and so many others from Wednesday night chat.

To Minnesota Nice, Scott, Nicole, Major Bedhead, and all the many bloggers from the DOC.

I knew it was a mistake starting to name names. There are far too many. Love you all!

In no sort of order…. (and possibly to be added to when I get home tomorrow)

• Guilt – I hate feeling guilt and anxiety about everything I eat. I hate feeling that I, at least to some extent, brought this on myself. I hate feeling guilty that there are so many people in the world with so much worse problems and I should just shut up and stop complaining. Have too much to eat? At least I have something to eat at all.




• Uncertainty – This has actually been a bigger issue at times since the lap-band. Food takes longer to get through my stomach and will therefore hit me at odd times – much like gastroparesis. The biggest time this is a problem, however, is when I’m having a low and that’s not a problem right now.




• Lows – Doesn’t everyone hate them? You think as someone with type 2 that lows are not that much of an issue – and to be honest, they are no where near the issue that they are with someone with type 1. But, when my control is tight, lows are an issue.




• The fact that it affects children and other creatures who can’t even tell you what’s wrong – Not sure quite how this fits here but I was thinking this morning that the hardest time I ever had with diabetes was when my cat was diabetic. Poor Charlie was ravenous when high and refused to eat when low. And you can’t just poke his finger so insulin was a guessing game and involved running to the store late and night to buy karo syrup to force down his throat with a big (needle-less) syringe because he was clearly really low and would not eat. I can empathize at least some with parents of small children with diabetes. Diabetes sucks but at least as adults we have some control over our behavior and ability to manage much of it.




• Insulin Resistance – the hallmark of type 2, insulin resistance means that if I eat a high carb meal I crash – literally – a couple hours later. There is no bolusing to cover the meal. There is simply a monster nap attack which is really inconvenient when driving. I really need to never eat a bunch of carbs at a time. I so love carbs.




• Fear – Goes along with guilt, I guess. I’m doing a bad job managing things like carbs at the moment. I worry about what I’m doing to myself long term when I’m behaving like this. My eyes – oh my eyes are my greatest fear. Shouldn’t I be the most motivated person in the world to control my blood sugars?




• Depression – Depression goes hand and glove with diabetes. I think it’s a combination of all the stress and work of caring for a chronic disease, the other chronic conditions that go along with diabetes, and a chemical issue caused by the diabetes itself. I have enough going on in my life to not need to deal with that extra chemical piece, thank you very much.

Is that 10? No – but I have to get moving. Be back tomorrow morning and maybe I’ll add to it then!

Bloopers? Funny things with my diabetes? I don’t know. My mistakes pretty much center on eating too much. I’ve had a few wild lows caused by eating too much and thinking – gee, my blood sugar is high I think I’ll take a glyburide (which I’ve been off a couple years). It isn’t really that funny or creative a story.

So, I was looking at one of the alternative topics for today. Did you know I used to write a lot of poetry? I did! But I’ve never turned my rhymes toward diabetes and that was what I was going to try…. maybe by the end of the week. What’s tomorrow anyway? I’m out of town so that’s going to be late.

Dear Dr. G&P,

When I first came to see you, I felt so helpless and out of control. My blood sugar and a1c kept going up no matter what I did – or at least that’s the way I felt. You were right from the beginning so very understanding and supportive. I’ve never felt judged or put down by you. You always recognized my efforts even when I felt I was failing.

When I started improving, I think you were even more excited than me. You peeked at the results, you said, before even talking with me because you wanted to know how much my a1c had come down.

And then, when I started slipping, you were still there for me. You told me that you understood, that you knew it was hard. All you asked was that I try. And I do, but it’s been such a hard few months. I’m a little sad to see you but I know you will still support me.

In fact, you’ve gone further than seems fair to expect from my endo. You know my dad, you’re doing what you can to help me with that. You’ve made referrals and written prescriptions for things that are not related directly to my diabetes. You seem concerned about me as a person. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you.

D-Blog week was started last May by Karen at Bitter-Sweet and I totally missed it. I’ve seen some posts popping up today and although I’m recovering from food poisoning, I’d like to get involved. Besides, I missed all of April and there was so much I was going to link to and write about…

Here are some of my favorite bloggers take on D-Blog week:

From Kerri at Six Until Me

From Abby at Six Until Me

From Minnesota Nice at Purple Haze

From Amy T at Diabetes Mine

It’s kind of funny, that the first day’s post topic is Admiring our Differences. When I first got involved with the Diabetes Online Community, it was through MSN Chat and Communities. This was a while ago…… um…… 2001 maybe? At that time we never talked about differences. Of course we knew there were differences in Type 1 and Type 2, the way they are treated, how they are – well caused isn’t really the right word but you know what I mean. We were one community. I got drafted into a kind of leadership role and learned a lot about both types of diabetes – though I still get surprised sometimes by things I don’t know. Funny because I joined that group originally to learn. I had recently been diagnosed and didn’t have much of a clue. It was a good thing – lasting friendships came out of Wednesday Night Chat. God, Fenney and Wolfer were two of the funniest people I ever met and they made diabetes seem kind of fun.

MSN kind of exploded, the whole group and chat structure changed and I moved into the blogging world. It was such a different world. I was shocked by the animosity between some people with type 1 and others with type 2. I understand a little better now where some of the anger and frustration comes from but in the beginning, I was just hurt. I already blamed myself in large part for my diabetes and to read what some people had to say about that was much more isolating than inclusive. But there were (and are) others who I continued to read and learn more about their world with diabetes.

Admire? Oh yes. There are a lot of similarities in what we have to do to maintain our health and a lot of differences. There are times I just absolutely suck at doing the things I need to do and as a type 2, I can get away with that for a period of time. It just isn’t smart of me. I watch as some of my favorite bloggers struggle with their blood sugars, testing and bolusing and constantly on diabetes patrol. I was facing the possibility a few years ago of going on short-acting insulin since at the time, I was pretty out of control. The thing that scared me the most was whether I would be strong enough to constantly test, seriously count my carbs, and really, really pay attention. So yes, I seriously admire those with type 1 who are fighting the dragon.

I’m way behind on posting here – even linking to interesting diabetes posts around the web. Have I been slacking? Well, yeah, but I have been dealing with a very sick computer that didn’t want to run any programs or even load web pages. It really would have helped to not have to send the new computer back and wait for the new new computer – but it came on Friday. Yay for speed and processing and the willingness to open webpages.

I spent the weekend trying to get everything I use reinstalled. It’s rather nice not to have all the crap “free” programs that Dell installed on my old system. There are a few crap programs I need to uninstall including Office 2010 since I already own Office 2007 and see not real need to upgrade despite the commercials. I’m having some issues with a few programs not running correctly and need to reinstall them before crying to tech support types.

So, a lot of my time has been devoted to sick computer and new computer. Soon, I hope, I will get back to posting here and elsewhere.

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