GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…DIABETES #3: What Is Blood Sugar and What Does It RESPOND To??? PART 1

For the first times since I started this column eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me!

I was going to do something different, but I think I’m going to go after something incredibly perplexing to me…

So, after my visit with a Diabetes Educator, I got my monitor and have embarked on the diabetic adventure of poking myself with a sharp needle, bleeding and then “taking my blood sugar” at least once a day. Below, you’ll see a picture of the results:



Since I started doing the finger prick thing, I’ve gotten readings that range from 110 to 218. I know what the number MEANS (it’s bad because it’s lit up red on the monitor. It’s good if it’s green…) but apparently it depends also on the time of day, what you’ve eaten, and how much you’ve moved. So, I’m going to dig into it here, starting with the foundation and I’m personalizing it so my HEAD gets it:

“Insulin is a key player in developing type 2 diabetes…it regulates glucose in my body…Here are the high points:

The food I eat is broken down into glucose that enters my bloodstream. That happens in everyone all the time. That tells the pancreas to release insulin, which enters cells commanding them to use the glucose. Insulin signals the liver to store glucose. As the level of glucose in my blood goes down, the amount of insulin goes down, too. When the insulin levels go too far down, it alerts the liver to release stored glucose, so even if I haven’t eaten for a while, I don’t pass out from my cells starving. That’s when everything works smoothly.

My body is…I’d like to use a stronger expletive, but I’m trying to keep my blog G-Rated, so I’ll say…messed up. So, I go to the Minnesota State Fair and do what I’ve always done: “It’s fine! I only do this once a year! I’m walking a lot today! I’ll be fine!” Lots of glucose enters my bloodstream. My pancreas pumps out more insulin to get glucose into cells. After a while, my cells stop sucking in glucose. My pancreas releases MORE insulin, trying to force my cells to pick up more glucose. My pancreas can’t keep up, and the levels of glucose in my blood keep rising. The insulin is ALSO telling my liver and muscles to store glucose. When they’re stuffed full, my liver sends the glucose to FAT cells to be stored as (to be frank) FLAB. I’ve become insulin resistant, the new term is that I have impaired insulin sensitivity.

So, there’s glucose in my blood that should be going into my muscle cells, which gets shunted to FAT cells.

I got it.

Next, how much glucose is supposed to be in my blood? Well a fairly intensive search on the internet only cleared THAT question up enough to say, “It all depends”… There are a number of charts that show me what the “right amount of glucose in my blood should be”. I’m going to reference this one until/unless my doctor directs me to another one:

https://assets-global.website-files.com/622154d5a1d5c02e596f4511/62f2bee4de0117f1ec10c745_BloodGlucoseChart.jpeg

This might be old (2019), but it’s a really good summary of what I SHOULD be doing. I’ll dive into it in my next post: https://diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/ADV_2019_Consumer_Nutrition_One%20Pager.pdf

So, farewell for the next two weeks. I’ll be posting again on November 27 – appropriately three days after Thanksgiving!

Resource: https://diabetes.org/, (for a MUCH deeper look at several studies that used constant glucose monitoring to track data, go here: https://www.levelshealth.com/blog/what-should-my-glucose-levels-be-ultimate-guide#:~:text=Summary%20Of%20Normal%20Glucose%20Ranges&text=Glucose%20levels%20between%2070%2D120,of%2081%2D102%20mg%2Fdl), “Nutrition Therapy” sounds fancy, but in the end, it means “eating right” https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/42/5/731/40480/Nutrition-Therapy-for-Adults-With-Diabetes-or

Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg