Diabetic

Intro

      First, let's get something straight. This is not all about me complaining about having diabetes. This is for me to tell you about diabetes and my life with it. Sure, there are downsides that definitely suck, and i will address those, but it is not all about that.

     See, I've had type 1 diabetes since I was two years old. So practically my whole life, since it's all I can remember. And even though I am not the only person I know with this disability, it isn't the most common thing in the world. (If you already know all the basics of diabetes, you may skip to the next chapter, cause that's where the fun begins. If you do not know, keep reading, you may want to know this information if you are going to read this)

     For some of you that don't know, diabetes is where your pancreas (an ugly little organ around your tummy area) is broken. Your immune system does it's normal run-through, then for some reason, it sees your pancreas and (for some reason) says, "Wait a second, you're not supposed to be here!" and kills it. Then, you have to take this lovely thing called insulin, which your pancreas would have made naturally, through either a shot or a pump, which I will explain later.

    The Highs and Lows of Highs and Lows

     Once you have diabetes, you need to control how much sugar is in your blood. We call this our blood sugar. If it is to high you take insulin to bring it down, and if it is to low then you eat something with carbohydrates in it to bring it up. If your blood sugar is not in the correct range, (80-150 for me) then you just feel funky.

     If you have to high of a blood sugar for to long, there are bad consequences. Some immediate ones are you could get this thing called ketones. That's where your body stops believing in your ability to bring your blood sugar down and starts to break down your fat to try and bring your blood sugar down itself. And I know what your thinking, "Woah, breaking down fat? I want ketones to get thinner!" Not exactly. When it breaks the fat down, it makes an acid that is poisonous to your body. So if you don't get your ketones down, you can get this horrible disease called diabetic ketoacidosis. And that may kill you.

     If you want to test to see if you have ketones, you take a stick from the tester container and you pee on it. If it darkens in color, you've got ketones. Or you could prick your finger and test the blood in a device made for it. But I don't personally own one of these, so I can't tell you many details on it. If you don't take very well care of your diabetes when your young, it will affect your future. You could end up blind, have kidney failure, and lots of people have heart problems.

     If you stay low for to long, you have a risk of having a seizure. And if you have a seizure once, you have a higher chance of getting them again. And if the seizure is not fixed, you go into a diabetic coma. Same things with highs, but no seizures. So you need to be responsible and speak up when your feeling low (which feels like being drunk, but not fun at all) and get the treatment you need. I personally have not been so responsible, and it's come back to bite me in the butt.

   Symptoms

     You can tell when your blood sugar is off, just like you can tell when your sick or not. Especially with lows. When you're low, you feel heavy, as if your body is made of lead or your walking through deep water and you're really shaky. All of your energy disappears, and you feel like taking a nap (which is dangerous). Everything is kind of foggy, and you don't really understand the simplest stuff that's going on around you. And the symptoms get worse the lower you get, so get off your butt as hard as it is and get something to eat.

     When you're high, you're the complete opposite. For me it's not as obvious when I'm high, and these are the dangerous ones. Being high damages your eyes, so your eyes tend to burn. You can sometimes get a headache, depending on how high you get. You can get really hyper, with all the extra sugar in your system. Sometimes you get really hungry, which is bad, cause that just brings your sugar even higher. So again, watch out. If you see your diabetic friend (or diabetic acquaintance) acting a little off, go tell them to get a blood check.