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The Low Blood Sugar Make up
Diabetes gets in the way of life sometimes.
And the other way around, too. But that’s the topic of another story.
Being such a big part of our lives, it would be weird if it didn’t mix in and mash up your plans sometimes.
Sometimes we’re talking about interrupted sleep, another time it’s an unplanned meal on the menu. And sometimes it’s about being so tired, simple chores can be compared to climbing Mount Everest. At least. Not to mention the guesstimation game we play with the pancreas on our hip, in a pen or syringe. Up? Down? A little up and then down? The other way around? Or even *gasp* stable and level? (Watching your blood sugar do a salsa dance on a cgm is sometimes entertaining, as long as you don’t put too much personal attachment to the numbers)
You can almost never tell with 100% accuracy where your blood sugar will end up after a meal, some insulin or just by plain old living.
And sometimes you can’t let the stubbornness of diabetes get in the way, either.
Like the other morning, when I had to get to an appointment I had.
I woke up at 4.4 mmol/l (79 mg/dl), which I was happy about. My cgm curve looked smooth from the night and I was even more happy about that.
I jumped in the shower, washed my hair, moisturized and brushed my teeth. I was feeling a little sleep-groggy, but nothing else.
I went to put on my clothes, got dressed and noticed an odd, fuzzy thought popping up in my head that usually stems from the low-blood-sugar-drawer in my brain.
Nevermind that right now, I had other things to do, like taking my morning medicine (thankfully not insulin) and supplements.
When I got back downstairs from the kitchen, my next task was to do my make up. But I decided to check my cgm first, which showed 4.1 mmol/l (73 mg/dl).
Ok, I thought, that’s not bad, although I’m dropping. More of the odd, fuzzy thoughts popped up, and I decided to check my blood sugar on my blood sugar meter, if only to ensure myself that I wasn’t low.
3.4 mmol/l (60 mg/dl) “treat your low BG!”, my d-companion Doris (OmniPod) was telling me.
“Ahh, eff-word”, I said out loud. “I don’t have time for this!”
I usually don’t treat lows until below 3.5 mmol/l, as I find they usually recover fine from there with just the help of lowering the basal on my pump. But as I was leaving, and it was 0.1 mmol/l lower than my usual threshold, I decided to pop a glucose tablet and shut of the basal on my pump for 30 mins.
Knowing I’d be completely OK within 15 minutes, but had to leave the house in 20, I had little choice but to continue with my morning routine and my make up, which is a fairly effortless task.
If you’ve never experienced a low blood sugar before, let me tell you that it can be quite “interesting”. It feels a bit like being tipsy, without having had anything fun to drink. Or like being in a very fast, accelerating car while standing on the ground. It can be dizzy, vertigo, confused and temporary vision problems all in a big merry go round that doesn’t want to stop right now. (It can also feel a gazillion times worse than that, but thankfully that wasn’t the case this time.)
Having to think twice if you’re *actually* using foundation and not the bright pink blusher heavily all over your face is a challenge I’m usually blessed from. I usually know where things go in terms of make up…
Or double-checking that the eyebrow pencil is still brown and you didn’t accidentally reach for the turquoise eyeliner to fill in your eyebrows instead. Or concentrating so hard on getting mascara ON my eyelashes and not only underneath my eye. Not to mention actually getting that blusher semi-equally distributed. Or checking that the foundation isn’t blotchy anywhere.
This can, but probably shouldn’t, be compared to doing your makeup after a good after work drinking session with your colleagues. In short, no bueno.
Throughout this particular mornings routine work, I kept thinking if I actually managed that well with everything, or if, once I was back on track again, would find myself looking like some Cubist rendition of myself. Or like a clown. Or like Gene Simmons from Kiss.
All I could imagine seeing once the low blood sugar fog had lifted was some weird version of myself, as it would have been painted by Pablo Picasso himself. Or something equally scary.
This time I was lucky, though.
When my blood sugar was back in normal range again, I saw that I looked more or less like myself, if only ever so slightly more tired.
What do you do when your blood sugar drops low, do you keep going or stop and wait? What does your decision depend on?
Diabetes Expert
Diabetes Expert – that’s a bold statement!
Being an expert, you have to be perfect, don’t you?
You need to be able to juggle anything that is thrown at you, know every single little detail about your topic and preferably have 67 Masters, PhD’s and other qualifications to be one.
Right?!
I used to think so. I really did. “Experts” in my life used to be my doctor and endocrinologist, for example. And these people know a lot, they definitely do. But they usually have zero training in nutrition, for example.
And they may not know or understand everything about YOU and YOUR individual case. You’re always going to be your own best doctor, because you know YOUR body, your situation and your case the best.
So, who am I to call myself a Diabetes Expert?
It’s true, I don’t know everything about you, your life and your case. Yet. But I am willing to listen, learn and help you on your road to become a healthier you.
It’s really my passion in life, to get to help you through what I’ve already been though. To share all the tools, tricks and food that I’ve found has helped me and many others.
But what happened to GrainBrain? I’m sure you’re curious!
GrainBrain has been a fantastic stepping stone on my journey of becoming healthier, happier and more experienced. And it has served me very well when I was only about eating healthier (i.e. grain free).
Now that I’m fully focusing on helping people with diabetes to become healthier, lower their A1c’s and feel more confident, I feel that the name GrainBrain has run it’s course in my business.
I don’t want to hide behind a brand anymore, I want to show even more of myself, my journey and how I can help you on yours. Become even more authentic, if you want.
Which is why I’ve decided to change the name of my business, refurbish the website and get a fresh breeze in here! So please help me welcome Hanna Diabetes Expert!
In light of this, I looked up how a few people define what an expert is. And their answers made me smile.
Warning – there’s some self-assessment coming up! :-)
“What qualifies anyone to be an expert? I view an expert as someone who has considerable intellectual knowledge and real world experience in a particular field, area of study, process, or activity. They possess knowledge and experience in greater measure than a majority of others in their field. And they can express their expertise in order to help others understand and implement any appropriate ideas and actions based on that information. (…) Today, I would venture to say experience builds expertise faster and stronger than education. For education not applied is merely knowledge locked in the brain and not tested in the real world.”
Well, if 30 years of trials, errors, successes and blood, sweat and tears aren’t experience enough, I’m not sure what is?
I thought this was a really interesting point of view. Another article I found, listed 5 quite similar characteristics of being an expert as states above:
“Knowledge: Clearly being an expert requires an immense working knowledge of your subject. Part of this is memorized information, and part of it is knowing where to find information you haven’t memorized.”
This is one of my favorite parts of doing what I do – I learn new things every day. Whether it’s about myself, a client, or diabetes in general, I make sure there’s an ongoing addition to my knowledge.
“Experience: In addition to knowledge, an expert needs to have significant experience working with that knowledge. S/he needs to be able to apply it in creative ways, to be able to solve problems that have no pre-existing solutions they can look up — and to identify problems that nobody else has noticed yet.”
Having a coaching background that has taught me a trick or two throughout the years is certainly beneficial. Experience and knowledge go hand in hand. And, the whole reason you work with someone, be it a coach, mentor or expert of some sort, is to get another perspective on your situation. It’s so easy to get stuck in your own bubble and lose view of the Big Picture. Working with someone on the “outside” of that bubble can really help you regain your aerial view.
“Communication Ability: Expertise without the ability to communicate it is practically pointless. Being the only person in the world who can solve a problem, time after time after time, doesn’t make you an expert, it makes you a slave to the problem. It might make you a living, but it’s not going to give you much time to develop your expertise — meaning sooner or later, someone with knowledge and communication ability is going to figure out your secret (or worse, a better approach), teach it to the world, and leave you to the dustbin of history (with all the UNIX greybeards who are the only ones who can maintain the giant mainframes that nobody uses anymore).”
Yes, communication is definitely key. In any relationship. But there’s also a huge difference between talking to someone and talking at someone. The latter is usually a waste of everyone’s time. And you can only communicate your solution to someone who is ready to hear it.
“Connectedness: Expertise is, ultimately, social; experts are embedded in a web of other experts who exchange new ideas and approaches to problems, and they are embedded in a wider social web that connects them to people who need their expertise.“
I aim to help as many people with diabetes as possible. To get new input and not get stuck in old ways, I make sure to stay connected to different other experts within fields of interest to my clients.
“Curiosity: Experts are curious about their fields and recognize the limitations of their own understanding of it. They are constantly seeking new answers, new approaches, and new ways of extending their field.”
One fatal mistake would be to get stuck in my thoughts, my ways and in what has worked for other clients. Every client is a new, exciting opportunity to help someone with a problem (or many).
I want you to know something though…
Being and calling myself a Diabetes Expert definitely doesn’t mean that I have perfect values all the time, endless amounts of energy, smooth cgm curves and my A1c keeps effortlessly where it should be. I have catastrophical days, too. Because there is no such thing as a perfect diabetic.
Diabetes is a lot of hard work. Sometimes grueling hard work. But it’s also about perspective and wanting to find a solution. Finding YOUR solution, how you can cope with it and how you can turn it into the very best you can.
What are you an expert in? How do you share this with the world?
HbA1c, just a number?
Do you ever find yourself paying a little too much attention to a specific number?
Your weight? Your distance covered? Milestones reached? Friends on Facebook?
Or, perhaps, your HbA1c, the “lighthouse” of how you’re doing as a diabetic?
It’s easy to put a lot of weight on a number (pun intended!), because it’s something measurable, something you can follow and have a direct understanding of whether it improves or gets worse.
What’s difficult to understand is that these numbers, none of the ones I mentioned above, matter much.
Your weight technically doesn’t matter much, as long as you feel fit and healthy with it. Neither does the amount of kilometers you ran last week, unless you were in a race… Counting milestones only creates an inner stress and pressure to reach your goals faster, harder, more productively. And, friends on Facebook – are they r e a l l y friends…?
I know. This is crazy cakes.
We’ve been told, time and time again, to set measurable goals, and it’s really hard to find ways to measure improvement without those numbers.
So also when it comes to diabetes care and the HbA1c value.
I’ve been conditioned for 30 years to regard my HbA1c as the shining light of how well I’m doing, so the habit isn’t easy to break. Even when I know I’ve done pretty darn well lately.
I had my a-few-times-a-year appointment with my endocrinologist earlier this week.
Driving there (only takes about 7 minutes, but still), I was super-nervous and kept sending little wishes out for a lower-than-last-time HbA1c reading (which was 6,4%).
I got there, peed in a cup, had some blood taken, weighed in and measured my blood pressure. For someone who has a severe case of “White Coat Syndrome”, which is when you get nervous just seeing, being near or even thinking of a doctors office, the last part always seems a little stupid. And it was this time too, because it was through the roof.
I got into my endo’s office and we chatted a bit about life in general, before we got into the whole diabetes thing.
Once again, I was complimented by her on how well I’m doing. This is still a weird feeling to me, after having basically been a disappointment and being scolded for the other 28 years I’ve met with endocrinologists.
She told me that there probably isn’t much more I can optimize about my care without having a lot more hypos. “Watch me” I thought to myself, as I still think I can, and I will keep trying to optimize and improve until the day I die.
Anyway, to the value that every diabetic has been conditioned to regard as a sign of life or death: my HbA1c was 6,2% this time, or 44 mmol/mol.
This is the lowest I can ever remember having during my 30-year career in and with diabetes. I asked my parents, too, and they can’t remember anything lower either.
The fact that I’ve put so much emphasis on it and then receiving exactly the result I was hoping for made me ecstatic. Happy, euphoric and close to tears of pride. In my opinion, with all right. (And I have yet to celebrate this properly!)
After we had discussed some other topics, and I had received all the supplies I needed from their office (making it feel like Christmas every time I go there!), I got into my car and drove off, full of joy!
I got home, told my husband about the result, he gave ma a huge congratulatory hug, and I was so darn pleased with myself. I posted a rarely-seen-selfie and got on with my day.
Later in the evening it hit me though. I was sad. Despite my excellent HbA1c result. Despite the praise and the congratulations. I felt saddened.
It took me a good few minutes to figure it out, a little EFT tapping and some meditation came in very handy at that point.
I was sad, because that result didn’t mean anything, really.
Fine, it means that I’m reasonably well controlled in my diabetes. It means that I’ve come a long way from where I started a few years ago after a long diabetes burn out, giving me double figure HbA1c’s. And it gives me a little hope for the future.
But it also means that I’m not really awarded in anyway for it (unless I buy myself something pretty, or have a glass of champagne to celebrate). It doesn’t give me a break from diabetes, not even for a minute. It doesn’t stop the poking, prodding and always having to be on alert. It doesn’t mean I can live carefree and forget about everything.
It just means that I’m alright and that my doctor is proud of me. And that I’m technically “pre-diabetic” according to my HbA1c.
Don’t get me wrong.
I love the fact hat I’ve found my own way and am finally in the position where I feel like I have even the faintest of clues about this whole diabetes thing.
I love the feeling of not being scolded by my dream health care team. And I love that I can say that I’ve reached a new record in my life.
But I don’t think it’s the best idea to put as much of a value as I do on this one value. Especially as there are so many other factors that determine how well I’m doing and/or how healthy I am.
What about you – do you also put too much emphasis on one single number? Perhaps it’s your weight? How far you’ve run this week? Or maybe you’re like me and put (too) much focus on your HbA1c?
Diabetes Sweet Spot
When you start on a new journey, you ideally want to know what the eff you’ve gotten yourself into.
Not least when it’s about your health, well-being and future life.
I get that. I totally do.
And I’ve got something really special up my sleeve for you today!
This is one of my biggest secrets in doing what I do. You could see it as a 4-year short cut, as that’s how long it took me (well, plus 26 years…) to get to where I am today.
Diabetes Sweet Spot
Let me explain this diagram a little (?) more in detail…
First up we have
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Sexy Food and Water
What I mean by this is real food that makes you feel your absolute best, fuels your body, your mind and your soul whilst not jerking your blood sugars around.
In my experience, and many others that I’ve helped and talked to, the mentality of “eating and covering for it” simply doesn’t work.
Eating a lower amount of carbs than we generally do today is very beneficial to most people. Even more so if you’ve got diabetes as a constant companion.
Picture this, a doctor tells their patient, who is lactose intolerant, to drink 1 liter of milk a day, “because it’s good for them”… Do you see the flaw in logic here?
If that patient does drink that milk, “like the doctor said”, they will be in a world of pain, discomfort and also spend too much time on the porcelain throne. Because their body is unable to process lactose properly.
All clear?
Now, picture this; a doctor/CDE/nutritionist tells a person with diabetes to eat 60% grains and carbohydrates with every meal, “because they need it”… (Wait, where have I heard this before…?!)
Carbohydrates, no matter in which form (pasta, rice, bread, cereals, pastries, cookies, ice cream….) turn into pure sugar (glucose) as soon as it hits your mouth and the enzymes in your saliva.
And what do people with diabetes not produce (enough of)?! The hormone that lets energy, in the form of sugar, into the cells, namely insulin. And if we can’t produce it ourselves, we have to add it in a much less precise and guesstimating way in comparison to our well-oiled-running-like-machines-bodies.
Ergo, removing some (or even all) of those sugar-shape shifter-carbs from what you eat is a great idea.
That would be the same logic as for our lactose intolerant friend I mentioned before – to take away what your body can’t process properly to reduce pain, discomfort and make life easier.
(I’ll happily talk more about this, if you don’t agree, let me know in the comments below!)
And water. Tons of clean, clear water infused with alpine air (in a best case scenario).
You need water not only for hydration, but also for moving energy/sugar around, to keep the insulin you take active and to flush your system of toxins and other stuff slugging around.
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Medications & Supplements
Even if you do everything else right, it doesn’t disguise the fact that you’ll still need insulin. Just a lot less of it, which in my books is a definite winner! Today, I’m taking 1/3 of the amount of insulin that I used to a couple of years ago.
When you start taking better care of the other areas in your life, you’ll usually get the privilege to cut down on, or even completely stop taking, other medications you might be on.
For me it was the case with my blood pressure medicine. I could cut my dosage with 75% after I started eating better, relaxing and taking better care of myself. But just because I was able to cut down, it doesn’t mean I don’t have to take them at all, I still do. Just a much smaller dosage.
And I still haven’t needed medication for my Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, which is usually treated with hormones.
I generally recommend a series of supplements, which I’m currently taking myself as well. Yep, all of them:
Vitamin D3, Omega 3, Antioxidants (in the form of green powders), Probiotics, Vitamin B Complex, Magnesium and Zinc. Sometimes I add Chromium to the mix as well.
But these aren’t set in stone; it really depends on you and your own journey.
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Self-love & Attitude
Oh, how I can go on about the importance of self-love!
The fact is though, that when you start seeing yourself, your body, mind, soul and brain (and every little cell in between) as one Team, shit starts to shift.
This means that you don’t think of your pancreas (for example) as the bad guy for having applied for (way too) early retirement. Or hate your immune system for attacking your pancreas, thyroid, skin (or whatever else it’s decided you could do without).
And how do you get to your Team Me status?
A lot of it comes from self-love, making sure you feel good and love yourself.
What is self-love then? Here are some ideas:
- Eating well. Healthy, healing real food full of happiness and love.
- Water! It purifies you, makes sure you get energy to your cells and hydrates every part of you.
- Meditation
- Exercise
- Breathe deeply, truly and all the way into your toes.
- Stretching or going to that yoga class you know you love.
- Rocking it out to your favorite tune is the pure definition of self-love!
- Make Gratitude your Attitude! Tell yourself what you’re grateful for every day, either just mentally, or write it down in a journal, or make a gratitude jar.
- “Do nothing” days
- Essential Oils
- Reading your favorite magazine with a cup of tea/coffee/or hey, even bubbly.
- Treat yourself to a massage or a mani/pedi.
- Treating yourself to that one thing you’ve been eyeing up lately. It’s ok to be materialistic, too!
- Putting up boundaries. What’s ok for you and what isn’t? Break up with those things that aren’t.
- Prioritizing good sleep is good self-care. (Danielle LaPorte said that, and I know she’s right!)
- Put. Away. Your. Phone. I promise you, you don’t need to know what is happening on Facebook every second of the day.
But how can you make sure you don’t forget about loving yourself?
Here are my Top 3 Tips:
- Schedule it. Otherwise it’s the easiest part to neglect for me (even though I really know I can’t afford to).
- Make it a daily practice. Can you feel the benefits of it when you meditate? Make sure you practice it regularly. Does a long walk in the sunshine do you worlds of good? Get hooked on them!
- Make yourself your first priority. It sounds really selfish, but it’s not. Think about it, how can you be there for others if you’re not feeling well yourself? Make a team out of your body and yourself, call it “Team Me”. This team always has priority over everything and everyone else. Fact.
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De-stress & Movement
This point goes much hand-in-hand with the previous one.
If you’ve changed your attitude about yourself and diabetes, you will have a lot less stress in your life. That’s a promise.
Meditation, eating well, and all of the others I mentioned above help de-stress you and your life.
As does exercise, for example.
I’m not saying you have to turn into an instant iron man competitor, ultra marathon runner or Olympic-grade swimmer right now. (Although if that’s what you want, then by all means go ahead! You have all of my awe and respect)
Start s l o w l y, gently and build on your exercise and fitness level every day. It’s not more difficult than starting with a short, brisk walk outside.
After a while, the walk will automatically become longer or more intensive, as your body feels it can perform better. Before you know it, you might even want to try jogging or hiking in the mountains.
And all of this while not even thinking about your daily walks as exercise! How flipping great is that?!
It doesn’t have to be a walk though, anything exercise-y that floats your boat is awesome, be it yoga, zumba, dancing on your own to your favorite tunes, body exercises, stretches, skiing, swimming, or a royal mix of them all.
The most important point is that it shouldn’t feel like exercise – you should do it by yourself, without thinking “this is hard”.
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Daily Rituals
The rituals you set up for yourself is what you can lean back on when times get a little less rosy and sunny, for example.
If you feel a little lost, you know that your ritual (or routine, but that’s a boring word) can be a saving grace.
Also, if your body knows approximately when or in what order something will be given to it, it knows to prepare for it.
My daily ritual looks a little something like this…
I wake up at 7:30am, find myself a centering thought for the day, after which I check my blood sugar (both on my cgm and manually). Then I check the main notifications on my phone (I want to change this)… Then I get up, take my supplements and proceed to my morning meditation. After a shower and putting some clothes on, I open my laptop and work until lunch, before which I check my blood sugar manually again. It’s a healthy, happy meal. After checking the notifications again…. I go back to my computer and work for another 2 or so hours. Then I go out for a walk (my daily walks are holy) as an afternoon break, after checking my blood sugar. Back to work (client/computer/meeting) until it’s time to make dinner and check my blood sugar. After dinner, my husband and I talk, go out for a date or do something productive. Before bed time there’s the last batch of supplements, taking my make up off with coconut oil, checking my blood sugar and showing gratitude for the day I’ve just experienced. Lights out, sleep.
Of course this differs when I have something special to do, but this is my ground framework.
But this way things like checking my blood sugar becomes part of my routine and it doesn’t feel as difficult or even impossible to do it. I even miss doing it if I somehow skip it in my routine, or have ran out of test strips… (I know, I’m a little weird. But I’m happy that I am, life is that much easier when you’re a little weird.)
Et viola, if you get these areas right for YOU, you’ve entered into what I love to call the Diabetes Sweet Spot.
This diagram is essentially a summary of the last 30 years of my own research and experience, and if you do need some help on the way here, I’m all ears and would love to help you.
Have you found your Diabetes Sweet Spot? How did you get there? And how long did it take you?
When Diabetes is bigger than it needs to be
Diabetes is undoubtedly a very big part of your life. Just as it is of mine.
And you can blame a lot of stuff on it. Sometimes you have to blame more on it than you’re willing to admit.
If you’re anything like me, people have asked you why you don’t blame MORE stuff on it to get out of sticky situations etc… I have to admit sometimes it’s tempting, but I have enough things I have to blame on diabetes, and I don’t really feel the need to make it any worse.
But there are certain moments when diabetes is pointed out as the bad guy, even if it (for once) has nothing, or very little, to do with what’s going on.
When diabetes becomes bigger than it has to be, I sometimes find it difficult to cope. It feels a little like just because I have diabetes, I’m not allowed to have “real people feelings”, but instead everything has to be related to that my pancreas doesn’t work like it should. I’ll show you some examples in a second.
These are all examples that has happened to me, or that I’ve noticed recently.
Doctors blaming everything on diabetes. Yes, they’re doctors, yes, they know all of your health history, and yes, they (sometimes) see the bigger picture.
And whilst things like infections, colds, poor healing time and your thyroid doing a funky dance can very well be diabetes related, it doesn’t mean everything is.
Like an injury you’ve gotten while being (or trying to be) sporty. Unless you had a mega hypo or hyper blood sugar when it happened, it quite probably has nothing to do with diabetes.
Or an allergic reaction. Again, unless it’s gluten (which can be diabetes related), my seafood allergy probably isn’t connected to my diabetes.
Yet, in both of these instances I’ve gotten the answer that it’s “because of your diabetes”. Newsflash!
Being thirsty. While excessive thirst is a good indicator of your blood sugar being high, again, it doesn’t have to be the case. At all.
A “normal” person needs anything from about 1,5 liters of water and upwards per day. And this can vary greatly if you’ve done more exercise than regular, if you’re on certain medications, if you’re stressed, if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, your altitude, if it’s hot outside, if you’ve had alcohol, if you’re sick with fever or diahorrea… The list goes on! And that’s ignoring any kind of diabetes, high blood sugars, and other fun stuff.
And yet, especially as a child, I was always asked if my blood sugar was high when I was thirsty. (Sorry, mom! I know you were only worried about me.)
There could have been a gazillion other reasons for my thirst. But then it was always had to be due to my blood sugar and that I had somehow misbehaved and eaten something I shouldn’t have.
This lives on in me, and every time I’m super thirsty, I automatically check my blood sugar. Even if it’s first thing in the morning when your body is automatically de-hydrated and needs to fill up on the water reserves.
Being tired. Yup, it’s exhausting to live with diabetes 24 hours of every day, of every year. It is.
But it’s also exhausting to be a human being, with everything that one needs to do, should do, and does anyway.
Every yawn, every early night and not being the last man standing at a fantastic party isn’t automatically connected to me having diabetes.
Maybe I have something to do early tomorrow and need my sleep? Maybe I just love sleep? Maybe I can feel so much better if I only get a proper nights sleep on it? And maybe you do, too?
We all need, under optimal circumstances, about 7-9 hours of sleep per night. To let your body rest, to let it regenerate those broken cells, to think clearly the next morning. And for things like weight loss and hormone regulation, proper sleep is crucial.
Having a bad day. As soon as you’re having a bad day, those loving people next to you automatically assume it’s because something’s up with your diabetes. I know, every single one of you only wants the best for me, and you’re worried about my well-being. And I am grateful for that.
But “normal people” aren’t Mary-Poppins-ray-of-sunshine all the time either.
It may very well be that people with diabetes have these days slightly more often than people who don’t have to worry about things like asking a little computer how you’re doing in that minute, and worry (more or less) about what that number means.
Everyone has days when they just want to give up, when they feel hopeless and feel like they can’t take it anymore. Everyone, including those with diabetes, have those days.
And they are allowed. Those days are needed, too. If only to remind you how well you’re doing on other days.
Manicurist… This is a fantastic story. And it happened to me quite recently.
One day, not too long ago, I decided to treat myself to a manicure.
For once, said manicure wouldn’t be done by myself (gasp!), but by a professional. And I was really looking forward to some me-time, some pampering and switching off my head and just relax.
The manicure itself was lovely, I felt amazing after it and having chosen to do gel lack, I expected it to last at least a week.
When I woke up the following morning, I saw one of the nails had already chipped! Off of my expensive manicure (not even that is cheap in Switzerland).
I was upset and frankly a little shocked. I didn’t think it would start chipping off that soon. I called the nail lady to let her know, and she told me to come back later the same day to fix it.
When I got there, we got to talking. I told her that I have diabetes, and of course her grandmas cousins friend had it too, but died. Great.
Suddenly she says “I know why it chipped off so soon on you!” Being all ears, I asked her to explain.
“It’s because of your diabetes!”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
I asked her if she was serious, and she told me that was definitely the reason.
Almost speechlessly I thanked her for her help and that she was so nice as to fix my problem so quickly.
This might even have been a believable reason, if it wasn’t for that other times I’ve treated myself to gel lack manicures, they’ve held just fine. No chips, no complaints until about a week after. Which is normal. To me, she was just blaming her crappy job on my very-handy-for-excuses illness…
Diabetes is always a double-edged sword; on one side you have the negative stuff that is really painful, sore and keeps you in bed some days. On the other, you have things you can, should and need to do. Like having “real people feelings”.
When have you experienced people blaming your diabetes for something it wasn’t really part of? Tell me in the comments below!