I have not been as active as I used to in blogging but here I am again and this time, my whole life program is a-changing. There is good news and bad news for me. The good news is I lost 15 pounds through running and dieting. The bad news is, that was not enough because my lab readings were bad. A1C is 8, LDL 130, BP hyper. I told the MD that for the last three months I did my best to work on my diabetes through diet and exercise. Unfortunately my best isn't enough. That is the beauty of medical check ups. No matter how healthy you look, you can still be deceived. Here I am 5 pounds below my BMI and yet, I feel like a walking stroke candidate.
Now I have to take low doses of metformin, lisinopril and lipitor. These are standards for diabetic management. And the reason I say my whole life program is changing is because now I have to factor-in the effects of these medications to my current dieting and exercising. And believe me, there are adjustments to make.
The truth is, diabetes progression and its impact on the body is inevitable. Diet and exercise are controllers meant only to delay its worsening and prevent its complications but like it or not, especially in cases when it is hereditary and pathological, time dictates diabetes course and there maybe a few who can eradicate it from their systems (most likely they are diabetic due to bad habits but not due to heredity)but eventually it will attack via its complications.
But unlike other diseases, it can be managed. A diabetic is different from other patients: he becomes his own doctor, his own nurse, his own nutritionist, his own personal trainer because each individual has his own unique way of dealing with it. And that is the beauty and ugliness of this disease. It is manageable but it requires significant attention throughout the day. You check your blood, you watch your food, you keep active and sadly, you need to take your medications regularly. And if you are like me who loves running and active lifestyle, you need to manage also the side effects of medications in relation to your activities. Most of all, you avoid stress.
And some old rules do not apply anymore. Whereas before I could be careless with my running, I've ran in the past without sleep or food or even water, now that is a big no no. Nowadays I check my sugar before and after exercise. I check my BP before and after exercise and lately, I am very particular about eating something and hydrating a lot when I run.
This is a new challenge I am happy to face. It will encourage me to learn more about the disease, how to deal with it, experiment with it and most of all, share my experience with all I encounter. Diabetes is not the end of all that is fun and joyful and good quality in life. It is not something that should frozen you in living a full life. It just requires the person to become extra vigilant, more experimental, more disciplined and more in control of his body. I am now in my second week of medications and my body seems to adjust better with them compared to last week when I felt something 'different' when I ran after medications. My system has gotten adjusted, it seems. It's all about finding that fine line between what is safe and good and great to be diabetic and alive versus what is not.
My runs are usually in the ranges of 4-5 miles 4 x per week. I was careful initially but as of last time, I felt much more comfortable and within my target pace. I will talk more about this as I blog along.