I know stress increases blood sugar, but I’m also starting to think social media does too.
I say this because my blood sugar had been high for months. No matter how strict I was about limiting my carbs, or how diligent I was about exercising and getting enough sleep, nothing was working like it had previously. Not even my beloved Berberine was having an impact on reducing it anymore.
Job Stress
When I first noticed the elevated levels, late last Summer/early Fall, I figured part of it was the stress of Wayne switching jobs.
At first we didn’t know if he’d get the new job. His stress from his job at the time was off the charts, which leeched into my world
Then he got offered the new job, but he had to wait to turn in his notice so that he got his bonus with the old job.
Then there was deciding on his start date, which left us about three weeks to sneak in some travel. However, that interrupted a lot of October plans I’d had with Haunt Jaunts. Then he had his heart attack thing, which wasn’t a heart attack, but which did lead to discovering the nodes on his lungs.
Stress Control
I was stressed, but I knew I had to get it under control. I know happy cells are healthy cells, and unhealthy cells lead to problems.
Which was happening. Every morning my numbers were horrible. In the 140s and 150s.
Now a reasonable person might say, “Why didn’t you just go see your doctor and get on some drugs?”
Denial
I’ve been in denial about diabetes ever since they first tried to diagnosis me with it six years ago. The doctor I had at that time had let her nurse practitioner handle delivering the news and she’d done a shit job of it.
Yes, my A1C was atrocious. An 8. My blood sugar had been at 148 for my checkup, which is why they’d had me come back in to get another draw a few days after my initial visit to see what the A1C turned up.
The Steroids
Well, the trouble was, I’d been sick. I’d had bronchitis, but had gone to an urgent care place because I had to wait days to get into my doctor and I couldn’t breathe. Waiting was not an option.
The urgent care had given me a steroid shot, as well as steroids to take at home. That was only three weeks before I’d gone in for my checkup. And if I remember right, I’d only just finished the oral drugs a week or so before.
Slow Down
But my doctor wasn’t listening –or, rather, her nurse practitioner wasn’t. When I went back in to get my glucose meter training, my blood registered 95. The NP and the assistant helping get me squared away both looked alarmed and said, “Oh, so you’re going to have to be careful about low blood sugar when you take the pills.” (They’d also given me a Metformin prescription.) “Your number right now is in the normal range, but the drugs could lower that to where you feel dizzy.”
Oh yeah, and don’t forget about how it could cause diarrhea. Um, no thanks. (I could just envision myself passing out during a tennis match and pooing all over myself at the same time.)
I asked if I could try lowering my blood sugar with diet first, because I was sure the bronchitis/steroid treatments were skewing my results.
They panicked at the thought and made it seem like I was on death’s door if I didn’t immediately start in on the meds.
Second Opinion
Well, I know my body and my inner voice was screaming at me not to take those pills. So I scheduled a second opinion with an endocrinologist at Vanderbilt. It took six weeks to get in to see them, but guess what? My A1c had dropped to 6.1
“You have an metabolism issue to be sure, but not diabetes,” that doctor said. “There’s no way with just diet and exercise alone that you’d go from an 8 to a 6 in six weeks otherwise. It likely was the steroids that threw your sugar up so high.”
Drug Adverse
I don’t like taking any drugs. I’m sure Metformin is perfectly safe, but it has side effects.
That’s why I really shy away from drugs as much as possible. They don’t really seem to “cure” anything as much as “mask” symptoms.
The last thing I need is low blood sugar. I’ve known two people who suffered with that. One ended up not being able to drive because of passing out. It seemed she was always passing out and conking her head and an ambulance was coming to take her to the hospital.
Nope.
That’s why I was so adverse to taking it.
The Here and Now
Anyway, that’s how it all started, but what about now? Was this it? Was my body at the point I did finally need the Metformin? I found it hard to believe because I feel so good.
Side note: Before I was first diagnosed with diabetes I was struggling with depression and aggravation. I found adding Vitamin D and eliminating carbs had me feeling back to my old self.
Yes, I’ve had some stress worrying about Wayne and his lungs, but living What Ifs in the Future robs me of Now in the Present. So I strive to put that on the shelf when worry creeps in. I’ll deal with that come April 23.
Time to Admit Defeat?
Still, yoga, mediation, walks, eating like I had when I first was diagnosed with the diabetes…none of it was lowering my numbers. I was going to have to admit defeat, schedule an appointment and tell my doctor (new one from the other one; I couldn’t deal with that NP at the old place) to put me on the Metformin.
GAH! I did not want that, but 140s had been bad enough. Now my numbers were consistently in the 150s! WTF?!
Not So Fast
Then, a couple weeks ago, I got so busy I wasn’t on Instagram and Facebook like I had been. All of a sudden I woke up to a number in the 120s.
At first I didn’t get my hopes up. I’d had a 120 number here and there the past few months. They used to be my high numbers. Now I’m excited to see them.
But then the next morning I had another one. And then another.
Then a few days later I had the first 110s reading I’d had in months. Then I had four more.
What Gives?
What in the world? I hadn’t seen numbers like that in months! Almost a year!
I had even eaten several bad things. In the same day!
What had changed? Other than adding in some Pickleball and Pound classes, I was eating and exercising about the same.
The biggest change was I hadn’t been driving myself nuts posting to Insta. That had grown into an obsession really. Trying to find new people to follow, or posts to like in the hashtags I follow. Making sure I posted something every day. Freaking out if I didn’t post to my story.
Instead, I had just been happily creating and working on my Haunt Jaunts. Some of it was posts, some of it cleaning up old ToDos. Most of it was getting stuff done that I’ve been wanting to instead of goofing around with social media.
Caveat: I was still posting some stuff to Haunt Jaunts, but not really to Instagram. Mostly I was just sharing links on HJ’s FB page, but really nothing to my personal. And I wasn’t paying any mind to my feeds on any social media.
Happy Cells Are Healthy Cells
The key was I was happy. I hadn’t realized how much the social media had been subconsciously stressing me out.
But the second I went back on for a day, the next day my number was in the 130s.
Is there something to it? Or is it my mind?
Disconnecting = Link?
When we’re on a cruise, I know I indulge in sweets more than I need to. But a lot of times my numbers are good. Even better than when we’re home. I always chalk it up to the fact I’m way more active on vacation.
But I’m also happier…and pretty much completely disconnected from the Internet. If we’re in a U.S. port I may hop on really quick if I have time. Mostly we’re not in a U.S. port and I don’t have time. I get a big, refreshing break from the shit show social media really is. (I know it is, but I still have some favorite people I like to keep up with via it.)
Anyway, this past weekend I was off for the most part again. Once again my numbers were back in the 110s.
Which, coincidentally, may still sound high. Technically under 100 is where they want people, but I think my natural base is the 100-110s, because I feel bad when it’s lower than that. So 100-110s was where I had been striving and happy to be before I couldn’t seem to get back there anymore.
But I’m going to see what happens this week when I once again focus my energy on writing and creating and avoiding Insta and FB. If my numbers stay low, then I’ll be convinced social media raises blood sugar. We’ll see what happens…