Four Terms...

Four terms - some I hear on a regular basis, some I rarely hear because I think people don't like them much.

Managed.  Remission.  Cured.  Healed.

Managed:

This word describes most people with diabetes.  Our blood sugars are mostly within normal ranges, some with medication, some without.  Our A1C is pretty good, but without careful monitoring and "managing" it would be much higher.

Remission:

(a state in which all signs and symptoms of diabetes disappear) - a person has been so good at managing their diabetes, that all signs and symptoms disappear.  However, a Glucose Tolerance Test would still show a diabetes diagnosis - although most doctors would not give a GTT, unless for a pregnant patient.  Remission means that the disease could come back, if the person is not diligent about lifestyle choices.

Cured:

"Cured" is a medical term.  There is no cure for diabetes at this point.  If a person is cured, the disease no longer exists in their bodies, due to medical treatment.  This is not the same a "managed."

Healed:

A healing may be spontaneous or miraculous.  Our bodies are built to be healthy and will try to heal on their own.  People have been healed of diabetes, both miraculously and through lifestyle choices - there is evidence that given time, our glucose response will come back to normal for some people.

God willing, I have the strength to make those lifestyle commitments, and bring that healing into my life.

5 Month Mark

It's been 5 months since my diagnosis.

Lots of ups and downs.

If a body needs a break from Metformin because it quits working, I think I might be there.  Dawn is back with a vengeance - upper 120's the last four mornings.

Weight is stalled.

Although...I blame the week I took a statin drug.  Everything stalled.  I have no known heart issue, I had an EKG and an C-scan of my chest in March.  Nothing was wrong.

Even all my lipid numbers are "normal" except the LDL and that's only 12 points in the "high-normal" range.  But they want everybody on statins.

Everything stalled.  Even after four days on the drug, but muscles hurt.  I quit taking it.

That was a 1-1/2 weeks ago and I'm just now starting to drop weight again.

There was a sense of futility - if nothing is working, then why am I not enjoying the food I used to eat and enjoy?  So...a couple more cheat meals a week.  Having food in the house that I should not have.

But if I'm losing again, it's time to start really low-carbing again and see what I can do.

I'm going to rock this disease.  

Sooo...early this week I was told by a doctor that my A1c was high enough for a "diabetes mellitis" diagnosis.  It does take two blood tests over 6.5% to have the official diagnosis, but it's a wake-up call.

I've been eating low(er) carb - well, according to the "experts" fewer than 100 grams of carb a day is considered a low carb diet, so I'm close.

So...here we go.