Eyes Wide Open

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18

Are your eyes wide open to see what you can't see? Mine are, always.  And what I have seen and heard is my Lord Almighty reaching out to me.  He is telling me come to the well.  Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." - John 4:13-14

For the past 2 weeks this story in the Book of John, chapter 4 has been right in front of me. The first time was on a Tuesday evening at VBS aka Vacation Bible School. I was a floater and was asked to help out with the pre-school group, helping other crew leaders. Then I was asked to help my husband out teaching the Bible story to the preschoolers. And the story that night was John, chapter 4 - Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman. This is a story about a sad woman coming to the well and meets Jesus for the first time. Now I have already met with Jesus several times. No, I am not talking about dying and coming back to life. I am talking about going through trials and tribulations and Jesus carrying me through. The next time this story came up was when I was on my way to pick up my foreign exchange student; I was listening to a Christian radio station that plays music but also has preaching on it. And at that moment the pastor was preaching about the Samaritan woman and Jesus at the well. The third time it came up was when I was starting a book club for the first time- "Women Living Well."  Throughout this book there is one commonality- coming to the well and drinking the water Jesus gives to us.

Now I knew Jesus was trying to tell me something but what? I was already coming to the well and drinking but I was obviously missing something. Chapter 3, How Thirsty Am I was the topic and the focus was God. Do I really know Him and understand Him? He is ...
Our Creator, Everlasting, Does Not Grow Weary or Tired, Gives Strength to the Weary, Increases Power to the Weak. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." - Isaiah 40:28-29
On this day I asked him to renew my strength, I wanted to walk and not be faint, run and not grow weary, and soar like an eagle. 

It wasn't til the day after my birthday I figured it out. I began to see what God was trying to tell me. He was actually preparing me for my birthday and the things to come that day. It was not a great day and seems as if they never really have been great days for me. As a kid, having birthday parties was difficult because everyone was always away because it was summer and a holiday the very next day, so not many people would show up. As an adult, well I just never really felt special on that day. Sure people wish me happy birthday but the ones I was closes to seem to have forgotten or they didn't put much effort into showing me that they cared. They would just verbally say "Happy Birthday" when I would love to have a received a card expressing their thoughts and feelings. Or taking a load off the daily grind of household chores but that never seems to happen. I am not looking for any pity just showing you what God was trying to show me. Do you see?

I got it! God was trying to keep me strong by keeping me in His Word, not to be weary, showing me He Loves Me! And that is the most important thing, not what others can do for me on my birthday.

Dinning Out

I don't know anyone who doesn't like to eat out.  It frees up everyone in the house from cooking and cleaning.  Plus you get to eat foods that you don't normally eat because it either cost to much to feed the entire family or no one in the house likes some of the foods you do.  So I see this as a win, win for every one.  You would think.  As for me, that is not the case; 9 times out of 10 my body and mind suffer the next morning, my sugars are extremely high.  My body suffers because every time my sugars go over the 200s or higher it is causing damage to my organs, nerves, and blood cells.  My mind suffers because I go into a state of frustration, aggravation, and sadness.  Diabetes is known to cause depression, I can see why.  When the majority of your life you have been able to eat whatever, whenever and now after 40 years you have to check your sugars before putting anything in your mouth plus ask yourself, "can I eat this"? becomes a real bummer.  Every time I go out it becomes a guessing game as to how many carbohydrates I am actually eating.  Sure there are apps to help you but they don't always have what you want to eat listed and that doesn't seem to matter to my body either.  For example, I ate at a Mexican restaurant the other night and gave myself 4.60 units of insulin accounting for 88 carbohydrates.  I had my pump give me 40% right away and the remaining 60% 2 hours later.  I was in a low of blood sugars being at 44 mg/dL  prior to eating my meal, I thought great, this won't be so bad than.  I ate only half of my meal including half of the dessert, good, right?  Wrong!  That didn't seem to make a difference either. 

The reason for giving myself 40% of my insulin right away and then the rest of it (60%) 2 hours later is because some carbohydrates will peak later than 2 hours and my insulin is a fast acting insulin.  Meaning that once the insulin is injected into my body it goes to work right away and that won't help me when it takes awhile for foods to break down into sugars.  I could drop down into hypoglycemic aka low blood sugar level if giving myself ALL the insulin at once.  I already started in a low with this Mexican meal so I definitely don't want to stay in a low.  I hate the way I feel in a low- can't think clearly, body shakes and feels very weak/drained, and I begin to sweat. 

So, it seems as if I did everything right; calculations are to the best of my knowledge not knowing exactly my carbohydrate intake.  I forgot to mention that I have also been experimenting with a drug called Symlin which is to replace the hormone Amylin that my body no longer produces because this hormone is also made in the pancreas.  Amylin helps regulate the rate at which food is digested.  Guess what my sugars where the next morning, 4:47am 243 mg/dL. Some may ask, "is that good or bad"?  The normal range is 70-99 mg/dL, you be the judge. 

Another example of eating out: sugars are 125 mg/dL to start, according to an app I have, I am about to eat a vanilla cone from McDonald's that has 27 carbs for 3.7 oz size.  So I tell my insulin pump that I am going to eat 35 carbs (I do this often because I know that giving me the exact amount of insulin for the exact amount of carbs, especially highly processed carbs doesn't work).  I take my sugars 4 hours later and they are 236 mg/dL.  A normal blood sugar level range is 70-99 mg/dL and should typically peak 40 mg/dL within a 2 hour time range and begin to come back down to a normal range going into the 3rd and 4th hour. 

It is clearly obvious that I shouldn't have any ice cream.  Does that mean I shouldn't go out to eat either?  Enjoying simple things isn't so simple any more :-[.

Asking for Healing

"If you listen carefully to the Lord, your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am Lord, who heals you". Exodus 15:26

Many of us suffer from one disease or another and we often question- "Why Me"?, "Why God"?   Why have you forsaken me?  Why not ask the question- "What is it you want me to do"?  "What are you asking of me"?  

After reading the scripture from Exodus, I thought about those last few words- "for I am Lord, who heals you".   We all want to be healed from our diseases and a friend once told me that our healing may not necessarily be the healing we are looking for, maybe our healing is within a relationship- a family member, a friend, an enemy, or even with God.  When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I didn't get mad at God, I asked what is it you are trying to tell me.  As I listened for the answer, I heard him say... Relax, take time for yourself, you are giving too much of yourself to others.  Help others who are in your situation.  Come back to ME and you shall be healed! 

New Year * New You -Daniel Fast

Starting January 5, 2014 at sundown my family and I will begin our fast, Restoring our Health * Reviving our Body * Renewing our Spirit.  Following Daniel's example from the Book of Daniel hoping to draw closer to God, enriching our bodies with goodness.

Will you embark on that same journey with us?  As a Certified Health Coach, I would like to share with you daily encouragement and guidance to empowering your health, body, & spirit.  If anyone is interested in creating newness in themselves join my 

Facebook group New Year New You- Daniel Fast 

or email me at healthandhealingcenter@gmail.com  

You can also like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HealthandHealingCenter 

  Here you will get information on diabetes, health tips, exercise and diet.  Check it out.

With 1 week away, start preparing:

• Ask yourself what you would like to accomplish during this fast, what questions do you seek?  What goals would you like to reach?   
• Begin reading the Book of Daniel from your Bible or www.YouVersion.com
• Eat up all your junk food, meat, eggs and dairy
• Drink up all your milk, soda, tea, coffee, beer, wine & liquor

Because you don't want to be tempted during your fast.

Is that the Good Kind or the Bad Kind?

I hear often from people when I tell them I have diabetes, "is that the good kind or the bad kind?"  Really?  Is there one better than the other?  I don't think so.  Type 1 your pancreas no longer works so you have to be on insulin and Type 2 your body has become insulin resistant.  Both have long term effects: heart attack, stroke, neuropathy, blindness, and dementia to name a few.  It all depends on how well you take care of yourself and manage your sugars as to whether these other health issues come into play sooner or later.

So there really isn't a "Good kind or Bad kind"; they are BOTH BAD in my opinion.  

REWIND

Let me rewind for you, here is my story.....

One day out of the blue I was feeling as if I just couldn't get enough water, like I was completely dehydrated.  I was drinking a  bottle of water every hour; then I became really hungry and just couldn't seem to fill myself up.  I thought it was quite strange but I just figured my hormones were running rampant.  I blew it off thinking it will go away.  How many times do we do that?  Often, we hope it will just work itself out.  After about a week of going through this process my vision went blurry.  Now I know something is really wrong!  My friends were telling me, "you know, you are almost 40, everyone's eye sights starts to go".  I knew that wasn't the case, I know my body.  

I remember my friend having the same symptom of constantly being thirsty and it turned out she was diabetic.  So I began to investigate, good old Google.  I looked up the symptoms for diabetes and sure enough I had ALL the classic symptoms.  I made an appointment with an Internalist, it was scheduled for a Tuesday.  But I ended up going to a walk-in clinic the Friday before because of what had transpired that morning....

My client had an 8:30am appointment and when she arrived she had informed me she was recently diagnosed with diabetes.  I told her I think I have diabetes and have an appointment scheduled for Tuesday.  She offered to check my sugars with her glucose meter and I said sure.  I had my usual on the go breakfast- Coffee w/sugar and milk and 2 toaster strudels with icing on top (boy do I miss those days).  The glucose meter read HIGH.  My client didn't know what that meant because she always got a number.  So I wrote down the company number from the meter so I could call them later to find out what that meant.  On my way to pick up my daughter from school I decided to make that phone call. They told me my sugars were OVER 600 mg/dL and I said, "WHAT"?  The representative informed me that a normal level is 70-99 and I said, "WHAT"?  I couldn't believe it, they were way off the charts.  I was starting to really worry now but didn't want my daughter know, so I picked her up and took her to dance without letting her know anything.  After dropping her off at dance I spoke with a friend who is a nurse and told her the whole story.  She freaked on me, she told me I needed to go get help right away; that if I wait till Tuesday I could end up in a diabetic coma.  Now I am freaked out!  I battled with myself about going that night but I did.  When I walked into the clinic to tell them that I thought I had diabetes, they looked at me as if I had no idea what I was talking about.  I shared with them the whole story of what happened in the morning but I could still see doubt in their eyes.  After doing a pee test and blood test, they said, "You are diabetic".  It had been about 5 hours since I had eaten lunch and my sugars were still almost to the 400's.  I told the staff at the clinic that I had a doctors appointment scheduled for Tuesday.  In the mean time they put me on a couple of time release pills to try and help bring my sugars down.

Over the weekend I spoke to friends who were Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic; I spoke with a couple of nurses as well trying to gather as much information as I needed to overcome this disease.  I saw the internalist on Tuesday, he gave me some new meds and a little more information about the disease and I was on my way.  I had no insurance at the time and I started to really worry because I knew this disease was going to be lifelong and expensive.  I got on my husbands insurance during the enrollment period but was put on probation for 1 year because the diabetes part of it was considered pre-existing.  

Friends kept telling me over and over, I couldn't possibly have diabetes, I was the healthiest person they knew.  I was active and for the most part ate healthy compared to todays standards (breakfast was my junkiest time).  I checked with all my family members as far back as great aunts and uncles and nobody had the disease.  I was diagnosed with Type 2- over 50, overweight,  and there is a family history.  I was 39, 120 lbs at 5' 5" with no family history.  So how could this be?

I got my sugars pretty well under control by diet, exercise and a small dosage of medications (pills).  But friends still insisted I couldn't be diabetic.  I asked the internalist what he thought and he said the medicine seems to be working so I don't really see a need to go to an endocrinologist.  But I wasn't convinced I was diabetic.  In January of 2011 I saw an endocrinologist and he did further blood work indicating I was Type 1 not not Type 2 diabetic.  My body was in the "honeymoon" phase and eventually my pancreas will quit and I will need to go on insulin.  
I took myself off all medicines around March of 2011 and said I was going to heal myself.  I managed to keep my sugars under control with a strict diet and exercise daily.  I tried all kinds of diets to see which one was best for me.  The raw food diet, which consists of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains (meat, dairy and eggs are not included) seems to have been the best diet for me and my body.  This diet is hard to maintain if you don't have some of the equipment for making some of the foods and it is costly to buy organic healthy foods.  Needless to say, I didn't stay on that diet.  

Come March of 2012 my pancreas finally quit and I was put on  insulin.  The endocrinologist and diabetes educator were surprised at how long I managed without insulin or any other meds for that matter.

"The Dawn Phenomenon"

     Being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at any age is life changing.  As a infant, parents are having to do even more work in taking care of their precious little life, a young child is confused and doesn't understand why they have to be stuck several times a day with a needle, whether it is for checking blood sugar levels or giving insulin.  Being diagnosed as a teenager, well life is just over, they no longer feel normal and definitely feel as if they don't fit in.  As a young adult, life is hard enough learning how to be on your own and now you have to learn a new way of living.  Going into full adulthood, well many of us are stuck in our ways and don't want to change.

     I was diagnosed at age 39 and I loved my carbs.  It definitely has been a life changing experience for me. One of the things I struggle with most is morning highs, not morning lows.  It didn't make sense to me that I could go to bed with a pretty good blood glucose number and wake up so high.  I started researching all the possibilities and discovered it could be this thing called the "Dawn Phenomenon".  I then learned about the continuous glucose monitor and asked my endocrinologist if I could get one so I could see what my sugars were doing during the middle of the night.

DAWN PHENOMENON

• Usually occurs between the hours of 2:00am/3:00am-5:00am/6:00am, some say as late as 8:00am
• Natural body hormones- Growth Hormone, Cortisol, Catecholamines, are released during the early morning times to try and help restore/bring back the body to a more normal state (homeostasis).
• Insulin resistances occurs during this time of hormone output, therefore sugar levels go up.

     This makes sense, so what do you do about it?  First of all, I wanted to know what those hormones do for the body.  Many of us know that cortisol is a stress hormone and so are catecholamines.  Too much stress on our minds puts a lot of stress on our bodies causing an influx of stress hormones within our system. When these hormones are released in the body it also triggers the liver to release glucose, hence your sugars go up.

     At first I was just doing insulin shots and then did some research on the pump (I like to do a lot of research when it comes to this disease).  I read by many that the pump helps with morning highs, so I decided to go on the pump.  It seemed to work real well in the beginning but as time goes on I am being challenged again with highs.  There are a few reasons why this still occurs and I will share those with you in my next blogs and it is not eating too many carbs before bedtime, although, that is definitely a cause for some people.