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On a whim, Jim and I both had our blood sugar levels tested recently. Actually, Jim’s mom (who’s diabetic) was testing her own levels at home over the holidays, and we asked if we could use her handy-dandy little contraption to test our levels too.
Jim’s dad (a.k.a. the caretaker of the family and the keeper of all the cool medical testing gadgets!) eagerly set up the little hand-held machine for our individual tests.
The truth is, I’ve always wondered if I had any tendency toward diabetes.
I guess it’s because my mom always scared me into believing that if I kept drinking so many 32oz diet sodas and kept snacking on all that junk food that I’d SURELY become diabetic one day! And I believed her. I remember consciously coming to grips with the fact that what she was saying was probably true… but I was willing to deal with it later in adulthood, rather than eat “healthy” during my high school and college years.
I went first, and boy was I nervous! The fear of diabetes that my mom had instilled in me kept replaying in my mind. I just KNEW I was going to be at least “borderline” diabetic. (Cuz I still drink far too many 32oz diet sodas each day and eat far too much junk food too…)
I scored a 79!
A reading under 110 is considered “normal”, 110-125 is “impaired”, and over 126 indicates “diabetes”.
So there, I was BELOW normal (in a GOOD way).
The worst part for me (aside from the turmoil going on in my head over the potential outcome!) was the psychological trauma associated with forcing that little needle to jutt out and poke my own finger — at a speed of something like 85mph. No kidding. Despite the fact that it happens in only a fraction of a second, it was hard for me to get up the courage to depress the button.
Jim didn’t seem to care for that part either…
He scored an 82.
The good news is, we can rest assured that we’re each in good shape glucose-ly speaking. It just so happened that we took the test first thing in the morning — before we’d eaten anything. So our numbers accurately represent our “fasting glucose level” (which yields the most accurate results).
By the way, the type of monitor that was used to test our blood glucose levels was the Accu-Chek Diabetes Monitoring Kit.
Professionally, I pursued my Masters Degree in Family Therapy at Texas Tech — where I obtained invaluable expertise and experience helping people with a wide variety of physical and emotional health issues. Personally, I think it's useful when people realize that they're not the only one going through a difficult time. So any time that I think my personal health experiences would be helpful to someone else going through the same thing, I will share my story here. With health issues that I've personally experienced (like Endometriosis, Lyme Disease, Hysterectomy, Skin Cancer, Ganglion Cysts, Autism, and other topics that very few people enjoy talking about) and health products that I've found beneficial (like sleep aids, essential oils, and medications)… I do my best to provide my own raw and honest firsthand experiences that I think others would appreciate hearing about and (hopefully) find helpful. I'm grateful that I have a number of friends who have also been willing to share their very personal stories here — regarding their own physical and emotional health. When I'm not writing about health topics, you will find me sharing Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites).
