Monday, January 21, 2013

Goin' Fishing

Well no, not really.

As you guys know (because that's about all I've been blogging about), I've been bitching and moaning about some lower back and leg problems for the last 10 months or so. Some of it (joint pain and fatigue) was probably caused by fibro, and some of it (aching legs and neuropathy from the waist down) was probably caused by the deefed out disc in my lower back.

 
This has been getting progressively worse---and I actually fell down a couple of times. Seems my legs didn't want to obey the signals from my brain and did their own thing instead. The nerve blocker I was taking wasn't really helping, and Advil just wasn't cutting it any more.  I was exhausted and overwhelmed all the time.

 
So I went back to the family doc a couple of weeks ago, and he said, "when's the last time we did a blood sugar on you?"


It had been about a year. So we did some tests. Oy.

 
I guess maybe I should have known something was up when I was able to lose weight quite easily in the last year. I figured I wasn't that hungry in the past few months because of the pain.

 
Well. About that.

 
The next day I was nearly hospitalized when the tests came back. My blood sugar was 450.

 
I've got diabetes.

 
I've been practically asymptomatic. Fruity-smelling urine? No. Blurry vision? No. Pee a lot? Well yes, but I take diuretics for my heart condition, so of course I pee a lot. Fatigue? Yes, but that could have been explained by the fibro. Neuropathy? Yes, but that could have been explained by my injured disc.


For the past 10 days we've been trying to get it under control. I've been taking oral meds and avoiding sugar and starches like the plague. Lost another 10 pounds that I really didn't need to lose---which is ironic. I've spent my adult life trying to keep weight off and suddenly I'm trying to keep it on before I become a stick figure with boobs.


One good thing that has come of this is that the neuropathy is completely gone, at least for now. It doesn't seem to have done any permanent damage, and the relief from the muscle pain and weakness is wonderful.  I'm not tired any more and can sleep without all those jabs and electrical shocks along my nerve paths.


I guess the moral to the story is that as we age, it's important to get regular check-ups and blood work done.

 
My blood sugar still isn't under control, so I'm going to take off a few weeks to learn how to manage it. If it doesn't improve any more, I'm going to have to switch to insulin, and I really, really don't want to have to do that.


I didn't want you to think I was disappearing on you. I'll catch up with you all soon.

 
xoxox


ATM