Stop the diabetes, I want to get off!

I had really disappointing results from my recent blood test -- since I lowered my dietary cholesterol to 5 mg per day or less by reducing meat, dairy, fish, and eggs in my diet, the LDL has gone UP (though the HDL and triglicerides are still good). I finally accepted a statin prescription for Crestor.

Also my A1C (aka HBA1C or glycosylated hemoglobin) went up instead of down. That's mainly because 1) I "forget" my nighttime insulin quite often, as well as the oral meds, and 2) I eat too much starchy food (even though it's whole grain), and 3) I don't prepare and eat the vegetables I buy.

And I don't seem to have enough energy to exercise, which is a symptom of uncontrolled blood sugar. But I need to exercise to help control my blood sugar -- it's a vicious cycle for sure.

David Mendosa is a type 2 diabetic who was overweight (BMI of 40) and had an A1C of over 14% when he was diagnosed. He learned how to manage his own DM and now has a BMI of 19 (very good) and an A1C well under 6.0, which is about what non-diabetic people average. I read his column (click here to read it: http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/75990/motivation?ic=6044) about what motivates him to control his own diabetes and to help motivate just one other person at a time.

You can imagine that I have a lot of work to do to get such control!!

On the other hand...

I just got an e-mail with my $10 gift certificate for Chapters-Indigo (the bookstore) for completing a survey. I've never won any of their draws (but I sure could use $1000) but I've picked up about $50 in rewards for answering questions about products ("If Florida orange juice was a person, what do you think he/she would be like? Lively, depressing, stylish, sporty, orange?"). Anyway, Web Perspectives always seems to be looking for new Canadian customers. You only lose a bit of time (http://www.webperspectives.ca/) and you might pick up a buck or two.

And I had a really pleasant Sunday shopping/lunch trip with my friend K, also a person with diabetes. We went to IKEA, for gawd's sake, on a Sunday! That's usually a mistake, but we both found parking within seconds, had a pleasant afternoon shopping and browsing, and it was great to see her. She also wishes she could get back to the point where controlling her blood sugars had a point. I don't remember when mine was. I think it was after my 5-day diabetes education class, when my BGs were still perfect (and A1C around 5%).

Diabetes education: For the record, the first session was an interview with a nurse-educator. The first thing she asked after the usual stuff (medical history, diagnosis date, etc.) was whether I did my own housework. When I said no she looked worried. "Well, what do you do for exercise?" Well, on Monday I play badminton for 3 hours. I practice Karate for 90 minutes once or twice a week. I do yoga for about two hours on Saturday. "Oh, so you probably get enough exercise..." I remember being quite fit, and I need to get back to that state (more than 10 years later) but I'm being thwarted by old bad habits (but I am keeping up with my flossing).