I’ve been alert to my recent discovery that a bout of anxiety (usually hidden from my consciousness) can result in three days of glucose upheaval. It’s often difficult for me to discern what exactly prompted the high glucose numbers, and I usually need to work backwards to figure out what caused the issue.
A few days ago I was back into the anxiety response — the glucose would not come down with usual doses of insulin — and knew pretty much immediately what caused it. I started one day with my Dexcom sensor falling off. Inconvenient, but not a big deal. I phoned and got another one on its way.
Then I had roofers arrive to replace my aging roof. The home insurance company requested I update it before next year and I knew I had to act fast. But I worried about being ripped off…my experience as a journalist made me well aware of sketchy “tradesmen” making off with people’s deposits or overcharging for a job. But I wouldn’t know until I got the final bill.
Then I tried to load my new Pelican kayak (a bloated form of an ocean kayak) onto my car using J-shaped roof carrier. It became clear I wouldn’t be able to do it myself, and once I had a friend get it loaded the kayak didn’t sit right. I tried to recoup the $200 expenditure of the carrier by selling it for $150. I went out in the evening to meet a fellow and he pointed out the carrier was missing a piece. I felt my usual response — shame and embarrassment. I tried to release tension on the way home by screaming but the sound I made in the car scared me even more.
That’s when the glucose spiked. The next day I again had problems remembering my password for the cash register, a number I use a zillion times a day. This red flag of not remembering numbers is the key that I’m holding in stress. Well, that and the sky-high glucose levels. So I attempted to shorten the three days to one day, but that didn’t work. This ingrained response is pretty hard to dislodge using conscious efforts.
The only holiday I get from high glucose is on an extended fast. I’ve already cut back my diet to low-carb foods. The list of foods I can’t eat is 10 times longer than foods I can. So I can’t lose weight the normal way — I have to fast. Insulin puts on weight by taking glucose out of the blood and storing it on the body as fat. Using less insulin through fasting allows me to drop weight. I am working on the 15 pounds I put on rapidly after the endo put me on Lantus. I quit the Lantus and am trying to get my weight back to where it was.
I am the expert on my own body. I know doctors want to deal with an issue like high glucose by prescribing insulin(s) but what harm does it bring to the rest of the body systems? Sure I may have great glucose numbers but if I’m overweight I’ll need medicine for high blood pressure, cholesterol and a myriad of other things that are not an issue for me now. But they will be, if I listen to doctors.
I just watched a documentary on Terry Wahls and her reversing multiple sclerosis (Defying all Odds) by diet alone. I already follow her low-carb plan so I bought her book The Wahls Protocol to see how else I can use food as medicine. The only issue I see right now is how I can eat the amounts she suggests.
Oh, and the roofers bill came in exactly on the estimate.
Leave a Reply