Reading Material!
Type 1 Diabetes then? Wow. At 44 years old? Are they absolutely sure?
Having now met the Consultant and spent another two hours going through things in even more detail I was told that
"Almost certainly you are a Type 1 Diabetic"
There were other concerns with symptoms, which might be down to any number of things; coeliac, hyperthyroidism, cancer, fatty liver decease (?), aching kidneys, all of which could be due to high blood sugar levels over the last couple of months but still needed to be explained. Doc explained that he thought my background level of fitness and consumption of gallons of water was one of the reasons I hadn't fallen over yet!!
Good job I love to read, study and learn new things.
Imagine my delight at dipping into the world of diabetes! Brilliant. No two 'specialists' can agree on anything. If one says it's Black, the other says it's White, and both show 'studies' to prove the point. If the UK says its mmol/l the USA says its mg/dl - you work it out!
Have I mentioned Specialist Diabetic Dieticians yet?
Wow, another whole world of psudo-science and government guidelines! about the only thing that the Endocrinologists and the Dieticians seem to agree on is that the body needs energy! As if that wasn't enough to be getting my head around, along comes Carbohydrate Counting (Carb Counting), the joy!!
Fortunately I was pointed in the direction of a few 'must read' books, each of which I will review individually in separate articles:
The Diabetes Solution by Dr Richard K. Berstein, MD was my first read. Cover to cover, two day, job done. So now I'm an expert eh? But hold on, everything he says is in direct opposition to the American Diabetic Association? Duh? Why?
POLITICS
Oh for the love of sweets! Is there nowhere safe from the vested interests of capitalism? Money + power = politics. There, I've said it...now I'll have to explain it. I promise to devote time to write a piece on just this, explaining what I have read, heard, found and observed over the last six months!
Back to reading lists. So having read about the fight between Bernstein and 'the Establishment' I thought I had better read something from them too.
American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Medical Management of Type 1 Diabetes, fifth edition was my second read. Very useful, written for the medical community and surprisingly easy to follow, although I did have to keep the medical dictionary & google close to hand!
Next was Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner. Bloody Brilliant, I'll say it again, brilliant!
Type 1 Diabetes for Dummies is exactly what it says it is. Very 'on message' with the ADA.
Carbs & Cals by Chello Publishing Ltd who also have an iPhone app to go with it - very, very handy for carb counting beginners and experts alike.
and several hundred research papers from institutes all over the world studying diet, exercise, insulin, complications (eek) and everything else affected by diabetes, which I will also share with you over the coming posts.
So what have I immediately learnt form reading all of the above?
One key thing: I can manage my diabetes
Next edition: Testing Times!
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