J Linz's Journey!

My hometown of Memphis!

All I know was that I was at the doctor's because I had two infections: a UTI and a yeast infection. After they looked at my bloodwork, the doc was all: "Have you ever been diagnosed with diabetes?" and I was all, oh hell. Because it runs in my family, I had a feeling that it wouldn't just bypass me, especially with my awful habits.

I had been on Glucophage before when I lived in North Carolina but I was told that it was to "help regulate your period so you can conceive" and not "you know you're a diabetic, right?". The way a lot of people in the medical profession misdiagnose black people will be another post on another day...

The doctor was surprised that I didn't have high blood pressure, something she said was a common thing with diabetics but my vitamin D was severely low. And let's be honest: I'm an inside person, regardless of being born and raised in the South. I hate the heat and I am way more comfortable being inside on the computer.

With the actual confirmation, I was stuck. Because the foods that the doctor told me to avoid or cut down severely are the foods that I absolutely love: pasta, bread, sugary sweets: you know, the things that taste good. Cake. This disease took away my love for cake (not really but I can't eat it as much as I would like...)!

I am not on insulin and I only have two prescribed medications: metformin and Vitamin D. But I'm a bad diabetic and I tend to eat and drink what I want. My A1c had been steady for a while but now it's skyrocketed and my dosage of metformin has been doubled, from 500 to 1000 mg twice a day.

I will admit that I cheat and cut the pills in half. But I can also tell you the reason for the jump in A1c is my fault, skipping medication, and all of that.

So my actual journey hasn't been as "thrilling" as my best friend's. Two years ago, I had stopped taking my medication for a while and my BS over Thanksgiving holiday skyrocketed to 400, and I had to go to the emergency room. I received insulin for the first time in my diabetic life there and tried to tell myself that I would be better about this because sticking myself with a needle ain't for me.

I'm a chicken wuss when it comes to needles, by the way,

With COVID, things are a bit different. Especially with me because I lose track of time a lot, I want to say that my next doctor's appointment should be approaching if it hasn't passed but doctors still are making emergencies their number one priority. It's just so much easier to be a lazy bag of bones when you're on a stay at home order! Unless you're active like that. Me? Not so much...

So! The idea is for me to better myself. Lose weight. Eat right. Check my blood sugar consistently. Leave that cake alone. Did I mention that I'm in my 40s? So, stay looking young. Being a diabetic is so, much, hard work and I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

Before I go, I also want to debunk one thing that a lot of people think about diabetics and diabetes. Yes, the idea is to avoid a lot of sugar but eating sugar isn't the reason why we're diabetics. We have to watch our carbs more than the sugars, which is why for most of us, starches are our biggest enemies in this fight. Something to note: cake is made from flour, AKA starch. So, it's not the icing that's killing me, it's the actual cake itself!

Alright, enough rambling from me! Stay safe everyone!