I was seventeen. The MD couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. He thought I had an allergy. I was losing weight rapidly. I dreamt of ice cold water dripping from a glacier into waiting glass. I couldn’t get enough to drink and ice cold cokes were my mainstay. This was 1957. There were no diet cokes. I was taking in a lot of sugar.
Finally, I decided to research the symptoms myself. I checked out a book at the library. It didn’t take much reading to pinpoint my problem. I had diabetes mellitus. I told my parents and they called the doctor. He asked to see me on a Saturday. For the first time ever, he did an Ames Clinitest on my urine sample and it turned bright orange. It was now confirmed. He told my father this was the first time I had tested positive. It was a lie. He had never tested my urine before. He had treated me as an allergy case for months.
The first thirteen years of my diabetes I did nothing very special to control it. My mother never bothered with the Exchange System while I was living and home and I didn’t have time to think of such things while working and going to college. I avoided things that were sweet, but never thought about counting carbohydrates. That wouldn’t happen until decades later. I just shot myself up with NPH pork Insulin (usually one injection of 40 units per day). My urine samples were all over the map. There was no home blood glucose sampling then. While still in college, I was hospitalized for a serious hypoglycemic reaction in 1963.
After I got married my life settled down and control of my diabetes improved. There was one more case of hypoglycemic hospitalization in 1972. It would be the last. My wife and I attended classes in controlling diabetes and in the risks of having diabetic children. We did not get much encouragement but went ahead and had two sons. Now in their thirties, they may have escaped the disease.
Meanwhile my life went on without any deterioration in my appearance, weight or energy. Except for doctors and my closest associates, no one knew I was diabetic and I kept it that way. I was on the path to becoming corporate executive at Boeing. To my knowledge, I was never discriminated against due to my illness during my thirty years with the company. I felt charmed I had such a tolerant employer.
At the time of my retirement in 1995, I was on Humalog, taking about five units before each meal. I used 15 units of NPH as my basal insulin. I was still not counting carbohydrates, although was careful about what I ate and exercised. My A1C’s were in the low sixes.
My insulin Intake--In 2003 I started I started using Lantus as my basal insulin. It was a real improvement over NPH, almost eliminating night-time lows. Today I normally inject 6 or 7 units of Humalog before breakfast, about 4 or 5 units at lunch time and about 2 or 3 units before dinner. The amount varies based upon my estimate of carbohydrates, which normally total around 150 per day. Eleven units of Levantus is my basal shot taken around 9 pm. I try and operate as if I were using an insulin pump, calculating my bolus when I eat. I carry a 3.0 ml cartridge of Humalog and a syringe in my pocket. My most recent A1C was 5.9.
My Formula—As a minimum, I test my blood sugar before each meal and about 2 hours afterwards. I give myself a touch-up shot of Humalog if over 150 mg/dl. One unit will lower me 50 points in two hours. If, say, I am 70 mg/dl, then I may need to add carbohydrates. Ten carbohydrates will raise me 30 points within an hour. So my formula is one unit of fast-acting insulin to lower me 50 points and 10 carbohydrates to raise me 30 points. Every insulin-dependent diabetic needs to discover what his or her formula is.
Loss of Hypoglycemic Awareness—This is one of the worst effects of long-term insulin dependency. For instance, yesterday I tested 36 dl/mg and felt none of the trembling and edginess I would have experienced only ten years ago. For this reason, I have to test myself frequently—up to 13 times a day. It means packing a glucose monitor with me at all times and occasionaly setting my alarm at night to awaken me for a test.
I am 5’8” and have weighted 147-150 lbs. during the 55 years I have been a Type 1 diabetic.
Until about three years ago I was fairly active, hiking, fishing and going to the gym about three times a week. Due to life style changes, I now just go to the gym (about an hour each visit, three times a week). I have never enjoyed the gym much. I think it like medicine. I would prefer to be hiking, but that doesn’t fit in easily to my daily routine.
After more than 55 years with the disease I am living in Mexico and showing some effects of autonomic and peripheral nerve damage. For this condition, I take 600 mg of Gabapentina daily to mask the pain. It seems pretty effective. Also I take 1200 mg daily of Thiotacid, a product made by Bayer in Germany that may resemble Alpha Lipoic Acid in the USA. This pill is to reverse the damage to my nerves. I have been taking this pill for about six months. The jury is still out on its efficacy.
I’d be happy to share knowledge I have gained over the years.
Finally, I decided to research the symptoms myself. I checked out a book at the library. It didn’t take much reading to pinpoint my problem. I had diabetes mellitus. I told my parents and they called the doctor. He asked to see me on a Saturday. For the first time ever, he did an Ames Clinitest on my urine sample and it turned bright orange. It was now confirmed. He told my father this was the first time I had tested positive. It was a lie. He had never tested my urine before. He had treated me as an allergy case for months.
The first thirteen years of my diabetes I did nothing very special to control it. My mother never bothered with the Exchange System while I was living and home and I didn’t have time to think of such things while working and going to college. I avoided things that were sweet, but never thought about counting carbohydrates. That wouldn’t happen until decades later. I just shot myself up with NPH pork Insulin (usually one injection of 40 units per day). My urine samples were all over the map. There was no home blood glucose sampling then. While still in college, I was hospitalized for a serious hypoglycemic reaction in 1963.
After I got married my life settled down and control of my diabetes improved. There was one more case of hypoglycemic hospitalization in 1972. It would be the last. My wife and I attended classes in controlling diabetes and in the risks of having diabetic children. We did not get much encouragement but went ahead and had two sons. Now in their thirties, they may have escaped the disease.
Meanwhile my life went on without any deterioration in my appearance, weight or energy. Except for doctors and my closest associates, no one knew I was diabetic and I kept it that way. I was on the path to becoming corporate executive at Boeing. To my knowledge, I was never discriminated against due to my illness during my thirty years with the company. I felt charmed I had such a tolerant employer.
At the time of my retirement in 1995, I was on Humalog, taking about five units before each meal. I used 15 units of NPH as my basal insulin. I was still not counting carbohydrates, although was careful about what I ate and exercised. My A1C’s were in the low sixes.
My insulin Intake--In 2003 I started I started using Lantus as my basal insulin. It was a real improvement over NPH, almost eliminating night-time lows. Today I normally inject 6 or 7 units of Humalog before breakfast, about 4 or 5 units at lunch time and about 2 or 3 units before dinner. The amount varies based upon my estimate of carbohydrates, which normally total around 150 per day. Eleven units of Levantus is my basal shot taken around 9 pm. I try and operate as if I were using an insulin pump, calculating my bolus when I eat. I carry a 3.0 ml cartridge of Humalog and a syringe in my pocket. My most recent A1C was 5.9.
My Formula—As a minimum, I test my blood sugar before each meal and about 2 hours afterwards. I give myself a touch-up shot of Humalog if over 150 mg/dl. One unit will lower me 50 points in two hours. If, say, I am 70 mg/dl, then I may need to add carbohydrates. Ten carbohydrates will raise me 30 points within an hour. So my formula is one unit of fast-acting insulin to lower me 50 points and 10 carbohydrates to raise me 30 points. Every insulin-dependent diabetic needs to discover what his or her formula is.
Loss of Hypoglycemic Awareness—This is one of the worst effects of long-term insulin dependency. For instance, yesterday I tested 36 dl/mg and felt none of the trembling and edginess I would have experienced only ten years ago. For this reason, I have to test myself frequently—up to 13 times a day. It means packing a glucose monitor with me at all times and occasionaly setting my alarm at night to awaken me for a test.
I am 5’8” and have weighted 147-150 lbs. during the 55 years I have been a Type 1 diabetic.
Until about three years ago I was fairly active, hiking, fishing and going to the gym about three times a week. Due to life style changes, I now just go to the gym (about an hour each visit, three times a week). I have never enjoyed the gym much. I think it like medicine. I would prefer to be hiking, but that doesn’t fit in easily to my daily routine.
After more than 55 years with the disease I am living in Mexico and showing some effects of autonomic and peripheral nerve damage. For this condition, I take 600 mg of Gabapentina daily to mask the pain. It seems pretty effective. Also I take 1200 mg daily of Thiotacid, a product made by Bayer in Germany that may resemble Alpha Lipoic Acid in the USA. This pill is to reverse the damage to my nerves. I have been taking this pill for about six months. The jury is still out on its efficacy.
I’d be happy to share knowledge I have gained over the years.
