Mother Nature

1-25-12

What they don’t tell you when you get diabetes is that even something as simple as nature can work against you.

I checked my blood sugar this morning. The glaring 119 in front of me freaked me out. My morning numbers have been running between 98 and 102. 119 isn’t horrific, but it is high for what I have been working towards.

As if dealing with elevated glucose levels isn’t bad enough, this all happens due to the other blood issues women deal with. Menstrual cycles and hormones don’t just affect my mood and the unpleasant bloating. They also can jack up my blood sugar for a day or two.

Luckily, I do have everything in check, so a slight spike here and there, and still significantly lower than any number I need to worry about, is simply a minor inconvenience. But could you imagine if I was not as good as I have been? Or if in my hormonal rage I opted to polish off a pint of ice cream? As a diabetic, I now have to be responsible even after being told by everything from girlfriends, chick flicks and various commercials that my time of the month is my time to be bad because I have earned it.

My periods are nowhere near as bad as they used to be back in high school. A week of heavy bleeding, cramps that could take down a horse and vicious food cravings would have put me in a diabetic coma now.

We take nature for granted more often than we should. My meds are helpful. My exercise and better diet are probably even more so, but even with all of that, Mama Nature doesn’t fuck around.