Standing In For the Pancreas

Through having diabetes I must take the place of the pancreas and live out the actions in my day to day living of what the pancreas would normally do if it were functioning normally. In this I must stand in place for the pancreas. For supporting the body at maintaining the blood sugar levels, I must manually inject insulin into the body so that the sugar within the blood is able to move from the blood stream into the cells and not raise too high causing health problems.

This is an extensive process and includes quite a variety of variables, such as the food that I eat, whether it is a mono or complex carbohydrate, when/how much I sleep, how much I exercise, any illness that I run into, any stress that I cause for myself, insulin dosages my life style and life habits, with each variable having a varying affect on the others. Suffice it to say, I had no idea that the body managed this without the awareness of myself as the body. It manages so much for us to keep us alive without us even knowing!  Shows how much knowing gets us.

So lets take on one point right now and move with insulin dosages. When I was diagnosed I was on 2 types of insulin ( I still am on two types but one is a different type than what I started out with). One type of insulin I used lasted 12 hours and one that lasted four hours. Both types of insulin has a spike in the effectiveness to time ratio meaning that when I inject the insulin that lasts for four hours (Rapid) it works its `hardest`, `best`, after 2 hours after injection. So when I eat and inject insulin to be able to transfer the sugar within the blood stream into the cells, I must be aware/consider that after 2 hours is when the insulin is going to be working it's hardest, and to be honest I was never told WHY insulin peaks, only that it does peak and I must deal with it. Through research I found that the insulin molecule starts out as a hexamer,

With that variable taken into consideration, if I end up going low an hour after injection (low meaning below 4 mmol/l of sugar within the blood) I know that I am going to have to still monitor my sugar levels and I usually expect to continue to go low when this happens because the insulin has not reached it' s peak performance yet, I then have to eat more or I must eat again when I go low again. The pancreas manages the blood sugar between 4 and 8 mmol/l all the time every time excreting enough insulin perfectly every time one eats to always keep it in that range, there is no need to consider any spikes, or insulin rates, or how much one eats, or if one has ate too much or if the pancreas has secreted enough insulin because that is all managed automatically with or  without our awareness or consideration of what it in fact does.

And let me tell you, in order to keep the blood sugar between 4 and 8 all the time takes a great deal of effort,  I must check my blood sugar almost every hour to make sure that I regulate it if I were to attempt to keep it at 4-8 the entire day. I say that it is impossible to maintain it at 4-8 all the time because once I eat it takes 15 minutes for the food to start to be broken down and the nutrients extracted, so in order for me to be 4-8 at the end of the four hour duration of the insulin being active;  the first hour I must be around 12-13 in order for the insulin to reach it's peak and descend with the blood sugar ending up at 4-8 at the end of the time that the insulin is effective. There is the insulin pump which constantly injects the rapid insulin into the body at a constant rate at a slow pace, with the ability to inject a large dose of insulin when one eats, but this as well works on rapid insulin which still has the peak effectiveness which still boils down to having to go high at first in order to maintain the blood sugar levels later on. To cross reference this, I tested my sister's blood sugar after she ate quite a bit of candy because I wanted to know that from that large amount of candy, if the blood sugar would go above 8 on a non-diabetic, so I tested her sugar level and it was 8 on the spot, which was cool feedback for me. In this I have to take the responsibility for the pancreas, take responsibility for managing the blood sugar level to assist me in staying alive. To consider that the body does this unconditionally no matter what we do is quite cool = it does this to support us even when/as we abuse the body with what we ingest.

The second type of insulin lasts 12 hours with a spike after six hours. This insulin was called NPH. What this insulin does is regulate the blood sugar throughout a 12 hour period with me injecting it every 12 hours. Why it regulates it over the 12 hour period is because the liver will produce a hormone called glycogen that will inevitably heighten the blood sugar throughout time without any insulin to act as the transmitter for the sugar to pass into the cells, that is why the insulin is designed to last 12 hours - because the liver is consistently producing this hormone. Again this is another variable to consider as it must be the right amount for the specific person and if too much one will end up going low quite frequently throughout the day, if too little one is quite high throughout the day. As well, it must be considered where you inject it, and whether or not you go too deep or not deep enough when injecting into the skin. Too deep, you hit muscle, it hurts, and causes the insulin to act too quickly, too shallow and one does not hit the layer of fat beneath the skin causing the insulin to not follow the desired effect, in addition to this, where on the body one injects also has an effect, wherein each part of the body will have a different amount of fat which the insulin must move through to work effectively, causing the amount of fat to slow down the rate of effectiveness.

What I am getting at within this blog post is that the body is specific in how it operates and functions in order to keep us alive within the body so that we have the opportunity to live here on Earth, and that when we take away a single aspect of the body only then we realize what the body actually does for us, what the body is capable of, and how hard it is to manage the body the way the body does through external means. This is to give a perspective on possibly what you were not aware of, to show how much the body does for us each day and each time we eat, and most of the time we are not considering the body, most of the time we are up in our heads, thinking , worrying about emotions and feelings, in this missing the body and it's amazingness and what is does to keep us alive even if we are abusive assholes. We must consider the body, the physical, and all it does for us to live here in the physical and stop considering the mind, as shown through me, I had not an iota of an idea what it took to manage the body, but through creating diabetes within myself I had to see, and in this seeing; realize the body does much more then what we are aware of as we supposedly `live` our lives.

The Ambulance Ride

My sister  wakes me up at 3 in the morning telling me that there is a police officer at the door. In my childhood, I was a little shit sometimes, so I quickly check if there was anything wrong that I have done recently that would involve the cops. I don't see any reason for them to be there regards to my `bad` actions, so I put on pants and walk confidently down the stairs to see what was going on. The police officer says that I must come with him to the hospital and that was all that was said to me. I wasn't informed of what was exactly going on. I knew it was a big deal because this was far out of the pattern of my routine life, but I could not figure out exactly why this situation was presenting itself. I walk upstairs put a shirt on, walk out the door to see an ambulance sitting in the driveway with its lights flashing. My initial reaction was of shock. I thought that I would be traveling with the cop, never considering that an ambulance was sent to the house as well. I walk into the ambulance alone, while my mother and sister follow in the cop car, sit down on the uncomfortable seat being told to buckle up…not understanding that I would have to buckle up for the remainder of my life, riding the ups and downs of my blood glucose levels.

In the ambulance the paramedics were asking me questions: "Did you eat anything before you went to bed" "2 pepperettes" I told them as they were taking blood from my finger and placing it on a machine. They wait a bit and the one says to the other "He is still at 32", ignoring the fact that I am there to. By the way I still had no idea what the fuck was actually happening , so for a note to paramedics who may read this who may be in a similar situation, EXPLAIN what is going on to the patient instead of leaving them guessing for the entire time allowing fears and ideas and beliefs pop up in their heads. As they said that I was still 32, in my mind I was hoping that I was supposed to be at 27, in hopes that I was not as fucked as the situation presented itself to be. To calm my fears I start small talk with them, like why can they not wear seatbelts but I have to? Was eating pepperettes a bad thing? I did not want to be in that situation at all. I wanted to carry on with my life ignorantly of anything, not having to deal with reality as shown in my previous blog, where I did not consider the reality of the physical body and the effects my eating habits were having on the body. The paramedics and I sit in silence for the remainder of the ride.

When we get to the hospital, I sit in the ambulance while we wait for the patient ahead of us in the ambulance queue to be processed. This gives me time to mull over thoughts in my head about what exactly is going on. There is a lot of fear within me, but I have placed trust within the paramedics, believing that they know how to take care of me, which helps suppress the fear a bit. I get out of the ambulance and meet up with my sister and mother before the hospital entrance. With a minimal understanding of what is going on we walk straight into the ER. We walk past the front desk where the nurses and doctors are stationed, and as I walk pass the doctor was in surprise that I was walking on my own two feet. She expected me to be unconscious in a diabetic coma telling me that when I got my blood tested that afternoon I was up at 57…later I find out that my cousin, who is also type 1, was carried into the hospital in my uncles arms unconscious when she had a similar ordeal. After I walk in I am lead to a room in the ER, laid down on a bed and was hooked up to an IV to give me the necessary help to help calm my sugars and restore my body to the normal functions of the body. As I laid there I wasn't aware that that night was the first night of being a diabetic for the rest of my life.

For others who may go through similar processes, ask what is going on, if you are unaware of the situation ask questions until you understand. Surprisingly children are quite intelligent despite what adults may perceive them to be, so explain to them what is going on, they will understand.  I will blog about how sport and my sugar intake as a kid assisted in the development of type 1 diabetes.