Thursday 5 July 2012

Functioning Pancreas Envy

Last night I asked my boyfriend Anthony if I could test his blood sugars immediately after he'd eaten a good 60g or so of sultanas.  A little while ago I wrote a post about how I was having ridiculously high peaks after eating muesli for breakfast, because of the dried fruit in it, and so I gave it up.  I wondered if a non-diabetic person's bg would peak too.  Reluctantly, as no one particularly wants to have their finger needlessly stabbed with a needle, Ant let me test his blood.

Five minutes after he'd finished eating, his blood sugars were 15.8mmol.  Considering the normal range for a non-diabetic is usually between 4 and 8, that's pretty high!  After I'd forced an admission out of Anthony that the finger prick really doesn't hurt at all, we decided we'd test again an hour or so later.  We did and...8.1 - now that's what you call a functioning pancreas!

Although I was obviously over the moon that he clearly wasn't a diabetic (I must admit, the 15.8 scared me a little!) I was a teeny weeny, itsy bitsy, bit jealous that my body doesn't work that way.  Somedays I'd like someone to just give my pancreas a jump start or something, you know, a bit like a car battery.  In the 15 years I've had diabetes I can't say I've ever been envious of a functioning pancreas, although I suppose it's not exactly a common, diagnosable disorder.  Even after meals out with friends when I've had to wander off to the bathroom to inject and others haven't, it'd never really bothered me.  As Audrey Niffenegger wrote, 'everything seems simple until you think about it.'

I asked Ant if he'd felt any different when he was high and he said no.  We reckon it's probably because his bg probably didn't stay up there long enough for his body and mind to register it properly.  I suppose bodies are kind of amazing, whether they're working 100% properly or not.  It's amazing that Ant's body manages to keep a constant blood sugar balance, always releasing insulin from the pancreas and glucose from the liver.  It's also sort of amazing how much control I have to try and maintain, simply because one part of my body doesn't work properly.

Alright, so I can't go and eat an entire pizza or sandwich or tub of ice cream without injecting insulin - darn, I can't even eat fruit without doing it! - but my body still does a lot of amazing things.  Hey, I can touch my toes without bending my knees!  Amazing, right?!  :)

2 comments:

  1. If his BG was 15.8, you'd have been better off washing his hands thoroughly and doing it again! No non-diabetic will EVER go above about 9 and even then that is what most doctors now refer to as "pre diabetic"...He would be advised to do a fasting BG and go and get his Hba1C checked!

    Dr Bernstein's book goes into this in a bit more detail so it would be worht reading that if you haven;t already (I advise EVERY diabetic I meet to do so!)

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    1. Hi there!

      Thanks for this information. I do actually have a copy of Dr Bernstein's 'Diabetes Solution' so I will read up on this. Funnily enough I have been told in the past that a non-diabetic's blood sugars can go up to 13mmol and higher, especially after consuming high GI foods (but as I'm sure you're aware, there's A LOT of mis-matching information surrounding diabetes even now, so it's always quite difficult to know who/what to believe as being correct!)

      I am going to read up on this though and perhaps even suggest he does get his HbA1c checked!

      Thank you :)

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