A friend of mine, Joanne, told me that she knew that her diabetes must be "acting up" because her vision was a little blurry in the early evening light on her porch. I asked for clarification and she said that she had noticed that when she had blurred vision, it was time to hydrate, check her sugar and have at least a small snack.
Vision issues are a well known concern of people that have diabetes. At first, I was shocked by what she said, and then I thought back to a very bad cold that I had a year ago. I felt absolutely awful. No matter what I did, I was tired. All that I wanted to do was sleep. A friend called to check in on me, waking me from my sleep. When I went to answer the phone, I had a hard time focusing on the name displayed on the phone screen. At the time, I blamed the vision issue to sleeping so much and being tired. When I was done talking with my friend, I went to the bathroom, had a snack, and got a drink of water. Climbing back into bed, I pulled up social media to have a look at what the world had been doing while I was asleep. The words were still slightly blurred. I grabbed my reading glasses, but there was still a blurred edge to the letters. Frustrated, I went back to sleep, blaming it on being "tired". When I woke the second time, everything seemed to be resolved, and I did not think about the incident again until Joanne told me about her blurry vision incident. When I went to the eye doctor for an exam, I remembered the incident and relayed it to my eye doctor, expecting them to dismiss it as coincidence. They went into detail about the risks of diabetes that is not in good control or monitoring. Blurry vision can occur when a diabetic is dehydrated because the body is doing everything that it can to keeps all systems go. When you are dehydrated, the actual shape of your eye can change. Your body can be so low on fluids that you are unable to tear properly or unable to tear at all. Additionally, dehydration affects your blood sugar levels. As your bodily fluids become more concentrated, your blood sugar levels will rise. It is important to consume adequate water in warmer weather to avoid overheating, which can also spike blood sugar. In cooler weather, we have to be mindful because we may not feel thirsty because we are not hot. When my optometrist and I talked, I asked if the 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water a day was the number to aim for. He suggested that I look at some of the water calculators that are online, and to be very honest when I filled in the information to get a good idea of where I needed to be. The water calculator that I chose is rehydratepro.com/hydration-calculator/ It allowed me to put in all of my information, including the fact that I really don't exersize as I should yet. (Baby steps, but I am not there yet.) With all of the input, 1.85 liters or, 65.11 imperial ounces is the amount that I should consume every day. (Just barely over the 8 ounces per glass, 8 glasses per day recommendation.) There was even a suggested breakdown of ideal water consumption, 3 glasses in the morning, 3 glasses in the afternoon, 1 in the evening and one at bedtime. Here is how I have broken down the consumption to get it all done in a day: Morning
Since I have made it a point of consuming enough water, my vision problems have not occured again. Even if I am feeling under the weather, I make it a point to keep hydrating, which also helps to flush my system. Hydrate for the sake of your vision!
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I have been reading up on different sugars and substitutes to be better informed.
Today's product was agave nectar. I thought that would be a good substitute because of all of the health benefits, after all, it is from a plant, and not a chemical plant! I read online about agave nectar. The health benefits of agave don't come from syrup. Only raw, cooked or dried. Syrup isn't that. So, agave is off the list. Apparently, it breaks down into 2 different sugars. One of them processes through the liver, and excess sugar through the liver can lead to diabetes. Imagine if you already have diabetes! Here is the article that I read if you are interested in reading it for yourself: www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/1134994/health-benefits-of-agave-nectar/ I was actually debating replacing Log Cabin ( a very bad choice, but it is what I currently have in the pantry) for this syrup. However, it looks as though maple syrup would be a far better choice. Looking at where sugars are processed is important for sugar alcohol. The journey of diabetes is filled with a lot of good and bad information. I strive to research as much as I can so that I am making the most informed choices possible. I appreciate you being a reader here. What is a sweetener that you learned about and no longer use? Leave your comments below. I had to go to the doctor today for a follow up from my injury. I was very agitated when I arrived because of a coworker needling me about my injury. Normally, I would have let this roll off my back, but when he decided to start picking on me, I didn't feel well, and he was coming at me with a lot of false statements that were meant to inflame.
Between his comments, me getting irritated, and getting caught in a little traffic, when I arrived to the doctor's office, I was already irritated, to say the least. At the doctor's office, there was a little confusion about the appointment, leading to more irritation on my part. The office took my blood sugar reading, and it was high. I was fasting properly, so I was pretty surprised. The nurse asked me if I was angry or upset. I told her about the morning so far. She said something that was very scary to think about. "Be careful. Anger in diabetics can cause diabetic rage. Where your blood sugar climbs along with your temper. Something to be mindful of." She squeezed my hand and smiled. "Knowing is more than half the battle. Knowing means that you can control your anger, and then, that helps control your sugar. It is an advantage to know that anger is a trigger to how your body processes sugars." I smiled because she was right. This knowledge was a gift. I thought about how in the past, sensitive discussions had led to me physically feeling very bad, and sometimes confused about what had happened. I would sit and wonder how things had escalated. It was confusing, sitting there on the papered exam table, wondering if a lot of events in my past would have turned out differently had I only known about this diabetes and anger correlation. As soon as I got home, I went on the computer and started looking at correlations between diabetes and blood sugar. It is all over the internet. There is even a phrase, diabetic rage. It talks about some of the effects of blood sugar on the diabetic who is angry. Looking at all of these web pages made me resolve to take better care of myself so that I do not have to deal with this very dark side of diabetes. It has also made it a bigger priority to look closer at diabetic rage and see what are the best ways of dealing with this. This also means acknowledging that sometimes, with blood sugar affected while having serious discussions, I absolutely was at risk for not only not being at my best, but for having serious health complications. I am eternally grateful to this nurse for sharing the information with me about the correlation. This was not even the post that I had intended to write today, but I wanted to write it down and share before I lost all of the intense feelings that happened. I will be writing more about this as I learn more, but if you have diabetes, take the time to learn about diabetes and moods affecting your blood sugar as well as the diabetic rage that I shared with you. |
Hi, my name is DixieI have diabetes and this is the place where I share all of the discoveries that are part of my journey. ArchivesCategories
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