I have been a bad bad boy,and the consequences of being the baddest dude on D block are swift as they are harsh. Like a freight train, this day has been insatiably coming and my feeble attempts at delaying the inevitable were simply swatted away.

Now that this day is here thanks to the number one diabetes Sin, Complacency.

I have bittersweet emotions, on one hand it means I have a twinge of failure for the current state of affairs but on the other hand, I am brimming with excitement  for the opportunity of starting afresh, so this is essentially my D day rewind.

First lets go back to the beginning a bit and the reason we are where we are.

I will always trace the current state of affairs to a Metformin prescription a received at the beginning of the year. While I have been on Metformin for several years now and it has worked wonders for me, I noticed the changes after starting a new batch,  a few days into the refill I had my first significant high and this went on for several days.

At this particular time I was testing out a new diet which was simply a variation of the Atkins diet which called for a stricter restriction on carbs and more emphasis on fats and meat.

Last but not least, Life kinda just happened.

After 13 some odd years with the D, I admit I had inevitably  grown complacent.

A little bit of lax in my regular d management, a missed test here, a missed workout there and the result is a recreation of the  perfect D storm for me.

Its not as if I didn’t feel it coming on, since any attempt at simple  corrections was getting incessantly thwarted  at every turn, an increase in the Metformin dosage   for example did not bring about any significant changes in my sugar levels.

This is where we were at the last endo visit.

1. My fasting sugars had been steadily trending higher in the last few months, with a peek of 300 one morning. To combat that we tried adding a glass of wine with dinner, and while the jury is still out on that, I am however seeing a drop in fasting sugars and overall daily sugar averages.

2. My A1c climbed up to 9.5 % from 6% the previous period, so the control was definitely slipping.

The Solution discussed was to add Glyburide to the already Increased Metformin dosage but  I had been increasingly thinking that I was being pushed in another direction however, so I opted to go with  Insulin Instead. With my earlier Insulin wars,  this was by far not the popular choice. Many in my family were  surprised including myself as well why I chose to go down this path.

While I couldn’t definitively  explain my decision, at the time, I just believed this was the way to go. Many a studies have shown the greater effectiveness of adding Insulin to the regular Oral medication, and time of course will tell if it was the right decision or not.

3. My Atkins diet experiment  naturally had left me with high levels of triglycerides, the number was 505 to be exact, anything over 150 is considered high.

The American Heart Association has set guidelines for triglyceride levels

The discussed solution was to add Lipitor, plus just coz its me, going on a low carb vegetarian diet, until the numbers get back to normal at the very least.

That having been said, I have been on the new path ( diet a bit longer)  for about 10 days now, Truthfully the first steps towards filling my Insulin prescription and taking the needle for the first time was quite nerve wrecking, it took me about a week to muster the courage to just fill the prescription and another day before I attempted my first shot, but I am happy to say, I overcame that hurdle. (Coincidentally I stepped away from the blog at the same time.)

This will always  be a painstakingly slow process for me till I get the old courage up, I sure do hope I can triumph over the needle phobia this  time around…

A few lessons learned, Complacency is a real D symptom and it can happen to any of us at any time, am standing proof that it can surely happen. Imagine years of control being wiped out by a few bad months of letting the foot off the pedal,  It is not just  the non compliant diabetics who choose to completely ignore their diabetes that feel the devastating effects, I mean look at me, I am very aware of my diabetes and take care of it but I am also at risk for major diabetes complications.

I am not saying I have fallen off the cliff either, but I am at the precipice however and I have to refocus my energy and efforts before it gets any worse than it already is.

In the infamous words of the Chinese, FOOL ME ONCE……..