Today I am kicking off our new series of Guest Opinions with a little something from Hollywood funnyman Jim Turner. whom I consider a friend ever since he showed me a good time at my first-ever national diabetes
conference. He never fails to coax a smile, even in the worst of D-times.
A Guest Post by actor and dLife TV co-host Jim Turner
“Jim … hello?”
I once had this ridiculous idea to make – what was clearly going to be impossible – an estimate of how many low blood sugar episodes I’ve had in my 38 years of living with diabetes. I lumped them into groups: severe, strong, dangerous, mild, scary, really scary, terrifying, stupid, fun, rambling, embarrassing, disjointed, and exhilarating. Weird episodes had their own subgroup: weird-mindblowing, weird-psychedelic, weird-confusing, weird-incoherent, and just plain weird-weird.
I got so caught up in creating descriptive categories that I ran out of steam before even beginning to add them up. Or, maybe what happened was my blood sugar got so low while doing it that I had to stop. Or, maybe the whole idea of adding them up was, in itself, just another low blood sugar bad idea. So, I still don’t have a clue as to the exact number, but I do know there have been thousands; really, thousands of lost, missed moments.
I’ve had very tight control most of my life and I’ve been very lucky to not suffer any of the major complications associated with diabetes. There have been minor-ish things; namely the evil Peyronie’s eisease (look this fun one up on Wikipedia), and Peyronie’s more boring, benign cousin, Dupuytren’s contracture.
Still, my eyes, kidney, heart, circulation, feet, and general health are, in general, excellent. Maybe it’s also because of my tight control, that I do have to deal with many low blood sugar episodes. For me, one of the major complications of Type 1diabetes is low blood sugar.
Besides the occasional freakish episodes I’ve had at inopportune times (one involving Fabio and Deion Sanders), or the two times (in 38 years) I’ve had to be revived, the bigger problem for me has really been the caravan of those low-level-lows that work to take you out of whatever MOMENT you happen to be in at any particular point in time.
Missed moments … while watching a movie and you feel your blood sugar drop and all you’re concerned with is getting it back to where you can pay attention to the movie.
Missed moments … when you’re just talking to somebody, or trying to make dinner, or reading the paper, or studying, or playing with your son or daughter or just … being. And until your blood sugar comes up again, that is the state you are in.
For me everything else fades away.
Even when I recover quickly, something is missed; a piece of my life gets dropped. I’m taken away from the experience of watching that movie, or talking with friends, or playing with my son. I’m taken out of being me.
And not only are you not in the NOW, there’s the sometimes when you aren’t even in the who, what, where, why or how.
My son says to me a lot, “Dad, you were just … not there.”
I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I’m walking around out of control. I’m not. However, there are many – too many – moments like this in my life; moments that have slipped through my fingers and are gone forever; moments where I was physically there, but “not there” and for me, it is those thousands of missed moments that are one of the great crimes of this disease.
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Read all about Jim Turner, Bewitched, and his one-man show, My Struggles with Diabetes HERE.
Thanks for the first guest post! Love it!
Oh I so agree, one of the worst crimes of this disease, lost moments.
I could never add up the lows. It would bring on a low, no doubt. ha ha.
But I do know of two lows that brought the paramedics. Three lows that I simply don’t recall but I SO remember waking up trying to figure out how I got where I was. I do know of a couple highs that made me sick but I did not have to go to the hospital. Over 23 years and I can account for those. Not bad I say, not bad. No major “diabetes related” complications either. General health could be better and I wish upon all the stars that some of my genes were different but….
They do say tight control brings on the lows. Oh how I know. Oh how I hate. I tell people that for me, I would rather be High than Low any day. Any day! Lows scare me. My biggest fear is passing out. It has been over 2o years since I have but somehow it is still my biggest fear. They just plain scare me.
Thanks again for the insight, well written and funny post about the lost moments of PWDs. Lost Moments, sounds like a book or movie title.
Awesome Amy!
Jim – I’m a big fan! I love the dLife “internal dialogue” video piece. Thanks for sharing a bit more of yourself with us through Amy’s guest posts!
Great post. My roommate is diabetic and he has a tough time enjoying the activities we take for granted.
Jim – congrats on your excellent control and few complications. Hey one thought about your lows … I experienced the same lows for three decades and felt the same way – missing moments & waiting 10-15 minutes to get my mojo back. And my A1Cs showed it, too … a pulled a 4.9 and my endo said it was too low! All of this changed when I went on a pump two years ago (43 years into diabetes!) I was using multiple injections (sometimes 8/9 per day) to cover what I now know to be basal insulin. I no longer have 10-12 bad lows per week and my A1Cs have come up, too. Thanks for sharing your story. –Reed
Dear Jim – If you adopt a low carb diet, your lows are almost sure to vanish — but do remember to adjust insulin downward because you won’t need to “cover” so many carbs. It’s a pretty simple and logical principle: keeping carbs pretty steady reduces the going high and then having a rebound toward the low side. The system is set out in Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution book. I have no connection with the book except that I have followed his program as a T2, lost 50 pounds and had my doctor be delighted — as well as maintained normal BG readings for the last year while taking only metformin.
If you have finger contracturers, finger splints will help very quickly and they are incredibly cheap.
Best wishes!
I know exactly what you mean. Its like you are in the Twilight Zone. The worst part, excluding when you pass out, is when it happens at work. You are not making any sense and people look at you like you are crazy. If it is a bad one and you need assistance, you feel so embarrassed when you finally come out of it. And since so have consumed so many carbs to bring your blood sugar back up, your blood sugar sky rockets. Then you take more insulin to bring your blood sugar down and if you take too much, your blood sugar gets too low again. I call it the merry-go-round.
I think your complications are related to each other and not the diabetes, but I’m not funny like you
Great article!