I can’t believe I’ve lived with diabetes for five years now and never knew the term for my ultimate goal: euglycemia. That’s a fancy science word for “normal blood sugar levels.” Since I’ve discovered this term, I’ve become just a tad obsessed. Did you know Google spits out 52,900 hits for it? Of course I mainly wanted to know how exactly how “normal blood sugar” is defined. According to the JDRF Kids site, it’s “blood sugar levels that people without diabetes have”:
- Meter readings: 75 mg/dl to 165 mg/dl. (Optimal reading ranges vary from person to person, according to age and other factors. Ask your doctor for your target range.)
- How you might feel: good, effective, clearheaded, energetic, having fun.
Loving that last bullet… Meanwhile, Dr. Aaron Kowalski, who lives with Type 1 diabetes himself and oversees the JDRF Artificial Pancreas Project says (quoted here), “We need true eugylcemia, but we can’t do it with single-point testing.” He indicates that the pursuit of euglycemia requires faster, more accurate CGM systems (continuous glucose monitors) that will help us spot problems and make adjustments in real-time.
Amen to that, because most of us are practically killing ourselves in “the pursuit of normalcy” right now, with pretty mixed results despite our best efforts.
This latest obsession, coupled with discovery of the artwork above (by Fitzroy Hoyte), has somehow inspired the following poem:
ODE TO EUGLYCEMIA (A variation on John Keats’ Ode to Autumn)
Seasons of chills and sweaty weather!
Tempting carbohydrate treats of cream and crumb!
Conspiring to disrupt the careful regimen;
With ripest fruit Thou temptest our aplomb.
To savor apples crusted in sweet caramel!
We fill our tastebuds nary to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the pasta shells
With a sweet coulis, to set budding more,
And still more, our unsuspecting, unadjusting lifeblood,
Until we think high days will never cease,
For sugar has o’erbrimmed our faulty cells.
Who hath not fought and sought the “glorious middle“?
Sometimes whoever seeks may find Thee carelessly evasive,
Despite repeated doses, raging efforts o’ to tame those carbs,
Off on the winnowing wind Thou vanishest, Euglycemia!
Leaving observation only of our latest spikings, hours by hours.
Yet we begin anew each day in Thy pursuit,
Stalwart in our efforts, buttressed against defeat,
Earnest in our eternal endeavor to ensnare and possess Thou.
… or something like that.
That’s a lovely image, who’s the artist?
Good question, Kassie. It’s by Fitzroy Hoyte of Galleon-Arts.com. Since my attempt at hotlinking the image has failed, I have added a link in the text.
Thanks!
AT
The best we can do is keep our A1c very close to correlating to the elusive euglycemic range, and try to avoid accidental hypoglycemic disasters along the way. Easier said than done, don’t you think?
Normal is just a setting on a dryer!
One of the biggest challenges facing diabetes research is a lack of a “normal” and/or base line number(s). What is the normal fuction of beta cells? How is sugar, glucose, processed from the moment it hits our lips to a final location in the body. Is it the lips to the hips? There is still so much that needs to be done. We need to continue to press on. Thanks for the info.
D2
my picture of euglycemia
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/16422495.php
Wow, do people with diabetes ever have that?
This post is surprisingly excellent. Thanks for your insights – the art and poetry are sugar-free icing on the cake!
I found this article very interesting, and love the poem. In all the time i’ve been dealing with my mother-in-law’s type II, i’ve have never heard of this term “euglycemia”. thanks for the info.
After my doctor informed me that in my last blood test the HAIC was 6.8 I thought this is it. I was overweight and my eating habits were very bad. He suggested me to try the Smart for Life cookie diet and I decided to give it a try. I lost 34 pounds in 4 months and they been off for more than a year. My last HA1c was 5.8. I learned how to eat 6 small meals a day, portion control and better food choices. I am never hungry and fell in control. It is an outstanding choice to loose weight SAFELY and effectively and it will help normalize blood glucose levels. Go to smartforlife.com
I agree, nice picture!
Certainly looks more abstract than my imagination of euglycaemia at http://www.normalbloodsugarlevels.net/
…makes my lolly pic pale in comparison to yours…
Oh ya…forgot to mention, i love the Ode to Euglycaemia!
Hope you don’t mind, I am gonna use it at my site (with reference to you of course
)
[...] I found a song written for it, found here at this site. [...]