Reality Check

Happy Friday! I should be excited because the weekend is almost here. The sun is shining and spring is in the air. Instead I’m nursing a very bad headache and a cocktail of emotions including anxiety, anger and sadness that has grappled my heart. 

A close friend of mine was admitted to hospital for Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA happens when there is insufficient or no insulin in the body to use glucose in the blood for fuel. Body burns fat to get fuel by produces ketones as a by product. Ketones also need insulin to be excreted from the body. But because there is not enough insulin, it stays in the blood. Too much ketone build up changes the acidity of the blood, causing major dramas. (see International Diabetes Federation website here for more information about DKA)

Guys, this is what happens when your body changes pH. Alkaline water or lemon in water will do nothing to alter your pH. Nothing.

This is one of the things about living with diabetes that scares me. Hearing stories from friends about being in hospital, sometimes clinging on for life because of DKA is confronting. But they’ve overcome that now, they’re here, healthy and laughing. You wouldn’t even know they have diabetes from first glance. But seeing it happen to a close friend of mine in real time scares me even more. It reminds me that our bodies are fragile. It brings back the anger I have against people who have their health but neglect it, which in turn makes me angry about having diabetes.

Don’t ever underestimate diabetes. Insulin injections or an insulin pump or continuous glucose monitoring are not cures for type 1 diabetes. There is no cure. Advancing diabetes technology makes it easier to live with diabetes, for which I am grateful for. But please don’t take your health for granted. Don’t ever take it for granted. Your health is your greatest asset and you only have one body.