How I learned to live with the fact that diabetes is a lifelong disease

Learning about diabetes is important, and the consequences of not doing so can be severe.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes two years ago. At that time, I was naive, ignorant and didn’t think it was important to learn about the disease until I got quite a scare.

Recently, while working on a Sunday afternoon, I started feeling light-headed, nauseated, and my feet and legs were tingling. I also began to sweat, felt chills and my hands began to shake.

I went to the refrigerator to get a sandwich, and my vision got blurry. When I got back to my desk, I started seeing "stars." Luckily, my chair was near because I felt faint. I took my blood glucose, and my blood sugar count was dangerously low.

After a few days, I found out that I had experienced symptoms of hypoglycemia. Since then, I’ve had multiple hypoglycemia symptoms, at home, at work and when I did errands. The lowest my blood glucose level got was 63 mg/dL — normal levels that are taken before a meal range between 70 and 130 mg/dL — and I was at home. I grabbed the easiest thing to eat, which was ice cream.

Later, I learned that I should have treated my symptoms by taking any of the following: three-four glucose tablets, some hard candy, a half can of soft drink (not diet), or orange juice. When blood glucose falls low enough, seizures and unconsciousness may occur and can lead to hospitalization.

Having experienced bouts of hypoglycemia, I decided to do research on the disease, which affects more than 113,000 people in Hawaii.

On April 14, I attended the 13th Annual Honolulu Taking Control of Your Diabetes health fair at the Hawaii Convention Center.

At one session, Dr. Steven V. Edelman said, "Diabetes is with you every single second, and it influences many of our decisions (right or wrong decisions), and it’s tough. That’s why I’m a big believer that people with diabetes need to be the most knowledgeable about their own condition."

That certainly resonated with me.

In his book, "Taking Control of Your Diabetes," Edelman mentions the most common forms of diabetes:

» Type 1, previously called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or juvenile-onset diabetes.

These patients are lacking insulin, usually under age 20, typically thin and typically from a Caucasian background.

» Type 2, previously called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or adult onset diabetes.

These patients are usually overweight; have a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels; and usually 35 years or older. It is found in ethnic groups such as Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, African-Americans, Native Americans and of Hispanic descent.

» Gestational diabetes, which occurs in pregnant women, though most revert to normal glucose levels after delivery.

Diabetes is the fifth-leading cause of death in Hawaii. More than 20,000 Native Hawaiians here have the disease, and this ethnicity has the highest diabetes death rates, followed by Filipinos and Japanese, according to Leslie Lam, executive director for American Diabetes Association in Hawaii.

People with diabetes must check their blood glucose levels every day.

Type 1 diabetics take insulin. Type 2 and gestational diabetes requires a person to make healthy food choices and to exercise; sometimes pills or insulin are also prescribed.

I realize that diabetes is a lifelong disease. If I continue my journey to educate myself and take the necessary steps to avoid the danger signs, I can live a better quality of life. I will always remember what Edelman said: "A well-controlled diabetes is the leading cause of nothing."