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living with type 2 diabetes: it’s still ‘trial and error’
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randal rusk was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabtes, and since then, has had to learn how to live with sensors, diet changes and a new normal.
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before randal rusk was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, he knew something was wrong. he was going to a ski-doo rally in a town close to home, a regular event for him, and he started it up to warm it up before heading back inside to wait. by the time his ski-doo was ready to go, he started to experience symptoms he wasn’t used to.
“i felt a little bit lightheaded, a little dizzy sometimes, and even on my phone, i go to see it, i use reading glasses, i had those on, and i still couldn’t really see the words, so it blurred my vision,” he said.
at the time, he was getting a prescription filled and a nurse practitioner recommended that he get some routine blood work done. over the weekend, he slept on and off, unable to shake his dizziness and blurred vision.
monday morning, his nurse confirmed that he had type 2 diabetes. she gave him some medicine and a blood-taking kit to monitor his condition and he went home. randal wasn’t surprised by his diagnosis, as both his mother and brother have diabetes, but it didn’t make the initial monitoring any easier.
“the home monitor did not work after poking myself about four times,” he said. “i thought i was doing something wrong.”
he made his way back to the pharmacy to see what was going on and was given a new monitor to use for the next week.
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trial and error with diabetes monitoring
while randal continued to use the machine to monitor his blood glucose levels, the way it works, by poking your finger with a small needle to draw a little blood, became challenging. he’d have to test two to three times a day; his fingers were sore and it had only been about a week. eventually, the machine stopped working altogether.
it gave him a message that the strip was bad and he’d have to switch it out for a new one, which meant changing the needle too, so he could poke himself cleanly again. after about six tries, he’d had enough.
“i went back to the nurse practitioner. she said the freestyle sensor would work much better,” he said.
after he got fitted for the freestyle monitor, he was able to keep a close eye on things—even while asleep.
“that night, it was about 12, 1 o’clock in the morning. my wife gave me an elbow to the ribs and said, ‘shut your phone off because it’s beeping,’” he said. “then i looked, because i didn’t realize there were our alarms on here, and i was down to (a blood sugar of) 3.4, so i was in the red and i was dropping fast. if i didn’t have the sensor, i wouldn’t have known.”
he got up, had a glass of juice to bring his blood sugar back up and went back to bed.
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going through a complete diet overhaul
prior to being diagnosed with diabetes, randal didn’t give much thought to the food he was consuming. if he felt like eating something, he would eat it. but when you have type 2 diabetes, the food you eat has a significant impact on blood sugar levels.
he can no longer have tea with cream and sugar in the morning and has switched to green tea instead. he’s more aware of the snacks he brings to work and a lot of the foods he used to enjoy are “out the window.”
“i have no chips, no regular pepsi, no chocolate bars … it seems to be working pretty good,” he said, later noting that his dietary changes have led to a 24-pound weight loss since february, when he was diagnosed.
he’s happy for the weight loss, even if it means restricting his eating habits, making his diagnosis “a good and a bad thing at the same time.”
he doesn’t find it too challenging to change the way he’s eating, because he cooks mostly at home, but the spring and summer may present some challenges when he gets back to longer days at work.
“it’s going to be an interesting spring for me because my spring was always just so hard because i get up four or five in the morning and don’t get home until nine or 10 at night. so, a long stretch there, i would pre-make a bunch of meals and have lots of snacks and cookies and stuff like this to get me through the day,” he said. “now, i’ll be changing all that strategy.”
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he also mentions that summer, camping and having a beer at the end of a long, hot day are going to be an adjustment because he’s quit all that, too.
“i didn’t really drink hard anyway, maybe got a beer here and there and barbequing and stuff like that, so it might make it a little interesting camping this summer,” he said.
learning to live with a new normal
randal’s new life with diabetes is something he’s going to have to get used to, even if the changes he’s already made and the sensor have made things easier right out of the gate. he still lives with certain fears, like what would happen if the blood sugar drops too low and he goes into a diabetic coma, but with the sensor allowing him to keep better track of things, he’s found some peace of mind.
the financial burden is also a tough pill to swallow because his insurance only covers part of the overall cost of both sensors and medicine, but he’s not willing to give up on the sensors for a cheaper price tag.
“the sensors are beautiful because you just look, like i look at mine all the time, and you can see if you’re going up or down, straight across, keep it in the green, you’re good to go,” he said. “the sensors are staying on.”
randal believes that everybody should be put on the sensors first because they let him keep track of his blood glucose levels all day, not just twice or three times a day when he tests. for someone new to diabetes who’s learning to navigate it, having real-time information is vital.
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“i’m still in the learning stages, so i’m still trying to figure things out,” he said.
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