Diabetes Update: Crazy Vision + Foot Pain / Sores

I’ve had a couple of people ask me to post an update as to how things are going w/ the whole Diabetes thing so here goes. Before I go any further though, I’m going to go ahead and give you a heads up disclaimer, I’m going to be talking about feet. I know some of you might be into that, not that there’s anything wrong with that (Seinfeld), but I’m personally just not into feet. I will also preface this post with the most sincere warning I can give you, do not do a Google Image search for Diabetic Foot Ulcers… I promise. You will thank me someday.

For the most part Diabetes is like a prize fighter waking up in the 3rd round of a boxing match with the realization that they have 7 more rounds left and they are getting the crap kicked out of them by an opponent they underestimated. Oh, and they may have also wet their pants on their way to the mat in the last round.

I use this analogy because I’m literally kicking it’s tail, my blood glucose levels have been extremely good (in fact sometimes they run too low during the day and i have to skip or reduce my nightly dosages). When I made the comment in some earlier blog posts that Diabetes had picked the wrong guy (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4), I meant what I said.

Probably the biggest change for me since that dark December day last year when I was handed this diagnosis is my dietary & overall lifestyle changes. I consume a low-carbohydrate diet (under 45g of carbs a day) and get a lot of good proteins and quality carbohydrates in the process. I’m also taking some wonderful nutritional supplements that have enabled me to drop 32lbs and get off two blood pressure medications. My exercise routines have kind of taken a backseat until a few issues that remain are under control, the main concern is an enlarged spleen right now could be disastrous if I’m out running and fall into a pothole or crash my bike into a fire hydrant (totally not outside the realm of possibilities for me).

One other factor that has kept me from exerting a lot of energy lately is the eye issues that I’ve been dealing with. In fact, I have an appointment today w/ my eye doctor and I sure hope we are a lot more stable this week than we have been the last 2 times. In case you haven’t been following my story, basically I’ve been nearsighted since I was like 8 years old. Back in December when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes I knew that my contacts weren’t working for me so I made an appointment to see my eye doctor. Needless to say I’m no longer nearsighted, in fact I can legally drive in the state of Arkansas according to their drivers testing for nearsightedness, but get this… I’m now far-sighted, and not just a little bit, I went 9 clicks the other direction, meaning it was a pretty strong prescription that finally got me back to functioning again. When you exercise and get blood pumping a lot faster than it normally does (like running, etc.), it can actually cause damage to the nerves and blood vessels in your eyes. So, I’m really, really, really hoping that I can get cleared to start exercising again soon.

In addition to the crazy vision issues I haven’t had a lot of other things to complain about… until this morning.

I woke up around 5am this morning w/ my right foot aching and throbbing for some odd reason so I came into my office to see what was going on. It didn’t take me but a second to notice the problem. Somehow over the weekend while my wife and I were putting up Christmas decorations and cleaning out my truck I must have cut my foot just behind the heel bone… and it’s infected (or at least I think it is). I did some research online and found out a few things about diabetic’s and feet that made a lot of sense to me.

One, I’ve always had dry feet w/ callous regions covering about half of my foot. I guess this comes from walking barefoot a lot in the summertime or something because I’ve always had caveman feet (I’ll be the first to admit, they are nasty –as my wife says). I will also go ahead and admit that I do go and get pedicures from time to time so my feet don’t get too rough (yeah, go ahead and rib me about that one). Well, in my research I found several sources that said that Diabetic’s  most usually all have dry, cracked feet like mine because of how diabetes attacks your body. I guess whatever natural process keeps your feet from becoming dry becomes suppressed?? I dunno. The one recommendation that several websites all agree on is something that I literally can’t stand doing, and that’s putting lotion on my feet. I guess I will start now…

The sore on my foot that I mentioned earlier had to have started out as a small, minute scratch at some point over the weekend. Fast forward 2 days later and it’s about the size of a quarter now and is throbbing (and some of my toes are swollen). I’ve got a treatment plan for everything already so I plan on fully kicking this thing in no time at all, but the craziest thing to me was how quickly this wound quickly became an issue. Diabetes might be a dazed and confused prize fighter that just met their biggest challenger of all time but it’s also a low-down dirty player that waits for the perfect opportunity to launch a sucker-punch when you least expect it.

All of this to say that I’m winning the fight but there are still a few rounds left…