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Found this interesting book on Amazon (I was buying a gift for a friend’s birthday, she is diabetic, and the description of the book caught my attention.
www.amazon.com/Born-Again-Diabetic-handbook-diabetes-cont…

I’ve been diabetic now 39 years this coming October and want to see a lot more Octobers.

I’m really enjoying this book! It seems written for me, and I am learning some practical things, like the approach to blood sugar testing:

You must understand that a “bad” number is not a punishment; it is empowerment. Diabetes is unique amongst chronic illnesses, well unique amongst all diseases, in that you are in the driver’s seat. It is one of the few self-managed diseases. You are the mastrer of your own fate, Your doctor is not in charge, You are. Your meter is the best and most important tool to help you understand and control your diabetes.

I plan to take the author’s suggestion to do more before and after meal testing to learn my own patterns, as well as exercise. Like on today’s run. I woke up with low blood sugar (I felt it, did not test for it, oops), and afterward, I had spiked to 212. I over-treated. After running (reducing my pump’s basal to about 60% of normal), my level was 186. I would normally hope for a lower test score, but this is good because I don’t want my blood sugar dropping much during running (and a 40 mg/dl drop would be a problem if my starting level as more normal….)

The author, himself diabetic, has a fun sarcastic writing style (that certainly speaks to me), which really sets this apart from “expert” books on diabetes, which always seem clinical and talking down to you. At one time I had hoped to find a doctor who was diabetic him/herself so that they would better understand first hand the rollercoaster we D’s live with.

I also enjoyed the opening, where Dubois outlined the types of diabetes and the difference between Type-1 (me) and Type 2. And he introduced me to a new variant, Type-3:

Type-3 diabetics aren;t actually diabetics at all… As far as I know, the term was coined by the folks at dLife. dLife is an empire of sorts that involves web sites, a TV show, multimedia, books, and more. The dreamed up the tag of T-3 for the family members of the other types of diabetics. It is a way of symbolizing that diabetes doesn’t just affect the patient, it affects the patient’s entire family.

So that means there are a lot of Type-3 diabetics out there- that’s you Mom, and my sisters, who have been T-3s for almost 30 years.

I’m eager to learn more from this great book!