Soda is evil....

Well, Hershey kisses too.
For some that know me, they know I've been trying to loose weight. I have a bit of a sweet tooth though. I have cut back on salt, eliminated chips and junk foods like cookies, cake, brownies, and other things. I read that snacking is a mixed up message, the urge to eat is really an urge to drink. I have a bad habit of wanting to snack when I am working on the PC (ie writing) or when I am watching a TV.
So, I took it upon myself to try to substitute drinking soda for snacking. I also cut down my food portions over the past 6 years.
And when that didn't work, I'd have a handful of kisses.

I... kinda sorta got out of hand. Partly it was from the heat, (100 degrees for 3 straight weeks) also working out and staying hydrated, but also just me going overboard. (been there, done that many a time) I've been drinking 2-3 liters of Pepsi daily, (yes, I did say I got out of hand didn't I?) plus sometimes 2 handfuls of kisses.

Anyway, what I thought was a routine visit turned into something else, the doctor nailed me for a glucose level of 440. He said I should be in a diabetic coma or dead. He classified me as type 2 Diabetic.

Here's the thing.
1 NO shortness of breath, NO trouble breathing.
2 NO heart trouble, no chest pain. No radiating pain in my arms.
3 NO marks on my skin, no jaundice, nothing. He checked for black marks on my neck. Surprise! Nothing. NOT A DAMN THING!
4 NO fatigue (beyond the normal from lack of sleep) Getting up at night is normal, when I feed the cat (or go look to see why the cops are next door again at 1am this week, or the shooting down the block...) I go pee and go back to bed. Dur. Why the hell not? And I'm not a log, I can't sleep through fire trucks, ambulances, and police vehicles 30 feet from my window.
5 Thirst and urination (I know, yuck, get over it) were considered normal by me. Yes I am thirsty on occasion, I drink a lot. (I sweat a lot when it gets above 75, and I need to hydrate after exercising) When you drink you pee too. (DUR!) As I said above, I'm trying to substitute snacks for drinks. It's a diet thing.
6 NO constant hunger pangs. Yes some, but that's normal when I first wake up, just before lunch, and just before dinner. Dur. That's when I eat!
7: NO vision or hearing issues. I hear and see fine. I sometimes hear too well, I can hear people talking inside next door or the neighbors playing pool in their garage at 2am down the street. NO blurred vision, NO wavering issues and I haven't had floaters in almost a year.
8 NO rapid weight loss. I am trying to loose weight. Hello! You think that my busting my ass and cutting my portions isn't going to show some weight loss? Skip bellow to find out how well that's going.

So, I have all the answers right? No. sigh, not by a long shot. No, I know I'm not the expert. I also know I'm not a number, I am a big guy (6'4") and I don't fit the categories the eggheads set up for standards based on what they consider baseline height and weight. So, I am leaving myself open to being wrong, but.... But hey, I know my body. This is me here we're talking about.

So, I am frustrated and annoyed, dismayed, depressed, disgusted, disgruntled, and somewhat in Denial. (maybe) Mostly with myself.
He put me on  500mg Metformin and ordered a crap load of blood work in 2 weeks, then another visit. (fasting! Gee great!) He wanted to admit me, but my last blood work was 2 weeks prior and hey, I am fine. Functioning normally.
The funny thing is, the Metformin causes some of the above symptoms. GRR.

I'm frustrated also because I used to have a lot more sugar in my life. (snacks above) plus I'd load my tea (Unlike Irons, I don't do coffee) and my cereal with sugar. (I used to put a third to a half a cup of sugar daily, sometimes 3-4 times a day. I dropped it to 2-4 teaspoons once or twice a day)
I've gotten to the point where I have trouble eating a piece of cake or glazed donut. It's just too much sugar so I stopped. (I also have IBS so I know when to quit)

The frustration is giving me a constant headache, (as is my sinuses) so that's fun. The ripping nausea from the damn meds is annoying and aggravating too. And no, don't tell me there is a pill for that. I'm not falling for that damn trap. I've seen it with my gram, experienced it throughout my life too. NO.

He told me to do a lot of aerobic exercise. Not happening when I have to be within 30 feet of a toilet. GRR.
I do muscle work out on my Chairgym.
Which, btw is another annoying thing. I lost only 4 pounds since I started using it in July. My last appointment was in June. (I lost 17 pounds prior to that) I use it daily, 5 days a week normally. Plus 150 push ups, 200 tummy crunches, 100 squats, and other exercises every other day. GRR. I do have nice triceps though, if I do say so myself. lol

So, no more sugar. I dumped the soda down the sink, I hid the kisses, I'm not eating the pudding I bought (thinking it'd be better than ice cream, it's not) and I even stopped putting sugar in my cereal and my tea. (and I am seriously grumpy over that) I stopped drinking tea for a day, it's not worth it so I went back but with Equal. Yuck. A year ago (before I started drinking 2-3 liters of Pepsi daily) I had a glucose level of 120. Let's see what it is in a couple of weeks.
Fingers crossed it was a blip and warning and I can go back to life without the meds.

One thing: I am NOT giving up my ice cream. No way. And no, I've tried sugar free. No thank you. Now I just need to quantify this experience enough to put it in a book. (hey maybe someone will have diabetes? a hero? Hmmm)

Okay, Rant over.

In other news: Despite that drama and other drama going on (don't ask, we'll be here all day and I need to get back into PB) I've gotten PB up to 76 pages and counting. Chapter 1 has split twice, with another split imminent. (that's normal)
I have a couple issues with chapter 1, I bought books to dig into some things only for them to be duds and little or no help there. (well, the wormhole part might still be good...) But, I'm stymied a little. So, I might go back to some sections.

I've gotten into the map again, adding more details. I am seriously considering a few ideas now. (okay, not seriously, but you know...)

Brandon said he's working on finishing Jethro 2. I think 1-2 other people have asked to have a go at it before I release it. We'll see how it goes.

Brandon and a couple of the volunteers have poked me about some niggling facts I messed up on. Like oh, the admiral's age. I'll fix that when I do another publish. I did goof a little with his family, but there was a reason for it. I've explained a bit in PB to cover it.

I haven't heard about progress with 13 Degrees or AD for a while. Not sure what's up there. Probably life. Expect road bumps, I try to. Still, they catch me off guard too.

Oh, Jim put up a page for my books.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/chris-hechtl/
Very cool, thank you.