If you knew me really well you’d know that I’ve had type 1 diabetes for over thirty years. There are only a few who fall on that list, by the way. That is the first reason for starting this blog. I really don’t mention that I’m diabetic. Ever. When I feel the need to test or shoot up, I run to the closest restroom like I’m a superhero who won’t don his cape in public for fear of revealing his secret identity. So this is a diabetes coming out of sorts.
The second, more immediate reason is that about a month ago I began to lose vision in my right eye. As an example of how bad my vision currently is, when I close my left (good) eye I can see the black border of my computer monitor and a white blur from Word, but I can’t see any of the text I’ve written. It’s not blurry. It just ain’t there. So, I went to the doctor.
There will be many more posts on that topic later, but there’s still a chance that the loss of vision is not diabetes related, but let’s hypothetically say it is for now.
The last big reason I want to do this is because I myself don’t have a lot of availability to people who have type 1 at all, let alone ones who are social drinkers. Hopefully, some of you like me will see this as a place to find a kindred spirit.
I see doctors more often than your average bear, especially now that this eye problem has cropped up. I find that most of them will tow the medical profession’s company line of, “you need to control your blood sugars, so don’t eat or drink anything you’re not supposed to.” The “not supposed to” list is a long one. That mentality doesn’t leave a lot of room for variability. The lack of openness to variation on any of the factors that affect blood glucose made me over-compensate and start to change them all. I’m a man who goes from one extreme to the other. “If insulin lowers my blood sugar then if I eat an entire pizza, I’ll just take more insulin,” is what I always told myself. That’s great in theory if you have enough data to know how many more carbs that pizza is and what your carb to insulin ratio should be. I did not know those things. Not well enough anyway.
I’m already digging myself a hole, right? Then came college–of course. Alcohol was flowing freely everywhere I wanted to be. “Let’s drink before the football game.” “Let’s drink before we go see that movie.” “Let’s drink before we go out–to drink.” Alcohol was that awkward dorm buddy you brought along to parties because you never knew what crazy thing he was going to do next. Unfortunately, that crazy thing caused problems more often than turn the night into a hell of a lot more fun.
So, I started drinking. Not a lot, at first. I would dabble and make sure I still felt ok. That feeling was never verified by a glucose test, however. After gaining some comfort with my immediate safety not being at risk, I amped things up and drink more in quantity and frequency. Nothing significant happened to me early in those days. My pancreas or liver never spontaneously combusted after a night out and the fact that I didn’t test only enforced the notion that I could just wing it. It was a bad habit I developed over the last twenty-ish years. Now is the time to change the habit.
One current philosophy I have on life is to try to do things in moderation. This goes against my natural tendency to bounce between extremes, but I think it introduces a more sustainable change to whatever aspect of your life you are applying it to. This is why I’m not saying quit now and don’t look back. Unless you are more able to go extreme. In that case, don’t think about adding the wildcard of change that alcohol introduces to your glucose management. Let this be the only post you read. To the rest of you, I’m going to tell you stories that you can consider anything from cautionary tales to commiserating conversations over a virtual drink.
A1Cohol.com 
I feel honored to be one of the people who has known you for the thirty-plus years you referred to, “bro.”