What should happen in your body when you eat?
1.) Food breaks down into a form of sugar, the body's main fuel.
2.) Sugar enters the bloodstream and the level of sugar in your blood begins to rise.
3.) When your body senses an increase in sugar, it sends a signal to your pancreas.
4.) The pancreas makes insulin and sends it into the bloodstream.
5.) Insulin lowers the level of blood sugar by letting sugar leave the bloodstream and go into cells.
6.) The level of sugar in the bloodstream falls when sugar goes into body cells.
7.) The body cells use the sugar for fuel.
When this happens the way it should, you have the energy for a full and active life.
In people who have diabetes, this system doesn't work. Sugar builds up in the bloodstream instead of going into the cells of the body. Your blood sugar level can even rise when you haven't eaten, if too little insulin is available. Without enough insulin to keep it in check, the body can make extra sugar and release it into the bloodstream. This can happen any time insulin is in short supply or is not doing its job. It's more likely to happen when the body is under a stress, like sickness or injury.
Above taken directly from Managing Your Diabetes, an educational workbook provided by Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN. See pages 6 and 7. No copyright infringement intended.
(c) by Dana B. Stenholtz
The taste of the needle in the morning with a
Creamed-corn-yellow sun peeking beneath my shades
Isn't my idea of breakfast in bed,
But that's where I sit while I shoot the insulin into
My stomach and wait for my blood to stop boiling.
Sugar cube kisses poison my veins,
Creeping into my skin and making a crone out of me.
Headaches, back pain, go away;
I am too young to know you.
Night shakes, eye spasms, leave me be;
I am too young to court you.
Rolling out of bed with groans of stiffened joints
And barely making it to the toilet before the unmentionable...
That isn't my idea of a beautiful beginning to a
Brand new day in the neighborhood,
Yet that's what happens every day unless
By some sweet miracle I actually sleep well enough
To give my body rest.
The poison inside me gurgles in my ears,
Taunting me to just try and get it out somehow.
Wheelchairs, ointments, go away;
I am too young to know you.
Pill bottles, heating pads, leave me be;
I am too young to court you.
This is not how I pictured my life.
This is not how I want to be seen.
Diabetes, I never wanted to know you so intimately.
