My Diabetes Glossary

A1C – This is a measure of how much glucose is stick to your blood cells. It’s an good measure of how your blood sugar has been for the last three months. Anything below a 7 is good but around 5 is optimal.

Albumin/Creatinine levels – This is a measure of how much protein is in your urine. It’s indicative of both heart disease and compromised kidney function both things diabetics are at risk for.

Glucose level – How much glucose is in your bloodstream. For me because I am young (ish) I should have a glucose level of between 80-100 before meals and 100-140 after meals.

Fasting Blood Sugar - Your sugar level when you first wake up before you eat anything.

Type I – I call it the Shelby diabetes. This is the diabetes Shelby had in Steel Magnolias. It usually hits you in late childhood. It’s an autoimmune disease where you body becomes immune to the insulin it produces so you have to get it via injection. Like Shelby, folks with Type I have to monitor their blood sugar like mofos and take care of their kidneys. Otherwise, your kidneys could blow, you get low blood sugar and you go into a coma.

Type II – This is the type I have. This is where you body produces less and less insulin and your liver just throws out more and more sugar. This usually occurs in people over 40 but with the state of the American diet these days, it’s hitting younger people.

Things you already know the definition of that are important to diabetics:

Cholesterol – yes, because your blood is extra gooey due to the blood sugar, we need to think about cholesterol and lipids.

Blood pressure – this is measuring how hard your blood is on your heart. The blood being sticky and all.