Record of my personal journey in managing type 2 diabetes and related issues
My Year Without Carbs journey officially began on January 5, 2015. But my diabetes journey began long before that, when I was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in September of 2000. In reality, I probably had had pre-diabetes for several years in the old millennium. But when you don’t know what you have, or are in denial, or don’t think it’s that serious, you won’t be as motivated.
By 2013, I was motivated, but it still took a couple of years to get serious about reversing diabetes. I created a Facebook group called Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics in an attempt to connect with others who shared my unique dietary lifestyle. I spent over a year collecting recipes and articles about diabetes and experimenting with various foods.
Even after I started eating low-carb, it took a few months to see even a tiny bit of progress (shown by lower blood sugars and weight loss). Any successes I was having were mitigated by a severe 20% loss of income the second year, causing extreme stress and chronic depression, all of which affected my blood sugars and weight loss. I didn’t blog much the second year (2016) because I didn’t feel like I was making any significant progress, although I kept eating low-carb.
The third year (2017) my chronic depression morphed into chronic neck pain, physically caused by degenerative disc disease. So I began to blog prolifically about my journey with chronic pain more than my diabetes journey. But, yes, I still continued to eat low-carb. I continued to fine-tune my medications and supplements to rule out any that would raise my blood sugars.
By the fourth year (2018), I began to build my support system for living with chronic pain. I was able to enroll in a five-week outpatient Pain Management Program at Kaiser Union City. I started a private Facebook group called Jacquie’s Chronic Pain Circle (later changed to a Secret Group named Jacquie’s Chronic Pain/Depression Friends) for my closest friends who also had chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and/or chronic depression. I saw three doctors and five practitioners and finally got a new PCP who supported my efforts to get healthy. After the Level 3 Pain Management Program, I continued to receive individual treatment from the Pain Physical Therapist and acupuncturist.
In 2019, the year began badly when my wallet was stolen in broad daylight by a thief in the mall. This caused me considerable stress as I struggled to replace all my credit cards, open a new bank account, and find out where my direct deposits went. In the fall, we were gifted a Carnival Cruise and were told that we could bring our Chihuahua as an Emotional Support Animal, only to find out when we were waiting to board the ship that it wasn’t true, and we had to figure out what to do with our furry daughter for a week.
There’s not much to say about 2020 and 2021, the COVID years, that caused more stress than we could ever have imagined possible. Now we are learning to live with our “new normal.” Still, we continue to eat low-carb. Every year since 2015 has been a “year without carbs”!
And so, life goes on. This is my story.
If you are a first-time visitor to my blog, start with the first post, Year Without Carbs, to understand my reason for this title.
