Made With Real Honey (I need to stop editing this)

Look what
the Candy Corn Fairy*
left me on
Halloween!!






Since this is the first day of Diabetes Awareness Month, I thought I would encourage you all to make something the color that goes with diabetes, kind of like how pink is for breast cancer. Except I don't even know if there is a color for diabetes. (That petition linked in the right sidebar wants Google to use a blue doodle on World Diabetes Day but is blue the official color for diabetes? I have no clue.) Instead, I'll just share a fun diabetic fact: Halle Berry is a whack job when it comes to diabetes and you should never pay attention to anything she has to say about the disease.

Ok, that's a tad harsh. But she did leave many of us confused by statements she made regarding her diabetes last year. For years, she had said she had Type 1 diabetes, but then later claimed she was able to wean herself off insulin due to a change in diet and was now a Type 2. From Contact Music:

Pregnant HALLE BERRY is winning her battle with diabetes, thanks to a healthy diet and good living. The actress was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after she passed out while shooting a TV show called Living Dolls when she first arrived in Hollywood. But the disease has now dropped to Type 2 diabetes because Berry is no longer "insulin dependent". She says, "I've managed to ween myself off insulin, so now I like to put myself in the Type 2 category."

If only it were that easy.

When you have Type 1, the cells in your pancreas that produce insulin are attacked and destroyed by your own immune system (they haven't yet figured out why that happens) and it's irreversible. No insulin means you die. This is why Type 1's HAVE to take insulin, either by injection or via a pump. So, there is no way a Type 1 would be able to completely stop taking insulin and still live. Eventually, they would die of starvation, which is what happened to diabetics in the days before they discovered insulin. Halle was either misdiagnosed years ago or just confused about which type she had. (Type 2 diabetics are still producing insulin. When you have Type 2, your pancreas doesn't make enough of the hormone or your body can't use what is being produced, so you're put on medication that stimulates insulin production or helps your body use what you do have. Sometimes, Type 2's are put on insulin and can then be taken off of it at some point.)

And, please don't put on your Diabetes Cop uniform and yell at the diabetic girl for eating candy corn. It's not something I do every day, for one thing. Also, I know how to figure out how much insulin I need for the sugar in the candy. One serving of candy corn (22 pieces, egads!) contains 36 grams of carbohydrates. The thought of eating 22 pieces at one sitting gags me, but last October, I would have half that or 5 or 6, and then set my pump to give me a dose of insulin according to how many cards were in that amount. I had just gone on the pump and was counting every single carbohydrate I popped into my mouth. It paid off too. There's a blood test that can measure your average blood sugar for the previous three months, and I had one in December that showed my blood sugar was in good control last September, October, and November.

That concludes our medical lesson for the day.

Hmm. According to this site, gray is the color for diabetes. It's also the color for brain cancer and asthma. Another site says gray is also for allergies and to end sex trafficking & slavery in the UK.

Um, ok. Forget I googled that. Go make whatever you want in any color you want: a green felt pancreas, an embroidered syringe in burnt sienna colored floss, a life sized Halle Berry sculpted out of pink Playdough.

I've edited this entry a bunch of times and Sally's comments have reminded me that I forgot to add something back in. I have Type 1 diabetes, which is also known as insulin dependent diabetes. I cannot believe I didn't mention that, especially in light of the Halle Berry story. Now, it probably makes more sense why she could not have stopped taking her shots if she had IDDM (insulin dependent diabetes mellitus). This type used to be known as juvenile diabetes because it was usually children who were diagnosed with it, but it can develop at any age. Meanwhile, Type 2 was called adult-onset diabetes or NIDDM (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) because older adults were affected, but that isn't always the case. Unfortunately, these days, more and more children are being diagnosed with Type 2 because of their sedentary lifestyles.

And, Norma? I was thinking a rainbow bracelet would work for me since I would support a variety of causes: diabetes, breast cancer, animal rescue and AIDS awareness, people-with-mousy-brown-hair-who-add-highlights-thanks-to-L'Oreal-because-they're-worth-it, women-born-in-Philadelphia-who-cannot-stand-Sarah-Jessica-Parker, fans-of-Eric-Cartman-who-also-eat-Marie Callender's pot-pies are just a few, but the rainbow bracelet is already for Gay Pride. Dang.

I apologize for making fun of anyone who wears a bracelet or sports a ribbon for a certain cause but I cannot believe so many issues have been assigned a color. (This from a person who sees nothing wrong with patron saints for unattractive people, hairdressers, fireworks, television and notaries.)


*That would be my sister, Susan. Thanks, Susan!