Life Updates: My Diabetic Story, Career Transition, and Content Creation

A lot has been going on for me, and I wanted to give you a look into what is going on.

First things first, I did a video a while back about some health problems that I was having. I was having some strange Premature Ventricle Contractions that took me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist was concerned about my high blood pressure and my cholesterol and triglycerides. Not wildly uncommon for someone in my demographic. I was put on two blood pressure medicines and two statins. The first statin gave me horrible leg pains, to the point where I couldn't even walk up and down stairs, so I was put on a different Statin mix that I tolerated a little better.

The blood pressure medicine made me retain a bunch of water, to the point where I was getting really bloated and my clothes didn't fit right, so I was put on a diuretic/blood pressure combo in addition to the original blood pressure medicine I was on. I also had a high A1C reading of 6.8, which isn't off the charts, but puts you in the range of the start of diabetes. Below 6 is where they like it to be. This tests kind of give you a sense of your average blood glucose numbers over a period of time, but to fully diagnose you with diabetes, they like to have a second confirming test.

So fast forward several months and I am having issues with what I believe to be the diuretic. Thirsty all the time, peeing several times during the night. Eventually, it got so bad, I was drinking 4 gallons of water a day and peeing 4-5 times at night and pretty much non-stop and with great urgency during the day. I had also lost about 16 pounds in just a few weeks. My vision had also been getting really bad, but I just chalked that up to needing a new prescription.

So it comes time to take another A1C test before an appointment. This time the test cam back at 13.2, which is kind of off the charts. I knew this was something concerning, because both my Cardiologist and my primary care physician called me right away, which never happens these days. My Primary care physician wanted to get me on insulin and get me to an endocrinologist right away, but I suggested that it was such a big jump that I should take the A1C test again again, because it was too big of a jump. So I asked for Metformin to get started and a glucose test kit.

So I got that, I started taking the Metformin and I tested my blood, which was in the 300s fasting. For reference you are supposed to be in the 70-100 range. That's when I realized I might have some issues.

I messaged my doctors saying that we may need to be more aggressive with the treatment, but later that night, before anyone was able to get back to me, my blood sugar went up to 485. People had been telling me that if my glucose gets over 400 I should go straight to the hospital, so I got my wife out of bed and had her drive me, even though I was feeling OK oddly. At the hospital, they took one look at my blood work and they told me I wasn't going home.

I was there for 3 days while they got everything under control. Lots of blood tests, finger sticks and insulin 4+ times a day.

So now I am out, my numbers are much better, and I haven't had to be as aggressive with the treatment. The great news is that fixing the diabetes, seems to have fixed the high blood pressure, the vision, the peeing and the high triglycerides.

Now I didn't have to make many life changes, I have long been a pescatarian, and had a

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Transcript

Chris Brandt: 0:00

Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in. Now a lot has been going on for me and I wanted to give you a look into what it is that has been going on. So first things first, I did a video a while back about some health problems that I was having. I was having some strange Premature ventricle contractions that took me to a cardiologist. Now the cardiologist was concerned about my high blood pressure, my cholesterol, and triglycerides. Not wildly uncommon for someone in my demographic, um, so I was put on two blood pressure medicines and two statins. The first statins, uh, gave me horrible leg pains, uh, to the point where I, I, I couldn't even walk up and down stairs. I don't know how people do, do statins, but I guess it works for some people. So I was putting on a different statin mix that I tolerated a little bit better. Um, the blood pressure medicine made me retain a bunch of water to the point where I was getting really bloated and like my clothes didn't fit right and you could see me on camera like my face was kind of starting to swell. So that then I was put on to a diuretic blood pressure combo in addition to the original blood pressure medicine I was on. I also, at that time, had a high A1c reading of 6. 8, which isn't off the charts, but puts you in the range of the start of diabetes. Below 6 is where they like it to be, generally. This test kind of gives you a sense of your average blood glucose numbers over a period of time. But, but to fully diagnose you with diabetes, they like to have a second confirming test. All right, so fast forward several months and I'm having issue with what I believe to be the diuretic. I'm thirsty all the time. I mean, I literally went through four of these just in the morning, getting going. Um, I was peeing several times during the night, peeing all day long and eventually it got so bad. I was drinking four gallons of water a day and peeing like four to five times at night. So I wasn't getting any good sleep and it was just. pretty much nonstop peeing with like tremendous urgency. Like I had to go. Um, I also had lost about 16 pounds in just a few weeks. Uh, and my vision had also been getting kind of bad, especially at night. Um, but I just chalked that up to, you know, I hadn't gotten a new prescription in like a year plus. So I'm like, I probably just need a new prescription. I'm getting old and that's how it goes, right? Cause you know, when I was 40, my vision got worse when I was 50, it got worse again, you know? So I just thought it was part of it, part of the process. So anyways, it comes time to take another A1C test before I'm about to have an appointment with my cardiologist. And this time the test came back at 13. 2, which is kind of off the charts. Um, I knew this was something concerning because both my cardiologist and my primary physician called me right away, which never happens these days. My primary care physician wanted to get me on insulin and get me to an endocrinologist right away. But I suggested that. You know, this is such a big jump, you know, like I didn't have issues, you know, my, with getting older, my blood sugars were kind of going up, but it had a sudden really big increase. Um, and, uh, so I, I was like, well, you know, this is such a big jump. Why don't I just retake the A1C test again? Because it's just too big of a jump. Um, so I said, Why don't you give me metformin, get me started with, uh, you know, a glucose test kit and I'll retake the test and we'll just see if that was a legitimate test. So like I started taking the metformin, um, and, and just for perspective, like a 13 to, um, A1c is like your blood sugar's an average of like 330, I believe. So anyways, I tested my blood, uh, that night because after all that, I, you know, got it, one got the stuff and tested my blood that late afternoon, uh, and it was in the 300s. As a fasting number. So like I hadn't had anything to eat and was still in the 300s. And for reference, you're supposed to be in like 70 to 100 range, uh, with your blood sugar. Um, and that's when I realized I might have some, some issues. So I messaged my doctor saying that we may need to be, you know, a little bit more aggressive with the treatment. Uh, but later that night, before anybody was able to get back to me, I took my blood sugar again and it was, um, after not having much, I had a little hummus and things like that. Um, my blood sugar was at 485. And now people have been telling me that if my glucose gets over 400, I should go straight to the hospital. So I got my wife up out of bed. And how to drive me, you know, to the hospital, even though I was feeling okay. Oddly. I mean, I throughout all this, I never felt like, I mean, I had tremendous brain fog. So like I had COVID just, I got it real late. I weathered the big storm. And, uh, ever since I had COVID my, everything kind of went. sideways with me. And my blood sugar, if you look at it, like chart of it, it just goes straight up kind of after I had COVID. And that's when like a lot of these issues really started. Correlation is not causality, right? So I don't know. I don't know. Um, but anyways, uh, So I was still feeling okay. You know, I had a lot of brain fog. Like I said, since COVID, I had a lot of brain fog and it just kind of kept going and going and going. I had a long COVID issues and things like that. So, uh, when I got to the hospital, uh, they took one look at my blood work and they told me I wasn't going home. Um, and I ended up being there for three days while they got everything under control. They were worried about diabetic ketoacidosis, which if, which if you're not familiar. can be very dangerous, right? Um, I took lots of blood tests, finger sticks, and I was taking insulin four times a day. So now I'm out. Um, my numbers are much better. And, uh, I will say that like once I started in on the insulin, my brain fog kind of cleared up. So. I, I think that that might've been part of what was making it very difficult for me to recall information, quite honestly. And doing this podcast, that was a really hard thing to do. Um, so that was really hampering my ability to, to perform. I'm kind of getting everything under control. I've got the, um, The continuous glucose monitor now. Um, I'm, I'm, you know, I've got a, an assortment of medicines. Um, but the great news about fixing the diabetes, um, is that it seems to have fixed the high blood pressure and the, um, cholesterol issues that I was having. Uh, the vision is better and the peeing is all gone, right? Uh, well, I'm not, I'm still peeing. You know, but the urgency and the frequency is now a much more manageable place. Like I could barely drive from one location to the next without having to pull over and find a bathroom. Um, now I, I didn't have to make too many life changes, um, because I have been a pescetarian for 30, 40 years now. Uh, and I generally had a very low carb diet. You know, all along, um, now I miss my apples and grapes and bananas, but I'm doing good with other things. And I'm using now, uh, Truvia is the one I, uh, I, I picked of the, the sugar substitutes is my favorite Truvia with brown sugar substitute. Um, And I use that in my tea. And it's a nice change because I had always had just tea, just plain tea without any sugar or cream or anything in it. Right. Um, so it's kind of a nice, nice, uh, nice change. Um, so the news is that, I'm doing better. I'm solved. You know, I had been treating a lot of symptoms for a long time, and now I'm finally treating the underlying issue, and that is a huge difference for me. And so if anybody wants to be my dia buddy, I'm open to it. And the next big update is that I, I'm going to be leaving core BTS where I've been working for a while at the end of next week. Um, so I, I want to take a little poll from, you know, people who watch this podcast. And I want to get a sense of what they think. I, I, on Monday's episode, I interviewed Kyle Roof, who's an SEO expert. And we now live in a world where the sales journey for anything starts at Google or YouTube and often ends there as well. So getting your brand out there is incredibly incredibly important. The old model of sales is really, you know, falling apart. Ranking well in searches for specific terms is super critical. And one of the best ways to do this is to consistently produce content that answers questions your potential clients may have. So this content has to be Valuable, non salesy, honest, and entertaining, which is something that businesses really struggle to do. Um, so here's the question. Do you think your business would benefit from somebody coming in, understanding the value proposition of your company and your products, and helping you produce this content so you can be more competitive? And I would love to hear about your thoughts about whether this is something you think your business would value, um, as. You know, I'm, I'm thinking of pursuing, uh, that line of employment, you know, going forward. And I would love to get some feedback on it. Um, and always, uh, you know, I am so thankful to all the people who watch this channel and everyone who has subscribed. Um, this channel is on track to hit a million views in the next month or so. So that's really exciting. Uh, so if you haven't really already, uh, think about subscribing and give a like. If you like what you see, and, uh, I will see you in the next video. And again, thanks so much for everything.