Diabetes Health Type 1: Fighting About Food

It’s not pretty. We had an argument the other night about gluten. It was over a BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich dinner that we wanted to make. I was going to have my BLT on gluten free bread. Instead of having BLTs, we skipped dinner altogether after our tiff.

I live with Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, so I worried about potential gluten on the counter from a previous regular white bread sandwich that my husband and youngest son had made. My husband was making the bacon on the same counter, and one end of a piece of bacon touched the counter. I will admit that I freaked out. Gluten has made me a complete nut about cross contamination. When it comes to celiac, you have to be ridiculously careful. It sucks to get sick from cross contamination when you try so hard to avoid gluten. He was mad that I hadn’t cleaned the counter after their meal. I was mad that he hadn’t cleaned the counter after their meal.

He slammed a cabinet; I slammed a door. We both raised our voices. By the end of the argument, neither of us felt hungry. My husband threw away the toaster, the can opener and even the loaf of regular bread that had caused the outburst. He cleaned the counter and said there was absolutely no way I could be “glutened” now.

I skipped dinner but decided to have some baby carrots and gluten-free almond flour crackers an hour or two later. I won’t lie. I was still upset about the whole incident. I was stressed and “hangry” and had to work early the next morning. I tested my blood sugar at bedtime and saw a 340 staring back at me. How was that possible? I had hardly eaten anything and had taken my correct carbohydrate-to-insulin ratio injection with my snack of baby carrots and crackers. Stress, that’s how.
Stress causes all kinds of unpleasant side effects. One seems to be crazy high blood sugars. I remember having to go for a job interview years ago and despite the lack of food beforehand, my blood sugars soared into the 300s. It wasn’t pretty, the stressed out pile of nerves that I was, but I got the job!

I might need a support group for diabetes and celiac. I can see it now: “Hi, I’m Meagan, and I have autoimmune induced anger issues.” This argument probably won’t be the last over gluten or over anything for that matter. Couples fight. Thank goodness we make up too. Neither of us wants to hold a grudge. We’ve been together for nearly 20 years and despite those occasional high blood sugars and gluten problems, we’ll be together for much more. We had an emotional hug, both close to tears, and had a long talk the next day. I’m thankful for all the support he gives me. It can’t always be easy for our loved ones.