On Monday two things happened to me:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0I had an appointment with my endocrinologist.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0I found out that I received a grant to live in Estonia for a year starting in September (!)<\/p>\n
They had more to do with each other than one might think.<\/p>\n
Part of this was the timing: I was leaving my house for the appointment just as a postman was walking up to my door, so I took the letter right from his hands. The thrill of the good news overshadowed my anxiety about the doctor\u2019s appointment, at least for the duration of the car ride there. (My blood sugar readings have been erratic recently, and I was afraid that my A1C results wouldn\u2019t be so fantastic.) Still, the juxtaposition of the appointment and the letter prompted me start to thinking about the reality of living abroad with diabetes sooner than I might have otherwise.<\/p>\n
And once I started thinking, I was overwhelmed my the amount of things I\u2019d have to figure out before leaving the U.S. It\u2019s true that I have some experience of managing diabetes in a foreign country–I travelled in Estonia and Latvia for two weeks this summer. But that trip was short enough for me to bring all my supplies with me, plus extra prescriptions from my doctor at home in case I ran out. Actually living in a foreign country will present a whole new set of challenges. What kinds of insulin and supplies will be available in Estonia? How will I find a good doctor? What will I do if there is an emergency?<\/p>\n
At my doctor\u2019s appointment, I also learned that I will have to deal with a new challenge from now on: eating gluten-free. In previous posts, I\u2019ve mentioned that my brother is one of the many people who has both type 1 diabetes and another autoimmune disease, celiac disease. The only way to treat celiac disease is by eliminating all gluten–a protein found in wheat, barely, and rye–from your diet. Long before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was tested for celiac disease. The doctors told me that the results were inconclusive.<\/p>\n
I was more than happy to take advantage of this ambiguous diagnosis to continue eating gluten. On this visit to the endocrinologist, though, I had decided I would clear up matters once and for all: Should I go on the gluten-free diet or not?<\/p>\n
My endocrinologist explained that the tests had shown that I had antibodies for celiac disease in my bloodstream, but they didn\u2019t show the \u201cgold standard\u201d for diagnosis–damage to the intestines. Her suggestion was that I try to avoid eating wheat, barley, and rye as much as possible. Still, she said, it probably wouldn\u2019t hurt for me to eat foods containing gluten every now and then.<\/p>\n
For me, eating gluten-free at home is annoying, but feasible. After years of living with a brother who has celiac disease, I know where to buy gluten-free flour, and which brands of gluten-free crackers and bread taste the best. But trying to maintain a gluten-free diet in a foreign country will be more tricky. To begin with, I currently know a total of two words in Estonian (\u201chello\u201d and \u201cthanks\u201d), so reading a list of ingredients on a package won\u2019t be easy. To make matters worse, bread is an integral part of the Estonian cuisine–so much so that in previous times, \u201cbread\u201d was a synonym for \u201cfood.\u201d There is even an Estonian saying: \u201chave respect for bread; bread is older than we are\u201d which conveys the reverence with which Estonian peasants regarded the food. Not exactly auspicious for someone on a gluten-free diet…or someone with diabetes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As someone who is diabetic and on a gluten-free diet, living in a foreign country for a year will present a whole new set of challenges. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[754,529,614,753,328,123],"yoast_head":"\n