Messages In This Digest (16 Messages)
- 1a.
- Re: Metformin Overdose From: Donna
- 2a.
- Re: Can someone help me to understand From: Holly Shaltz
- 2b.
- Re: Can someone help me to understand From: Holly Shaltz
- 2c.
- Re: Can someone help me to understand From: Jude
- 3a.
- Re: Sugar drops..... From: Holly Shaltz
- 4a.
- thanks for the info, Rodney From: Jude
- 4b.
- Re: thanks for the info, Rodney From: Tiamat
- 5a.
- Re: HELP! confused about it all.. From: Jude
- 5b.
- Re: HELP! confused about it all.. From: Holly Shaltz
- 5c.
- Re: HELP! confused about it all.. From: iluv2freecycle@rocketmail.com
- 6a.
- Re: New member meal question From: benzo4321
- 6b.
- Re: New member meal question From: Jude
- 7.
- OT-ish WalMart pharmacy question From: Jude
- 8.
- from NYT From: Diane Moro
- 9.
- New HgbA1C Result From: Tricia
- 10a.
- Re: How many eggs? From: Drew DUBLER
Messages
- 1a.
-
Re: Metformin Overdose
Posted by: "Donna" sdbmshad@yahoo.com sdbmshad
Mon Jan 4, 2010 1:28 pm (PST)
Brian as far as I know the pharmacy has to keep a record of all prescriptions whether called in or flat out brought in. I would really suggest that you call the dr's office and question the order. If you call Walmart's 1800 number you will get results. I had a problem with a script and called it (a stupid rule that said they couldn't despense specific meds without approval of the dr. And yes I had a prescription. There are like 5-10 that Walmart won't do without okay from the dr.
I took mine to another pharmacy and had it in 20 minutes. If you go into the store ask if you can see the order. Seriously they should have an order in their hand. Most dr's office fax in the script. It is very possible that it's just a matter of machine error (the fax machine could have messed up).
What ever you do please make sure of the dosage with your dr.
Take care
Donna
--- In Type-2-Diabetes@yahoogroups. , brian cooper <brianevans_com 99@...> wrote:
>
> Jude,
>
> I realize that the doc herself may have had a technician phone in the drug order--or that it may have been received at Walmart by a tech--either of whom COULD have made the blunder.
>
> But I believe accountability, in healthcare perhaps more than in most things--is a vital element we have too little of in our society. Someone who makes this kind of mistake should be monitored to make sure they don't make similar ones too often; and canned if they do. Initial hiring decisions are too often lax; and techs may be paid too little to get "decent" employees; not to mention that the employee pool in some areas is pretty dismal.
>
> Is this a matter of state law, or does anyone know if records must be kept of who actually phoned in an Rx, and who received it at the pharmacy?? And, of course, what the drug and dosage were?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brian Cooper
- 2a.
-
Re: Can someone help me to understand
Posted by: "Holly Shaltz" holly@shaltzfarm.com hollyshaltz
Mon Jan 4, 2010 1:36 pm (PST)
James writes:
<<I have been trying to eat mostly food containing
no or
little carbs and it is difficult to eat that many
calories without
carbs.>>
I eat very low carb to control my BGs, which in
turn led to a fair amount of weight loss (60
pounds total in one year, from 204 at diagnosis to
holding at 140 today - 51 yo female here :) I
don't count calories, but when I posted what I eat
here someone added those up for me and came up
with about 1500.
My experience of low-carb eating is that I have to
eat more veggies than I would have otherwise, to
make up for the lack of fruit, and I have to eat
more protein, to make up for the lack of carb. I
eat a total of 25-30 grams of carbohydrate most
days, and about 11 ounces of protein most days. I
don't worry about any of the protein being
low-fat, but *all* my carbs come from non-starchy
sources - IOW, low-carb veggies and a little bit
from cheese or processed meats.
The rest of my calories comes from fat. I use
heavy cream in my tea, a couple tablespoons most
days. I treat myself to whipped cream on the
sugar-free low-carb desserts I concoct (not very
often - 3-4 times a month when it's not around
Christmas :) I use butter on my veggies, and my
cheeses are full-fat, etc. You'll notice I also
don't worry about any of these fats being
"saturated" or from animal sources.
In spite of this, my HDL cholesterol has risen
tremendously and my triglycerides have dropped
ditto. But I also exercise about 60 minutes a
day, plus the weight loss might have helped. I
expect it's all adding together to help out. I
don't take any cholesterol drugs, though I've been
urged to many times by my PA and a doctor I've seen.
So, if you're having a hard time getting your
calories up, maybe you can look at the total
protein you're eating - Dr Bernstein says a
minimum of 10 ounces a day is healthy, though my
dietician and "common wisdom" disagree :) I left
mine at the level where I was only getting hungry
a half hour before the next meal. And then you
could try adding calories from fat, and see if
that helps.
As a friend of mine reminded me recently, if you
drop your calorie intake too low, your body's
metabolism shouts "famine" and shuts down as much
as possible to conserve what calories you do take
in. By increasing calories, sometimes it can get
weight loss going again. I dunno, I haven't tried
that as yet - watching my BGs was sufficient for
my weight loss, and, at least for now, maintenance
at about 140 - I wouldn't mind losing a little
more, but more importantly my BGs are stable and
I'm happy where I am today. Most of the time :)
Holly in MI
- 2b.
-
Re: Can someone help me to understand
Posted by: "Holly Shaltz" holly@shaltzfarm.com hollyshaltz
Mon Jan 4, 2010 2:26 pm (PST)
James writes:
<<This morning my BG was 84. I took my daily
500mg of metformin before breakfast. for
breakfast I had 1 egg and one "the amazing egg"
substitute scrambled together along with one
sausage patty. Both the egg sub and the sausage
were marked 1 gram carb per serving. An hour
after eating I tested at 144 bg. 2 hours after
eating I was back down to 108 BG. I don't
understand what drives my bg up so far with only 2
carbs. >>
Man, I can relate to that! My breakfast is 3
grams of carbs at most (2 string cheeses and an
ounce of breakfast sausage), and my BG routinely
goes up 20-30 points from that. It's really
frustrating, as I can *feel* the rise, and it's
not fun, plus it sets me up for higher numbers all
day long.
Some thoughts - might be Dawn Phenomenon like Judy
suggested, though I disagree with her suggested
"cure" :) Having a snack at bedtime is sometimes
suggested as a preventative for going low over
night, which might result a rebound when the liver
dumps glucose to handle the low, causing a high
*fasting* BG.
In the case of Dawn Phenomenon, it's actually got
nothing to do with rebounds from overnight lows
(that's called the Somogyi Phenomenon). Rather,
it's the result of the body's system clearing
insulin from the blood faster in the morning than
later in the day, faster than many of us T2s can
deal with by making more insulin. So we're a lot
more sensitive to carbs in the morning than those
eaten at lunch or supper. I'm guessing it's more
common to T2s who were diabetic a lot longer than
most before diagnosis, as many diabetics don't
have this problem.
My particular version of this is easing a little,
I think. I'm not sure because I'm low on strips
so haven't been doing diagnostic testing around
breakfast for a while, just my AM fasting. At any
rate, I don't as often *feel* a change of 20-30
points, and so I hope I'm more stable than I used
to be.
I haven't done anything special to make things
work better after breakfast, just a continuation
of eating 25-30 g of carb a day, exercise 60
minutes a day, and watch the type of carbs I'm
eating (no fast-acting carbs at all). It *might*
be things are stabilizing because I've been at
140-145 pounds for several months now. Sometimes
it takes a while for the body's changes to sort of
echo through the whole system and get used to the
new way of being. Or so my DH keeps telling me :)
Another thought that strikes - did you wash your
hands before testing at 144? Or did you retest
and get a similar result? I've more than once
accidently contaminated a test strip with
something on my hands that's sweet, like residue
from a glucose tablet. When I wash and retest,
usually the result is much closer to what I've
learned to expect. And sometimes I *had* just
washed my hands and the result is unexpectedly
high (about as often, unexpectedly low), so I
retest, get a number that makes more sense, and I
figure it's just a bad strip.
I have researched this literally for months -
about 9-10 months - and not found any answers
other than what I've shared here. I finally
figured I just had to grin and bear the BG
fluctuations I had from breakfast, as I wasn't
willing to reduce my breakfast carbs any lower
than it is. Plain meat or fish or poultry for
breakfast just makes me want to gag :) But that
might be a possibility for you to try.
Holly in MI
- 2c.
-
Re: Can someone help me to understand
Posted by: "Jude" peridotjude@yahoo.com peridotjude
Mon Jan 4, 2010 2:56 pm (PST)
--- In Type-2-Diabetes@yahoogroups. , james Fuller <james@...> wrote:Yes, I am trying to lose weight while at the same time holding my glucose down.I have been trying to eat mostly food containing no or little carbs and it is difficult to eat that many calories withoutcom
carbs>>
Low carbing is one thing, but semi-starvation is just not acceptable, IMO; you will make yourself even sicker, and I'm sure that's something that's not one of your goals. <G> Normally I'd advise you to get yourself to a CDE-nutritionist for some teaching about this, but the low carbers on the list say they get no support from their healthcare professionals about low-carbing. Have you read Dr. Bernstein's book? Richard K. Bernstein-- look him up on amazon-- he's the low carb guru doc who can teach you how to do it right.
Judy D.
*Will ya lookit that. I just recommended Dr. Bernstein's book to someone, and I didn't even feel the earth shift under my chair here... hmmm*
- 3a.
-
Re: Sugar drops.....
Posted by: "Holly Shaltz" holly@shaltzfarm.com hollyshaltz
Mon Jan 4, 2010 2:06 pm (PST)
Dave writes:
<<no Ive had no instruction on low blood sugar>>
Have you been to the diabetes classes in your area
yet? If you have insurance, it will most likely
pay for those classes, but actually they're not
out of sight, cost-wise, compared to what you
learn from them. When my insurance first denied
the preauthorization, I talked to the Diabetes
Nurse Educator, and I think I remember she said
each class was $70 - there's 4 altogether, but you
don't have to take all of them, and you can also
spread them out if money is tight. We did get the
preauthorization, though - the first attempt used
the wrong code was all.
I learned a lot in those classes, including the
ADA way of treating lows (15 g of glucose in the
form of a cup of milk or juice), which I needed
pretty frequently in the beginning. It's not the
method I prefer today, but it works for many.
<<I have the tablets,but wasnt sure when to use
them.>>
I've started using mine when I see I've dropped
below 80, to bring me back up to about 83, to help
keep my BGs as stable as possible (necessary for
me as I feel drops and rises rather badly, and my
liver likes to do a glucose dump with what seems
like very little cause :) Most diabetics, though,
just use them when they go below 70, in which case
they generally take enough tablets (or juice,
milk, etc) to provide about 15 grams of glucose,
then test again in 15 minutes to see how the BG is
responding.
<<had a great consult with my doc this AM,got all
my blood work results,weights down a bit,
triglycerides are slightly up HDL is perfect,some
tests i dont understand what mean were well within
range>>
Congratulations! Shows you're working hard, and
your work is working!
You can tell your doctor you want copies of all
your lab reports. I have done that, and it's very
useful - when my PA isn't very clear or I just
don't have the basic knowledge to understand what
it's all about, at least I have a copy of the
report to refer back to later when I *do*
understand a bit more. It's also a record of my
progress, to be able to compare A1Cs and
cholesterol numbers, for instance, over the 16
months since my diagnosis.
<<so basicly aside from being a overweight,middle
aged diabetic Im the picture of health..and at
122/68 my BP is just fine on the halved dose of
meds ,so thats very cool too.>>
Very cool indeed! <reaching through monitor to
pat you on back>
Holly in MI
- 4a.
-
thanks for the info, Rodney
Posted by: "Jude" peridotjude@yahoo.com peridotjude
Mon Jan 4, 2010 2:56 pm (PST)
Thanks to you, Rodney, for the voice of experience about medic alert jewelry and what your priorities are when called to a scene. I never knew about putting medical info on a refrigerator, for instance. I wear a MA necklace, and now you have me thinking I should get a bracelet instead. But whatever, I'm grateful for your input here.
Judy D.
- 4b.
-
Re: thanks for the info, Rodney
Posted by: "Tiamat" tiamat99@comcast.net lulamoon99
Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:25 pm (PST)
I keep an up-to-date "Emergency Information" sheet on the fridge with magnets. Name, DOB+Place,
PCP [addr,phone]
Cardiologist, Endo.
Insurance: Company. ID #
Emerg contacts with name, add, phone & note DPAH.
Conditions:
Meds:
Info: wear glasses, no pets.
Phone for organ donation org.
It's actually simpler and neater than it sounds. I have copies for sons, best friend, fridge, purse, docs, desk, r next to phone, compu.
For awhile I had a plastic container, made for that purpose, with this info sheet inside it, IN the fridge. Worried that it would get lost in the general and usual clutter of old and new foods so moved sheet to just tack on the door. Yes Emer people did see it when amb came to take me to hosp in Oct.
Tiamat
----- "Jude" <peridotjude@yahoo.com > wrote:
I never knew about putting medical info on a refrigerator, for instance.
> Judy D.
,_._,___
- 5a.
-
Re: HELP! confused about it all..
Posted by: "Jude" peridotjude@yahoo.com peridotjude
Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:17 pm (PST)
--- In Type-2-Diabetes@yahoogroups. , ianswermyemail <ianswermyemail@com ...> wrote: I am new here so let me start with a little background.I am a 32 year old mother of six kids ages from almost 2 to almost 14.I was first diagnosed with gestational diabetes at the very end of my last pregnancy and had a almost 10 pound baby because of it>>
Welcome to the list!
Did you not have prenatal care? Ten pound babies don't just sneak up on someone. Even though you were diagnosed late in the preg, the doc didn't see that you had a very large baby on board, along about 7-8 months? Also, my d-i-l, who's had two kids in the last 4 years, had glucose tolerance tests early on in both her pregnancies, and she's told me this is a normal part of prenatal care for everyone.
<<I was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, my father also was diagnosed at about my age but with severe symptoms and hospitalization and my mother was diagnosed about a year ago at 53 years old>>
That's a lot of medical history there. Your chances of ever developing type 2 are massively high, as you found out.
<<I have a history of thyroid problems, I had Grave's Disease (hypothyroidism) when I was 16 and since it was severe>>
You should be under the care of an endocrinologist, IMO. With not one but two endocrine diseases, managing all that is a big job, and IMO again, most PCP docs would be ill-equipped for it.
<snip> My thyroid medication is to be taken daily although I often forget>>
If your husband or one of your kids needed this med to regulate their physical well-being, would you "forget"?
<snip> My doctor said my blood sugar indicates type 2 diabetes but if I lost about 15 to 20 pounds it would disappear...has anyone heard of
diabetes dissappearing?>>
It might go into remission, yes. Or not. But no, it will never disappear or be "cured", but with weight loss, eating right and exercising, it definitely can lie down and get quiet. Or not. Everyone is a bit different, but generally speaking, in the early years after diagnosis, type 2 responds wonderfully to weight loss, exercise, eating healthy, etc.
<<He also said I do not need to monitor my own blood sugar levels since it does not seem like it has ever been dangerously high...meaning he will not prescribe the strips>>
You need a new doctor. Srsly, he said that, that he wouldn't write you a prescription for test strips? Your health insurance will pay for them just like any other prescription, if your doc would write it for you. Why would he want to wait until your diabetes caused you "danger"? This makes no sense whatsoever.
<snip>I have found it hard to afford our new healthy eating style
here since veggies are more expensive than less healthy options and
brown rice is way more expensive than white rice etc. I am not a
sugar eater but I do love my carbs and do not exercise enough which I
believe caused this>>
If one of your kids needed three servings of veggies a day, I wager they'd be on the table. Who told you you're less important than one of them? If you're taking them to McDonald's even once a week or bringing home Dunkin Donuts, hot chocolate and OJ and coffee on Saturday or Sunday AMs, you have money for veggies. I realize this takes planning and careful shopping, but it can be done, if you prioritize where your food $$$ get spent.
<<I love pasta and I love rice , I still have some but usually brown rice or brown rice pasta for my spaghetti.>
Starchy foods are often deadly for uncontrolled diabetics. We who take insulin can sometimes compensate for pasta and rice and potatoes by tweaking our doses, but you can't do that. Be very careful with these foods. Unfortunately, without testing around eating them, you have no idea what they're doing to your glucose anyway.
<<1-Is it normal to be grouchy and just easily irritated?>>
Yes, it happens, especially right before meal times. But with 6 kids and two major uncontrolled endocrine diseases, well... I can't imagine you not being grouchy.
> 2- Since I do not test my blood sugar is there any way to tell if the occasional blurred vision, exhaustion or very occasional headache is low or high blood sugar?>
Nope, because your physical "feelings" will lie to you like a rug. Even experienced diabetics can't always tell an 80 from a 180. For myself, if I'm sweating, I'm low. If I have grayed-out vision, I'm low. But grouchy, impatient, weak, shaky, sleepy, tired, etc, can all be either low or high. Without testing, you can't know for sure.
<<3- Sometimes I have all over pain, they think I may have arthritis,
could it be just the diabetes?>
Yes. Or you could have arthritis too.
> 4- Sometimes I feel a brain fog type feeling, almost like I am
walking in a cloud and do not notice anything around me, just really
out of it, this has only happened since I have become diabetic.>>
In combo with the thyroid thing especially, I think brain fog would be a given.
Good luck, and please let us know how you're doing!
Judy D.
- 5b.
-
Re: HELP! confused about it all..
Posted by: "Holly Shaltz" holly@shaltzfarm.com hollyshaltz
Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:20 pm (PST)
ianswermyemail (a real name would be nice :) writes:
<<I am new here so let me start with a little
background.>>
Welcome to the list!
<< I am a 32 year old mother of six kids ages
from almost 2 to almost 14. >>
That'll keep you busy! :)
<<My thyroid medication is to be taken daily
although I often forget. The days I forget I feel
good and my blood
sugar is perfect. The days I remember, I am tired
and have higher
blood sugar readings. >>
Can you document this thoroughly, and discuss it
with your doctor?
As far as forgetting medication goes, I keep my
pill organizer with my daily BG logs, and that
reminds me if I forget otherwise.
<<My doctor said my blood sugar indicates type 2
diabetes but if I
lost about 15 to 20 pounds it would
disappear...has anyone heard of
diabetes disappearing? >>
No, diabetes doesn't disappear, alas!
Complications may be prevented if you're caught
early enough, and weight loss can help reduce
insulin resistance (IR), which in turn allows the
insulin your pancreas makes to be more effective.
But if you regain the weight or your body is
challenged in other ways, your BGs will likely
suffer again.
<< He also said I do not
need to monitor my own blood sugar levels since it
does not seem like
it has ever been dangerously high...meaning he
will not prescribe the
strips.>>
"Will not" as in you told him you wanted strips
and he refused to prescribe them? I'm *guessing*
you have a long-term relationship with this
particular doctor due to your thyroid problems,
and I would assume you trust him for that and
don't want to change. But if he has no particular
expertise in managing *diabetes* as opposed to
*thyroid* problems, maybe you can see a different
doctor for the diabetes?
For me, testing my BGs is the single most
important tool in my arsenal against diabetes.
Otherwise, I'm just guessing, fumbling in the
dark, trying to figure out why I feel "good" this
morning and "bad" this afternoon. If you haven't
*told* him you want to test your BGs, let me urge
you to do that, and to specify at least 6 strips a
day. Yes, they're expensive to buy on your own!
The kind I started with (my insurance made me
change) was $109/box of 100 strips at my local
pharmacy (cheaper at Wal-Mart, but I prefer to
shop at locally-owned businesses). I'm so
grateful that I have insurance to cover the cost
of intensive BG testing!
<< It was usually high or low and rarely in
between. >>
This is why that testing is so important,
especially if you're on medications to treat your
diabetes. Unusual activity, or missing or
delaying a meal, can make us go low, sometimes
dangerously low; eating too many carbs (and "too
much" varies from person to person - you won't
know what works for you without extensive BG
testing) can make us go high.
Even if your A1C test (do you know what your A1C
is? Call your doctor's office to find out, it's
important to know) has a reasonable result, the
teeter-totter changing BGs can sap your energy and
possibly do as much damage to your body as
maintaining a much higher but more stable level.
<< I have found it hard to afford our new healthy
eating style
here since veggies are more expensive than less
healthy options and
brown rice is way more expensive than white rice
etc.>>
Everyone told me when I was diagnosed that the
food part wouldn't be a problem for me because we
eat so healthy already :) Unfortunately, healthy
for diabetics isn't quite the same as healthy for
the general population. In all honesty, while
brown rice is better to eat than white for lots of
reasons, this is important, *it will affect your
BG level just as white does*. That's another
reason why testing your BGs is important - until
you KNOW how much your BG rises from a portion of
rice, brown or white, or pasta, whether whole
grain or white, or potatoes, or apples, or milk,
or any other high-carb food, etc, you won't be
able to figure out how many carbs *your* body can
tolerate.
<<I am not a sugar eater but I do love my carbs
and do not exercise enough which I believe caused
this. >>
NO!!! :) YOU DID NOT CAUSE YOUR DIABETES!!!!
This is important to keep in mind. There's a
strong genetic component to diabetes, for starters
- all you have to do is look at your parents'
experiences to know that! If you didn't have the
genes that inclined your body towards diabetes,
you could have been a chip-eatin' couch potato all
your life and not gotten diabetes!
And as to weight gain, from what I've read, it's
the *result* of early insulin resistance, not the
cause. IR makes your insulin less effective at
moving glucose into the cells for energy.
Unfortunately for us T2s, insulin's second job is
storing that excess glucose as fat! And even more
unfortunately, gaining weight leads to more IR,
which leads to more insulin production, which
leads to more weight being gained....
In any event, you had severe problems with your
thyroid to start with. And don't tell me you're
not active, with 6 kids including a toddler around
the house :) Even if you don't get formal
"exercise", I bet you're still moving around a LOT.
Finally, there's increasing evidence that a
craving for carbs, whether sugary or starchy, is
the result of the IR not being able to move
glucose into the cells for energy. Basically, the
cells are hungry for food, so we crave eating what
would normally provide that food, if not for IR.
I, for example, never craved sugary things until
the last couple years before diagnosis, when I was
so far gone in the disease that I was losing
weight in spite of eating more and more sugar in
various forms (dried fruit, for example - VERY
concentrated carb even though it's "healthy").
<<1- Is it normal to be grouchy and just easily
irritated?>>
When my BG is fluctuating, I find I'm much more
irritable and snappy. Sometimes this is the first
clue that my BG isn't as stable as I'd like it to
be.
<<2- Since I do not test my blood sugar is there
any way to tell if the
occasional blurred vision, exhaustion or very
occasional headache is
low or high blood sugar?>>
Thirst (and urinating frequently as a result) is
the classic sign of high blood sugar, though I'm
not sure it's one that's super fast - I think it
might take a day or two to show up. Blurry vision
can occur as a result of BG changes, up or down -
it changes the pressure inside your eye, which in
turn changes your ability to focus. Exhaustion
can occur as a result of sustained high BGs or a
low. I don't associate headaches with diabetes,
though certainly trying to figure out how to deal
with diabetes can cause some! :)
Low blood sugar tends to have a cluster of
symptoms. The faster the drop, the worse the
symptoms are. In no particular order, you may
feel dizzy or woozy, shaky (including the hands
shaking), you may suddenly sweat a lot, and when
it gets pretty bad you can be very confused. You
may also feel ravenously hungry, which is
important to avoid giving into as it can lead to
you going much too high aftewards. If you've had
a chance to read some of the other emails, you'll
see suggestions on how to treat lows if you feel
you're dealing with one - if not, let us know and
we'll post again.
<<3- Sometimes I have all over pain, they think I
may have arthritis,
could it be just the diabetes?>>
In *my* personal experience, overall pain, as well
as pain in my major joints, was part of daily
life. I couldn't move without pain, couldn't sit
still without pain. However, once I lost 60
pounds (I was dx'd at 204; I'm now maintaining at
140-145), most pain pretty much disappeared. What
I have left is probably the result of years of
uncontrolled diabetes before my diagnosis -
specifically "glycated tendons", which hurts in
the joints as sometimes radiates from the joint.
Whether the overall pain was the result of
uncontrolled diabetes, or being obese, or a
combination I don't know, but I'm SO glad it's gone!
<<4- Sometimes I feel a brain fog type feeling,
almost like I am
walking in a cloud and do not notice anything
around me, just really
out of it, this has only happened since I have
become diabetic.>>
While this could just be dealing with the news you
have a new, chronic, and potentially deadly
disease to deal with, it can also be a result
fluctuating, low, or high BGs. I get a distinctly
different (though difficult to describe) "feeling"
in my brain with each type of non-stable BG.
Brain fog is very common when I go quite low, or
when I'm sitting pretty high. When my BGs have
been fluctuating, I feel "woozy", including a
total inability to concentrate or think. It's
quite debilitating, and a great motivator for me
to do what I have to do to maintain stable BGs :)
Diabetes is VERY confusing to deal with. We each
have very different bodies, and therefore
different very responses to what seem like fairly
run-of-the-mill treatments handed us, at least in
the beginning, by our physicians. OTOH, it's a
disease that we have more opportunity to control
than maybe any other. If you ask questions, here
and of your doctor and other medical advisors; if
you read books and websites; if you talk to others
who are diabetic; if you, most importantly, LISTEN
to YOUR body, you will learn what works well for
you and what doesn't.
Seek out the diabetes classes in your area for
starters - your insurance will almost certainly
cover them - you will learn a LOT and it will get
you started. You may also meet other diabetics,
and get to know your local Diabetes Nurse
Educator, so that you can ask her questions as you
learn more.
If you like to learn from books, I highly
recommend Gretchen Becker's _Type 2 Diabetes: The
First Year". It's very well written and
researched (the author is a T2 herself), very easy
to read, designed to make sure you have
information starting in small "bites" that are
pertinent right off the bat, and going into more
detail later on. It's not expensive, and well
worth owning - I've read mine 3 or 4 times now,
and loaned it out to a couple others, in the 16
months since I got it :)
Well, that's probably information overload! Feel
free to ask whatever questions come to mind -
they've all been asked before, probably by me :)
and will be again, so don't hesitate.
Holly in MI
- 5c.
-
Re: HELP! confused about it all..
Posted by: "iluv2freecycle@rocketmail.com" ianswermyemail@gmail.com iluv2freecycle@rocketmail.com
Tue Jan 5, 2010 4:07 am (PST)
Thank uou so much Judy D. for all of the info and advice. I did get prenatal care with my son from the time I was about 3 months pregnant with no signs of diabetes in the early testing. I had no symptoms and felt great until toward the end and I have heard babies with diabetic mothers could grow rapidly and that is what I believe happened. He was actually 9 pounds 14 ounces to be exact. He is now almost two and is kind of small and thin for his age so I assume it was all from the gestational diabetes. Every doctor I seem to get, although they have very little knowledge of thyroid issues think they could handle my thyroid issues without an endocrinologist. I am thinking it is because we have an HMO and the doctors are scared to prescribe too much of anything. When my kids do need medication, like my daughter who has asthma, I do make her take it. The fact that I get this brain fog makes me forget to take mine but somehow when it comes to my kids I do not. I understand taking care of myself is taking care of them it is just hard to remember me sometimes being so busy with them. My parents actually told me they are prescribed way too many strips and could pass some down to me if they are the correct kind for the monitor I have...so hopefully they are. I like my doctor sometimes but at times he seems like he is just not listening to me. I have mentioned to him for months other unrelated symptoms since I think I have an abdominal hernia and he will not even bother to check. He just mentions I am overweight and should lose weight he does not realize that with my thyroid function so low it is probably impossible to lose weight. I told him how we eat and he does not believe it because he said I should not be overweight at all eating like that. I really believe it is the fact that my thyroid is so low along with the fact that I need more exercise that is keeping me overweight not at all what we eat. I do not overeat and I eat balanced as much as I could afford but at certain parts of the month it gets a little less balanced because of finances. As far as affording food, we are on a strict budget and fast food, donuts etc is a maybe once ever few month thing (if that). I am a stay at home mom, partially by choice and partially because childcare for six makes no sense at all because it would take more than I would be paid to work. My husband was making a lot of money but now with the economy makes just enough if that. We do not really even buy clothes, we depend on freecycle for that because there is no way we could afford clothes at this time.
As far as the pastas and rice goes we limit the servings to very small portions now, all of us. I know since I am a diabetic my kids are also prone to it so we all use Splenda, we all eat more veggies and we have all changed to a healthier eating style. I also figured what you said that some of the symptoms could be either high or low so I have no clue without testing. I do think it is time for a new doctor...I'll be looking into one tomorrow ;o) I just get worried I will end up with worse than what I have. Thanks for your support and telling me like it is, I needed that.
Christie
--- In Type-2-Diabetes@yahoogroups. , "Jude" <peridotjude@com ...> wrote:
>
> --- In Type-2-Diabetes@yahoogroups. , ianswermyemail <ianswermyemail@com > wrote: I am new here so let me start with a little background.I am a 32 year old mother of six kids ages from almost 2 to almost 14.I was first diagnosed with gestational diabetes at the very end of my last pregnancy and had a almost 10 pound baby because of it>>
>
> Welcome to the list!
>
> Did you not have prenatal care? Ten pound babies don't just sneak up on someone. Even though you were diagnosed late in the preg, the doc didn't see that you had a very large baby on board, along about 7-8 months? Also, my d-i-l, who's had two kids in the last 4 years, had glucose tolerance tests early on in both her pregnancies, and she's told me this is a normal part of prenatal care for everyone.
>
> <<I was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, my father also was diagnosed at about my age but with severe symptoms and hospitalization and my mother was diagnosed about a year ago at 53 years old>>
>
> That's a lot of medical history there. Your chances of ever developing type 2 are massively high, as you found out.
>
> <<I have a history of thyroid problems, I had Grave's Disease (hypothyroidism) when I was 16 and since it was severe>>
>
> You should be under the care of an endocrinologist, IMO. With not one but two endocrine diseases, managing all that is a big job, and IMO again, most PCP docs would be ill-equipped for it.
>
> <snip> My thyroid medication is to be taken daily although I often forget>>
>
> If your husband or one of your kids needed this med to regulate their physical well-being, would you "forget"?
>
> <snip> My doctor said my blood sugar indicates type 2 diabetes but if I lost about 15 to 20 pounds it would disappear...has anyone heard of
> diabetes dissappearing?>>
>
> It might go into remission, yes. Or not. But no, it will never disappear or be "cured", but with weight loss, eating right and exercising, it definitely can lie down and get quiet. Or not. Everyone is a bit different, but generally speaking, in the early years after diagnosis, type 2 responds wonderfully to weight loss, exercise, eating healthy, etc.
>
> <<He also said I do not need to monitor my own blood sugar levels since it does not seem like it has ever been dangerously high...meaning he will not prescribe the strips>>
>
> You need a new doctor. Srsly, he said that, that he wouldn't write you a prescription for test strips? Your health insurance will pay for them just like any other prescription, if your doc would write it for you. Why would he want to wait until your diabetes caused you "danger"? This makes no sense whatsoever.
>
> <snip>I have found it hard to afford our new healthy eating style
> here since veggies are more expensive than less healthy options and
> brown rice is way more expensive than white rice etc. I am not a
> sugar eater but I do love my carbs and do not exercise enough which I
> believe caused this>>
>
> If one of your kids needed three servings of veggies a day, I wager they'd be on the table. Who told you you're less important than one of them? If you're taking them to McDonald's even once a week or bringing home Dunkin Donuts, hot chocolate and OJ and coffee on Saturday or Sunday AMs, you have money for veggies. I realize this takes planning and careful shopping, but it can be done, if you prioritize where your food $$$ get spent.
>
> <<I love pasta and I love rice , I still have some but usually brown rice or brown rice pasta for my spaghetti.>
>
> Starchy foods are often deadly for uncontrolled diabetics. We who take insulin can sometimes compensate for pasta and rice and potatoes by tweaking our doses, but you can't do that. Be very careful with these foods. Unfortunately, without testing around eating them, you have no idea what they're doing to your glucose anyway.
>
> <<1-Is it normal to be grouchy and just easily irritated?>>
>
> Yes, it happens, especially right before meal times. But with 6 kids and two major uncontrolled endocrine diseases, well... I can't imagine you not being grouchy.
>
> > 2- Since I do not test my blood sugar is there any way to tell if the occasional blurred vision, exhaustion or very occasional headache is low or high blood sugar?>
>
> Nope, because your physical "feelings" will lie to you like a rug. Even experienced diabetics can't always tell an 80 from a 180. For myself, if I'm sweating, I'm low. If I have grayed-out vision, I'm low. But grouchy, impatient, weak, shaky, sleepy, tired, etc, can all be either low or high. Without testing, you can't know for sure.
>
> <<3- Sometimes I have all over pain, they think I may have arthritis,
> could it be just the diabetes?>
>
> Yes. Or you could have arthritis too.
>
> > 4- Sometimes I feel a brain fog type feeling, almost like I am
> walking in a cloud and do not notice anything around me, just really
> out of it, this has only happened since I have become diabetic.>>
>
> In combo with the thyroid thing especially, I think brain fog would be a given.
>
> Good luck, and please let us know how you're doing!
>
> Judy D.
>
- 6a.
-
Re: New member meal question
Posted by: "benzo4321" ruby.none@gmail.com benzo4321
Mon Jan 4, 2010 7:24 pm (PST)
Judy,
Thank you for your long response. Based on what you said, 'if your diabetes responds favorably to lifestyle changes (dietary and exercise modification, you're not a type 1.', i could be type 2. I am 41, THIN after having various health issues for a year, having a family history of diabetes, not physically active. When I first saw on the lab results that I was pre-diabetic, I didn't realize what would happen next. I continued to eat large portions of food at lunch and dinner, only to find myself having scary heart and head symptoms. By eating smaller portions, I feel much better.
I am still waiting for the insurance company to mail me the glucose meter. In the meantime, I don't know how to feed myself enough. I am now eating only half of the food I used to eat. I take a whole afternoon eating a small salad and entire night eating a tiny small meal. I am hungry but afraid to eat more. My stomach aches because of the long stretch of feeding. I also do not have much energy, out of breath a lot.
For someone who was just diagnosed to have diabetes or prediabetes, how to test the right amount of food I can eat w/o getting into high glucose? Do type 2 people take insulin as well? How do I know if I actually need insulin to eat the same amount of food I used to eat?
Thanks,
Ruby
- 6b.
-
Re: New member meal question
Posted by: "Jude" peridotjude@yahoo.com peridotjude
Mon Jan 4, 2010 8:06 pm (PST)
--- In Type-2-Diabetes@yahoogroups. , "benzo4321" <ruby.none@.com ..> wrote:Thank you for your long response. Based on what you said, 'if your diabetes responds favorably to lifestyle changes (dietary and exercise modification, you're not a type 1.', i could be type 2. I am 41, THIN after having various health issues for a year, having a family history of diabetes, not physically active>>
If your doc thought you were a type one, as I said, you'd've been put on insulin immediately; without it, if you had type 1, you'd be getting sicker by the day. As glucose rises into the stratosphere, the person just wants to lie down, pull up the covers, and die... a type one diagnosis can be a real emergency situation, do or die, literally. Type 2s also want to lie down and cover up and die if they get into a coma situation(usually glucose at 600+, the highest I ever heard of on list was over 1200), but it takes us a lot longer to get to that point.
Because you're thin, and since it looks as though you're a type two, you're going to have a much easier time of it than we fatty foodies do... at least you don't have the monkey on your back of 100+ extra pounds you need to lose! As you probably realize, you don't fit the "typical" type 2 profile, but it happens-- thin folks can and do get dx'ed with type two every day.
Did you lose weight recently? That can happen to undiagnosed diabetics of both types; the body's cells lack the insulin they need to gain access to the circulating glucose, and lots of calories are filtered through the kidneys and just peed out, unused, and the person loses weight without dieting. This (peeing, along with unquenchable thirst) actually can major symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes, although they don't happen to everyone.
<<By eating smaller portions, I feel much better>
Usually the glucose level will respond pretty fast, sometimes within hours, once refined sugar, HFCS, liquid carbs and starchy foods are withheld, and portion sizes are reduced.
<<I am still waiting for the insurance company to mail me the glucose meter>>
How frustrating! Why in heaven's name do they have to send it to you? I know some ins. cos. require a certain brand of meter, but boy, to have to wait is not fun.
<<In the meantime, I don't know how to feed myself enough. I am now eating only half of the food I used to eat. I take a whole afternoon eating a small salad and entire night eating a tiny small meal. I am hungry but afraid to eat more. My stomach aches because of the long stretch of feeding. I also do not have much energy, out of breath a lot>>
Since you don't have weight to lose, go ahead and eat! Naturally, if you have high cholesterol or heart disease, follow your doc's guidelines about eating fats. Otherwise, here are a few ideas--
For breakfast, fry up a couple of eggs in real butter, enjoy some bacon or sausage along with. A piece of buttered low carb toast with it would be okay. (check labels) Make it whole grain if you can. Eat cheese or cottage cheese, but watch portions. Make an omelet and load it up with mushrooms, broccoli, whatever you like. No liquid carbs (juice or milk or added sugar to a drink), but go ahead and have coffee or tea with a bit of milk and/or artificial sweetener, if you want. No added sugar, no sweet tea,no jam or jelly unless it's sugar free (check labels for truth about how many carbs are in there). Just use your common sense.
For lunch, meat, veggies, salad, eat all you want! Boil up some eggs for egg salad, mix up some tuna with real mayo, get some seafood salad, and pile it on top of your green salad, along with some grated cheese. Read labels, try to find non-carby dressings. It's okay to have 6 or 8 crackers or a slice of whole grain bread with this.
For dinner, enjoy a nice thick steak, broiled chicken or fish, or a pork chop, alongside a salad and a couple of hot veggies-- be careful with potatoes and rice and pasta, but load up on low carb veggies especially. Corn, limas, beets, and peas are starchy, so go easy on them. But you can literally load your plate with broccoli, carrots (some think they're too carby, and once you get your meter, you can see how you do with them), green beans, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, wax beans, etc., raw or cooked.
You don't need to starve, not at all. Just don't drink your carbs (juice, milk, energy drinks, sweet tea, beer, "real" soda). Become a label reader; only the "total carbohydrate" number matters, and you might start by trying to keep under about 125 total a day, as low as 75 if you want, to start. If a food is white, be suspicious of it, unless it's cauliflower. Eschew commercial baked goods, crackers, most bread, cereal, pastas, beer, potatoes, rice, gravy, sauces, or anything thickened with cornstarch or flour.
> For someone who was just diagnosed to have diabetes or prediabetes, how to test the right amount of food I can eat w/o getting into high glucose?>>
Everyone's different, but as I said, if you keep all refined sugar, HFCS, commercial starchy foods and liquid carbs away, you will have gone a long, long ways in the right direction. Once you get your meter, you'll be testing around your meals, and you'll find out fast what "agrees" with you and what doesn't.
Much depends on your activity level, of course. Start to be friends with exercise, as many days of the week as you can manage, 10-15 minutes a day to start, building to an hour if you can. Bike, walk, swim, aqua-size classes, aerobics, Curves, or walk in place in front of your TV, swinging your arms. Move it-- it all counts towards "exercise", and the results will definitely show up on your meter.
<<Do type 2 people take insulin as well?>>
Yes. *raises hand*
<<How do I know if I actually need insulin to eat the same amount of food I used to eat?>>
Time will tell, but since you're normal weight and able to exercise, I doubt insulin is in your near future. If you need meds, your doc would much more likely put you on an oral pill, probably metformin, to start. You and he will be sitting down together with your test results and food diary, etc, and deciding about your care as you go along.
Do you know your A1c test result? Are you scheduled to see your doc again soon? Is he planning to send you to diabetes education? To a nutritionist?
Judy D.
- 7.
-
OT-ish WalMart pharmacy question
Posted by: "Jude" peridotjude@yahoo.com peridotjude
Tue Jan 5, 2010 2:11 am (PST)
Does anyone have any experience with WalMart's mail order $10 for a three-month supply of generic drugs program? We have new health insurance as of Jan. 1, and this is something we're contemplating using. Just wondering if anyone in the US could give me some FB about their service. Thanks.
Judy D.
- 8.
-
from NYT
Posted by: "Diane Moro" deemoro@gmail.com signoradiana
Tue Jan 5, 2010 2:15 am (PST)
Medical Care That Transcends Words
-
- acebook<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/ >01/05/health/ 05case.html? th&emc=th#
- Mixx<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/ >01/05/health/ 05case.html? th&emc=th#
- MySpace<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/ >01/05/health/ 05case.html? th&emc=th#
- Yahoo! Buzz<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/ >01/05/health/ 05case.html? th&emc=th#
- Permalink<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/ >01/05/health/ 05case.html? th&emc=th#
-
<http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/ >adx_click. html?type= goto&opzn& page=www. nytimes.com/ yr/mo/day/ health&pos= Frame4A&sn2= 18af8609/ 8623460a& sn1=c151f81a/ 917796eb& camp=foxsearch20 10_emailtools_ 1225553c_ nyt5&ad=CrazyHea rts_120x60_ Globes_c& goto=http% 3A%2F%2Fwww% 2Efoxsearchlight %2Ecom%2Fcrazyhe art
By NELL BURGER KIRST, M.D.
Published: January 4, 2010
In the chilly bureaucratic confines of the social services office where I
worked before college, few people had it in them to waste energy on
politeness. Poverty and dependence tended to take a toll on good manners.
Skip to next paragraph<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/ >01/05/health/ 05case.html? th&emc=th# secondParagraph
Kelly Blair
Related
<http://topics.nytimes.com/ >top/news/ health/columns/ cases/index. html
So it was that Gary distinguished himself right away. On his way in, he held
the door for the old woman leaving with her bag full of food from our
pantry. He smiled at me, gave a little bow, sat and waited for his
appointment.
After a minute or two I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was no
longer facing me. His head down and cocked to one side, the old man was
shaking quietly in his chair. When I called for my boss, she emerged into
the waiting room, declared imperturbably that he was having a
seizure<http://health.nytimes.com/ >,health/guides/ disease/generali zed-tonic- clonic-seizure/ overview. html?inline= nyt-classifier
and went back to her office.
Not knowing what else to do, I called 911 and sat by his side to wait for an
ambulance. After several minutes, Gary stopped shaking and stared at his
construction boots, a column of saliva connecting his shirt and his mouth.
We sat there for a while longer before the ambulance came, Gary staring
downward and mumbling angrily, me patting his shoulder and producing a
meaningless series of sounds and words in as calm a voice as I could muster.
Our conversation was disjointed and unintelligible. He was probably not
aware of it and would not remember it later. And yet there was some kind of
clarity between us in those murmuring minutes before he was laid on a
stretcher and taken to the hospital. If Gary did not remember them, I would.
We took care of each other during those moments, keeping each other still.
•
Words are paramount in the business of medicine. Diagnoses are illuminated
by the patients' own accounts of their illnesses. Treatment options are
discussed using conditional verbs, plans described in the future tense. And
in the end everything is documented. We have become so dependent on our
words — so reliant on the phrases and spiels we know by rote — that it is
almost impossible to imagine what we would do without them.
But there is communication without words, too — an honest-to-goodness human
presence that transcends language. Sometimes it is just as essential to
healing as our precise and formulaic words.
In medical school I worked with a young infectious-disease physician from
India. She was consulting on the case of a middle-aged Indian man who had
cancer<http://health.nytimes.com/ >andhealth/guides/ disease/cancer/ overview. html?inline= nyt-classifier
a hospital-acquired infection. His infection had improved, but his
cancer had become quite aggressive, and I accompanied her to his room to
discuss what had become a very poor prognosis.
To learn how to carry on this kind of end-of-life discussion, medical
students practice on actors trained to simulate dying patients. It's a
valuable exercise, but a difficult one. I always found myself hung up on the
details of what I was supposed to say — important details, like the
patient's life expectancy, remaining treatment options and the logistics of
palliative care and
hospice<http://topics.nytimes.com/ >services.top/news/ health/diseasesc onditionsandheal thtopics/ hospice_care/ index.html? inline=nyt- classifier
When it came to real patients, I found myself similarly fixated on the
particulars, doing my best to learn the drill: What lab or exam findings let
the physician know it was time for this discussion? Would insurance pay for
hospice care? Could she wait for her daughter to fly in from Phoenix before
making the decision?
The Indian patient lay quietly in his hospital bed, his wife beside him,
elegant in an embroidered dress and a sheer blue headscarf. The doctor began
speaking to them in English as the husband and wife took turns translating
unfamiliar words into Hindi. I listened closely as always, concentrating on
the facts of the case.
I suspect the English was on my account, for when it became clear that the
couple was having too much difficulty understanding, the doctor gave up and
began speaking in fluent Hindi. I kept listening, but now the music of the
language was all I could follow.
English words were peppered in only occasionally — a sentence punctuated by
the word "suffering," then a paragraph weaving "comfortable" and "hospice"
into a string of Hindi. I was behind a veil, seeing the dialogue only in
silhouettes.
Yet somehow, being outside the language finally allowed me into the heart of
it. The conversation was beautiful, hypnotic, meditative. With words out of
the way, I could focus on the elements I had always been too distracted to
notice — the doctor's slow and lilting tone, her attentiveness to the
patient's body language, the white-knuckled hands of the husband and wife
locked together, a lifetime of love, fear, resignation and hope flickering
back and forth in the glances they exchanged.
After several minutes, the patient looked my way and asked, "Should we speak
in English, so she can understand?" I was humbled by his generosity, but
there was no need; I understood better than I ever had before.
Dr. Nell Burger Kirst is a first-year resident in family medicine at the
University of Michigan.
--
Diane
Carpe Diem!
Sent from Poughkeepsie, NY, United States
- 9.
-
New HgbA1C Result
Posted by: "Tricia" psimmons1219@gmail.com psimmons1219
Tue Jan 5, 2010 4:07 am (PST)
I can not believe it. My A1C result is down even more. It is 5.1%. I really thought it would be higher this time because of Christmas and Thanksgiving "treats". <G> I really tried not to be bad but I had to have a few bites of the stuff I was cooking for everyone else.
Good day
Tricia
- 10a.
-
Re: How many eggs?
Posted by: "Drew DUBLER" drew@drucifer.net druzifer
Tue Jan 5, 2010 4:08 am (PST)
6 to 8
Drew
T2 since '91
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*** Please always consult with your doctor about what treatment options are best for your situation. ***
*** Please always consult with your doctor about what treatment options are best for your situation. ***
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