diab. and swine flu shot

Just left my drs. and he wants me to get the swine flu shot because of my recent diag. of type 2 diab.(I also have moderate asthma). I had the reg. shot in Oct. but am very nervous about the swine flu shot. Has anyone here had it and any reactions? Any opinion if I should or should not get. Thanks. Jean.

I have not gotten the H1N1 vaccine because it has not been available. When it is available, I'll get it. One of my nephews got the vaccine at school about a month ago and he has not had any problems.

You are going to hear both positives and negatives. Two things you need to consider: How much do you trust what your doctor tells you and how do you feel about the vaccine?

My husband and son have both had the H1N1 shot (they both have
asthma) and neither had any reaction to it. My husband and I go to
different doctors in the same practice and he actually got a phone
call telling him he could make an appointment to get the
vaccine. The practice got such a limited amount of vaccine that the
doctors actually had to go through their patient lists and select the
patients that would be able to get a dose. I did not receive a phone
call, so I called my doctor's office and was told that I had NOT been
selected. Even with diabetes, I wasn't considered a high enough
risk. I hope that they will get more, or that I will be able to get
a shot at one of the few clinics that will be held.

Miriam

Pernicious Anaemia and Diabetes

I was on Metformin for very many Years until earlier this Year my body decided to reject it in a way,,, I became a bathroom dweller ugh,,, but my GP took me off of the Metformin and started me on Sitagliptin tablets at one 100mg tablet a day along with Pioglitizone at one a day,, wow the difference when I was able to leave my bathroom dwelling and move back into the rest of my house was amazing and relieving!
Does anyone here suffer from ear infections?I had an ear infection that was bad enough to put me in hospital 2 Years ago, it was chronic, after that even though I am keeping them dry, not sticking anything in them etc and am a very clean person I have just had one ear infection after the other (in both ears) which put my bodys temperature up and make me ill ontop of each other, it has been constant and making me very weary! It took a certain Dr almost 2 Years to notice and confirm that my noisey ear had a burst ear drum and the eustation tubes in both ears are always full to overflowing causing a lot of problems... I do see a Consultant in ENT but I call him Dr no can do because he doesn't ever do anything for my ears, not even gromits for the eustation tubes. The noisey ear has constant ringing in it which I now know is caused by the burst ear drum and it is pretty bad, loud and constant..!If my ENT consultant had to live with this personally it would be a very different story now wouldn't it??

Hi Rita, Pernicious Anaemia just affects B12, I have to have injections ofB12 directly into my muscle, as my body destroys any B12 taken orally. I amnot having any bathroom problems with Metformin, thankfully, but my PA hasreally hit me with a vengeance the last few months, to the point where I amnow barely functioning and signed off work - I have had blood tests, justawaiting the results, but I just happened to notice in the Metformin smallprint that a very rare side effect is that it can deplete B12, so I amwondering if that is what is happening here, and thought I would ask just incase anyone else is lucky enough (haha) to have both of these illnessestogether.
Sorry to hear you are anaemic, I must admit I don't know a lot about it.Didn't know a thing about PA either of course till I was diagnosed - butthen again before I was diagnosed I thought diabetics just had to lay offsugar. Duh.

Posted by: "Edna Martin"

ear infections

How well is your diabetes in control? Do you have an A1c of 6.0ish or under? An ear infection is like any other infection, in that diabetics are more prone to get them, and once we have them, they can be bears to get healed up. The more in control your diabetes is, the more your body will handle infections as if it were non-diabetic.

Ear infections *hurt*, and they can destroy hearing. Scary stuff.

It took a certain Dr almost 2 Years to notice and confirm that my noisy ear had a burst ear drum and the eustation tubes in both ears are always full to overflowing causing a lot of problems... I do see a Consultant in ENT but I call him Dr no can do because he doesn't ever do anything for my ears, not even gromits for the eustation tubes. The noisey ear has constant ringing in it which I now know is caused by the burst ear drum and it is pretty bad, loud and constant.If my ENT consultant had to live with this personally it would be a very different story now wouldn't it??>

You need a new doctor, hon. This one is a horse doctor. I'm just sayin'. This is *serious* and needs aggressive treatment, not this benign neglect your doctor is passing off as medical care.

Do you suffer from allergies, with post-nasal drip, etc? If so, you need a really good allergy doc, a course of allergy shots, and proper allergy meds, and that will all help beat that problem back. I suspect you may have one-thing-feeds-the-other going on-- diabetes, allergies, a stubborn bug or two, maybe a chronic fungal infection too.

One thing you can try is keeping your ears dry-- wear protective ear plugs in the shower or while swimming, and then use whatever your doctor recommends for prevention purposes a couple times a day (saline? not sure what it'd be, but maybe something with a steroid in it to help with the inflammation, and/or an anti-fungal ear med).

Whatever's giving you those repeated infections thrives on 3 things: dark, damp and warm, so... just keeping it dry in there will go a long way in prevention.

Ask your doc too about having some lab tests done to see what kind of bacteria and/or fungus you're fighting. Without lab specimens, the doc will just continue throwing antibiotics at it willy-nilly, and it sounds as if you've done all the usual things and are getting nowhere.I'd start getting insistent and loud, if I were you. Enough is enough!
Good luck, and please let us know how you're doing, okay?

Posted by: "BK"

mood, food and life

I am not knowledgeable enough to say what the effects are to others, but,being DXd with DM for almost a year (late Jan 09) and changing my diet tohopefully less than 100 carbs in a day, I have noticed that I feel better,for the most part. I am positive that I feel better physically. I haveheartburn once in 10 months, and I think that was due to eating some pizzawith my kids (very minimal crust, but the topping is greasy compared to whatI've been eating, a glass of wine and taking a 1000 mg glucosamine after Ihad not taken any for over a week. I have to take half a pill for a fewdays and build up to it. Anyway, I used to get a lot of nausea and had ahard time discerning if it was anxiety or what I ate. My job can be prettystressful. I felt more energetic for sure for the first few months but withstress and the dark season coming on, I feel some slippage. I believe Ihave SAD (such an appropriate acronym don't you think?) so this time of yearis not easy to judge what effects what. Then throw in the holidays, well Iwon't go there tonight.

While I have read that carbs are essential to brain function, I know we getcartbs from the veggies we eat and the fruits some of us add in from time totime. I am able to eat a low carb bread by 'The Bread Garden" called CarbCurber and I know I get some fiber and carbs there too. But, if we needcarbs for brain function, it would not surprise me to find out that carbseffect our mood, both pro and con. Maybe too many carbs overload the brainand we feel mentally sluggish in response. and I'm sure too few could havea negative impact. I know we need to carefully control our carbs, I thinkwe need to, as most of us here do, look at the kind of carbs along with thecount. Complex carbs are always the better choice and then, what oursystems can handle.

Suffice to say, I do feel better, emotionally and physically, eating a verylow carb diet. Sure, I miss some foods, and with my first round of holidaysapproaching, I'm noticing some sense of loss around it, which I'm sure willget easier with time. I love eggnog and saw it in the store the other day.I thought Oh goody!! then I though, shoot! then I saw the light kind andthought, ooooh, maybe?? then I see they cut the fat but not the sugar.damn! Has anyone seen a SF eggnog out there? I sure wish..... Has anyoneever made it? I love a hot brandy and eggnog......

And my Mom, who died 3 years ago... still seems a bit like yesterday, andthe holidays are hard as I spent them with her, even as the Alzheimer's tookher, but we have a family recipe for a snack mix similar to the chex mix yousee this time of year but ours is soooooo much better. Peanuts, pretzels,rice chex and cheerios. well, as you can tell from the ingredients, it iscarb city. sigh.... I helped her make from the time I could stand on a chairand stir the melted butter with the spices. I teared up thinking I can'thave it. So I've decided to make one batch, the smell of it baking iswonderful, and figure out how many carbs is in 1/4 cup or some small sizeand see what it does to me. T&T as I've been saying to myself, taste andtest, like the ymmv. I may be able to have a bit and if not, I'll cope.

So, as I think back over what I've typed, food and mood are closely related,but, at least for me, I have to factor in life.

To the other US citizens on the list, have a good Thanksgiving and I hopeyour day is pleasant. I'm on my own this year, kids going to their Dad andhis GF's new house, Brother going with his wife's family and so my GoldenRetriever and I will do some quilting, watch a movie, take a walk and findmany things to be thankful for, first and foremost, my health, and for thislist where I've learned a lot to take better care of myself.

Posted by: "Michelle Honey"

Thankful to be a diabetic

I was diagnosed as a diabetic in 2007 through an awful case of MRSA. At first I was really scared and not sure of my future because there is a lot of fear put into the hearts of diabetics (which needs to stop) there is also a lot of bad and mis-information regarding this disease put forth to the public. Sitting here tonight and thinking about my life's journey over the last three years I've come to the conclusion that I am so very thankful to be a diabetic...

it may sound strange so let me elaborate a bit... the first reason I am thankful to be a diabetic is because through this disease I have been blessed to meet some of the most wonderful and beautiful people on this planet. My Doctor's and care givers have been ever so supportive of me and my life has been made so much richer by knowing them.

I am also thankful to have this opportunity to learn a new way of eating ... one that is much healthier and makes me feel so much more energetic and viable during the day .... lastly I am thankful for being a diabetic because I really don't think they would have found the cancer, nor would I have known to look for the cancer that was diagnosed a year ago.

So through being a diabetic I have been blessed to meet wonderful and caring people, learn more about nutrition and myself for that matter and last but not least, I have my life...I am truly blessed by all of these things and for the first time in three years can honestly say I am thankful to be a diabetic.

Posted by: "zionbutterfly8"

Struggling with diabetic

I was diagnosed in 2007 as well due to an infection called MRSA which is scary. It is very difficult to be a diabetic and most people who don't know anything about it don't understand, they think we can and should eat just like everyone else which is so detrimental to us.

There are some really good things that we as diabetics can eat, some of my favorites have been chicken divan which is a VERY simple recepie, baby bell cheese, the soft laughing cow cheese and sargento low fat cheese sticks. Nuts are low carb and a good source of protein but you have to watch the fat intake.

I've started to really enjoy tofu and they do have tofu noodles that you can substitute instead of pasta. I've been known to fry turnips in olive oil like french fries and it is excellent and you can mash boiled cauliflour like potatoes and it's such a treat...I put low cal butter in it with garlic and leeks and it is to die for. I also saw a simple recepie I have not been able to try yet but would be perfect...you take chicken breasts and pound them till they are really thin and season them with salt and pepper...then you place a piece of swiss cheese and a piece of ham on the chicken and wrap the chicken around already cooked asparagus then you hold it together with tooth picks and fry it... I'm going to make it tomorrow for a friend.

There are so many wonderful things you can eat that don't have sugar in them and if you really stick to the diabetic low carb diet ou will find that you will feel so much better not just health wise but also emotionally wise. Another thing I did was get the gastric bypass surgery which has helped even out my bg. It's been a hard recovery but sooooooo worth it. I would consider it and research it.

Don't be ashamed that you are a diabetic. There are a lot of misconceptions in the world about this disease. Weight is a factor but not the underlying cause of diabetes. I had lost 50 pounds 4 months before I was diagnosed and was feeling great. The only reason I found out about this was because of the infection and if I did not get the infection and find out about the diabetes I probably would not be alive today because it ended up leading to a diagnosis of cancer.

Please please please take care of yourself. Do not be ashamed of who you are... manage your disease and don't let the disease manage your life. This will make you a stronger person. It is tough and I know that for a fact but I know that you can do it.

Posted by: "zionbutterfly8"

How to choose good food?

Remember that dietary control is only one leg of a beast that has at least four legs. They are, in no particular order of importance, AFAIK:
a) cutting out refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and white flour, and srsly cooling your jets about the quality and quantity of other carbs, even the complex ones. All excuses for overeating are g-o-n-e, so portion control is as important as *what* you're eating.

b) regular daily exercise, probably the most neglected of the four legs.

c) weight loss. Achieving and maintaining a normal BMI is of the utmost importance for long-term glucose control. Naturally, someone who's even moderately overweight isn't going to lose the extra pounds in a few weeks or a few months, so this can take time, sometimes years.

d) meds. Sorry, but diabetics oftentimes need meds if after 3-6 months or so of trying lifestyle changes (diet, exercise) and losing a few pounds, they still can't get their A1c down close to 6.0 or so (some doctors are happy with anything under 7.0, but IMO the lower the better).

You don't have to be hungry all the time, but you do have to decide on a calorie level and then carefully *eat up to that calorie level*. No starving. No skipping meals. No skipping snacks. Don't go to bed hungry every night. If you KNOW you're going to be hungry in the late PM, don't go to bed starving and miserable every night-- plan a PM snack, something made up of 150 calories or so, some carb and some protein. You'll sleep better, and your liver will be less likely to release glucose during the night.

Plan some real carbs for every meal-- three times a day, have a slice of whole grain bread, a small serving of whole grain cereal, or make your protein choice a meatloaf with loads of shredded veggies and oatmeal baked into it (yum, filling and satisfying). Have a small piece of whole fruit mid-afternoon, maybe with a string cheese or a couple of ounces of low fat ham rolled into lettuce leaves and garnished with a bit of mustard or mayo. Eat veggies at *every* meal-- broccoli, onions, shredded carrots in an AM omelet, a couple different veggies and a salad at both lunch and dinner. If you eat 1200 calories a day, you should be able to have 3 meals @ 300 calories each and 2 snacks @ 150 each, or whatever divvying up makes sense to you.

Either you'll be able to get your glucose into a good range with just diet and exercise, or you won't. But I'll tell ya, I'm convinced that walking around starving all the time is for the birds, both psychologically and physically. Choose a calorie level, don't eat (roughly) less or more than that, make your food choices as whole and unprocessed as possible, drink loads of good spring water if you can, remember to b-r-e-a-t-h-e as you take a walk or do other exercise every day, and just enjoy the good health you have. You might not have *perfect* health, you probably never will, but things can always be worse!

Meanwhile, this goal of good glucose control IS attainable; it'll just take some time and planning and effort. But no starving!

By Judy D.