Beau Peep Notice Board
Beau Peep Notice Board => Outpourings => Topic started by: Malc on January 24, 2011, 01:05:24 PM
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Just got the diagnosis today that I have diabetes. I'm not looking for sympathy, as some of you may also have it, so no touchy feely stuff, just that if any of you or yours DO have diabetes, I'm interested in how you/they deal with it and if you have any tips.
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Sorry to hear your news, Malc. Does it run in the family?
My mother and two aunts seemed to have carried the 'gene' - the youngest sister started at 14 and the treatment then was injections three times a day! At least things seem to have improved since then. The other two sisters got it in old age.
I was diagnosed last year with 'borderline' diabetes; the doctor wasn't sure how to treat it and had to phone a colleague. She looked up the tablets and wrote a prescription, saying that it may have an affect on my bowels......... I left the surgery full of confidence in her diagnosis!
The tablets are still in the Boots bag; I have been a little more careful about not eating sugary stuff - other than that, I have carried on as usual.
NOT to be recommended unless you have a death wish!
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Sorry to hear that Malc. How bad are you? Pills? Insulin injections?
I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes 12 years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter – at that time all that was needed was a healthy diet and it cleared up after delivery but I was told that I had a big chance of getting Type 2 diabetes within 10 years.
I was diagnosed with diabetes last May. I have since lost 90lb (weight loss wouldn’t apply to you) and went on Metformin – it is still a struggle getting the dosage right – I think I need to take less in the mornings as I have had two weeks of severe diarrhea like clockwork at noon. You can’t just pop in to your doctor here – there is a five week wait for an office appointment or you can sit in the emergency (which is treated like a walk in clinic) – but I have scheduled bi-monthly appointments. Today I decided to cut my morning meds by 25% to see if it will help. So be prepared to work to adjust your meds as necessary – seeing that you are already at a decent weight they may just need to be adjusted for your level of exercise.
The best thing you can do is start eating 5/6 small meals a day to keep your body constantly fuelled and avoid highs and slumps in your blood sugar. It is a case of eating healthy (which I suspect you already do) whole grains and veggies to help release the sugars slowly and constantly. Cutting out the sugar treats – but you will be surprised and how many goodies you can eat such as frozen chocolate ice bars made with artificial sweeteners and a wide range of yogurts. You also need to stop some “healthy” foods such as real fruit juices and corn and cut down on fruit serving sizes. You need to get some good fats in your diet such as olive oil.
Regular exercise is a must – but then again with your coaching you are probably doing okay there too. You may have to talk to a doctor/diabetic nurse because you are more active than most people and that needs to be compensated for too.
There is help for sorting out your diet and exercise and you should get your wife involved in meal planning; a diabetic base diet is healthy for the whole family.
The biggest thing YOU need to do is get your head around this and avoid feeling down. Treat it like a challenge, once you get your blood levels on an even keel you will start to feel better mentally (less irritable) and you will become less tired when you no longer are up in the night to pee. Prepare for the worst (that way you will remember to look after your feet and get your eyes checked EVERY year) but enjoy life now. Happiness and hope are really the best medicines for all health problems and this one is no different. Hang in there, you can do this and once you start feeling better it will be so much easier to keep with the lifestyle changes of diet and meds.
Hugs to you!
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Vulch - I hope you are at least keeping a good eye on your feet and getting your eyes checked every year?
We could have our own little diabetic club on Beau Peep and share recipes.
Take care Vluch and hugs to you too!
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Vulch - I hope you are at least keeping a good eye on your feet and getting your eyes checked every year?
We could have our own little diabetic club on Beau Peep and share recipes.
Take care Vluch and hugs to you too!
If I keep my eyes on my feet, I'll keep bumping into things........? (Does having diabetes [possibly..] turn you into East European? [Vluch...] ).
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That's why I only said "A good eye" - you may keep the other one swivelling around as you usually do.
I guess having diabetes could make you Russian - rushing around to keep fit anyway.
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It doesn't, however, improve one's puns.
That's brilliantly dispensed advice and philosophy, Diane. I don't suffer from diabetes, but I'll know what to do now if I ever do. As challenges go, it actually all sounds very positive, with the by-product of a healthier lifestyle all round - I may even take most of that advice and encouragement myself, diabetes or not.
What's with the feet? What would one be looking for?
Malky, I know you don't want it, but I'm sorry anyway. Be well, mate!
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Diabetes can mean that you lose feeling in your extremities - if you were to get a cut or broken skin which lead to infection this could lead to amputation in diabetics. It is just a case of an ounce of prevention.
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Thanks, Diane. I didn't know that. Take good care of your extremities, Malcolm.
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Hopefully, Diamond Lil will pop in sometime with some more words of advice---she's been coping with it for a long time now.
I felt poorly for quite a chunk of last year and after a couple of blood tests, the word "borderline" was used. (Like Vulch). I simply have to go back at the end of April for another test as they keep an eye on me. I have to say I've felt okay since and I'm convinced I had a virus.
Anyway, all the best, Malc!
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Diabetes can mean that you lose feeling in your extremities - if you were to get a cut or broken skin which lead to infection this could lead to amputation in diabetics. It is just a case of an ounce of prevention.
That's good to know. I thought my aunt had her leg amputated because, in spite of all the warnings, she continued to smoke heavily until she died at the grand old age of 42!
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Can't better Diane's advice.
Personally, it's why I finally made up my mind to lose weight last year and am still trying to lose another 14 lbs. My doctor assures me that when I do, I could be classed as non-diabetic. I was on Metformin and then had another tablet added in which gave me hypos (very low blood sugar) and I was not a happy camper when that happens. Don't know if you have Victoza over there, Malc? New here and I was started on a daily injection (that's all you need) last June. It gives a boost to your insulin production (so only used for Type 2 diabetics who at least have some insulin left) and has been a life saver for me...no more tablets and I definitely feel fuller on less. You also have to watch cholesterol and blood pressure levels because the thinking nowadays is that you are at a greater risk from heart/circulation problems than was first thought. I get eyes checked annually and I see my chiropodist on a regular basis. Your doctor will possibly take you in every 6 months for blood tests as they do here.
It's not the end of the world, my friend, but it seems daunting to begin with. Healthy eating is the key but the odd "treat" keeps you sane just as long as you don't go eating an entire chocolate cake on your own! (I allow myself a sip of Drambuie when visiting Roger and boy do I enjoy that!!) :-*
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I have no medical background but I found it helped to think of diabetes as those long thin balloons that only professional clowns can blow up. When we have diabetes we get THICK blood travelling through our bodies, however there are places in our bodies that only have NARROW veins (like the ends of those balloons) such as our fingertips and toes and those delicate veins to our eyes and brains. If we have too thick blood travelling through our system we can bust out those little veins much like the clown blows up the balloon, and then they will be broken. Smoking is bad for diabetics because it makes your veins smaller than normal so even less thick blood could cause damage.
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Thanks to you all, you're wonderful, especially Diane with that full page of advice and explanations.
I was "pre-diabetic" for a while, according to the doc who examined me years ago, but they are a notoriously fatalistic bunch and in his opinion it was always going to happen, as I have it in my family. My father had it and probably was diagnosed at the same age as me. I have always got off my lazy backside and gone for checkups as a result of my dad, who died at 61 from colon cancer. So far the up-the-bumoscopies have come back clear, as have the prostate cancer and cholesterol blood tests, it was just the sugar levels which caused concern, and my doctor (Doctor Wang) sent me back for a second set of tests last week.
I recently did have a significant weight loss, which was one of the reasons I fronted up to the clinic in the first place - I have always had difficulty losing weight, we McGookins are a burly crowd, as a rule, but I dropped a stone and a half in about three months with no effort, a belt notch and a half in old money.
I should be more active than I am, being a coach, but most of the job is forcing others to run, so it's not the best exercise regime.
I haven't started my tablets yet, the chemist doesn't have one of the brands in stock, either the one I take at night or the one I have to take in the morning, so I'm waiting until I have both before I start. I've gone this long without them I can wait a little longer. Thanks to you all once again.
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You’re welcome Malc.
One thing that annoyed me when I was first diagnosed was by how positive my niece (who is older than me and a registered nurse) was about the situation. She herself has seen so many people turn their lives around health-wise after a diagnosis of diabetes – losing weight, exercising and eating right. She was imagining me in the future. But to me the diagnosis hit me like a huge hill to climb and my choice to make the positive moves was taken from me – I pretty much had to get on with it. There was no time to wallow as I had repeat doctor’s appointments – I also had to see a cardiologist as I had/have high blood pressure.
While you are still feeling crummy it is a hard hill to climb – but do know that you WILL start to feel better fairly quickly just on the meds and adding the healthy diet and exercise, you already know, changes how you think and feel. People just have to bite the bullet and do it anyway until a time when they feel better and are glad to have made changes.
So don’t let the diagnosis get you down, and don’t let the smiling cheering super-positive people get you down either!
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Sorry to hear about your news Malc .
My brother have diabetes as you can imagine we don't have NHS in the Philippines, treatment are very expensive, so I spend a lot of time researching about diabetes do's and dont.
Thanks everyone who posted information, i will pass this to my brother.
Malc keep your spirit high you will be on my prayers. :-*
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Thanks Lucy, I just wanted to tell you all that I've finally started on the tablets, I'm sleeping in the spare room because my wife and I aren't talking, and this is the best and most rested I've felt in a donkey's age.
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I hope it's nothing serious, Malc. You've had enough problem times for now. I know you did not want sympathy, etc, but all the best to you anyway. There are a lot of great people on this site thinking of you and wishing you well.
For that matter, all the best to everyone else as well.
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So sorry to hear this, Malc. I know you'll cope fine, though, especially with all the great advice from Diane and Lil. A friend of mine who lives in the US was diagnosed with Diabetes 1 when he was in his 20's and he's now pushing, or maybe even past, 60 and as far as I know, doesn't have too many problems. He did have the advantage of being an academic biochemist who specialised in research into diabetes, but I know he isn't always a good boy and indulges himself now and again.
Another friend has just been diagnosed with borderline diabetes so I'll definitely be passing on some of your advice, Diane. I think the best bit is this:
" Happiness and hope are really the best medicines for all health problems and this one is no different."
Keep your pecker up, Malc! I'll be thinking of you.
Hugs,
Joanie xo
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I had an ear syringed last week, and also the annual blood pressure test at the same time. Was told it was high so have to have an ECG again in a couple of weeks. Had that before about 3 years ago, and it was quite an interesting experience. I was asked to strip to the waist, then they said they'd actually meant the top half, so I did that. I remember wires being involved, and possibly nipple-clamps - it's a bit fuzzy. Someone came in dressed as a nurse to take charge. Felt like I was in a porn film.
I'm sure you'll be okay, Malc.
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Nige you would be fit as a fiddle if you just walked to and from the pub...for each pint that you swallowed.
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Don't go encourage him Diane ;D Give Peeps your best diet plan ( must not include alcohol ) ;D
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The thing I can't get my head around is that before I was diagnosed I felt fine - in fact I felt well.
I did feel like a doze at around 2 in the afternoon, but I put that down to my late nights drawing and early rises, as well at the Queensland heat and my football exertions.
Now I'm on the tablets, I actually feel ill - or at least some of the time, will weakness and a cold feeling on my arms which gives me the signal that I have low blood sugar.
Havig said that, my sugars have been consistently very low, between 4.5 and 7.5.
I feel like stopping the tablets and going back to the way I used to be.
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Sounds like a great idea, Malky.
Tell you what - you pack in your tablets, and I'll pack in my ten-a-day heart drugs, and let's see which of us can die first, yes? ;D
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Stop it, Malcolm. You're making ME feel bad.
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There are more than one kind of pills out there for diabetics Malc. I was told that Metformin is popular because it is the only one that doesn’t cause you to gain weight. If you have easy access to your doctor, you should tell him how they are making you feel. The amount I have been taking have been adjusted several times since last May.
I just picked up a cookbook in the library written by the elderly poet Maya Angelou who was borderline diabetic; just by eating six small meals a day was able to lose 35lbs. Most of her recipes look pretty easy home cookin’. I think there is really something magical to be gained by eating often and small - most people are too busy to do this but when you have a health issue you find the time and find food that will travel.
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Sounds like a great idea, Malky.
Tell you what - you pack in your tablets, and I'll pack in my ten-a-day heart drugs, and let's see which of us can die first, yes? ;D
Not much of a bet Tarqs - you would keel over dead without a pumping heart but Malc would just start off slowly losing fingers and toes and eyesight.
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Yes, but if I went first, I couldn't pay up - it's a win-win situation.
Malky could stump up in installments, with each lost digit.
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;D
I hope nobody sensitive is reading this.
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Not on this forum, surely?
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we're all doomed!
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;D
I hope nobody sensitive is reading this.
Sensitive - on this board! You're joking!
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I already said that. Now I'm hurt. :'(
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Yet again, Malky, listen to Di. Get to your doctor and have your tablets adjusted...you're bound to feel yucky if your count is as low as 4.5
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OK I will, but I do wonder also if it's me who has gone overboard on a super diabetes-friendly diet which has left me bereft of energy?
I'm even hesitant to eat a banana after reading some reports.
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OK I will, but I do wonder also if it's me who has gone overboard on a super diabetes-friendly diet which has left me bereft of energy?
I'm even hesitant to eat a banana after reading some reports.
It's probably the diet, the pills, and psychology. Why not tell the doctor you'll do the diet but not the pills?
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Drop the banana, Malc... Put that banana down nice an slow...
I wouldn't bother with a diet anyway. I don't remember you as being particularly fat.
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OK I will, but I do wonder also if it's me who has gone overboard on a super diabetes-friendly diet which has left me bereft of energy?
I'm even hesitant to eat a banana after reading some reports.
That could be it too Malc – the dietician will tell you that ½ a banana is a serving size – I do eat a small amount of sugar every day as mid afternoon I have one perfect square of dark Lindt chocolate with 5g of sugar (50 cals) and now and again (maybe twice a month) I will indulge in a small serving of a sugar sweetened desert.
I don’t eat many bananas or corn or peas – I really fill up on green salads, steamed cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, broccoli and enjoy the tasty veggies such as peppers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. One thing I try to do is have at least one meal fried in olive oil a day (usually my “tasty” veggies listed above with some lean meat) – but that is more for my weight loss – I find when I cut out oil then my body goes into starvation mode and the weight plateaus. Diabetics should not go on extreme calorie reduced diets – as a 5’ 7” woman I was instructed not to go below 1500 – your body needs regular healthy fuel now. I imagine you should be eating quite a LOT of food, and because it is not calorie-laden bad food, you will probably need to eat more food in volume than you ever have.
On my first visit back to the doctor he said I was in his top 10% of diabetic patients then later visits I got bumped up to his top 5% of diabetic patients. This was good news as he did let it slip that 90% of his diabetic patients don’t give a crap.
It has been 9 months for me and I am still not balanced with my meds. You have to expect it to take a while – but your diet is in your own hands and you can work out a meal plan that you are comfortable with. I find it takes much more time out of my day cooking and eating and even the shopping and reading labels those first months. As the evening pills have to be taken with food – some days it is like “oh no, I have to eat again!” In bulk I am eating probably 50% more food but have lost 95lbs – all just smart food choices. I am going back in two weeks to work out my medicine with my Doc.
It is good that you are listening to your own body for clues. Do something nice for yourself today that has nothing to do with your diabeties.
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Do something nice for yourself today that has nothing to do with your diabeties.
I say, steady on...
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How are you doing Malc?
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And I'm doing good. I just got my meds cut in half over the next six weeks because I've lost so much weight.
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I'm doing a lot better, thanks for asking, Diane.
Doctor Wang said it wasn't the meds, it was my diet. He told me to report to his surgery nurse in a few days time, she would apparently give me a care plan .
I duly did and was given two sets of documents - one for blood tests and the other for a podiatrist vist.
I haven't bothered with either of them, I just started eating regularly, small portions of the right food (brown rice, wholemeal bread, turkey, etc) throughout the day, with an occasional jelly baby when I felt my skin get cold (a a hypo on its way).
Apart from the occasional head twinge, I feel great.
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That sounds good Malc. That is what that poet does who I was talking about - she eats half her supper and the rest of it 3 hours later. A good idea if your basic diet is fairly health as yours sounds to be.
Do get your tests done though or we will all have to nag you until you do.
And once again thank god for jelly babies, Basil Brush had the right idea there.
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That is what that poet does
That poet doth, surely?
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Podiatrist is a good friend to have from now on, Malc
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Oh all right. I'll see the podiatrist. Don't want ALL my little piggies to go to market... :-\
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...you also need to find your way to the market so have the annual retinal screeing too!
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...you also need to find your way to the market so have the annual retinal screeing too!
He won't have to bend over in public, will he?
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...you also need to find your way to the market so have the annual retinal screeing too!
He won't have to bend over in public, will he?
;D ;D
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...you also need to find your way to the market so have the annual retinal screeing too!
He won't have to bend over in public, will he?
;D ;D
He will, to count his piggies.
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...you also need to find your way to the market so have the annual retinal screeing too!
He won't have to bend over in public, will he?
Kitchen floor repairs: to lay a new pvc damp membrane and then scree over the top so it is good for new lino.
He'd have to bend over for this, too!
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That's screeding, surely?
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Verb: to scree
Noun: screed
Past tense: screwed
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No, scree (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scree) is what you get on mountain-sides.
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...you also need to find your way to the market so have the annual retinal screeing too!
Look! Whatever it is, it's something to do with eyeballs and you get to do it once a year.
DL, YOU started it.......!
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So it doesn't involve a Barium enema then. Thank heavens for that.
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Barium? Is that the new Nissan?
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That's what I love about this place...one little reference to one's retina and we're off!!
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That's what I love about this place...one little reference to one's retina and we're off!!
Eye, you're right!
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Barium? Is that the new Nissan?
Sounds painful.
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That's what I love about this place...one little reference to one's retina and we're off!!
That also applies to a Barium ...