Posted on 05/25/2009 11:33:08 AM PDT by Tennessee_Bob
Wow.
Had a doctor's appointment last week for a completely different issue. First thing the doc says is, "the weight loss is great!" That's when I explained that the 30-35 pounds I had lost had all been in the last month or so. That I was constantly thirsty, and "peeing like a race horse."
That's when the original reason for the appointment got pushed to the back and that's when life changed. That's when we tested my blood sugar and found it at 297, and shortly after that was when I did my first injection of insulin.
Yes, the symptoms were there, but I did the man thing and ignored them. I made an appointment for an unrelated issue, and made a list of things to discuss with the MD, and this was on there, but it was like three down the list.
So, here I am, testing my blood four times a day, injecting insulin five times a day (4 times on Humalog, 1 time with Levemir). Here I am, arguing with my pharmacy benefits manager about why Levemir is the only non-preferred insulin on the list. Here I am now, trying to restructure my budget so I can afford the medications, trying to figure out what I can and can't eat, when to eat, how much to eat.
So, who else out here is a diabetic? Type I, Type II, gestational - I'm looking to talk to anyone about self-education. I'm supposed to be going to some sort of course, but it's going to take some time before that gets arranged, and I believe in educating myself as much as possible.
I'm looking for tips, support, whatever you can tell me about what I need to know about this sudden change in my life at age 45. I figure - the more I can learn now, the better able I am to get on top of this thing and stick around for awhile. Yes - I know, it's not a death sentence, but you'd be surprised (or possibly wouldn't) how many people are turning sad eyes towards me, and saying "Aww, man, I'm sorry to hear that."
Get the treatment, whatever it is. My sister ignored it and died from those causes at age 68.
Can you tell us your age bracket (30s, 40s, 50s...) ?
Bob, look on line at recipe sites - I’m sure you can find some geared toward diabetes that might help you with some food questions - good luck!
Never mind...
Sorry I can't be more help, but those are my observations from hanging out with a type I diabetic.
I’m type 1 48 yo. Diagonised at age 9 in 1970. Doing fairly well still with only fixable side effects over the years.
Diabetes is manageable. It’s a lifestyle change, to be sure. Get your daily blood sugars under control, and keep your HgbA1C (a longer range indicator of control) as close to normal as possible, and there is no reason why you cannot have a long and healthy life.
In the near term, controlling your blood sugar should put that thirst, need to pee, and hyper-ness (as your body is desperately trying to gin up energy because it can’t use the energy floating uselessly in your bloodstream) under control, and that should be an improvement.
It’s OK to be freaked out about a new dx like this, just know that you can control it. It takes some effort and resolve, but more than doable.
Remember - with major dx changes, a few weeks out, it’s common to feel depressed. As soon as you can, put your finger on the cause - this new dx - because being able to identify the cause will help you resolve it.
Good luck, FRiend.
Timothy, RN.
Yes fresh made food is the best way to help deal with it. There are lots of hiden stuff in processed foods. White stuff elevates bloodsugar faster which means whire bread, potatoes, rice etc. Eat that stuff in moderation whole grains will spike your BS much less. Lean to read the labels and find what a real serving is. Good-luck. I’ve been carb counting for several years now and haven’t had an A1C over 6 for 3 years.
I’m a type two diabetic on Humalog, which seems to work for me if I eat properly. Why are you on it five times a day? Are you that bad off?
The American Diabetic Association has recipe books for ideas. Be sure to measure your portions. My husband feels I can eat almost anything I want as long as I measure what I’m eating. Fresh fruits and veggies are good for you, measured of course. You can also buy a glycemic index that will tell you what the sugars are in each kind of food. Vanilla ice cream actually has lower sugar than a potato, which is very starchy. And be sure you exercise. That helps keep your blood sugars down.
I didn’t take care of myself and ended up on dialysis. Be careful, please.
I will not go to a doctor. I will bury my head in the sand and cover up my fat butt.
I had open heart surgery in a hospital in Syracuse, NY, and the food they gave me ON A DIABETIC AND DIALYSIS DIET was full of carbs. My sugars were high all the time. You’d think a hospital would have a better handle on these kinds of things but not all do.
Nine years ago, I was on diabetes medication and taking insulin twice a day. Following a rupture after a cancer surgery, I fasted for thirty days, fifteen before another surgery and fifteen after. It was a complete fast. My blood sugar went to normal. Soon after that I went on a high protein, low glycemic diet, no sugars, including fruits, no starches, breads, no snacks period, ever. There are a number of low glycemic vegetables that can be eaten in moderation. I managed to go without diabetes medication until a few months ago. An antibiotic resistant UTI has ruined my health for the past six months, and recently I went back on diabetes meds plus insulin once a day—that will need to go up for now. If I can beat this infection; get on an energetic exercise routine and fast again, I think I might be able to get back off the meds. Good luck. Diet and exercise are your best bets. Exercise helps the insulin do its job.
1. Live on the South Beach Diet. It’s delicious and will keep your blood sugar consistent.
2. Plan your life around having constant snacks.
3. Take Vitamin D supplements.
1)Gained lots of weight (laziness,mostly)
2)Was told by various specialists that my heart was damaged,I had high blood pressure,my kidneys were compromised and my blood sugar was chronically elevated... all because of my weight.
3)Discovered Atkins and "power-walking" (walking at a brisk pace).
4)Lost 30+ pounds in about 3 months thanks to Atkins and power-walking (every *single* day).
5)Was told,some time after my weight loss,that my BP was way down,my blood sugars were normal and my overall health was *much* better...all thanks to the weight loss.
And P.S.,regardless of what you've heard about Atkins my doctors (all faculty members of Harvard Medical School) approved of it and it was *amazingly* easy for me,the worst junk food addict ever born,to follow.
I had the same story, diagnosed at 45 with Type II diabetes. I too, went to the doctor for an unrelated issue & found out my blood sugar was over 660! I was peeing all the time & thirsty constantly. It was devastating to me. They put me on insulin & oral medication & counseled me on diet & exercise.
I started following the diet & walking everyday. Within 6 months, my doctor took me off the insulin because I was controlling my sugars so well. That was 7 years ago.
Long story short, sometime after that we suffered through a financial crisis, & being self-employed, had to eventually let our health insurance go. Very scary, especially for a diabetic. I continued to cover my own medical costs for as long as I could, but it was getting increasingly difficult. I think, because of the stress - my sugars started gradually increasing, even with the oral medication I was taking. My doctor switched me to several different ones, but I was still having problems.
Finally, I was getting tired of being anchored to the whole medication thing - so I started weaning myself off of it. I stick to a walking schedule everyday - I avoid white flour, sugar and starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, peas. I eat salads with lots of different greens and vegetables twice a day, in addition to other high fiber vegetables and meats. I eat fruits in moderation.
I am now keeping my blood sugar levels under 120 by eating right & staying active - with no medication. I feel better than I have in a long time & have lost about 40 pounds.
Hang in there, and watch what you put into your body - it isn’t a death sentence if you take care of yourself. Another huge thing, watch your stress levels, that can really get you.
My case: discovered I was a type II at 50. I am 65 now, holding my HgA1C in the 5.7-6.1 range for the last two years. I take some pills, one Lantus shot at night and exercise EVERY day. I usually swim for 45 minutes to an hour. Also walk for about the same time. Dropped some weight from my high point 5 years ago, really got serious when I found that half measures did not do it for me.
One major piece of advice: talk to an endocrinologist. They specialize in diabetes.
Also, wishing will not make your diabetes go away. Hard work will make a big difference. I take about 1/2 of the meds I was on five years ago because I found a great endo and worked on my problem.
I wish you all the best - you can beat this.
My wife has diabetes and one of the biggest problems was insulin ‘spiking’. She has since procured an insulin pump to keep her insulin, level during the day. You must start to read food labels and stay away from products with a lot of sugar and high carbs. Also there are many sites on the Internet with info. Good luck.
Hey Bob. Welcome to the club.
I was diagnosed with Type II a year ago in March, just before my 50th birthday.
Like you, I knew better. I have a long family history of diabetes including a brother who died at 39 from not taking it seriously. All 8 of us siblings (2 now dead) have been diagnosed with one or the other types of diabetes. I wound up going to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack. Had a heart cath while I was there that, thankfully, found no blockages. My standing joke is that I went to the hospital for a heart attack and came out a diabetic. And I went to the operating room for a heart test and came out with my privates shaved.
I am fortunate that mine is (currently) controlled with diet and pills. I’m sure I could do it if necessary but I’ve remarked that if I had to do shots, I would just have to die. My dear, darling Frau CDBear was quickly promoted to diet nazi commandant. The dietician nearly wet herself when she learned that I was drinking 3000+ calories a day in Dr. Pepper. Obviously, that went away. As did the chocolate and the ice cream. {{{Sigh}}}. They make sugar free chocolate and no fat, no sugar added ice cream. Crystal Light counts as water and I have come to tolerate diet sodas. A word that I have grugingly had to embrace is moderation.
My blood sugar that night in the ER was nearly 400. My A1C was 10.1. I learned that meant my 3 month average was in the 275 range. Two doses of nitro brought my heart rate and blood pressure back down to something close to normal. We had a nurse tell us that the nitro should not have had that effect unless there really was something going on with my heart. But all those tests looked good. Three months later and my A1C was down to 6.2. Another 3 months and it was 5.1. That earned me a 400 calorie raise and I have maintained a 6.1 ever since.
When I was first diagnosed, I jumped into the fat boy contest at work expecting to lose so much weight in a month that my pants would fall off. That didn’t happen. My cold-turkey diet change slammed my body into starvation mode and I lost almost no weight the first 2 months. In fact, I only had 2 bowel movements in 3 weeks. Your diet change will also make it very difficult to get the proper amount of fiber. Be aware of that and take steps to make sure you continue to get your fiber without killing yourself with the carbs.
Mom-in-law was diagnosed with Type 1 a month or so ago and has all my books and stuff at her house. I’ll see if I can get back the list of internet resources and post them for you.
Also, check in with Neverdem. He is the keeper of the diabetes ping list and has a ton of good resources. Search keyword diabetes for previous articles.
check your private mail
My 2cents worth - I work for an Ophthalmologist who sees people with diabetes to track the possible problems it can cause.
Diabetes can cause background retinopathy, glaucoma,etc. You should have an annual diabetic vision check or however often your Dr. deems it necessary.
Taking all of the advice posted above about keeping your blood sugars in check will minimize the chances of these problems.
Self ping for after dinner.
My son has type I, its been 3 years. I guess we were lucky in that, at least we live near Boston- lots of great Doctors and clinics. It has been a real education for the entire family.
Lots of good web sites on the net. one of my favorites is.
Good Luck
Initially it's a huge lifestyle change but the testing and shots will eventually be as ordinary as tying your shoes.
Diabetes today is highly manageable. Do as your doctor says and you'll live a long time. Yes, it's a pain in the nads but there's so many worse things you could have.
Don’t feel bad, the exact same thing happened to me in 1998 except I was rushed to the hospital in a near coma and a blood sugar level of 1100. I should have been dead but life does get better...
Thanx everyone
Type II. Let my sugar run away over christmas went up to
600+ lost thirty lbs. got double vision, now on oral med
and paying attention. test regularly and keep sugar down
to around 110-20.
Still have some swings, if it drops too much, get shakey and
chills/feverish, blood pressure drops. Have to take in some glucose fast.
Gained most of the weight back but am slowly losing it now.
Bought a weight bench and weights and try to work out every other day. Not heavy weights but reps.
Try to make sure your sugar in from fruit not refined and keep your carbs low, read the nutritional labels closely.
Remember 4.9 grams of sugar is ONE Teaspoon
What really gets kind of scary is when you look at the amount of carbohydrate in, say, a medium order of McDonald’s fries compared to the sugar in your blood. Remember, it is the job of your digestive tract to breakdown the starch and other complex carbohydrates, which are nothing more than chains of sugar molecules, into their component sugars so that they can be absorbed into the blood. An order of medium fries at McDonald’s contains 47 grams of carbohydrate. 47 grams of carbohydrate converts to about 47 grams of sugar, which is almost 10 teaspoons. So, when you eat these fries you put 10 times more sugar into your blood than that required to maintain a normal blood sugar level.
Good luck.
Tet.
I am one of the lucky ones, my non-insulin dependent type-II was caught very early. Only a couple of mid-100’s readings, and a High C-peptid.
Doc prescribed Glucophage, but also gave me the option to try diet and exercise for 3 months before starting the medicine.
Am a month and a half in, have lost 25 lbs, and have not had a blood sugar reading over 100 in 2 weeks. Am aiming to lose 30 more lbs, and then keep the new diet/lifestyle up.
Got rid of all the high glycemic foods - NO refined flour product, no potatoes, no white rice. All whole grain products, fruits, veggies and lean meats.
I feel so much better it is like a new lease on life.
I did slip a little today - it is my 48th birthday, so we are having corn on the Cob (very high Glycemic food) with our steaks and salad.
Keeping a diary will help you get an understanding of your metabolism and how you react to food and insulin.
Best advice: Get to know yourself!
Good job, sounds as if you have things under pretty good control.
Did you ever get "night sweats" when your levels got too low? I am asking because this sometimes happens to my husband.
Happy Birthday!
You are describing my usual diet.
I owe it all to Suzanne Somers.
Really!
I think probably so, at the time I wasn’t monitoring my
blood sugar like I do today.
Had problems with mixing perscriptions from different doctors too, in combination some would drop my blood pressure to 80/60 and I would have to lie on the floor
and put my feet up on the wall in order to keep from passing out.
That’s what happens when you take bloodpressure medication
at the same time as some prostate meds.
Doing better now, have to watch the carbs and lose weight.
Made up my mind.
Very correct. That was the first thing I did - finding an endocrinologist.
I have Type 2 - newly diagnosed. I’ve been through 3 nutrition/education classes. In a nutshell:
Keep losing weight - It’s the best way to get yourself down into manageable range, and feeling like a human being.
10-20% is enough to do it. But if waaay overweight, stay on the good food diet (South Beach, whatever), and keep losing.
Type 2’s can eat anything they want, but the key is portion. Eat small. Meat no larger than your fist. Lot’s of greens, salads. Watch carbs. You need them, but find out how many - my nutritionist told me.
And MOVE, move, move. Walk, garden, whatever is your pleasure, but MOVE. It’s the best way to get your BS down.
Sounds like you are doing great :)
Husband does take meds for his diabetes but is not good about checking his blood sugar. ( he has gone back to denial).
There is some truly excellent info here, especially about diet and exercise. I wish all of my fellow diabetics good luck with their individual problem, and though I don't know if I should do this on FR I am going to add a link I think all should investigate as it is a FREE, voluntary self-help website. http://www.slashdrugcosts.org/index.html
(To All: Please excuse the length of this post.)
To Bob: Remember you are still wonderful you. You are not a disease. You are a person with diabetes, not a diabetic.
You rule it, it does not rule or define you. Refuse to be a victim.
Don’t let others treat you with pity. I really hated that. I also hated gossipy people, who told everyone my personal medical business. I felt like telling that person(my mother in law) “How’d you like it if I told the whole world you have huge hemmorroids?!!”. I had to tell her to stop blabbing my personal business to people I don’t even know.
In response to any nosy, but well-meaning dorks who always seem to have a morbid curiosity about your health when you are obviously much healthier than their fat asses are.... I always say how much better things are now than when my grama had it in the 1960s. They had no at home blood testers, they had long thicker needles, they had no carb counts on boxes of food items, they didn’t have the great insulins we have. She had her blood tested only a few times a year, I can do it many times a day, if I want to. I tell people how easy it is for us today.
A young friend of the family was diagnosed last year and I was able to reassure his parents with my experiences and my knowledge of how things are vastly better than in my grama’s day. I gave them all of my Diabetes Positive magazines. That boy is doing fine. His parents are glad he has a couple years to get good at controlling his blood sugars before he goes away to college as planned.
In the last decade,I have seen many people die of everything BUT diabetes. Cancer, 2 sudden deaths, old age, a fatal tractor rollover, and my uncle ran his car into a train last month. People are dying of countless worse diseases.
We have a controllable challenge. Over 20 million other Americans have the same thing we do.
I’ve been in control of my health for 13 years now and I feel great. Not every second, but most of the time. My sister has had this for 30 years and is fine. You would never know by looking at us, we have anything at all wrong with us. We are hard working farm girls. We work our butts off. All that excercise is good for us. We do our work, live our lives, and diabetes is just the hand we were dealt.
We have many times said, usually after someone we know has died of something else, we say “man are we lucky to ONLY have diabetes.” I am not kidding, we both have come to that conclusion, now that we are 46 and 39 and have seen our share of other people’s demises.
If a person just takes charge, is aware of their carb intake and excercise levels and can do the balancing act between that and insulin doses, it’s smooth sailing brother! You are a Freeper, therefore you are a smarty pants who can easily become an expert at diabetes!
I’d say it took me a few months to “get it”, the balancing act, but once you’re good at counting carbs and giving the proper dose for your food intake and activity level, you’ll do great.
I take Lantus(24 hour long acting slow release insulin) in the morning(some take this at night). Then with any meal I take the fast acting insulin to “cover” the carbs in the meal. I use Novolog for the fast acting one, although I have used Humalog. (The insurance sometimes interchanges them.) I really like the Lantus. It gives me a base line of insulin in my system. If I have to skip or delay lunch, and therefore take no fast insulin in the middle of the day, that Lantus is still in there, making me feel OK with that small amount of insulin.
Like you, I had unexplained weight loss and thirst etc before diagnosis. My doctor at the time was clueless. I was there for a pre-pregnancy check up. I asked her “Aren’t we doing a blood sugar test due to my family history?” She declined until I insisted. Well, my BS was over 600. Man was she surprised. If I had not asked for that test and I did get pregnant I’d have had a huge baby, and who knows what would have happened to me and the baby.
That’s the day I learned not all doctors are good ones.
Then I saw another doctor for a couple years and he was not great.
Then I sought out a doctor who was interested in diabetes.
We are a team.
As for the dolts who will treat you differently now, don’t let them do that. My mother in law was telling the whole world I had this, when I was first diagnosed. She told people I’d never meet! One day the summer I was diagnosed, she was here with a stranger to me, and when they were about to leave this stranger leaned over the car and looked at me with pity, and said “Oh how ARE you?” Now we’d been talking a good hour, and I am a robust farm gal in obvious good health and many decades her junior, yet she had to do the stupid old fart routine and ask the poor diabetic how she was. I looked at my mother in law and said “Well, I see you told her too!” and I went in the house. It ain’t nobody’s business but yours and those close to you and your doctors.
It’s mostly old folks who will say rude things to you because back in the old days, it was very difficult to have diabetes. The old farts did see a lot of sick diabetics.That stuff is stuck in their memories. Tell ‘em things are really much easier now and we have all kinds of modern advantages over the people they saw suffer.
I also have interrupted horror stories that some idiots have felt compelled to tell me. I just say “STOP I don’t need to hear that, I live with this everyday. Would you tell a person with cancer about some horrible cancer story? Why then tell someone with diabetes some old horror story?”. Don’t let anyone tell you stuff that will hurt you. Shut them down.
My poor sister was traumatized by stories from stupid insensitive old people(relatives did this) who told her horror stories about this disease. This was back around 1980, and the old farts had seen this bad stuff earlier in the CENTURY. Sister was only 10 when she got it and these idiots scared that little sweetie so bad, she needed counseling to continue her life. Insensitive jerks should be told they are that, and told to STFU.
We have one of the most common and most treatable diseases there is. We are not victims. We just have to control our blood sugar ourselves, while most do so without trying.
I joke and tell my husband I am jealous of his working pancreas. Like when he downs a huge glass of pop and his BS levels are still 80. I tell him his insulin in his body works so well, it gets all that sugar right into his fat storage cells. I also know and tell him that a tall glass of pop has enough carbs to equal a whole meal for me.
I tell people it’s like breathing after a while. You control your blood sugar to live, just like you breathe to live. It really becomes quite easy and seems very normal pretty quickly.
Family and friends know I have this condition, this is for my own safety in case something happens when I am with them. I went on my first trip to Europe last fall, and of course told my hosts of my “specialness” since we would be together for 2 weeks. They of course were familiar with diabetes since some in their family also had it.
I carry my tester everywhere, along with sugar of some kind. I like juice boxes better than glucose tablets. Juice goes down fast. I carry 2 boxes in my purse.
Be prepared for lows by having sugar with you. Always be aware of your sugar levels. Luckily I can feel a low coming on, but not everyone can. Checking the level before driving a car is a great idea. I also never neglect to check it before bed.
If you feel your doctor is not interested in blood sugar levels get a better doctor. I went through 2 bad doctors before I found a primary doctor who has a special interest in diabetes. Having a great doctor is essential.
Get that Hemoglobin A1c test. I do it twice a year now, but when you are newly diagnosed they should do it more, maybe 3 or 4 times that first year. Then when things are looking good, they will reduce the frequency, but 2 times a year is a minimum on this important test. It tests your sugar level over the previous 3 to 4 month period.
Best magazine I’ve found is “Diabetes Positive!” As the name says, it is a publication that is positive. It is uplifting and does not do the old fashioned “scare the diabetic” routine. It is the only medical magazine I get.
Their address: Diabetes Positive
1374 Thornborough Drive
Alpharetta, GA
30004
Mail them a check for $18.95 for 12 issues.
It is a small magazine 8 by 5.5 inches. It is full of good information.
Please freep mail me anytime Bob! And thanks for asking for info from any of us Freepers who could help out. It was my pleasure to blab on for this long about this. Happy Trails!
N-Dem - don’t you keep the diabetes ping list? Bob might want to be added.
I am sorry Bob, you have to deal with this. But know that it is so burdensome to you right now because you just learning about it and changing so many aspects of your life and routine. In time you will have the knowledge and choices and routines will be automatic. It is like going to a new job. Hard with all the new stuff at first; much easier later.
My mother in law followed the diet info given to her religiously and no longer needed insulin for about ten years. She needed to eat certain foods at certian times of the day and when she visited me, she told me what she needed and I made sure it happened for her. I don’t think she ever cheated. I learned to make a lot of yummy desserts for diabetics and kept her stocked and she kept herself stocked, too. She took good care of herself.
She controled it with diet. When she turned about 78 and started to have problems in different areas - heart, the flu, and a bunch of other stuff I can not remember. After all that, she needed to take insulin again. She lived to be 86. She never had problems with circulation or kidneys.
Tennessee_Bob, you need to find out what is your C-peptide test result. Type 1 diabetes usually happens before a person is 25 years old. They are insulin dependent as they have an autoimmune disease which destroys their ability to make insulin. Type 2 diabetes is usually found in overweight adults, and its salient characteristic is insulin resistance. These people, and critters in the animal kingdom, need more insulin to get the glucose out of the blood and into the cells, especially the neurons in their brains. Those neurons, i.e. nerve cells, only work with glucose.
If someone takes too much insulin or oral drugs that lower your blood glucose, then you can get symptoms like feeling light headed, dizzy and breaking into a cold sweat at best. At worst, low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, can cause seizures, coma and death. That's why you saw references for juice and an emergency sugar supply.
Most people with type 2 diabetes don't need insulin injections initially. There are some people with type 2 diabetes who can control it just by their diet and exercise to control their weight. Some type 2 diabetics eventually require insulin. Their bodies just don't make enough of it anymore.
Vitamin D has been mentioned on the thread. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. If you are living in the tropics, and your ancestors come from Europe, you probably don't have a vitamin D deficiency. If you want a lab test to check your blood level, ask for 25-OHD. That is translated into 25 hydroxyvitamin D, and it's the best marker of vitamin D status according to the last link.
Vitamin D status: measurement, interpretation, and clinical application.
Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, is now recognized not only for its importance in promoting bone health in children and adults but also for other health benefits, including reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as autoimmune diseases, common cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Vitamin D made in the skin or ingested in the diet is biologically inert and requires 2 successive hydroxylations first in the liver on carbon 25 to form 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], and then in the kidney for a hydroxylation on carbon 1 to form the biologically active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)(2)D]. With the identification of 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)(2)D, methods were developed to measure these metabolites in the circulation. Serum 25(OH)D is the barometer for vitamin D status. Serum 1,25(OH)(2)D provides no information about vitamin D status and is often normal or even increased as the result of secondary hyperparathyroidism associated with vitamin D deficiency. Most experts agree that 25(OH)D of <20 ng/mL is considered to be vitamin D deficiency, whereas a 25(OH)D of 21-29 ng/mL is considered to be insufficient. The goal should be to maintain both children and adults at a level >30 ng/mL to take full advantage of all the health benefits that vitamin D provides.
I regret if that is too technical. I'm a family practice doc. My wife and I take 1,000 IU of vitamin D3(cholecalciferol) and a multivitamin daily. IU means international units. The multivitamin includes 400 IU of vitamin D2(ergocalciferol). Vitamin D2 needs to go through your kidneys to become vitamin D3, the biologically active form.
FReepmail me if you want on or off the diabetes ping list.
Type 2, diagnosed a couple of years ago now. Metformin made me too ill, I had to go back to the Novoflex pen. The closer you can get to an Atkins-type diet, the better off you’ll be. Do NOT blow it off. Do NOT drink to excess while taking insulin - alcohol will spike your blood sugar at first, so your test strip will show that you need more insulin, but you don’t, because your blood sugar will soon crash hard, thanks again to the alcohol. Low blood sugar will kill you very very quickly. Always carry glucose tabs. If your blood sugar starts crashing, one tab will buy you about twenty minutes, enough time to find some real food.
I’m not diabetic (yet) but the things that I’ve found that regulate my blood sugar the best are fresh veggies, lots of them.
Other things are whole grains and avoiding processed and sweet foods. When I have even a small glass of soda or small piece of cake, my blood sugar bounces like crazy. It takes over a day to steady out.
My problem is right now is food allergies. I react to something in most fruits and vegetables and break out and itch all over when I eat them. So far none of the doctors have been able to figure out what it is and nobody (but me)seems interested in finding out either. Very discouraging
Thank you for the excellent post and information.
I am now at 22 lbs lost, am happy with the new diet, and as you have indicated have added Vitamin D and Calcium to my normal vitamins.
Last 10 Blood sugar readings have been 94, 89, 93, 91, 86, 96, 92, 88, 91, 84. Not perfect yet but much better than the consistent 105-120 readings of a month ago (with some spikes into the 130’s and 140’s)
The insulin pump has been a great help for my son.
http://www.medtronic.com/your-health/diabetes/index.htm
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