hi, new member…………
Hi, I just joined, as I need someone to talk to.
I am a 33 year old male, just found out about the
diabetes about 3 years ago. I admit that I have not taken
very good care of it. I have a lot of issues with
depression as well and it just seemed to be too much for me
to really care what happened to me. I started out on
insulin, then was moved to Glucophage. That doesn’t seem
to work very well for me at all. I just started back
on medication after a 4 month vacation from
it(having lost my health insurance in December), after I
suffered from diabetic ketoacidosis (spelling?). Since
then, (about 3-4 weeks ago), I can’t seem to get my
blood sugar under 400, most of the time its in the
500’s or 600’s or higher. I am trying to eat much
better and watch what I do and take the meds, but I
can’t get it under control. I feel like crap all the
time. I either feel so exhausted that I<br
sit at my job all day or I am achey and sore or have
stomach cramps, etc. Is this going to be the way I will
feel for the rest of my life? Cause I can’t take it
much longer. My mind is becoming so weary at the
thought that I am going to feel like this forever. Can
someone give me any hope that I will ever feel better?
What I should do, etc.?<br
April 24th, 2004 at 8:39 pm
” I can’t seem to get my blood sugar under 400,
most of the time its in the 500’s or 600’s or higher.
“<br
insulin.<br
think you’re not getting appropriate medicine.<br
you are actually back on INSULIN (You
medication…not clarifying) then your dosages must be altered to
give you what your body needs.<br
when this rich country can’t keep their own people
well, and I’m glad you came back to ‘the fold’ so to
speak. Keep checking those BGs and work with the
results. Are you perhaps testing one hour after you
eat> What are your fasting levels in the morning? What
are you eating and what are you giving yourself
(insulin) to co-balance the food?<br
will feel better. You are the captain of your ship.
You’re here now and all of us will try to help you get
the “Diabeasties” under control.<br
April 25th, 2004 at 10:14 pm
“DKA isn’t as severe as with many type twos,”
Sheesh! Read that to mean type twos do not have as severe
of a case of DKA as type ones do. Yours sounded
pretty bad. The episode of DKA you describe is fairly
classic for insulin dependant.<br
28. Right onto insulin. They did a blood test for
C-Peptide. This tells the medical team exactly how much
insulin you are ‘making’. Try to get that
done.<br
April 26th, 2004 at 11:50 pm
You will feel better, truly; but you will have to
take action. Don’t panic, cause I can tell you feel
sort of helpless. All you need to do is take one step
at a time. Your meds sound like they are really off-
you may need to be back on insulin. First things
first- go to your doctor. Discuss the depression with
him/her while you are there. You may needs meds for that-
after all, it is hard to help yourself when you are
feeling depressed. Have you been to a diabetes
educator/nutritionist lately? If not, try to get something set up- your
doctor may be able to help with this. It seems like a
lot, but all you have to do right now is call your
doctor and get an appointment. Hang in there- you can
get better control and you will feel better. (get
your doctor to make sure your thyroid function is
ok)-Dona
April 29th, 2004 at 3:01 am
hello Jeff gosh you sound like diabetes has
pulled you down. diabetes is a way of life we can’t
fight it but we must try to adapt to it .watching diet
is not the healthy alternative it is the only way.
Iam afraid there are no shrtcuts. You didn’t choose
this but at the same time you didn’t choose your face,
colour voice etc.. diabetes is part of you and we can
only accept it as part of ourselves. once you watch
diet sugars have no choice but to come down….food
deosn’t eat you …you eat the food . <br
not something you can take or leave …you are young
and so lucky to have a computer access imagine all
the people in third world contries who have no
support options yet diabetes is something they too get
and live with.<br
a lot of the time yet chiildren adults all need it.
You are soo lucky even when you think you have
reached rock bottom. THERE IS ALWAYS A BOTTOM LOWER THAN
YOURSELF.
April 30th, 2004 at 4:36 am
jenny LOLOL i like diabeasties!!!! <br
wrote one hour after eating ??? i always test before
eating?? as bg’s raise a little after food anyway…. am i
doing something wrong??<br
200
May 1st, 2004 at 6:12 am
Last time I saw my endocrinologist he suggested I
test before meals and if my levels fell within the
“normal” range most of the time that was OK - his comment
was “Why test after you eat - it WILL be high”.
<br
my levels are before I eat. Occasionally I will test
after a meal to check on how a meal affects my sugar
levels, though.<br
May 2nd, 2004 at 7:47 am
Jeff, there are times when I’ve felt just the way
you describe, and I’ve learnt that the first step has
to be getting help and the right medication
(whatever that may be) to get your sugars under
control.<br
find everything else starts to fall into place. I feel
better, I feel happier and optimistic, and the efforts I
make to eat right are easier when I can see I’m
getting results.<br
“Caring for the Diabetic Soul” from the American Diabetes
Association which helped me a lot when I was feeling pretty
down about things.<br
know how you’re going.<br
May 5th, 2004 at 12:34 pm
“but you wrote one hour after eating ??? i always
test before eating??”<br
insulin user a check a couple of hours after eating is a
good idea too. I was asking because in my early days,
I’d check too soon after a meal as well as before
eating, and be upset that I had a high an hour after. the
CDE told me to wait two hours after and that will
give me a better graph of what My body’s doing with
the linsulin.<br
insulin pump (My choice, no more robotic schedules and
such with a pump) and have gotten well
regulated.<br
it is better not to get too “tight” right away as
you’ll feel ‘low’ (hypo) and it can actually make you
more prone to retina damage doing it too quickly. If
someone lives alone or -me for example-lives with another
who cannot care for them, I think the slightly higher
readings are safer.<br
and higher before meals, your treatment may not be
working for you and needs attention NOW. I wake normally
to an 86-110 in the mornings. or afternoons, and
sometimes very early mornings. Have no set schedules these
days.<br
talking 400’s and only testing 1/2-1hour after eating,
I’d tell you to wait until 1 1/2-2 hours after
eating, then check and see.<br
check mine about 5-8 times a day. I’ve a subtle nasal
cold right now, so am checking more like 10-12 times.
The antihistamines raise my BG’s super yaga! By
checking them and giving a small amount over normal, I’m
keeping them under 200 for this cold.<br
…..ACHOO!) going to bed soon… You take care and stay cool,
you’ll be OK with us.<br
May 6th, 2004 at 2:10 pm
“Last time I saw my endocrinologist he suggested
I test before meals and if my levels fell within
the “normal” range most of the time that was OK - his
comment was “Why test after you eat - it WILL be
high”.”<br
happen to folks. Crimeny sakes oh
Lordy!<br
affects my sugar levels, though.”<br
your intelligence and self caring!<br
is diabeasties. Type one or two, we can all get the
complications. That remrk by the endo sounds as if s/he seeks
“Job Security” by keeping you
‘off-kilter’.<br
non-daibetic telling you when to test or not.<br
May 7th, 2004 at 3:45 pm
Actually my endo is one of the good guys - for me
checking before meals most of the time works well. I guess
we all do what suits us. He was also trying I think,
to reduce the stressful state my GP puts me in by
expecting levels so low I feel that I’m about to hypo and
can’t maintain them.<br
seeks job security. The endo sends me away with good
advice, feeling calm and optimistic. The GP sends me off
wondering whether I’ll actually make it across the car park
before I self-destruct!<br
everyone and do what I feel suits me best, cos I’m the
only one who knows when I want to know something and
why.<br
concern!<br
May 8th, 2004 at 5:21 pm
“Actually my endo is one of the good
guys…”<br
buddies they should test after meals too, just to see how
they were doing and she says “Oh, the doctor says to
check a couple of times a week”…GGRRR!<br
with other severe complications from uncontrolled
BGs.<br
least you ARE doing something…right?<br
someone is comfortable not paying any attention at all to
diabetes and what it could bring, does that make it right?
If so, pass that cheesecake! <G><br
May 9th, 2004 at 6:56 pm
Iam so glad i joined this club. its been nothing
but positive feed back. I thought i could help others
but I have received more than i believe thankyou
mycelt.<br
was trying to lose wt i reduced my insulin and walked
9miles daily today i weighed 35lbs, lighter. now I must
take control of the sugars but iam so scared i’ll get
in the same cycle again more insulin, more hunger,
more wt! never again do i want to be “fat”.
May 10th, 2004 at 8:32 pm
“i actually haven’t tested for 3 months!!!! since
i was trying to lose wt i reduced my insulin and
walked 9miles daily today i weighed 35lbs,
lighter.”<br
soooooo out of it after three months, my doc would kill
me or I would’ve killed me…I am happy that you’re
exercising, but what this tells me is that we all tend to see
BG tests as a sort of “Report Card” like in
school.<br
blood check. If I get a higher than normal reading, I
wonder if it is more the food I ate, or if I’m taking a
cold med like benedryl or something, and I used to
overcorrect -go too low- and eat more. Now I say something
like…”190? well, maybe tomorrow I’ll cut back on this or
walk more…” instead of just adding
insulin.<br
you’ve had an HbA1c done? This will give you a better
view to how your Long term glucose control
is.<br
have been through a LOT and will try to help you steer
around the holes we may have fell into.<br
a good day, I’m off to cuddle my doggers and sleep
a bit more this morning.<br
5:24 am.
May 12th, 2004 at 11:43 pm
Not testing your BS for 3 months???????????<br
needles per day <br
committing suicide.<br
May 15th, 2004 at 2:54 am
Hi Jeff,<br
you are having such a hard time controlling your
sugars. I’m sure that you are stressed out, that might be
making your sugars go even more out of control. Being
off your meds for so long, I’m sure, didn’t help much
either. Will your doctors be putting you back on insulin?
It sounds like Glucophage isn’t helping you much.
Make those doctors help you get the right
meds.<br
test before breakfast, lunch, dinner and before
bedtime, and keep a glucose journal, this way you’ll know
exactly what’s going on, on a daily basis. Keeping a
glucose journal will also help your doctor find some kind
of pattern in your blood glucose results, this might
help your doctor find a better way to help you control
your sugars. In the journal you can also keep track of
the foods that you eat, and your stress level. I know
it seems like a lot of work, especially since you
are so stressed out right now, but it will really
help you and your doctor see what’s really going
on.<br
you.<br
May 17th, 2004 at 6:05 am
I have downloaded AOL-Instant messenger, and my
screen name is wyldceltic1. If you wanna yak and have
aol, let me know your name too at
mytcelt@…<br
frequent.<br
May 21st, 2004 at 12:27 pm
thank you john v<br
excercise regularly but you guys r rt i must test
May 26th, 2004 at 8:24 pm
I find the words we use to be friendlier if I
look at it as a blood glucose CHECK. That way I see it
as less of a ‘report card’ like in school and more
of data analysis.<br
minutes a day this takes and ought to feel worth the time
to check it. Ya gotta come first.<br
June 8th, 2004 at 3:31 pm
My doctor didn’t tell me when to check my sugar,
just to check 4 times a day when I was first told I
had diabetes. She prescribed the machine but the
pharmacist had to instruct me on the use of it. After two
weeks of checking 4 times a day, my doctor told me I
only needed to check 2 times a day, alternating one
day breakfast and supper, the next day lunch and
before bed but that all my readings were to be under
150.<br
after eating, which is about the time when the
digestive functions have slowed down. She further explained
that by checking after, it will let me know if the
reduction in carbs is working or not. She also added a
fasting in the morning which would determine what my
levels were over night and told me what “normal” levels
should be.<br
are sore.<br
a new machine for her. The machine checks the blood
plasma levels instead of the whole blood levels that the
finger stick checks. There is a difference in the
readings, but I wonder which is more accurate, the blood
plasma level or the whole blood level. Anyone know?
June 11th, 2004 at 8:17 pm
“My nutritionist asked me to test out a new
machine for her. The machine checks the blood plasma
levels instead of the whole blood levels that the finger
stick checks. There is a difference in the readings,
but I wonder which is more accurate, the blood plasma
level or the whole blood level. Anyone know?
“<br
ULTRA and the Freestyle.<br
used to check blood from the forarms…using a
particuler lancet.<br
would ‘hurt’ a heck of a lot more than the
fingertips.—Just a thought.<br
of meter you have, I’d need to know the name of it.
but most are pretty good.<br
June 18th, 2004 at 5:50 am
plasma is more accurate than whole blood.
June 20th, 2004 at 9:01 am
Thanks for the reply.