my mom, stress, and diabetes
i don’t have diabetes, but my mom does and i
could use some answers, if thats ok. she doesn’t have
to take shots yet, but she has had such high levels
of stress and depression for so many years that she
has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and now
the beginning stages of diabetes. and all the diet
rules between all the different problems seems to be
making matters worse. her muscles are even starting to
knot up and the dr. gave it a name, but it boils down
to, if she doesn’t relax and calm down, she could end
up crippled and disabled. can stress do all this
stuff to a person? and she’s afraid to eat anything.
any words of wisdom from those who know the ropes?
thanks.<br
October 6th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Dazy-<br
- Lizzi
psych. Not implying that she’s crazy but if she’s got
that much stress then it’s the way to go. Plus a Diet
specialist will be able to go over the cans and cannots of
her diet making it clear. Hope that helps- my advice,
Seek profesional help
October 7th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Part of what she is going through is the onset of
the diabetes. With diabetes, sometimes when the blood
sugars are too high, it starves the brain for oxygen,
thus the emotional swing or instant anger. Stress
makes the pancreas spasm more, and produces more
problems for the blood sugars. If a person doesn’t keep it
under control, the body can steal insulin from the
muscles if it is not accepting it’s own insulin. It can
make a person very very sick. I suggest you go with
her to her next visit to the doctor who treats her
diabetes. Many diabetics are on “happy pills” like Paxil,
or Prozac or some sort of medicine that can calm
her. It is common for diabetics to suffer derpression
and anxieties. Is a licensed dietician available to
her? Most diabetics, it usually takes about 2 years to
learn how to eat as they should. She is always safe
eating protiens, vegetables and fresh fruits like
apples. She needs to watch oranges and bananas, which are
higher in sugar. Do you have a licensed dietician near
by? I was lucky to have one and still do. She should
eat 8 to 10 tiny little meals a day to keep her blood
sugars stabilized. Take three meals a day, divide the
portions up from normal meals and have her do that. Watch
the starches. Have her look up more diabetic meals on
the internet. Good Luck. She will get it if she
tries. BUT SHE HAS TO EAT. Even if she doesn’t feel like
it, she needs to make herself eat or it won’t get
better. I KNOW.
October 11th, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Sandra — Thx for some good advise on eating. I
know what things I shouldn’t eat and the list seems so
all-inclusive. I’ve become afraid of fruit because of their
sweetness, so your pointer on apples vs. oranges/bananas was
really helpful to me. It also helps to know that we all
struggle with changing our diets. While I’m not currently
on meds (control via diet), I tend to “swing”
(nothing to large meals) instead of multiple small meals.
I “should” have realized all this myself, but it’s
nice when someone points it out! jo
October 16th, 2006 at 2:39 am
i find food in small helpings deosn’t hurt my
control but my problem is portions i eat lots of what i
like and i enjoy food in general. my weight goes up
and down but i realy have to try hard.<br
realy good for snack etc and low in fat but control the
quatity. vegetables work well in diabetic diets its the
potatoes and starches that cause a rise. a lot of people
say they use breakfast ceraeal but i find bs 300
after i have almost any kind. what do u guys have fo
breakfast?? can’t have eggs everyday because of the
cholestrol….so what do u eat?
October 18th, 2006 at 5:50 am
Hello! Cheeky, I can’t eat breakfast cereals
either as they cause my bs to rise. For breakfast I eat
yogurt with fruit, like a banana, Canadian bacon, whole
grain toast, omelettes made with egg beaters (are they
available there?), cottage cheese. Of course, I only have
one of these examples at a time!!! We’ve lived in the
Middle East and am wondering if you could eat some feta
cheese on a piece of bread and olives. We used to have
that all the time when we lived in Turkey. Just make
the piece of bread a small one. Has this
helped?<br
October 19th, 2006 at 7:26 am
Hi Cheeks: I too cannot eat any kind of breakfast
cereal because of what it does to my blood sugars. My
normal breakfast is two egg equivalent of the egg
beaters type of eggs. They come in small cartons in the
dairy section of the store. With this I eat 2 pieces of
toast made with sugar free bread made into cinnamon
toast with liquid 0 every thing butter, cinnamon, and
equal. We started the<br
that cinnamon helps the body to better absorb and use
insulin. It does seem to help. I don’t know if this helps
any but sure hope so.<br
October 20th, 2006 at 9:01 am
hello herb how is beth doing? i hope you and jodi find the strength to cope.
after all the eat careful talk i lived on carbs today very bad eating today take
care cheeks
October 22nd, 2006 at 12:12 pm
hello Keene<br
feta we get here is pretty salty so i can’t have too
much of it.<br
my brkfast is coffee then a fruit an hr later with a
small sandwich but by by 12 iam starving and i’ll eat
anything infront of me then my mornings are the most
active time and then the walk at 4.30 to 6.00pm but iam
not hungry at night.
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Hi, again. Iknow feta is salty, but have you tried soaking it in water and then
draining it well? This works for me–takes a lot of the salt out.<br