Diabetes Symptoms Weblog

June 2002 Diabetes Forecast
By Carol E. Watkins, MD
The diagnosis of diabetes is a major blow. It affects every aspect of your life,
from the way you eat to how you schedule your day to what you carry around in
your pockets or purse. You have to master a complex system of dietary and
medical regimens, and plan ahead for “what-ifs” such as low blood sugars, high
blood sugars, and delays in meals.
Moreover, diabetes is permanent. So while you are figuring out the logistics of
diabetes, you are faced with adjusting to a new view of yourself and your life.
Your unique reactions are related partly to your personality and partly to the
nature of diabetes. If you’ve always thought of yourself as invincible, a
diabetes diagnosis may be particularly difficult for you to deal with. And if
you have other health problems, you may begin to feel overwhelmed.
GRIEF: One of the most common reactions to a diabetes diagnosis is grief,
something each of us handles differently. You may experience several stages of
(more…)

Hi
cannot find moderators address. Can you mail me back-channel
michaeljohn@… as I want your advice.
Cheers
Michael

Hello all I am new to the group as of maybe 10 min. ago. I was
diagnosed border-line diabetic, if there is such a thing in May of
last year. I was placed on Glucophage XR 500mg once a day and have
done quite well on it until the past few months. Sunday, my level
rose drastically and went to physician yesterday and he doubled my
gluc and added avandia. I freaked out and have been very depressed
ever since I left his office. I have not done very well dieting, nor
exercising and know that I should be. There are various things in my
life that have sort of had me down and out (depressed), so I got to
the point I might not take my meds for 2 days, have only been eating
once a day, not hungry basically. Well I do know that all of the
above is more than likely the cause of my sugar spiking so high and
now I am hopefully scared enough to follow the doctors orders. Have
any of you been to where you just didn’t worry about following meds,
diet etc.? If so how did you get out of the slump and get back on
(more…)

Aralion,….with your daughter, when she has a headache test her
blood for a low, a tummy ache or any other complaint ALWAYS test her
blood for a low. Waking up in the middle of the night,….test her
blood for a low. Sounds repetative but I cannot emphasize it enough.
Christa,…how nice to look after your mother. For what monitors for
blood testing is concerned see my posting below. Neuropathy can delay
the food processing in the stomach and also can cause trouble that
way in the abdominal section. It certainly plays havoc with the
bloodsugars. It can be caused by her bloodsugar being low. Read the
above to Aralion.You may go to the doctor with a list of the drugs
she is using and ask if some may be removed. Doctors are not knowing
what they have prescribed in the past and it may not be needed
anymore. To many drugs cause problems. I hope you acquired a drug
profile book and you can see if some drugs may not go together. I
have designed “Rules for the diabetic” with I can send to you per e-
(more…)

Hello Figgy,
Good thing to ask for advice about monitors. I have some 4 or 5 of
them. At the moment I use the Ultra, just like Taty, I like it for
it’s speed (5 seconds to tell you where you are) Most take 20 seconds.
The only drawback on Ultra is the very small size of the testing
strips which for me are hard to separate, but it is not big enough to
not use that meter. The meter is small and you can easily carry it
in your purse. You must also bring with you the container with strips
which is recently improved and now easy to open.
You are of course particularly interested in the type that takes
blood from the arm. It doesn’t work for me at all. I had to bring
in the “Freestyle” from the USA to Canada to try it. The
fingerpricker has a special attachment on it to get blood from the
arm. I could not!! Took the attachement off and used it the normal
way, where it is about the same as any other.
(more…)

I’ve been advised by my insurance that I can now have one of the
newer glucose monitors by which you can draw blood from your
forearm.
Does anyone have a preference between the following two that are
offered by my insurance company?
Accu-Chek Active System
and
OneTouch Ultra System
Any comments on your experiences with either will be appreciated!
Thanks,
Figgy

I seem to double your 21 years because I’m type 1 for 42 years.
Ask if you want to know something.!!

Hi to all! I’m new to this group and just wanted to sya HI!
I’ve been a type 1 for 21 years and am looking for others like me.
who have the same types of concerns, issues and daily experiences.
imfoxyferret

isn’t it a pity that this club has sooo many disinterested
diabetics on here or actually not on here?
Didn’t you have your own club at one time Gail? What happened to
it???
I keep plugging on after some operations and other problems. But I
cannot complain, could be much worse.
Where are all the people???
John VM.

JB