Diabetes information

[uscra112]

Not a disease?

That's me trying to refine the language. Disease I try to limit to conditions transmissible from one person to the next, or from another animal to a human, by transfer of some biologic agent. I try to make that distinction, but it's a losing battle.

And if you parse the word I'm probably wrong anyway.

[uscra112]

I too have diabetes. You are right that the most important thing is counting those carbs. I am a type one diabetic that was diagnosed 31 years ago and have been in good control for the last year. I learned to do my own research on my disease. The last doctor I had was not very good. I ended up in ICU for 2 weeks after a minor accident. Now I have a doctor that specializes in diabetes. This has been a great help to me. Just look up all the information you can find along with following your diet and exercise.

I can heartily agree about doctors, at least the GPs I've had. Not to put too fine a point on it, I think a lot of them are just parroting the marketing message from whatever drug company pays them the most. One full-blown MD in Ann Arbor MI, where you'd expect to get topnotch doctors, (and this guy was a full professor at UMich!), ignored my symptoms for four years. In 2000 the dime finally dropped and he checked me for diabetes. Meanwhile I struggled with the constant severe fatigue, which was hell on wheels since I was in a management position that was often 16 hour days. He, and the next one I had up there, just loaded me up with expensive medication, and collected fees from the company insurance plan for ten-minute consultations every 90 days.

My current doctor down here in Boondock County Ohio is an OSTEOPATH, (common in this area), and I've found him more responsive and better informed on the subject than either of those Ann Arbor hotshots.

Interesting to me that Type Ones that I've known who survived to middle age were/are fit and active people. Best example was a GM engineer who played serious amateur hockey every week in season. I learned a lot from him.

[enoch59]

Wow am I glad you all decided to run this thread. I'm 61 years old, 6'7" and 345 lbs. I get my blood tested every 3 months foir everything under the sun and so far all is ok. My knees are bone on bone with pinched nerves, one ankle is badly crushed which amounts to terrible arhtritus, I have stenosis in my L5 and a number of other conditions which are not good. I'm concerned about my weight but walking /running is out of the question. I guess I need to really concentrate on my food intake and my sugar intake. I love coffee but I think it's going to have to go cause I need a creamer with sugar substitute like agave. My vision is fine. I pee frequently but that's because I take a medicine that incurages me to. I just went to the doc today because my lower left leg is swollen and is passing water through the pores which will get my lower pants leg wet. The doc told me I had to keep my legs up over my heart for at least a few hours every day and not to sit period. Hard to do when at the computer or when reloading. I'm getting the feeling that my life needs to undergo a major change like now.I was just denied for the third time by Social security for disability yet my doctor will not release me to go back to work not that I can ( I don't think anyway ). It sounds like I need to really get serious about what I allow into my mouth and I need some sort of exercise. Any suggestions ?

[leftiye]

Type two diabetes is a Symptom. It is a symptom of a systemic condition consisting mainly of insensitivity to insulin which eventually wears out the pancreas' ability to produce insulin. At least two Doctors that I've listened to say that it can be predicted by checking the muscle and other cell mitochondria for being clogged with fat in younger people say in their 30s. This fat clogging is the cause of the cell membrane resistance to allowing passage of glucose - which is diabetes, and the damage to the pancreas. It can be avoided so as not to develop into diabetes by stapling the stomach and removing 1/3 or more of the small intestine. In people who have severe diabetic problems - as in my sister in law's case they can have this done and she got off of insulin shortly after the operation.

Insulin treatment doesn't work (again the cell membrane insensitivity will eventually get so high that -) because there comes a point that no amount of insulin will bring the high blood sugar level down. But if that same person lowers their food intake, in a few days the blood sugar will come down. Anybody remember when they would "crash" when they were not yet injected insulin dependent (when the blood sugar went ballistic and stayed there? And if you ate anything - a piece of bread you were at 250 again)? That was the cell membranes locking down to protect the cells from the sugars in the blood stream. This problem predated one's becoming diabetic, and insulin dependent (pancreas failure).

Sadly (and ironically) I know of no research that tells us how to remove the fat from the mitochondria. One doctor prescribes a Vegan diet, I'll remain diabetic I guess, I can't stay on such a nasty regimen.

[chboats]

From my experience the best thing is to find a GOOD doctor that knows what they are talking about. A doctor that does not try to treat everyone the same. The same remedy does not fit all. Everyone does not react the same. I went through three doctors before I found one that would work WITH me to find what work for me.
Carl

[btroj]

That's me trying to refine the language. Disease I try to limit to conditions transmissible from one person to the next, or from another animal to a human, by transfer of some biologic agent. I try to make that distinction, but it's a losing battle.

And if you parse the word I'm probably wrong anyway.

That would be a communicable disease, like the flu, chicken pox, or herpes.

[smokesahoy]

Dis-ease. It is your body not at ease.
If you want to use another word try syndrome, as in metabolic syndrome.

[snuffy]

As for my pancreas, it works just fine, just not enough. To bolster it's output, I take a drug called glipizide. It's a pancreas stimulator. Without it, I would need about 10-15 units more insulin each day.

[QUOTE]It sounds like I need to really get serious about what I allow into my mouth and I need some sort of exercise. Any suggestions ? [QUOTE]

As for exercise that does not involve walking, get into some weight training. Something similar to planet fitness, or another type of gym setting. At PF, they have all sorts of weight machines that allow you to sit and work the upper body. Breaking a sweat and getting the heart rate up is not hard at all. IF you kept it up, you might look like the terminator from the ribs up!

5 minutes on a treadmill would be a very low impact way to get a bit of lower body exercise. Or maybe longer if the pain can be tolerated. Sometimes, I can only do 5 minutes before my back o knees hurt too much, but at least I did the five minutes! But I shoot for 20 minutes, it starts at 2.0, I sometimes I can get up to 6.0.

[leftiye]

One cannot eat only protein. It's as unhealthy to do this as diabetes is unhealthy. Fat in the mitochondria being the problem where diabetes is concerned, and fat in the diet being a factor in heart disease, and other areas of health, fat should be reduced. Starch must be eaten sparingly, but not totally avoided. Basically, total food intake should be balanced, and not excessive (you'll probly be constantly moderately hungry).

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is the glycemic index. This concerns how fast a given food can be digested and dumped into the blood stream. This is well worth the effort to find what are called low glycemic index foods. They are slowly released into the blood. Because of this they do not spike your blood sugar. According to my wife it is said that spiking itself is more damaging than just high blood sugar. Another benefit is that because they continue to slowly release into the blood, they help reduce hunger. I keep a snack bar on my kitchen counter with nuts, pickles, olives, pickled beets, etc. and take a little bit at a time throughout the day to keep a supply of glucose coming and reduce hunger crises. BTW, pasta is very low in glycemic index, and isn't a horror story any where near like ice cream is.

[GaryN]

I like this site: http://www.bloodsugar101.com/

My wife has it. I was having some weird symptoms a few years ago so I started testing in the morning to see what was going on. I was hitting 120 fasting in the morning. I figured I was on the way. So I started walking. I have built up to where most days I do 3 miles at up to 9 incline at 4 miles an hour. I lost 25 pounds and all the symptoms went away. My fasting glucose stays about 75-85 now.

[enoch59]

Thanks for the tips. I break a sweat at least once a day just working around the house. Chopping firewood, mowing, working in the garden things like that. I guess that is probably as good as a treadmill workout of 5 minutes or curling weights to break a sweat. My biggest problem was just mentioned by leftiye. The dreaded ice cream. I've always had a sweet tooth and I can see that this is where I need to really focus. I'll start working with weights to see and go from there. I've noticed that nobody's mentioned swimming. Any comments on that ?

[dragonrider]

I have been dealing with type 2 for about 10 years. Used to take pills for some years, started with Metformin, worst thing in the world. Ended with Glipazide (sp). Am now on Lantus pen at night and Humalog before meals. Still ain't down where it should be. Neuropathy in hands and feet is bad every night, sometimes all day. Just another step on the road to hell.

[uscra112]

Yeah, pasta is a blessing. I eat it a lot, which is not to say I eat a lot of it. Rice and bread are not allowed in the house. Ditto anything with sucrose, or corn syrup! And no beer!

Makes for a pretty dull diet, since I'm not big on rabbit-food. Except onions, and the spinach I grow every year. Oh, and boiled cabbage. (New England boiled dinner - corned beef, cabbage, turnips, carrots and sometimes potatoes. Blandest gourmet meal you'll ever eat. Home folks ate it with lots of horseradish.)

[leftiye]

FWIW If you feel as I do that testing a person's blood sugar and then sending them home with the admonition "Go on a diet and you'll be normal" (actually happened to me - wife's cousin was the doctor) isn't enough fact finding to facilitate treatment of diabetes, there's hope (actually a solution). Have you noticed that A1Cs, and blood sugar testing is all most diabetic doctors do? Some will do blood screens, but they look at pulmonary issues like triglicerides and cholesterol, not insulin production. Again, most do no testing, and just treat all diabetics alike.

So, now there is "Pharmaco Genetics" where your DNA is analyzed in order to determine which insulins and etc will work best for you. This info from Regence Blue Shield just in today.

[Rick N Bama]

I was diagnosed with Type 2 in '05 when I had 2 higher than normal A1C test in a row a month apart. My normal day to day testing is never high which the highest I can remember being around 180. This morning it was 93.

The problem I do seem to have is that with heavy exercise such as using a Push Mower my sugar will bottom out with one test I can remember hitting around 45. Thankfully my wife recognizes the problem and will get me to drink some juice or eat a piece of candy.

Is it normal for a Type 2 Diabetic to have low Blood Sugar more than High? My Dr. just says that lows are not uncommon and for me to keep something high in Glucose handy for when they hit. I take 500mg of Metformin twice a day as my only medication for the Diabetes. I try to watch what I eat, but living with a wonderful southern cook it's hard, real hard!

[Wayne Smith]

Low blood sugar is always a possibility with us. For it to happen often is not so common. One of the things I miss most is casual eating. I can no longer be casual about eating. When, how much, and what I eat are all thought through and planned. I have had two known episodes of low blood sugar that I know of, both because I forgot to get my snack between meals.

[GaryN]

I have a neighbor who lost their son to a low-blood sugar episode. He was only about 30. They found him on the floor in the basement. He had it while sleeping. He made it out of the bed and then fell over on the floor and died.

[Rick N Bama]

I usually have a bedtime snack of Peanut Butter on a Cracker, or maybe just a tsp of PB by itself which help by keeping my morning tests on an even keel. I rarely go anywhere by myself, but when I do I make sure I have something in the truck to take in case I might feel the low coming on. I normally have a tube of the Glucose tablets & the small bottle of a Glucose drink in the console.

[armexman]

Gentlemen, avoid crashing!!
I have dropped to 25,37 and 65 in the last 3 years.
First one at 25 (not years old) I saw my life flash before my eyes. I sleep in our basement; I swore I would not inconvenience the paramedics and firefighter with carrying my fat body up the stairs and willed my self to the front of the house. I was given a tube of glucose and my wife and daughter where ordered to make me a PBJ sandwich. Since my heart was arrythmic and was taken to the hospital.
The next two episodes almost made me **** my pants; I had a regular coke in my reloading room and a trained wife and was able to avoid going to the hospital or the morgue.
I have lost 57 pounds and walk an hour everyday (come rain or shine).
Feel better and am more in control.

[Ben]

There are predictions that soon 70% of the American population will have diabetes.

Ben