Originally Posted by
Blackwater
If your BS is running around 230, you need to change your diet more. Eliminate most of your carbs, and eat more beans, and see what that does. The best advice I think I've gotten since I was diagnosed was from my GP who is also a bit of a diabetes specialist. He told me that the endocrine system, which the pancreas is part of, is a very large and complex and interrelated system, and some diabetics can eat things other diabetics cannot, and we don't really understand just why this is, but it's been noted a long time. He advised me to use my tester a LOT, and let THAT tell me what I can eat and what I can't.
One other really big factor for most of us is soft drinks. You need to eliminate ALL of them if you possibly can. I can no longer drink anything with caffiene in it. I drink mostly fruit juices and water, and unsweetened decaf iced tea. This isn't what you want to hear, I know, but it beats the devil out of "We're going to have to amputate your foot!"
I have a friend who was on insulin for 20+ years, and he used it to eat just like he wanted, and he wanted lots of potatoes, grits, biscuits, bread, sandwiches, and lots and lots of sweet iced tea. Now, he's fighting to keep his feet and legs, and can barely stand up! And he'll tell you he knows it's because he thought he could get away with using the insulin like he did, to eat what he wanted, and ignore the doc's warnings. Didn't work out for him too well, and it won't work out for you and me if we won't do what we need to do. It's really, really tough, but it's doable, and you can't believe how eating right will change your life for the better. I've seen it too many times. An old man who was the father of an old high school classmate was a contractor and building supply owner. Had 11 kids, and was as jovial and likable as any man you'll ever meet. He became diabetic, and refused to eat right, and told the doc that if he couldn't eat like he wanted, life wouldn't be worth living, so .... he ate like he'd always eaten all his life, with plenty of biscuits, bread, potatoes and all manner of other starches and sugars. He finally started losing his toes, and then his feet, then his forelegs, then his thighs, and when he was a stump in a wheel chair, FINALLY said, "I wish I'd done different."
You can determine much of your own destiny. It's difficult, and sometimes not very fun. Sometimes, I think I could kill for one biscuit! But I've come to leave them alone. Now, I think I may well get more satisfaction watching someone I love eat and relish one, than I ever did stuffing them down my own throat! That may sound contrived, but it really isn't for a guy who's always loved to eat, and has had superlative cooks all his life. Things just aren't always what we think they are, or what we want them to be. How we handle that determines much of how our lives go.
Let your meter be your iron-fast guide, and believe what it tells you. It's your best friend, whether you realize it or not. Do your dead level best to keep your BS at 150 or lower, if you can. You'll feel bad for a while, but your body will adjust to this over about 90 days, and you'll start feeling a LOT better. Maybe not 16 again, but the best you're destined to feel. BUT .... you DO have to get through that 90 days, or maybe in some instances a little more. But it'll come. Faith and trust are the keys to making it there. Faith that your docs aren't lying to you, and trust that it'll work out for you like it does for most all diabetics that have "been there and done that." Good luck to you. And more than that, courage and firmness to you. You'll need them all.