Complications...

[Bon83]

No worries. It wasn't the worst word in the world, and sometimes so tempting to let rip, but thanks for understanding.

Any news today?

Funnily (or not that funny at all!) enough, I have a UTI today, with a sample sent off to the lab, so I'll be watching my own patient access over the next few days to ensure the bugs and antibiotics are a good match. On the upside, I only have 6 tablets to take.

I rang this morning and they didn't know on reception so said maybe Monday? Hope you are ok take care

 

[Bon83]

No worries. It wasn't the worst word in the world, and sometimes so tempting to let rip, but thanks for understanding.

Any news today?

Funnily (or not that funny at all!) enough, I have a UTI today, with a sample sent off to the lab, so I'll be watching my own patient access over the next few days to ensure the bugs and antibiotics are a good match. On the upside, I only have 6 tablets to take.

They have called me and said the sample was contaminated so do it again- she mentioned not able to do anti biotic or tell bacteria so I'm thinking infection? I am absolutely terrible for reading into things. Anyways.. more waiting lol

 

[DCUKMod]

They have called me and said the sample was contaminated so do it again- she mentioned not able to do anti biotic or tell bacteria so I'm thinking infection? I am absolutely terrible for reading into things. Anyways.. more waiting lol

Oh bother. Sometimes when things go wrong (with a test), they just keep right on going! The only upside is at least the re-wee is done at home, in relative comfort. I think it's quite natural that we think about all the downsides when we have a slightly dodgy result, but my good old Dad used to always say that the good thing about reality is it's highly unlikely to be as bad as we imagine it could be. I think I know what he meant!

I'm absolutely fine - just the usual UTI symptoms, and with my trusty 3 day course of antibiotics, I'm sure it'll be on its way soon. I'll be watching on Monday for the result of that. I'm not great with waiting either.

 

[ickihun]

Additionally, @Bon83 , @porl69 's post made me think of a resentation on nephropathy I went to a few months ago. Something like a staggering 40% of the population have some form of CKD - although much if it very, very low level.

Obviously, not all these people are diagnosed with diabetes. For some it's herrereditary, for some, it's just, with age, their kidneys becoming less effective and of course, for some, there is a known reason.

Please don't think I am trivialising your situation. I'm not, but I'm just urging you not to fast-forward too far based on a single clue.

So easily done.

 

[Hoping4Cure]

Type 1 is a very nasty condition, a worse diagnosis to get than most types of cancer (according to doctors and my personal experience).

This past winter, I worked 60 hours a week and had no time nor energy to work out. I tried maintaining a good diet (LCHF) but would pound back a few in the evenings to relax from long, stressful days. Anyway, my vision started to blur, and I thought finally my type 1 diabetes was making me blind, which has always been my worst nightmare.

So I rushed to get an appointment with my eye doctor, and a set of blood tests, and luckily, I have no retinopathy, and my A1C was 6.3% despite having generally poor control (via my meter readings) during that period. Both the eye doctor and my endocrinologist told me that out of control sugars can result in loss of ability to focus, so I got myself under control again, got back on semaglutide, and started running again. Now my vision is sharp again, kidney function is perfect, weight going down. I expect my next A1C will be 6.1% or better, and my c-peptides will be higher too thanks to the GLP-1.

Bottom line is: you can't escape this disease. If you don't control it, it will hurt you in the end, and there are lots of unpleasant things awaiting those who don't take responsibility for their diet (eating tons of carbs then complaining about high sugars is irrational, this includes drinking too, I was drinking a good amount. much less now) or lack of exercise.

 

[porl69]

Type 1 is a very nasty condition, a worse diagnosis to get than most types of cancer (according to doctors and my personal experience).

This past winter, I worked 60 hours a week and had no time nor energy to work out. I tried maintaining a good diet (LCHF) but would pound back a few in the evenings to relax from long, stressful days. Anyway, my vision started to blur, and I thought finally my type 1 diabetes was making me blind, which has always been my worst nightmare.

So I rushed to get an appointment with my eye doctor, and a set of blood tests, and luckily, I have no retinopathy, and my A1C was 6.3% despite having generally poor control (via my meter readings) during that period. Both the eye doctor and my endocrinologist told me that out of control sugars can result in loss of ability to focus, so I got myself under control again, got back on semaglutide, and started running again. Now my vision is sharp again, kidney function is perfect, weight going down. I expect my next A1C will be 6.1% or better, and my c-peptides will be higher too thanks to the GLP-1.

Bottom line is: you can't escape this disease. If you don't control it, it will hurt you in the end, and there are lots of unpleasant things awaiting those who don't take responsibility for their diet (eating tons of carbs then complaining about high sugars is irrational, this includes drinking too, I was drinking a good amount. much less now) or lack of exercise.

Well done on all the good work and being able to turn everything around in your favour.
I eat a load of carbs BUT carb count and 90% of the time get a correct bolus. As you can see from my signature my HBA1C is coming down to an acceptable level

 

[Hoping4Cure]

I eat LCHF in terms of food but I do get extra sugars and carbs from drinking. That's why limiting drinking to the weekend or at most 1 glass of wine with supper during the week has made a big difference in my sugar charts (and insulin needs).

 

[Bon83]

Type 1 is a very nasty condition, a worse diagnosis to get than most types of cancer (according to doctors and my personal experience).

This past winter, I worked 60 hours a week and had no time nor energy to work out. I tried maintaining a good diet (LCHF) but would pound back a few in the evenings to relax from long, stressful days. Anyway, my vision started to blur, and I thought finally my type 1 diabetes was making me blind, which has always been my worst nightmare.

So I rushed to get an appointment with my eye doctor, and a set of blood tests, and luckily, I have no retinopathy, and my A1C was 6.3% despite having generally poor control (via my meter readings) during that period. Both the eye doctor and my endocrinologist told me that out of control sugars can result in loss of ability to focus, so I got myself under control again, got back on semaglutide, and started running again. Now my vision is sharp again, kidney function is perfect, weight going down. I expect my next A1C will be 6.1% or better, and my c-peptides will be higher too thanks to the GLP-1.

Bottom line is: you can't escape this disease. If you don't control it, it will hurt you in the end, and there are lots of unpleasant things awaiting those who don't take responsibility for their diet (eating tons of carbs then complaining about high sugars is irrational, this includes drinking too, I was drinking a good amount. much less now) or lack of exercise.

Work is also a big stress for me, I find that it has a real impact on how I can manage my blood sugar. Not only because I'm not in the right frame of mind bit physically I know it makes it higher. Stress has a physical impact on everyone bit they often can't see it until they have a stroke or heart attack. I can see it right away. If I do.have a n infection I will put it down to stress at the moment and I am currently taking time to re evaluate my life and change things before it is too late. Probs sounding a touch drama here but I believe I have seen stress finish people off.

 

[Hoping4Cure]

I don't remember where I saw it, but some guy posted graphs of his blood sugars from his CGM during just a 1-hour stressful phone call, and it was an insane spike.

I've had sugar highs prior to long, stressful job interviews prompting me to take insulin which then brought me low, mid-interview. I then tanked the technical test. Thankfully the interviewers gave me another chance with a take-home test when they saw me pass out in the test room and have to give me sugar pills. You can't win, really.

And they say type 1 diabetes is a "controlled" disease, yeah right, maybe if you live in the mountains with zero stress and only eat leaves and do basically nothing all day, every day. Try being calm and composed to give an impression of confidence during an interview, when your blood is on fire and your blood pressure is through the roof, and tell me not to take insulin, which then, of course, works overtime and kicks you when you're down.

This disease sucks, even if you do everything "right". This is why I get angry when I see people complain about having poor health outcomes for things they can easily avoid. Even in the best circumstances and most monk-like discipline, this disease will make a mockery of your feeble attempts, so why exacerbate things and adopt a reckless "eating anything you want, any time you want to, and just take more insulin to cover it" approach? I find that mentality wanton and irresponsible. Frankly I'm disappointed by this forum, how common I see such laissez-faire, wishy washy anything goes mentality, coming from supposedly knowledgeable "experts" who frankly should know better and should in no way be giving advice for poorly controlled diabetics to use as rationalizations for not getting their act together.

 

[Bon83]

I don't remember where I saw it, but some guy posted graphs of his blood sugars from his CGM during just a 1-hour stressful phone call, and it was an insane spike.

I've had sugar highs prior to long, stressful job interviews prompting me to take insulin which then brought me low, mid-interview. I then tanked the technical test. Thankfully the interviewers gave me another chance with a take-home test when they saw me pass out in the test room and have to give me sugar pills. You can't win, really.

And they say type 1 diabetes is a "controlled" disease, yeah right, maybe if you live in the mountains with zero stress and only eat leaves and do basically nothing all day, every day. Try being calm and composed to give an impression of confidence during an interview, when your blood is on fire and your blood pressure is through the roof, and tell me not to take insulin, which then, of course, works overtime and kicks you when you're down.

This disease sucks, even if you do everything "right". This is why I get angry when I see people complain about having poor health outcomes for things they can easily avoid. Even in the best circumstances and most monk-like discipline, this disease will make a mockery of your feeble attempts, so why exacerbate things and adopt a reckless "eating anything you want, any time you want to, and just take more insulin to cover it" approach? I find that mentality wanton and irresponsible. Frankly I'm disappointed by this forum, how common I see such laissez-faire, wishy washy anything goes mentality, coming from supposedly knowledgeable "experts" who frankly should know better and should in no way be giving advice for poorly controlled diabetics to use as rationalizations for not getting their act together.

Some days I find diabetes frustrating and other days I do feel it's unbearably hard. I agree it's hard to know if you aren't diabetic what it's like to try and run with blood sugar through the roof...like going through quick sand or that it feels like you are actually going to die when having a hypo. Then other times I have a good day- which usually means a good run and I feel I can cope. I hope that some attitudes from the past are starting to go - my dad's old consultant used to be very much like "you can take insulin and be ok it's all your own fault if bad things happen". I never thought that was fair really but now I'm diabetic too I really do think he was talking utter rubbish and had no concept how hard this road actually is.

 

[DCUKMod]

I don't remember where I saw it, but some guy posted graphs of his blood sugars from his CGM during just a 1-hour stressful phone call, and it was an insane spike.

I've had sugar highs prior to long, stressful job interviews prompting me to take insulin which then brought me low, mid-interview. I then tanked the technical test. Thankfully the interviewers gave me another chance with a take-home test when they saw me pass out in the test room and have to give me sugar pills. You can't win, really.

And they say type 1 diabetes is a "controlled" disease, yeah right, maybe if you live in the mountains with zero stress and only eat leaves and do basically nothing all day, every day. Try being calm and composed to give an impression of confidence during an interview, when your blood is on fire and your blood pressure is through the roof, and tell me not to take insulin, which then, of course, works overtime and kicks you when you're down.

This disease sucks, even if you do everything "right". This is why I get angry when I see people complain about having poor health outcomes for things they can easily avoid. Even in the best circumstances and most monk-like discipline, this disease will make a mockery of your feeble attempts, so why exacerbate things and adopt a reckless "eating anything you want, any time you want to, and just take more insulin to cover it" approach? I find that mentality wanton and irresponsible. Frankly I'm disappointed by this forum, how common I see such laissez-faire, wishy washy anything goes mentality, coming from supposedly knowledgeable "experts" who frankly should know better and should in no way be giving advice for poorly controlled diabetics to use as rationalizations for not getting their act together.

Hoping4Cure - I would assk you to read the Community Ethos andd Forum Rules, as found here: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/community-ethos-forum-rules.50278/ . In particular, please read A3 which explains our toleralce of other's ideas.

 

[Juicyj]

Hello @Bon83 Sorry i'm a little late to your thread, firstly I hope your feeling ok today ?

Our of interest how well controlled are your BG levels ? I know how stress can impact on control, as i've had periods of trying to cope with stress, i've found exercising has helped me reduce the effects of stress, so anything from going for a long walk, gentle run or swim helps. Maintaining stable blood glucose control can also help to minimise the risk for complications, I have also had background retinopathy come back and put this down to a period of unstable glucose control, I try to either manage low carb or if I eat carbs I will pre-bolus 15-20 mins to minimise the spike, eating carbs can be done but it's down to how well you can control your insulin.

A good book to help build your knowledge is 'Think like a pancreas' written by Gary Scheiner a type 1 himself, knowledge is power in managing this condition successfully.

 

[Bon83]

Hello @Bon83 Sorry i'm a little late to your thread, firstly I hope your feeling ok today ?

Our of interest how well controlled are your BG levels ? I know how stress can impact on control, as i've had periods of trying to cope with stress, i've found exercising has helped me reduce the effects of stress, so anything from going for a long walk, gentle run or swim helps. Maintaining stable blood glucose control can also help to minimise the risk for complications, I have also had background retinopathy come back and put this down to a period of unstable glucose control, I try to either manage low carb or if I eat carbs I will pre-bolus 15-20 mins to minimise the spike, eating carbs can be done but it's down to how well you can control your insulin.

A good book to help build your knowledge is 'Think like a pancreas' written by Gary Scheiner a type 1 himself, knowledge is power in managing this condition successfully.

I'm not doing too bad today thank you - hope you're good too.
My bg isn't too bad but not absolutely perfect. My review was a week or so ago and the nurse was happy and happy with all bloods. I have been diagnosed type 1 about 2 years and been trying to get hba1c down,I've never had any signs of issues before so it was a shock now I'm doing better! I have a slight suspicion after much more dr Google that high Impact exercise may have affected the bleed in my eye - or drop in bg levels? I did the wee test again this morning- waiting again lol hopefully not contaminated or anything. However the person who phoned me was talking about bacteria and didn't seem to think it was about kidneys- we shall see.
Sorry it's long winded hope a is ok with you

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @Bon83 I tend to leave Dr Google alone, it's far too scary to self diagnose on Dr Google, particularly when it throws up so much waffle which may or may not be connected, nothing like seeing the real thing

Whether exercise does or does not affect the eyes is a big question mark, it's necessary to do exercise as the benefits far outweigh the negatives, i'd rather have good control and do a run/swim or cycle, i'd mention this to your consultant the next time you see them, but to date i've not heard of exercise causing eye bleeds, I had one once whilst visiting a friend and no exercise was involved apart from alot of laughing, who knows eh ?

Keep doing what you can do, as long as you're improving your control and getting a good grasp on things then there really isn't much else you can do, hope your wee test comes back ok, fingers crossed

 

[prancer53]

Hi everyone Im just feeling a bit low today. I recently received the eye test letter stating that eye had some background retinopathy. I went to the optician and had it cleared up it was a bleed -not good but felt bit better. Now the doctors have phoned me after my review and asked me to get another urine sample done for the hospital as there was some protein in my urine. I believe this is the 1st sign of kidney disease. I am very worried that I am packing up and I have been trying to get a lower hba1c this year. Sorry to moan just flagging a bit and stuck at work lol.

Don't worry about the protein ---it will happen from time to time. Just focus on good control & HBAc1 levels. xx

 

[prancer53]

No word today - I'm sorry going really off point now but I'm also starting to feel a bit ******. Very sweaty got a bit of stomach cramps plus my usual exercise is very hard to do. I did do a bit of Dr Google and seems to say poss uti? As crazy as it sounds I did a bit excited that it was infection not kidney damage. But my blood sugar isn't coming down as easy as it normally does. Is it harder to control if you have damaged kidneys? Sorry to be an absolute pain!!

Edit by Mod for language

Also harder to control if you have an infection.....the problem may simply be because of that xx

 

[prancer53]

Some days I find diabetes frustrating and other days I do feel it's unbearably hard. I agree it's hard to know if you aren't diabetic what it's like to try and run with blood sugar through the roof...like going through quick sand or that it feels like you are actually going to die when having a hypo. Then other times I have a good day- which usually means a good run and I feel I can cope. I hope that some attitudes from the past are starting to go - my dad's old consultant used to be very much like "you can take insulin and be ok it's all your own fault if bad things happen". I never thought that was fair really but now I'm diabetic too I really do think he was talking utter rubbish and had no concept how hard this road actually is.

I've always thought to look after the diabetes but forget about it (check obviously) & jam as much into life as possible (far easier with good control too). Your diabetes should revolve around you....not you around the diabetes. You need to devise coping strategies, as with every challenge you encounter. Type 1 diabetic now for 57 years now& still going strong!!!

 

[Bon83]

Don't worry about the protein ---it will happen from time to time. Just focus on good control & HBAc1 levels. xx

Finally got somewhere with the sample result- No phone calls so asked nurse while I was there for something else. She said that all the bugs grown (hurl) were normal and nothing required anti biotics. The urine sample would've been requested for potential infections not kidneys. I am going a bit off diabetes touch now but I'm not sure if I should leave it at that? I didn't like the thoughts of any bugs and although this is a different "region" I seem to have thrush at the moment- has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Deleted Account]

And they say type 1 diabetes is a "controlled" disease

Sorry for being a bit late on this.
I think they used to use the word "control" but more recently, this has been changed to "manage".
I always think you can control diabetes as much as you can control a 2 year old child.
But you can manage a 2 year child to a certain extent and limit the risk of damage he or she can reek.
The same is true of diabetes.