complications with diabeties

levermire

Newbie
Messages
1
Dislikes
rats spiders mice and all things that are nasty
i have had diabeties for 18 years now with lots of problems due to diabeties which i ended up having all my toes aputated on my left foot which at the time was not to good i just want to let poeple know that diabeties can do damage if you dont take care of it which what happend to me and ive paid the price now
 

Erin

Well-Known Member
Messages
748
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
mean people, corrupt politicians, poverty, happy pharmaceutical ads;
I'm sorry. I hope you can walk well now.
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
Hi Levermire and welcome to the forum :) I'm sorry to hear about the complications you have had from your 18 years of diabetes. Were you ever told the best way to manage it or did the HCP just tell you to eat lots of starchy carbs? Diabetes can do a lot of damage as you say and it's important to try to minimise this. It's not too late for you to turn things around and try to avoid future complications. Have a read of this basic information written by the former Monitors for new members. I know you are not newly diagnosed but I think you might find this information helpful to get good control of your diabetes. A lot of us have benefitted from this advice. The diet and testing advice is particularly important and if you follow these you might find things improve or at least lessen the progression of complications.

Here is the advice that Ken and I, as Forum Monitors, usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

For more information on CARBOHYDRATE see here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20306

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.


As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!

For TIPS FOR STRIPS see here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19002#p173253

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2011 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking and before meals).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l...(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals........................no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals......................... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do at least 30 minutes moderate exercise a day, it can be split into 10 min sessions to start with. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Finally a few QUESTIONS TO ASK AT DIABETES CLINIC.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17091



Sue/Ken.
 

Poodlelady

Active Member
Messages
26
Dislikes
I dislike people who swear a lot, shout and are rude. I dislike people who tell me what I should and should not be doing when they haven't the first idea about Diabetes.
Hi, having read Levermire's thread of complications I am so sorry to hear about what you went through. However, your thread also scared me somewhat until I read what daisy1 wrote.

My glucose levels have been totally up the wall on the high side for over 2 weeks now due to stroids, I was in A&E last night and thrown out again and told to simply keep increasing my insulin by 2 units until my levels come down. I am type1 on Novomix30 which is a twice daily injection. My glucose levels eventually reached silly figures of 34.6mmol at the hospital with keytones being negative at 0.1. I was told I am not in any danger and go home and sort it out, to leave having my super until 8pm instead of 6.30pm.

Then I read what daisy1 said about carbs and realised that I have been getting all the wrong information from the Diabetic clinic nurses who told me I must eat carbs!!

Here is my question, with my glucose levels being so high is there any danger? I don't feel very well, always thirsty with a dry mouth, feel sick but not been sick as yet. Legs feel like lumps of lead and toes go numb. I have developed little ulcers on my legs again (had lots of them once). I might add that I was only diagnosed in March of this year and am an elderly lady in my 60's. Everyone at the hospital was amazed that I had slammed into type1 at my age. I did have ketonacidocis (sp) and was very very ill. Now I am struggling with high glucose levels and keeping well away from carbs. Is this the right thing to do? I am so confused about it all and the nurses just will not talk to me they just tell me off which leaves me in tears. I have to take 10mg of steroid tablets every morning and do understand that these will push up my glucose levels so I adjusted my insulin to compensate, but seem to have lost a battle somewhere along the line.
Maybe I am just a silly old lady struggling to understand all the ins and outs of diabetes and steroids. I was put on steroids for PMR.
 

viviennem

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,140
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Football. Bad manners.
You're having a hard time, Poodlelady - I wish I could help more but I'm Type 2 and don't often go very high.

I think the advice would be, keep drinking lots of water to help flush the sugars through your kidneys, eat regularly but avoid carbs if you can, keep an eye on your BG levels and your ketones (can you test for blood ketones or do you have urine sticks?) and don't be afraid to go back to A&E if you feel you need to.

You're not old - I'm 62 and just hitting my prime, I reckon :wink: :D :lol: , so don't be too hard on yourself!

It may be a good idea to post a question on getting your levels down on the Type 1 Diabetes Forum, (see the Board Index). An experienced Type 1 will be best placed to advise you.

Good luck! Let us know how you go on.

Viv 8)
 

jopar

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,222
Poodlelady said:
Hi, having read Levermire's thread of complications I am so sorry to hear about what you went through. However, your thread also scared me somewhat until I read what daisy1 wrote.

My glucose levels have been totally up the wall on the high side for over 2 weeks now due to stroids, I was in A&E last night and thrown out again and told to simply keep increasing my insulin by 2 units until my levels come down. I am type1 on Novomix30 which is a twice daily injection. My glucose levels eventually reached silly figures of 34.6mmol at the hospital with keytones being negative at 0.1. I was told I am not in any danger and go home and sort it out, to leave having my super until 8pm instead of 6.30pm.

Then I read what daisy1 said about carbs and realised that I have been getting all the wrong information from the Diabetic clinic nurses who told me I must eat carbs!!

Here is my question, with my glucose levels being so high is there any danger? I don't feel very well, always thirsty with a dry mouth, feel sick but not been sick as yet. Legs feel like lumps of lead and toes go numb. I have developed little ulcers on my legs again (had lots of them once). I might add that I was only diagnosed in March of this year and am an elderly lady in my 60's. Everyone at the hospital was amazed that I had slammed into type1 at my age. I did have ketonacidocis (sp) and was very very ill. Now I am struggling with high glucose levels and keeping well away from carbs. Is this the right thing to do? I am so confused about it all and the nurses just will not talk to me they just tell me off which leaves me in tears. I have to take 10mg of steroid tablets every morning and do understand that these will push up my glucose levels so I adjusted my insulin to compensate, but seem to have lost a battle somewhere along the line.
Maybe I am just a silly old lady struggling to understand all the ins and outs of diabetes and steroids. I was put on steroids for PMR.

Your levels were of concern if your ketones are 0.1 this means on DKA you just showing signs of and at risk of sort of thing, Drink plenty of fluid to stop yourself from becoming dehydrated and help flush out any ketones..

Your regieme does make things very difficult if you'll using pre-mixed insulin..

How long are you going to be on the steriods?

If your BG's are so high upper your insulin would help to lower them, but you will have to be extremely carefull and keep checking your BG regularly to ensure they don't lower them too much and send you hypo... So good supply of your hypo treatments needed..

Another alternitive is to cut down on your carb intake with your meals, cutting the carbs out completely can irrate DKA at an early stage.. See if this help to level off your BG a bit..

If you haven't got any ketones test stick's then get some tomorrow from the chemist cost under a £5 for 50, so that you can keep an eye on whether you are producing any if you are how many,,

Then first thing monday morning ring your gp and diabetic clinic for futher advise..

And I know you got get out of A&E, but if you do vomit or feel worse or even just worried then dial the 999 number... And don't worry about calling them out if you feel that you need to.. Last night was last night, tonight tomorrow is a differnt day..

And I would seriously think about asking your clinic to put you on the basa/bolus regime (carb counting) not only is it a more flexible regime but when it comes to taking things like steriods and/or sick days it don't half make tackling them a lot easier..