A new emotional issue with diabetes

[wordangel]

This is my second day on the forum i think. Was diagnosed in December. I was eating terribly because of poverty and inadequate and fast food restaurant meals. was eating kid meals...

august A1C was back to prediabetic levels/ 6.7 i think. have been stressed and down again. in fact i am grieving. and i thought i could lighten up. i followed the book The Diabetes Miracle by Diane Cress. My only diabetes ed. My friend thought the book was too strict... I used her pancreas resting diet... didn't follow it completely, lost 35 pounds.

i got some confidence. seemed to be able to eat more foods and then this...

i have been around 160 several times lately on my testing. fingers tender and started testing much more frequently. tried abdominal site. made a mess of that. discovered thigh as alt site. just last night... i feel like i have gone crazy to be so concerned. like a hypochondriac. have had a long migraine with pain... can't exercise with the migraine.

back to normal level at the moment but got really sick at the grocery store. i feel like i am low but my last test was 111 about an hour ago. am going to skip metformin i think. try to use as little meds as possible. will take another alt site reading an hour after this meal. does that sound like a good course?

 

[chalup]

I think for most meters alternate sites are far less accurate. you have 8 fingers with 2 sides each, rotate your testing site and it should not get as sore. Metformin is a drug that builds up in your system to therapeutic levels over the course of weeks. It will not cause you to go too low, that is not how it works. I would talk to your doctor before changing your meds as stopping the metformin may cause your blood sugar to start rising again. 6.7 is not pre-diabetic, it is diabetic. I know this because my A1c is also 6.7. However, it is borderline and is not too bad. It sounds to me like you just need to tweak your diet a bit you did it before and you know what to do. You can get a handle on it again. I will tag @daisy1 to send you some information that you really should read as it is very helpful. Feel free to ask questions. The people here are very helpful and supportive. Welcome to the forum

 

[wordangel]

hi chalup finally ready to eat... too long... and i just decided maybe i needed to take the metformin. thank you for your information which i will reread after eating and look at more.... thats not supposed to be a grumpy face... supposed to be nice and thanking you and thanks for the welcome...

 

[chalup]

You are welcome I have one other thing to add after looking at your post again. Your friend may be the best friend anyone ever had but you are the one with diabetes. It does not matter if they think you are being too strict with your diet, you are the one who has to deal with the complications if you are not strict. Stick to what you know works for you and never mind what anyone else thinks. Diabetes is for life, you can control it or it will control you. Sounds corny but it's true

 

[wordangel]

I think for most meters alternate sites are far less accurate. you have 8 fingers with 2 sides each, rotate your testing site and it should not get as sore. Metformin is a drug that builds up in your system to therapeutic levels over the course of weeks. It will not cause you to go too low, that is not how it works. I would talk to your doctor before changing your meds as stopping the metformin may cause your blood sugar to start rising again. 6.7 is not pre-diabetic, it is diabetic. I know this because my A1c is also 6.7. However, it is borderline and is not too bad. It sounds to me like you just need to tweak your diet a bit you did it before and you know what to do. You can get a handle on it again. I will tag @daisy1 to send you some information that you really should read as it is very helpful. Feel free to ask questions. The people here are very helpful and supportive. Welcome to the forum

i don't understand the tagging daisy. I clicked on it and got the name of a moderator.... by the way... i am too clumsy to stick 8 fingers... i can't do the non-preferred hand testing...

 

[daisy1]

@wordangel

Hello and welcome to the forum (The tagging was to alert me to your post). Here is the information we give to new members and I hope this will be useful to you. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

 

[phil1966]

i don't understand the tagging daisy. I clicked on it and got the name of a moderator.... by the way... i am too clumsy to stick 8 fingers... i can't do the non-preferred hand testing...

Tagging someone in a post simply sends them an alert that they've been tagged.

In this case, it alerts Daisy that there's a new thread that would benefit from her introduction post (which she's made just above my reply)

Welcome to the forum

 

[Mep]

welcome

Emotions and pain plays havoc with sugar levels.... so not just food. You will learn this as you go in life.

I too get migraines and my sugar fluctuates a lot. The one danger for me is it's hard to tell when I'm having a hypo as the migraine and hypo symptoms mimic each other. I'm not sure you're getting hypos at all? But if you do... it pays to do the extra checks when sick anyhow.

I wish you the best.

 

[wordangel]

Thanks, daisy. i understand and have looked at your file... i am glad to be here.

 

[wordangel]

Tagging someone in a post simply sends them an alert that they've been tagged.

In this case, it alerts Daisy that there's a new thread that would benefit from her introduction post (which she's made just above my reply)

Welcome to the forum

thank you for this and for welcoming me

 

[wordangel]

welcome

Emotions and pain plays havoc with sugar levels.... so not just food. You will learn this as you go in life.

I too get migraines and my sugar fluctuates a lot. The one danger for me is it's hard to tell when I'm having a hypo as the migraine and hypo symptoms mimic each other. I'm not sure you're getting hypos at all? But if you do... it pays to do the extra checks when sick anyhow.

I wish you the best.

hi, are these both from mep

anyway i agree with you. i am not actually going hypo but possibly going close. and this is agood time to experiment. and i know that both play havoc, apparently within a very few minutes... sorry you have the migraines... no fun...

 

[wordangel]

welcome

Emotions and pain plays havoc with sugar levels.... so not just food. You will learn this as you go in life.

I too get migraines and my sugar fluctuates a lot. The one danger for me is it's hard to tell when I'm having a hypo as the migraine and hypo symptoms mimic each other. I'm not sure you're getting hypos at all? But if you do... it pays to do the extra checks when sick anyhow.

I wish you the best.

regarding your other conditions. i gcan't get this reply in the right place...but i identiy with many of the other conditions you mention, the digestive ones... around reflux and its symptoms.... the tmj and old injuries. some of what you mention sounds like part of a fibromyalgia syndrome... wishing the best to oyou as well.

 

[Brunneria]

Hi and Welcome.

I found the Diane Cress book an interesting read, and I followed her plan a couple of years ago. Months of no more than 5g carbs a meal or snack, if I remember correctly. It was a great experience. Felt wonderful, and really got on top of my blood glucose and gained an understanding of what works. Unfortunately, my body clearly isn't working how Kress thinks it should, because after the phase 1 eating plan, I was unable to increase my carbs at all, without things going haywire causing blood glucose spikes. Turns out that my pancreas didn't need just a holiday, it needed a permanent lifestyle at Kress' Phase 1.

- So I guess we are all different.

Also, from what I remember, Kress stresses that we should increase those carbs veeeerrrrrryyyyy slllllooooowwwwwlllllyyyy allowing ourselves to adjust, and keeping the quantities to strict limits while our pancreas re-adjusts to higher levels of insulin production. I actually found it 10x simpler to stick with the very low carb than to phaff about with tiny portions, carefully counted, on a timescale.

So, anyway, sorry about that ramble! It was mainly to say that I love Kress' ideas, but they didn't work for me, and I can't be the only one...

 

[wordangel]

Hi and Welcome.

I found the Diane Cress book an interesting read, and I followed her plan a couple of years ago. Months of no more than 5g carbs a meal or snack, if I remember correctly. It was a great experience. Felt wonderful, and really got on top of my blood glucose and gained an understanding of what works. Unfortunately, my body clearly isn't working how Kress thinks it should, because after the phase 1 eating plan, I was unable to increase my carbs at all, without things going haywire causing blood glucose spikes. Turns out that my pancreas didn't need just a holiday, it needed a permanent lifestyle at Kress' Phase 1.

- So I guess we are all different.

Also, from what I remember, Kress stresses that we should increase those carbs veeeerrrrrryyyyy slllllooooowwwwwlllllyyyy allowing ourselves to adjust, and keeping the quantities to strict limits while our pancreas re-adjusts to higher levels of insulin production. I actually found it 10x simpler to stick with the very low carb than to phaff about with tiny portions, carefully counted, on a timescale.

So, anyway, sorry about that ramble! It was mainly to say that I love Kress' ideas, but they didn't work for me, and I can't be the only one...

glad you read it. i seem fairly alone in that. i didn't follow exactly and it is possible my big weight drop could have also beenpartly muscle mass loss. i am not physically able to get the exercise i need. and she said in the book that people who can't exercise.... it won't work and then my m.d. said oh little things all day long substitue for real exercise. to some degreeand i did some passive exercise like feldenkrais, but i am not sure it workd for me but am giving it one more go. her book was hard for me to track. to find things again... or its like a lecture series where it was assembled in i thought illogical order.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

am going to skip metformin i think.

Probably not the best thing to do, it doesn't behave like insulin and as you probably know, it helps with insulin resistance and helps prevent the liver from dumping glucose into the blood.

Also Metformin tends to have an accumulative affect anyway.

I also try to avoid meds and my low carb regime did enable me to stop Gliclazide, Januvia (also avoided being put on insulin) and by way of a bonus my total cholesterol dropped so much, I stopped taking the dreaded statin.

If you're concerned about whether your weight loss is muscle as opposed to fat, there's only one answer and that's find someone who has a set of scales with that facility. Tanita do several and I only mention that because I recently went to Westminster University to use their Bodpod which showed me my muscle/fat composition and it agreed with the Tanita scales I use when I visit my Nutritional Therapist.

I notice you refer to your M.D. and you mention the grocery store. Are you located in North America, not that it makes any difference, welcome to the forum. There's more useful info here and in the heads of the forum's members than a whole pile of books (depends on the books to be fair).

 

[Lizzie2]

If it's any help Wordangel I got my inspiration from a book called Reverse your Diabetes, The step by step plan to take control of your type 2 diabetes by Dr David Cavan. I found it really wonderful and inspirational. I bought a blood glucose meter and recorded everything I ate - no snacks - I set about eliminating everything that raised my blood sugar and I found that just by eating foods that kept my blood sugar within the ranges that Daisy1 had shown above weight just fell off and my HbA1c came back to non diabetic levels. I know that I can't ever go ask to my old carb laden diet though. Good luck.

 

[eddie1968]

Poverty and diabetes do not go well together. I reckon there's lots who can't afford Internet and aren't here on DCUK. With a lot of good advice and reading there are plenty of nutritious meals out there that cost next to nothing and it's just effort and commitment required.

 

[RAPS_od]

i agree with you. i am not actually going hypo but possibly going close.

Since you're newly diagnosed, you may not feel great at 111. It takes your body a bit of time to adjust to how it feels to be in control. When I feel bad at 111, I usually try to eat some almonds (just a handful) to keep myself at around that same glucose level.
Please don't get in the practice of not taking your meds. Many diabetics start out doing great then let their sugars go crazy. They don't recognize when it goes high because it's not a familiar feeling. Once they're testing, they'll see their sugar is high, but many don't test because they don't realize they're high and thus fool themselves into thinking they're okay. That is a trap, my friend, one you want to avoid.
I've had T1 for 49 years. I've gone through the denial and missing my meds. The consequences aren't good. I would like to see you avoid those consequences.
Welcome to the site! We're glad you're here!

 

[Brunneria]

glad you read it. i seem fairly alone in that. i didn't follow exactly and it is possible my big weight drop could have also beenpartly muscle mass loss. i am not physically able to get the exercise i need. and she said in the book that people who can't exercise.... it won't work and then my m.d. said oh little things all day long substitue for real exercise. to some degreeand i did some passive exercise like feldenkrais, but i am not sure it workd for me but am giving it one more go. her book was hard for me to track. to find things again... or its like a lecture series where it was assembled in i thought illogical order.

We have had a couple of threads on Kress before (plus me blathering about it regularly when I was on the programme )
There was even a thread about several people starting her eating plan together.
But I think it just died away.
No idea what happened to them all.
If you search the forum using 'Kress' and look around a year??? ago, you may find that thread.

 

[wordangel]

We have had a couple of threads on Kress before (plus me blathering about it regularly when I was on the programme )
There was even a thread about several people starting her eating plan together.
But I think it just died away.
No idea what happened to them all.
If you search the forum using 'Kress' and look around a year??? ago, you may find that thread.

i'll have to look at it... and get some sleep too. somebody asked if i am in north america... and tkhey were right on. so i need to get into my time zone for a little while...