advice for someone clueless

[andie999]

Hi there - I have just registered and am a newie :roll:
My husband has just had to go back to his homeland of Angola as he has just lost his sister and the family isn't coping too well.
Anyway - after our call tonight he has asked me to enquire about a few things...
His mum (she is 68) had to have her foot amputated in Feb and the wound still hasn't healed properly. Weird enough my sisters dad-in-law had the same op around the same time but in Scotland and all is ok - but they are in a 3rd world country etc.
I went onto Google - as ya do - and found a Red Cross place nearby but they have said that it needs to be more healed for them to treat her.
I then remembered about some plastic stuff that you can put on wounds that protect them etc. Would this be suitable?
He went back to see the surgeon today and she said that mothers blood pressure and diabetes (type 2) is too high at the mo to risk another op.
I have my own health prob (hence reason I didn't go) and find the forum for my problem is absolutely fantasic so am gonna spend the next couple of hours looking through all of these posts :lol:
Any advice for this or any tips would be greatly appreciated. All i know is that there is no medication available for her and that she has a controlled diet??
Ta
Andie

 

[hanadr]

Where there isn't medication available, the only thing to control T2 is a STRICT low carb diet. It may be necessary to go down to below 30grams of carb per day. Without BG control at normal levels, the wound will not heal.
Hana

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

Wouldn't it be the damaged blood supply to the foot causing the foot not to heal rather than high blood sugar levels. The high blood sugar levels would have damaged the circulation but suddenly reducing carbs now isn't going to help the immediate problem. They might not have a lot of choice of what to eat where they are also. Obviously medical treatment is needed but if this is not possible I'd be trying to do a lot of massage to the whole leg and be laying down as much as possible to get the blood circulating to the area. Keep it clean to avoid infection also. Hopefully if it is more healed some better medical treatment will be possible. We are very lucky to be living in countries that provide modern treatments and enable us to live long and healthy lives.

 

[andie999]

Thanks for those replies - I need to look into the carbs diet etc. I know at one point she was told to eat more rice rather than the flour paste thing :cry: that they eat and I'm sure that I read on the internet that white flour needed to be taken from the diet.

Thanks again
Andrea

 

[sugarless sue]

I don't know what the diet consists of in Angola so I don't know how useful our usual basics for new diabetics would be but I will post it here anyway. Do you know if she is able to test her blood sugar levels at all ? Can you give us some idea of what a day's food may be please so that we may be able to help.

Here is the advice we 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.

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

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......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 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. 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.

Sue/Ken.

 

[andie999]

Just got off phone to hubby and realised her diet is quite bad
She has herbal tea for diabetics for breakfast and toast with grilled spam (I think thats what he meant - or got lost in translation lol)...I think her bread intake is quite high and he is going to get someone to take him to a specialist shop in the capital to get a bread suitable for her (-is that possible?).
For lunch and dinner she is having grilled meat (usally quite heavy on the salt and garlic) and rice. He thought he was doing good by trying to get her off her 'funje' (mandioca flour made into a paste) but looking above this is just as bad isn't it?? Should she be having salad only? It took him all of his time to get her onto the rice as she kept saying it was food for the chickens....
I managed to send out one of those bllod testing kits and they are having a go tomorrow - i know her blood pressure is high - is this normal with diabetes?
He is taking her to the hospital again next week so feels confident that he has a bit more understanding. Would you believe that she doesn't have a wheelchair and he has to carry her there? :roll:
Andrea