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Depressed and desperate. Please help.

Paul12345

Member
my Neuropathy is awful and no matter what my Doctors prescribe my BS is never below 10 and has never been controlled. I am on Metformin, Onglyza and Forxiga, plus losartun and aspirin daily. ED and not being able to ejaculate are really getting me down desperately, despite treatment with Levitra. I have been diagnosed for 7 years now and despite excercising, diet, nothing seems to be working? I am so desperate and depressed, even had suicidal thoughts as i am so down.
 
I'm not a type 2 but I do have neuropathy. The only thing that will help the neuropathy pain is tight control of your blood sugars! The SD could be caused by several things, it is a fairly common problem in diabetes but in your case it may be due to the psychological effects of the pain and (probably) associated stress of the high bs and the neuropathy. I think you need to sort the blood sugars as priority and then tackle the other issues. So I'm going back to the basics and asking the most obvious question - what do you eat? If you can establish your diet is OK then I'd look at the medication. It's not really useful to do it the other way round!
Saying that, I'm not the best person to advise you on diet or type 2 meds so now I've started the ball rolling by asking the question, there will be other type 2s who can and will respond with good advice!! Good luck!
 
Hi @Paul12345, i am so sad to hear your diabetes is getting so bad,would you be able to provide a detailed months worth of your day,what you do from waking to bed and what your eating and drinking, plus your weight ,height and current bmi,if you can do this i am sure we can help move you towards a better place,clive
 
Hi Paul. I totally understand. When there are so many issues it is impossible to focus. People who have this vile illness under control find it hard to understand those of us who don't. I would give you the advice I should give myself - find a good diabetic nurse who will go through this with you step by step, and who will advise on the right medication. I think also seeing a counsellor would help, it has helped me. Good luck, you are not alone.
 
Hi Paul. I totally understand. When there are so many issues it is impossible to focus. People who have this vile illness under control find it hard to understand those of us who don't. I would give you the advice I should give myself - find a good diabetic nurse who will go through this with you step by step, and who will advise on the right medication. I think also seeing a counsellor would help, it has helped me. Good luck, you are not alone.

With respect, no matter how many issues we have, if we rely solely on medication while following a diet that may be detrimental, things won't improve. Insulin is always a possibility that may be necessary and it can help greatly, but we have to do our part too.
 
As others have said , we need to see a detailed breakdown of your diet and exercise...........

I know just how you feel after having a relapse just before xmas,.... by the end of last year I reversed most of my symptoms with diet (LCHF) and exercise, but due to a personal problem I let that slip , and soon had all the problems back again (neuropathy, feeling awful, depression etc etc)......

But I feel much better again even after only 5 days of being back in tight control.... so it can be sorted....

Jase
 
Hi Paul, I'm tagging @daisy1 for her beginners guide, just so you can think right back to basics. Are you eating low carb?

Really sorry that you're feeling so low at the moment, hopefully having somewhere like this forum to talk about your worries will help a little?
 
@Paul12345

Hello Paul and welcome to the forum :) In addition to the good advice above, here is the information we give to new members and this should help you with your diet to get your levels under control. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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.
 
Hi Paul sorry to hear how your feeling.
The feeling you are experiencing are tough and I can hear you are putting a lot of energy into getting the readings down which is great. I can sympathise as I find sometimes it can be so annoying to do everything and it not change. I'm wondering about how your feeling. In tense feelings are so hard on your own, it's awesome you have shared on here how your feeling have you considered going to your GP maybe something like a counsellor could be supportive. You deserve to have as much support around you as possible especially when you feel the way you do at the moment. Sometimes going to the GP and sharing can be good as diabetes I find. Can be quite controlling at times when it's challenging and making a decision to support yourself in other ways can be away of getting the control back. It may not feel like it but your doing awesome by talking and everything your doing.
 
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