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Diabetes, life and all that - personal diary

No you shouldn't! To quote the old proverb " that which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger" people would rather hear from someone who's been through it and made it to the other side which is, let's face it us lot! You had a slip. So what?! You're putting it right! It's a marathon which you'll be running your whole life - not a sprint! I see it as my moral duty to help people if I can as I received help when I was in despair on the 28th of Jan when I was diagnosed and want to give back to others.
You are doing well and I love your cat!
 
@Scandichic

I guess I need to feel I have made it to the other side first, before I can start telling others how to get there.

This is not self pity or doubt.

I am confident, I will make it.

It has to do with practicing what one preaches and the credibility of the advise one offers.

When I write, I write what I believe in my heart to be true. So if I advise someone to exercise more, or to watch his carb intake and he will gain control, I do not want the validity of this message to be undermined in the reader's perception by the fact that I am not myself currently in as good glycemic control as I could be.

At the end of the day what we have to offer each other is an understanding ear and the benefit of our experience.

I guess when I offer my experiences, I want them to be such that they will be reassuring and inspiring.

Hopefully it want be long before I feel able do just that, once again.

Trying to help others is probably one of the best ways for all of us to help ourselves by reminding ourselves and reaffirming our commitment to the fundamentals of dealing with this treacherous disease of ours.

It is very difficult to advise someone what to do and then turn round and ignore your own advice yourself.

Pavlos
 
@Scandichic

I guess I need to feel I have made it to the other side first, before I can start telling others how to get there.

This is not self pity or doubt.

I am confident, I will make it.

It has to do with practicing what one preaches and the credibility of the advice one offers.

When I write, I write what I believe in my heart to be true. So if I advise someone to exercise more, or to watch his carb intake and he will gain control, I do not want the validity of this message to be undermined in the reader's perception by the fact that I am not myself currently in as good glycemic control as I could be.

At the end of the day what we have to offer each other is an understanding ear and the benefit of our experience.

I guess when I offer my experiences, I want them to be such that they will be reassuring and inspiring.

Hopefully it want be long before I feel able do just that, once again.

Trying to help others is probably one of the best ways for all of us to help ourselves by reminding ourselves and reaffirming our commitment to the fundamentals of dealing with this treacherous disease of ours.

It is very difficult to advise someone what to do and then turn round and ignore your own advice yourself.

Pavlos
 
@pavlosn - Whilst I hear what you say, and I empathise, I could suggest you might be taking quite a narrow view, if you feel you can only post relating to your current situation or position..

Many, many years ago I was at a professional conference where the topic of lay advice/support was being discussed. At that point and in the context of that conference that was quite an unusual approach. The topic was a health related, so, I'm using lay in that context. Anyway, the presenter explained their decision by using an analogy I quite often think of, and that was,

"Would you listen to road safety advice from someone who had been run over and had to recover from their injuries?"

The response was, "Very probably, because they completely understand the consequences of not using The Green Cross Code, so it would have meaning to me".

Whilst none of us are talking road safety here, I'd ask you to think about that as a concept. The person who was knocked over had ignored the rules, and paid the price. Perhaps that's where you are right now? Thankfully, no broken bones?

And finally, The Green Cross Code:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LbjihwFWZI8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
@AndBreath

You are probably right of course.

Amongst other things, I am using this diary to record my thoughts and emotions as I try to work my way through them and often reconcile the two.

Rationally thinking, there is no reason for me to feel that I should not be advising others. Yet I know I have been holding back this week and the explanation is probably to be found not in reason but in a feeling that I first need to earn the right to do so.

This is of course a rather egocentric and selfish way of approaching things as somewhere out other, someone could possibly benefit from what I could advise/share; without for a minute suggesting that there are not others on the forum that can offer advice just as well or even better than I can.

Pavlos
 
Big hugs! Your cat is a cutie! My old girls has had a tough time of it recently. We lost my old chap a few months ago and she is having to adapt to life without him. She was always prickly and independent but is now more of a home body. We have also been able to put her on a diet because she always managed to sneak some of his food. She now looks considerably better like her owner for her weight loss!
By the way, I agree with @AndBreathe! Good analogy!
 
It's been a week since i returned yo this forum and stated making a conscious effort to gain better glycemic control, so it is perhaps time to review progress.

Starting with the best news first, my weight is now under the psychologically important (to me!) threshold of 100 kg.



That is a weight loss of 2kg (4,4 lbs in your money) in a week. Now for the next 10kg.

I have kept to my program of daily morning walks, averaging about 9000 steps a day ( the target is 10000)



As for glucose levels there has been some improvement but there is a while to go still to be back in the desired rate



Today's counts 159mg on waking and 132mg after walk and before breakfast.

Pavlos
 
Looking back on the last week, it is clear to me that having eased my way back, it is time I became a little more methodical and systematic in my approach to regaining glycemic control.

I therefore decide that

-I will start using myfittnesspal again to maintain a food diary.

- I will set myself an initial ceiling of 150g of carbs daily ( I can here the gasps of astonishment from some of the low carbers) and revise this according to progress.

- I will test more, testing before and two hours after meals to make sure that my after readings are within 2 mmol of the before readings.

- I will try to make each days step count at least 10.000 steps. Short evening walks?

Regards
 
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Decision to adopt a more intensive approach seems to have had an immediate effect with this morning's blood sugar being 120mg(6,7 mmol).

In fact you can see all my readings from yesterday below
I
 
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Glad you're back and glad you are back in control.
Its not always easy is it.
I cheat sometimes and then feel ill.
I don't test much now , if I do its mainly in the morning. I find if its around 6 and I have a low carb breakfast and lunch then I can have a few more carbs at tea time. If I don't behave early in the day then my 3pm feel really ill. I have learned to move when I feel sweaty and panicky etc and that brings bs into line.
 
Forgot to say , we were on a cruise and went to Dubrovnik , beautiful place but I loved Kotor in Montenegro.
 
Hi Jamrox

Nice to hear from you.

We loved Croatia particularly Dubrovnik.

We did originally book a day trip to Kotor in Montenegro as we were told that it is very beautiful. We decided not to go in the end as it would have meant spending too many hours in the coach getting there and back; just crossing the border apparently may take more than two hours of waiting in line to clear customs.

We fully intent to take a future trip to Montenegro though.

Look after yourself

Pavlos
 
Today's scorecard



The improved glucose counts of the last two days is the result of me testing more and eating to my meter.

Carb count was 75g yesterday and 90g today. These are lower than I have needed to go before and lower than my original ceiling of 150g.

I am feeling a little low in energy and struggling a bit for concentration.
 
Just had to shell out euro 69.99 to buy FIFA 15 for PS3 for my son on the first day of its release.




What is worse, as my son has been promised a PS4 for Christmas and PS3 games will not play on the PS4 console, I will no doubt have to buy the PS4 game as well in due course.

It probably sounds like I am spoiling my son and there is probably a ring of truth in that but I only have the one son, he is eleven and so in a couple of years he probably will not stand the sight of me, so I will try my best to please him now that he still lets me!

Pavlos
 
Here are some more photos of Ginger for all his fans out there






And here is a photo of a canna lilly in bloom in my garden this morning



I guess I should be pleased with my progress in the last couple of days, the glucose readings are certainly down to more acceptable levels.

I have had to cut carbs to less than 100g in order to do so and I am feeling a bit worse for that, not much energy, headaches and reduced ability to focus and concentrate at work.

Work seems to be suffering as a result.

I wish I could take a couple of weeks off work so that I could concentrate on just getting back on top of the diabetes but that is not possible unfortunately. Plus I need to learn how to manage this and work at the same time.

I am also a bit concerned that I am probably taking in a bit too much protein.

As someone with familial hypercholesterolemia increasing fat consumption, especially saturated fat consumption is something I do not find easy to do. A leap of faith is required.

Plus our housekeeper/cook knows I am dieting so is trying to keep everything low fat. I guess I shall have to re-educate both myself and her.

All for now

Pavlos
 
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huh? so you think i should not be eating these doughnuts whilst advising LCHF? dang i guess ill stop offering my advice then.....back to the doughnuts

i don't actually think it matters, as you play tennis ill try to use it, Andy Murray has a tennis coach, he wouldn't win a game against him but he/she coaches him, i agree with the others, you've been there, done that and sometimes the advice from someone that is in a similar situation is more powerful.


 


You will probably have noticed that in the last couple of days I have bit the bullet and put myself back in circulation, offering advise to all and sundry on this forum.

Perhaps I should include "don't do as I do, do as I say" in my signature line

Seriously, I have been "good" since coming back and this is beginning to be reflected on my glucose monitor, which is helping to reinforce my commitment.

In fact just being on the forum and posting anything at all, helps me maintain focus on the task in hand. So it's a win win, I get help by (hopefully) helping others.

Pavlos
 




i totally get that mate, if someone thanks me for saying something, my first thought is always, this MY therapy, if i ever helped anyone it was a happy accident lol
 
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