Diabetic life expectancy

Magisham said:

Thanks again. It is so good to talk to someone who understands what we have been going through. I can't remember his tacrolimus dose, but he has a blood test every 3 months and they said his levels are good. Just before his transplant they put him on 14 a day and he was so I'll I thought he was dying! We told 3 different people at the clinic and they all just said "He'll get used to it". Then, later in the day when they got the blood test results back, they rand up and said " Get him off the tacrolimus, his levels are far too high!!!" So now it's one in the morning and one at night. I will ask about the steroid when we next go. Don't have transplant clinic until July now. Disappointed this morning as we just had eggs at lunch time yesterday and grilled chicken with salad last night and his blood was 10 first thing. I wonder sometimes if he goes for too long without food. Or if he ate too much chicken as I know protein can put it up. It's frustrating. Don't know if it's morning liver dump. Will try it again in a while, 2 hours after eating.

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pleinster said:

Hi - may well be liver dump...BS is a very odd little animal..it can go up if there's too long between meals, too much exercise before eating, too much inactivity, too much stress, its raining, its a Tuesday or a cat miaowed at the wrong pitch. I am a wee bit surprised you think proten put sit up, and would advise you watch he doesn't get too much protein (not good for the kidneys)..maybe good to get an appointment with a dietician following one with a diabetic consultant. Also, the renal clinic thing - you can always ask for it earlier just to be reassured...my doctors are happy to do so. One question would be..when does he take the prednisolone...as the spike from that may account for a higher reading a coupla hours after breakfast.

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pleinster said:

Hi - may well be liver dump...BS is a very odd little animal..it can go up if there's too long between meals, too much exercise before eating, too much inactivity, too much stress, its raining, its a Tuesday or a cat miaowed at the wrong pitch. I am a wee bit surprised you think proten put sit up, and would advise you watch he doesn't get too much protein (not good for the kidneys)..maybe good to get an appointment with a dietician following one with a diabetic consultant. Also, the renal clinic thing - you can always ask for it earlier just to be reassured...my doctors are happy to do so. One question would be..when does he take the prednisolone...as the spike from that may account for a higher reading a coupla hours after breakfast.

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Magisham said:

Thanks. I did ask to see a dietician a while back as we'd been given no real guidance from anyone. I was just getting info from books of the internet. I showed her lists I'd drawn up of "Eat freely", " Just eat a little" and "Avoid". I also took a photo of my weekly shop and showed her. Her comment was " You're not a dietician are you?" She said she couldn't have told me any better herself. And in those days I had Special K cereal, Burgen bread, whole-wheat pasta, etc. So she obviously thinks all that stuff is okay. Don't think I'd get much different from her now. They seem to go by the NHS guidelines of "base your meal around carbohydrates". Perhaps we should go back to eating some carbohydrates, though even a little bit of roast sweet potato and carrots has pushed the bloods up before. I feel I am banging my head against the wall at the moment. Oh, and he does his blood before he takes any medication at all when he gets up.

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pleinster said:

It does get very frustrating @Magisham , but I would persist with the low carbs...even if its not brinign the levels down to a convincing number, that number will almost certainly increase with more carbs....and again emphasize that there is NO DOUBT that prednisolone will be pushing the level up, and that a reduction will make a difference. I am now on a very low amount (2.5mg a day) from an original 25mg a day in the my first few weeks after transplant a year ago. Some renal specialists are reluctant to stop it completely, other will if the blood sugar is high and complications set in. most, however, are content to reduce the dosage over time and keep an eye on the relevant renal figures (mainly creatinine levels). Like @Ross.Walker , I too believe in doing what you can to shape your own future, and note that, while recognizing that not everything goes as "destiny"/statistics and current opinion says its supposed to, he says he will also do everything he can to stay healthy and complication free. I think when all is said and done, the best policy is for an individual to be as informed as he or she can be about what is happening to oneself and how best to cope with individual circumstances in a way or ways which don't control your life...but sometimes the best way to be informed is to absorb a lot, experiment a bit, ask a lot of questions, be temporarily obsessive about certain details so that you have a handle/and approach and then take control. As for the unreliability of lies, damned lies and statistics...yes..they can be used to show most things are factual or not...but some are perfectly valid. For example statistics show us that 5 pints of vodka a day would be a bad idea, as would 40 fags...as would too much sugar or simple carbohydrate (particularly for a diabetic)..and it's okay to say we control our own destiny, but there are those who have fewer options than the majority ..and so, taking control is at least being armed rather than facing our enemies naked. I'm getting ridiculously wordy now for no good reason, and should stop. I would only add that I have never been in the "awkward" situation of having only sandpaper to hand in a moment of desperation....but may well opt to walk home bow-legged, myself.

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Magisham said:

Hi. Just wanted to update you, Pleinster. We saw the diabetic specialist today. He was thrilled to bits! Other half had a blood test yesterday. The long range test (can't remember the name for it) down another 10 to 65, cholesterol 3.5, creatinin very good and they confirmed that he has lost 4kg. He said the diabetes was "well controlled". I told him we were doing the low carb diet and he asked how we were managing it. I said fine, that we were eating well and didn't find it too difficult. He said " Well keep it up, you are doing really well on it". Mentioned the higher readings late mornings and could it be liver dump. He said maybe, but he's going to order us a new meter. He didn't seem to think it was a big problem as the levels are generally okay. So I am very relieved and very happy about the low carb diet working. Checked out the level of prednisolone and it's 5gms, but will still ask about lowering it at next kidney clinic.

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pleinster said:

Hi - thanks for letting me know how things are going...that all sounds very good, particularly the creatinine (the one that really counts for us renal transplant patients). What is his level? Mine fluctuates between 110 and 120..it was over 800 the day of my transplant! Did you ask about Patient View? It's a great way of checking on all your results online..free, easy to use...all the renal doctors are aware of it - all you need is a code to access it and a doctor can arrange that quickly. On the prednisolone front - I had been on 25mg initially and that was cut down to 5mg, which I was on a for quite a while..and I was getting spikes up to maybe 10.5 or so several hours after my meds...this came down to maybe 9.0-9.6 on low carb diet where at all other times, if I kept carbs down)I was under 8.0mmols and often inside the normal range. When my prednisolone was cut to 2.5mg, the spike pretty much vanished overnight! If it goes up at all now its still under 8.0...but mainly I am getting readings under 7.0mmols the whole time now, and my average is in the non-diabetic range. So do ask about reducing it further. Good luck. Paul

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Magisham said:

Forgot to say, I am already signed up for Patient View. I used it pre-transplant, but have forgotten about it since then. Must check it out. Think they said creatinine was 104. Other half couldn't sleep so got up and has just woken me to show me his meter reading of 5! I think he is pleased with it!!!!

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pleinster said:

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104 is excellent! That's really good kidney function post transplant.

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Magisham said:

We've been very lucky. Just need to get on top of the diabetes now. Thanks.

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4ratbags said:

@ShaliniJ I have got my diabetes into remission through a complete change of diet. Reducing carbs is definately the key.

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