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kidney problems with mum

paganlass

paganlass

Well-Known Member
Messages
125
Location
manchester/ england
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
nhs. religion for the sake of it.
hi everyone its me again! i have had problems as you know with mum and her insulin and high bg. however i have managed to get her bg down and sorted her diet by putting her on a low carb regime.she g]has now an average bg of 8.9 and has lost 6 pounds in weight! had many problems on the way ( as you now know ).
yon friday we got an emergency appointment with the diabetic consultant! was suppossed to be in may! anyway she told me at first that a low carb diet was NOT appropriate for a diabetic! i argued the point that after being with her for over 2 and a half years mum had not lost ANY weight only gained it and has had consistantly high bg levels of over 15 up to 27! and that by me putting her on this diet the evidence is clear that her methods are flawed!! she eventually agreed that my methods where better and digressed to the point where she thought i was doing the right thing! :D
however she did say that mums kidneys where leaking protein!! :( she did not say that anything could be done about this! does anyone have any thoughts or knowledge of this? its another thing for me to think about. but mum feels soo much better. although the doc said that the wobbles that she has all the time may never fully go away due the damage that the high bg levels have done to her nerve endings in her feet and legs (that was her docs fault ). thanks sorry to rant! p.x
 
As far as I know, kidneys respond to GOOD BG control. You've done brilliantly by your Mum and been so Brave to take on a consultant and win.
But you still need to get Mum's Bgs down further. If you can get her down into the 4s and 5s. Can she exercise at all? (My Sports Centre does Chair based exercise classes)
How does Mum respond to your control of her diet?
If she's to make that last bit of improvement, she needs to be compliant.
 
hi hanadr, thanks for replying, i was told that a bg between 6 and 7 where normal for a diabetic, also the doc said was insulin resistant?? i am trying to get het bg down further , we had levels of 6.1 6.4 and 6.9 yesterday which was brilliant but mum was really scared that it was too low and she cannot mentally get around a bg level in single figures but we will get there! :D
as for excercise im afraid thats out as she has severe arthritis its even in her neck. i do try to walk her round the block but she is in real pain with it.i was told by usless consultant not to give her too much protein bacause of her kidneys butshe feels much better now on low carb, she doesnt eat much meat but she was enjoying cheese and eggs and prawns! she aws told to have special k in the morning by the consultant ( iwas scaptical!) and it made her bg go through the roof!! no more of that! the consultant is clueless :twisted: p.x
 
Hi paganlass,
Well done for helping mum. Things are improving and I am sure you are relieved.
With regard to the kidneys : - As you are aware, the high blood sugars do the damage.
Does your mum suffer from high blood pressure? If she does and she is put on ARB's they are good at protecting the kidneys and a combination of good control and this medication should help. If she does not have high blood pressure then I think you need to ask your G.P. what he can do for mum.
Well done for taking control for her.
Regards, Catherine.
 
hi catherine, mums blood pressure is usually ok. im taking her to the gp this week so i will ask what can be done about her kidneys. the consultant scared her to death tho when she said she had neurothapy in her legs and it would not get much better. im hoping that by reducing her weight and lowering her bg further her legs and balance will get better.
p.x
 
Hi paganlass,
There are lots of forum members who have improved neuropathy because of better control .
I think everything improves once you get to those magic numbers. It doesn't happen overnight but you are getting there. Keep up the good work.
Consultants can be so blase and don't realise that their matter of fact attitude can scare the pants off some people. Keep doing what you are doing .
Regards, Catherine.
 
Hi paganlass
High Fat rather than high protein works best with low carb. Cream and cheese and using lard as well as oil are all good for weight and BG. If Mum can't walk, look up some chair based exercises and do look at your local Sports Centre programme. It's surprising what they have available. Water based exercise is great too.
Your Mum is so lucky to have :) you
 
panagless

You are doing a very good job, and so is mum who is facing a drastic change in her daily conception of food..

As to the kidneys, finding protien in the urine in a diabetic is a sign that the kidneys aren't functioning fully (signs of kidney being damaged) in the early stages with stablisation of BG's can sort this out, sometime induction of ACE (cheaper option) or ARB (more expensive option) can be used to help to stopping futher damaged to the kidneys... If they are really concerned about how the kidney's are proforming, they can take a 24 hour urine collection which they then can work out how the kidney is proforming (filtering) to assetain any damge involved, but with everyone as we grow older we all lose some kidney function with is a natural process of aging, and in the norm doesn't create any problems...

As to mums worry's about BG and hypo's, It might be a good idea to let her levels run at the 6mmol/l mark for a couple weeks so mum can get used to these lower levels and she is pretty safe from hypo's... Before trying to reduce futher as if mum starts to get really anxious about the level this could have a reverse action by incressing her stress levels and raising her BG's...
 
Hi pagan
You replied to me that your Mum had been told that BGs of 6 or 7 are normal for diabetics. What she needs to aim for is "normal " for non-diabetics. that is the 4s and 5s I wrote about. It's not easy, but is possible for most diabetics to be non-diabetic. Setting targets at diabetic level isn't good enough. BG 7 is the level at which complications are known to begin. She already has kidney trouble possibly, so you don't know what else might be starting.
What is the point of controlling a condition if you don't aim to eliminate its effects?
 
hi hanadr, you are correct. iam going to tell mum what you said and we shall aim for 5 or 6 and when she has mastered that we will go for 4. she still has a mental problem with single figures. she knows that lower bg levels are good but because she has always had bgs in double figures, she still finds it a shock when its single. we will get there tho im certain, i wont give up till they are normal! :D
thanks for your support
p.xx
 
paganlass said:
hi catherine, mums blood pressure is usually ok. im taking her to the gp this week so i will ask what can be done about her kidneys. the consultant scared her to death tho when she said she had neurothapy in her legs and it would not get much better. im hoping that by reducing her weight and lowering her bg further her legs and balance will get better.
p.x
Click to expand...
My neuropathy has cleared by reduced carb. Fasting bs dropped from around 7 to 5.

Last April my legs were so painful I had difficulty getting out of bed. I thought my active life was over due to neuropathy. Dr prescribed quinine, which didn't help. I had difficulty with the hospital gym exercise class. (I go with my wife who attends the heart rehab class, so its not too strenuous.) I even joined two choirs as I was expecting to have to stop playing tennis.

In May I started reduced carb. By August I was well again & the neuropathy had gone. The Dr was impressed as all my blood test measurements (including cholesterol) showed improvement - he allows me a repeat presc of 200 test strips. (About 2 months.) Also I was able to reduce my Metf from 3 to 2.

Hope your loving attention to your Mum yields a long term improvement.
 
I'm very tempted to give your Consultant some neuropathy of his own, with a pickaxe handle!

Sadly the kidney damage and nerve damage are both the result of chronic high BG, almost certainly as a result of eating far too much Special K and other carbs, exactly as she was directed. :(

Getting the BG down is #1 priority, but not too fast as she is probably getting hypo *symptoms* at non-hypo levels.

Reduced protein is often recommended for kidneys but to a degree it depends on the type and amount of damage, keeping the BG down is probably the most useful thing you can do and this may be better on a moderate protein and comparatively high fat diet - but don't forget all those leafy greens and other things containing beneficial micronutrients

http://www.diabetic-talk.org/freeveggies.htm

This may help with the neuropathy

http://www.diabetic-talk.org/dpn.htm

also benfotiamine

BUT

double check the effects of everything like this on kidneys, likewise with her prescribed meds. ACE or ARB may be kidney protective and of course blood pressure needs tight control also
 
hi ian, thanks for your reply, i will tell mum, it helps her to know that she is not the only one with the problem, it gives her hope that she will get better, especially after the consultant said she would,nt!!the low carb diet she has been on for about 2 and a half weeks is really starting to pay off her bloods are leveling out, today she has had a morning bg of 9.8 and although this is still high it sooo much better than it has been.and at mid morning when it is usually above 12 today it was 10! and since then stayed steady at 8! i know you all will still think this is high but for mum it is brilliant and she is chuffed with herself :P and i am so glad for her, she is feeling less depressed and a lot brighter! :D
p.xx
 
hi trinkwasser, you are right the damage was caused by her bg levels being so high for so long. i didnt know just how badly she was being managed or i would have taken over sooner. i quizzed the consultant about that, i asked why if she knew how much damage was being done,didnt she intervene and tell mum where she was going wrong!! and you know what she said? mistakes have been made on both sides i admit to that!! but that does not help my mum especially when she said to her " diabetes is like cancer you can never control it" can you believe that! mum thought she had cancer for about five minutes in the office i thought she was going to faint!
thankfully as i said to ian her bg levels are coming down gradually, mum could not cope if they came down too quickly.
thanks for your advice it is invaluable to me and mum.
p.xx
 
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