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Making me healthy would be a miracle.

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PhilT81

Member
Messages
5
Hi all,

I have lots of medical complaints due to an extremely rare genetic mutation and among them I have had chronic pancreatitis for several years including a tendency towards diabetes. I spent so much time at doctors and in hospital for various things in my youth that I've always been quite averse to going - and have always felt like if I go I'm wasting the doctors time and that they should be seeing 'ill' people.

I'm needing some unrelated surgery at the moment and went for the pre-admission yesterday. They were unimpressed with my results. My pee was full of sugar apparantly. I hadn't eaten that morning but my blood sugar was 38 and blood pressure was 186/124. I wasn't surprised my results were so high as I have been having symptoms for months and kept putting off going to the doctor but was surprised it was so high. They ordered me straight to the doctor and he's put me on metaformin - and since then I've been feeling much more ill - although sometimes it's difficult for me to know what's to blame because I have so many different things wrong with me.

The thing that's definitely clear is I need to start making better choices when it comes to lifestyle. I don't smoke, don't drink alcohol and gave up sugary drinks years ago - but I also have mobility issues so don't exercise and I've had no energy whatsoever of late and have found it difficult to get motivated. The other problem is that I'm the world's fussiest eater and am a complete carb junkie.

Any advice?

Phil
 
Welcome to the forum Phil, Carb junkie ? oh dear ! This is the usual advice we give to new type 2's so you will see that it may change your life a bit !

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 a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

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.

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 !!
 
Yeah, to say I'm a carb junkie is really an understatement. A typical meal is macaroni cheese with chips and cheesy garlic bread or deep fried pizza with chip sandwiches! I then graze all day on crisps - crisps have always been my down-fall. I can easily eat 50 packets each day. It's little wonder that I'm so unhealthy. I have a restricted diet because I also don't like most things! I know I can't change overnight so my initial strategy is to not eat anything sweet - ie chocolates, cakes, biscuits, sweets, donuts, mmmmm - delicious donuts. Alongside that trying to eat earlier in the day than I normally do and eating healthy things that I do like - I like weetabix, lentil soup and baked beans - can't really think of anything healthy I like!
 
Great advice from Sue.

Looks like you might have a tough time of this Phil. Without a change of attitude, nothing else will change. Diabetes if left uncontrolled can be life threatening in later years. You need to think what you want out of life mate.
 
Welcome to the forum, Phil - what can we do to help?

With that BP & BG level, you need to get control as a matter of urgency. Metformin isn't a cure - it helps a little, & you are unlikely to notice anything except digestive disturbance.

As you yourself say, a lifestyle change is needed, & being a carboholic will have to change.

Are you employed? Have you a loved to care for? What are your interests in life? You have mobility problems - I suspect weight will be one of them - so what can you do with your limited mobility?

Chair aerobics; line dancing; singing; Wii fitness; come to mind. You have to get out of yourself, & your preoccupation with eating. Anything you do instead of another bite of something unsuitable will help.

You want a miracle, so have you tried prayer, & church? We don't offer a miracle cure, but one thing prayer does change is the one who prays!
 
I just thought I'd update you all.

After being 'diagnosed' and put on the metaformin I was finding it was make me feel really ill so was quite reluctant to take it. As I've still only been eating once a day I was usually taking one of the pills. Over the last two weeks I've also not eaten anything sugary (although I still like my starchy foods).

I've been feeling much better with each day that goes by.

Last week I went to have bloods taken. At the same time I had my BP done and it was back to what's normal for me - about 135/85. I've been taking 5-htp for the last week or so which has helped me to sleep better, stop feeling depressed, stop craving carbs so much and feel less stressed.

Yesterday my GP phoned me up saying that I had to come in immediately and that there were serious problems with my blood test results. I went along and she made me give a urine sample - I hadn't eaten since tea-time the day before, which I told her. She asked how I felt and I said I was fine. There were ketones in my urine and she decided that this was a medical emergency so she phoned the on-call diabetic registrar at the hospital who said I had to go to A&E immediately - so I was packed off to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital I was ushered through to 'Immediate Care' where I had a brief wait despite the place being really busy. A nurse checked my blood sugar and it was in the low 20's (down from 38 two weeks ago). They checked it every hour or so and checked my BP which slowly came down throughout the day until it was eventually 120/70 - which is pretty well controlled I think. My blood sugar didn't come down much - it came down 0.8 points in the five hours I was there - without me having eaten anything since the previous day or while I was there until just before I went. They made me give a urine sample and did some blood tests.

I never did see the diabetic registrar - eventually the A&E doctor spoke to me. He said that my blood wasn't acidic and there weren't many ketones in my urine at that point. He got me a couple of slices of toast and gave me a different tablet which he said patients with pancreatitis often responded to well. I can't remember what it was and have no idea if it worked but at least it didn't make me feel ill.

They sent me home and told me the diabetic consultant wanted to see me and would phone me today. He said I definitely wasn't a medical emergency - which I knew myself - if I'd been an emergency it would have been a fortnight ago - and I felt fine.

This morning the consultant phoned me and told me to come and see him tomorrow at 12 and not to bother taking the metaformin in the mean-time. He agreed with me that the issue is most likely a bit of type 1 diabetes with a bit of type 2 diabetes rather than one or the other. He said I'll definitely need to self-monitor my blood sugar and that they'll give tablets that stimulate insulin production a go to see if I can avoid injections. Having said that, I know that it's not the insulin injections I need to worry about - it's the testing blood sugar.

I've read on the internet that you can get a laser to help test blood sugar rather than having to use a lancet. Does anyone here do that? I really don't like to stab my fingers - I'm quite sensitive to things like that and I use the ends of my fingers a lot for typing, texting and gaming! I think I'd rather make just about any other part of my sore.
 
In all honesty, the lancets you can barely feel, once you get the height setting right for it. Although you prick your fingers, its only on the side of them, so doesnt affect your typing or gaming, etc...if you find it does, you can always just prick your little finger.....I prefer my index ones, though when i am at the gym i have to cycle through them all as it gets a bit sore doing it at the same site many times a day. Good luck in getting your BGs down, its a struggle for us all, but I agree with the others above, reduce the carbs, even if its simply one meal a day its better than doing nothing. Its amazing what people have achieved on this forum, it really is.
 
Thanks for the update, Phil. Looks like miracles are happening - Praise the Lord!

At those BG levels, oral drugs alone are unlikely to have enough effect WITHOUT A RADICAL CHANGE IN YOUR HIGH CARB DIET.

Finger pricking is no big issue. I use the 3rd & 4th fingers of both hands, & prick the sides, NOT the pads. I play a variety of musical instruments, including keyboard & recorder & have no sore finger problems.

Hope you get on well with your consultant. You will be given a diet, & possibly an appointment with a dietitian. IMHSHO the standard dietary advice is not good advice, as it recommends a starchy carb diet, which aggravates the blood glucose problem. Finger prick blood testing will show you how you are progressing, & what foods cause a BG rise.
 
I got on quite well today. My blood glucose was 30+ and the consultant agreed it's really a case of my pancreas not producing insulin rather than me being resistant to it so he started me on insulin and gave me a blood sugar monitor. I was quite apprehensive about injecting the insulin and even more so about checking my own blood sugar.

I was really surprised just how little pain was caused - much less sore than when someone else does it. I was given an accu-chek mobile along with a novapen 300 and was told everything I needed would be delivered each week and automatically reordered for me - at first I found it difficult to test until I was told I could put the monitor down while I squeezed my finger to get a drop of blood and then pick it up again to touch the drop of blood to the strip. It really was pretty painless though.

I've been started on just 16 units before each meal and I'm to go back on Monday to see how I'm getting on with that.
 
Hope you get on alright now, Phil. Figures that high need more than tablets. If you drive, remember to contact DVLA & your insurance company.

You would still be well advised to reduce your carb intake.

Feel free to ask advice as you progress. We'll try to help.
 
I'm registered blind - so driving isn't going to be an issue!

My blood sugar was 30 before tea and my insulin shot last night. Two hours later it was 22. This morning when I woke up it was between 12 and 13. I even felt well enough to have some weetabix.
 
Hi Phil

Well done for getting your numbers down to 12 - 13 from those highs.

I just don’t understand why you would want to shoot yourself in the foot with weetabix just as you are just starting to feel better? :shock: IMHO your levels were still high at 12 - 13. :?
 
As a newly diagnosed Type 1 (October) who also loves carbs I feel I can be of assistance.
The docs told me that I can eat most things, just need to inject the right amount of insulin to cover it.
(for me, this was one thing that i needed to hear - as my preconception of diabetics is that they couldn't have anything sugary).

Try searching the forums for "carb counting" or "DAFNE", and ask your doctor about it.

Initially I would try and cut down on the carbs, but just know there is light at the end of the tunnel and that in the longer run, when you have control you can eat the majority of things!

As for finger pricking, you are definitely right about it hurting less when you do it yourself! I will echo what others have said and go for the sides of the fingers...

Good Luck!
 
James and Phil
Saying you can eat everything and just taking the right amount of insulin is probably right, but it's a bit of a pitfall. You can end up using increasing amounts of insulin and gaining a lot of weight. A great many people find that a bit of restraint on the eating of carbs, keeps the doses down and contributes to a general well-being. A very recent study has also found that a low carb diet ( very low <20carbs per day) keeps blood pressure under control.
In addition, If using insulin, you are very vulnerable to hypos. keeping the carb count down and the insulin low, makes that less likely and easier to correct if it does happen.
Hana
 

Hi Phil,

Oh Boy,
I have acute on chronic Pancreatitis from severe acute pancreatitis and subsequent medical mismanagement.
I have only tipped over the brink into diabetes type 2 in the last couple of days, but know that as the pancreas burns out, the endgame will be type one diabetes and, most likely, 'brittle'.

If you continue with the diet you quote above, particularly the fat and protein content, it will be a close run thing whether the Diabetes or the Pancreatitis will finish you off. Your Fat consumption, even if you are taking creon by the handful, places you at very high risk of an acute attack. Any simple acute attack can turn in the wink of an eye into Severe Aute Pancreatitis .. and you really, really don't want to go there my friend, Trust me!

Both you and I are going to have to try and find some middle ground between the diet 'friendly to the pancreas' and the low carb requirements of diabetes.

I am sure the mods here will slap me quick enough if I am out of order, but I would like to point you towards the Pancreatitis Supports Network Forum, (where I am a Moderator under the same 'nick').
We are friendly and informative community, and I think you will benefit from visiting us.

Copy & paste link http://www.pancreatitis-forum.org.uk/index.php

Hoping you are beginning to get to grips with the Diabetes, this forum is excellent and I am sure will keep nudging you in the right direction

be good and be lucky

Dave
 
Hi Sue,

Many thanks for the info, I will post the link shortly

Dave
 
Hi Leather_Ferret.
Welcome to the Forum. I think the information and your weblink is a great resource for all.

Hope we see you making more contributions.....
 
Hi Cugila,

thanks for your welcome

Unless you manage to find a way to 'magic away' my newly acquired diabetes, you will be seeing a lot more of me :lol:

Please feel free to PM me anytime if I can be of any help to pancreatitis suffers here

be good and be lucky

Dave
 
Cheers Dave.
I think we have linked to your site previously when there have been questions about Pancreatitis. It's always good to have people who have experienced it or are just very knowledgeable.

You can rest assured that link is now in the database, very helpful !

Did you see my pm BTW. We are always glad to help any fellow Diabetic's......
 
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