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Moving on….Starting on insulin....positive signs of improvement ...glimmers of hope...

Molly56

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,844
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Recent days have not been easy as my partner has not been well (sore throat /cough /flu like symptoms) - I managed to get an appointment for him yesterday, not with the usual doctor that he sees (appointments with him are like gold dust) but a different doctor…a female doctor who we had not seen before….this proved to be a very good move as she was very thorough and very helpful…
….it also gave me an opportunity to ask the questions I needed to about recent blood sugar levels / what to do before referral appointment at end of January…

More importantly my partner had the opportunity to ask some questions about moving on to insulin and it appears that he is now accepting of the idea in the hope that this will help to manage his diabetes and help him to feel better in himself....I know for some this would not be seen as the ideal solution but it is right for my partner for where he is now..

Am hoping that I can use the positive messages from yesterday to move on and work on this together…
..in the light of recent events I sense that now is the time to draw a line and to move on with a more positive attitude .....hopefully this is just the start of getting somewhere with this...
 
A new Doctor with a new approach may be just what you and your partner needed. I hope that the management of his diabetes will be better now. Take a little hope in the fact that some diabetics have been able to reduce and even stop their insulin once they have got their diabetes under control. However this is usually accredited to being able to manage their condition through diet.
 
angelicbaby said:
Take a little hope in the fact that some diabetics have been able to reduce and even stop their insulin once they have got their diabetes under control. However this is usually accredited to being able to manage their condition through diet.
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Which is possibly due to them realising that their condition IS controllable, not the inevitable downward spiral "promoted" by most HCPs.
hopefully you may have a "keeper" in this doc @Molly56
 
Molly56, that is great news, almost like an early Christmas present. It is amazing what a new approach can do. Good luck; let us know how you both get on.
Barbara
 

A wonderful and a encouraging post Molly I'm so pleased for you, and it looks like a positive step in the right direction, onwards and upwards

Take care RRB x.
 
Remaining on a positive route....blood sugar levels over the past three days seem to have come down slightly with readings of 9.5, 12.9 and 9.6 which is far better than the mid to high teens of recent weeks....am a little bit mystified and surprised by this as he is really not well at the moment and spent most of yesterday and the day before in bed..
....I had assumed from reading up about diabetes and illness on this website that being ill would be more likely to result in an increase in blood sugar levels which would obviously be of concern....
Hoping that he gets better soon and he can keep those sugar levels down...
 

I could be a minx and suggest that what he eats when he's up and about is clearly harming him more than whatever ails him currently.

Flippant perhaps, but it could illustrate the power of diet.
 
AndBreathe said:
I could be a minx and suggest that what he eats when he's up and about is clearly harming him more than whatever ails him currently.

Flippant perhaps, but it could illustrate the power of diet.
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Regrettably Molly, And Breathe is correct. While he is bed ridden and unable to eat like he does when he is left to his own devices, he is obviously eating less foods that make his Blood Sugar high. You really would be doing him a favour by showing him these results and explaining it to him.
 
Years ago three of my GPs in my practice retired all with a year of each other. I felt lost but decided to "shop" around for a suitable replacement GP that I felt comfortable with. This has taken a while and now have two GPs who know me well and don't need to waste time pre-reading my records as this gives me the whole 10 mins to discuss things or be examined. Good GPs are like gold dust and anyone blessed with one should consider themselves very lucky.
 
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@angelicbaby ....I take your point but not sure that totally answers the question...yes, I guess he has eaten less (though he doesn't eat to excess when he is up and well, despite what some may think) .....but what he has eaten has probably been reasonably high in carbs.....bread and butter / toast / porridge....I did make some homemade soup but am guessing that had some carbs in too (parsnip / carrot / leek / cauliflower / green beans and a very small potato).....has also had scrambled egg on toast a couple of times and bacon / mushrooms...

Am trying to think what I can encourage him to eat as he is still not well....his immune system is obviously very low as he now has an eye infection too..
....his solution to the problem is often to say 'well I just won't eat then' but I know that this is equally as bad as eating the wrong foods...he has to eat something otherwise I am guessing it will just make him more ill..

Yesterday's blood sugar reading was 14.5 which was just after he had a bowl of soup and a small piece of baguette....I knew it would be higher but didn't want to discourage him doing it as it was perhaps the first time he has taken his blood sugar reading on his own initiative and without me suggesting it.....progress in my book.......at least it gave me an opportunity to explain why it was higher than previous days..

Feeling a bit like Mother Hubbard's dog as when i open the cupboard "the cupboard is bare".....have not done any shopping for Christmas yet as am trying to avoid buying any of the tempting sugary treats...if they are not in the house neither of us can eat them...

Will try to think what else I can encourage him to eat over this period of illness and Christmas ....and hope that he is feeling better soon....
 
@molly56

I am just wondering when it is that you are taking glucose counts.

You should do so before and two hours after each meal and keep reducing carb rich food in next meal until the after count is no more than 2 mmol of the before count.

Just taking a reading at random times or soon after eating does not tell you much and teaches you even less about how to improve things going forward.

Pavlos
 

@pavlosn ...I fully understand what you are saying and in an ideal world this would be what I would encourage having read all the advice given....however for someone who has been reluctant to test and who still is then any testing done must be seen as a positive step in taking control of his diabetes...

The main purpose of testing at the moment is to see what levels are and to make sure in periods such as now (when he is not well) they are not reaching levels where medical assistance is required.....also to hopefully keep a log of levels so that when he gets to his referral appointment at the end of January he has something to take with him to explain where he is at and they can make the appropriate recommendations for moving forward..

Testing will become much more necessary as he moves forward but for now this is where he is at....I try to suggest that he tests either first thing in the morning or before eating just so that he gets in the habit of doing it and that this is not skewed by what he has eaten.......it would probably be counter productive at this point in time to suggest he tests more than this as he will most likely rebel and stop testing at all...in my book any testing is better than no testing...
....hopefully in time he will get to the point where he is using testing in the same way as other users of this forum but he will only do this if he wants to....

The positive for now is that he is testing which is a few steps further forward than he was a few months back...
 
Molly, I am wondering why you are feeding him bread, toast, potatoes, and a baguette! I understand he is poorly at the moment and needs to eat something, but these choices are not wise ones for someone with high blood sugars. I would stick to homemade soups, with no spuds and no flour thickener, with maybe half a slice of low carb bread and plenty of butter. Also random testing is not telling you anything. At least try to test him first thing in the morning when he has fasted all night. That would be a better indicator of how he is doing in general.
 
@Bluetit1802 ....the bread was the lowest carb I could find and I did add plenty of butter (not low fat)...am trying to reduce carbs as much as possible....will try and encourage morning (fasting) testing....thank you..
...unfortunately the baguette was a leftover from my lunch earlier in the day.....
 

Which bread do you use? Bergen I think has 12g carbs per slice. Hovis Wholemeal Seed Sensations has 14g. The LivLife is the lowest but only available at Waitrose I believe. Personally I use the Hovis, but only with lots of fat. 2 poached eggs on one piece of toast, a bit of cheese, and lashings of butter makes a decent lunch.
 
@Bluetit1802 ....not sure without checking / will check later....did have a small LivLife in the freezer so used a couple of slices of that and the other loaf I bought had less than 15g per slice as far as I remember....also put it in the freezer so less accessible for picking at......otherwise he will eat the whole loaf when i am not looking...

@Bluetit1802 ....warburtons Danish 11.8g per slice....

the bread I normally buy for myself is Tesco Finest Sunflower and Pumpkin Seed Cob....15.9g per slice ...so am trying to discourage him eating this one if possible (don't think he likes it anyway) though difficult if it is all that is available and he fancies a slice of bread....perhaps freezing it is the only option...
 
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I only eat wholegrain now. White bread for me is LETHAL, it's got to be one of my all time meter-melters and avoid it like the plague lol, however Bluetit's lunch recipe sounds nice, might add it into my diet. Ta
 
eddie1968 said:
I only eat wholegrain now. White bread for me is LETHAL, it's got to be one of my all time meter-melters and avoid it like the plague lol, however Bluetit's lunch recipe sounds nice, might add it into my diet. Ta
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You're welcome. It's one of my staple go-to lunches.
 
Trying to remain more positive but not easy while he is still not well....hoping things will improve and he starts to feel better soon...
 
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