Hi all
I finally got my hubby to the doctors yesterday after much nagging as he had been feeling rough for ages. I have been suspecting for ages that he might be diabetic but we have a major problem as in my hubby is needle phobic . I don't understand it myself as I'm not like that and I do find it frustrating but after listening to him yesterday at the doctors I am beginning to understand .
Anyway the doctor tested his urine and he said it was full of sugar and without testing his blood which he can't do at the moment he is as convinced as he can be that my hubby is diabetic. Well he actually said something about being a high blood pressure diabetic ? . And needs to lose five stone.
The doctor is concerned that he won't have a blood test so he had arranged councilling for him , CBT I think but in the mean time I'm really concerned and worried . I don't know what to do regarding food, I can't test his blood sugar levels so I don't know where I am with that either . The doctor had referred us to the hospital to see the nurses in the diabetic clinic but we have to wait for that as well . I guess I'm just frightened and worried and could do with any help that's out there regarding what to give him to eat , what to look out for , warning signs etc
Please help me
Dawn x
Hi,
I don't know if I'm going to be any help here, but I will try. Your hubys doctor sounds a big like mine, he's started to give you alternatives to start you off. I was diagnosed three weeks ago. God it feels like a life time, but I'm living through what I can only describe as a personal nightmare with the blood testing.
I've been a needle phobe for as long as I can remember, its so bad it's been a talking point between the doctors in my surgery. They all know about it and it would be funny if it was somebody else. I refuse to get bloods done, I refuse any kind of injections like the flu jab and you can watch my blood pressure go up if the doctors talk about bloods. I've said no to serious operations and I can't stand it.
However, I've had a years worth of CBT based therapy, not for my hate of needles but because my mental Heath was misdiagnose several years ago, and after changing doctors, they were alarmed about things I was doing, so referred me to a psychiatrist and they started the CBT based treatment. For the first time in years I said yes to a blood test, took control of my situation and told the person taking it that I needed to lie down flat, and have something in my hands to pkay with.
About three years ago, a doctor in A&E really needed to take blood, I had been taken in with a suspected Stoke and they needed to test my blood, at this point I was trying to discharge myself and get out of the building. For one of the first times my needle phobia was taken seriously and it's been a great help since. What that A & E doctor did was went and brought me a teddy, they give them to kids to comfort them I was told. It is the silliest thing ever, but it gave me something in my hands and something to concentrate on while they take blood. I'm not going to say it was easy, it wasn't, but it did help.
The CBT therapy also helps, I really wouldn't be here now writing this if I had not had it, because it would have been game over for me the second they said you have diabetes, because there is actually no way I could inject and to be honest my doctor knows that. The therapy has started to change how I look at things, my little voice in my head keeps asking what can I change? What can do? How can I do this? What's the best out come? What's the worst outcome? Who can help me change and cope with this? And lots of other things, but the major one is that I have to deal with what's going on because if I don't things will get worse.
My doctor gave me both the urine testing strips and a blood sugar meter. He said that he didn't think in a million years that I would use it but if I could then he would like me to have one to try. The strips were as a back up. He showed me how to use it on himself and then asked if he could possibly try mine...
Having watched him test his own blood I said ok, so he sat me down, let me gather myself and click... Swine did it before I was ready. But you know what, it wasn't any worse than pricking my finger when sewing. So I took the kits and went thinking I'm never going to be able to do that.
Three weeks on, I'm still struggling to take my blood, but, I sit down in a quiet room, I load my lancet, then the test strip and I sit for about a minute deep breathing, and trying to relax my body. I still can't look at the finger pricker, I can't see the needle unt I have to look away but I do do it. I only do it when I can cope with it so not as much as some but I can.
What it's done is given me a certain amount of control and peace of mind. I hope that this us going to be easier in time but I doubt it, but without doing it I would have no control on what's going on in my body.
My blood tests results came back as some of the highest my doctors ever seen, and he explained thAt I really had to get this under control fast. (I've now got problems with my eyes as well)
He recommended that I cut out all sugar, and carbs until he saw me 6 days later, explained that fruit and juice were out as well as sweets and chocolate. And prescribed glimepiride. And off I went on my journey.
My diet is both the hardest thing and easiest thing I have to do, as I can control the amount of sugar going into my body. It's easy to say I'm eating low carb diet now, but that's been an information overload as I've trawled through the web looking for diets. So I've tried to keep it simple. No bread, pasta rice or potatoes. No prepackaged food, Google is my friend as I keep typing in how much sugar in..... And it's working. But you have to keep going with it, and become slightly obsessive with it. The thing that's keeping me there is if I don't get this under control I'm looking at insulin injection three time as day... It's not happening.
Even without testing your blood the duet changes have got to help. Get your hubby eating right and hopefully things will get better.
If offered though do the CBT, it's made a massive difference to my life, and I really believe that if it hadn't been for it I would not be able to cope with what's going on at the moment.
I'm eating, lots of eggs and protein like chicken, some Veg such as broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, carrots. Cheese, I've just oats and porridge, sounds boring I know but I've tried to use spices to spice things up. I'm avoiding tomatoes as they don't like my blood sugar... But breakfast has been bacon, eggs and mushrooms. Lunch chicken or eggs and salad evening meal is some kind of protein and veg... If your hubby has a very sweet tooth, I discovered a carb/sugar free syrup by Waldren farms that I'm mixing with quark (soft cheese) to create a desert of add yo my coffee so that's sweet. It really hard to say eat this this and this because only you know what you like.
I would also look for apps for your phone, I found one that I log all of my food into and it breaks it down into carbs etc..
I wish your hubby good luck, I really understand what he's going through and know it's so hard to change.