Need To Get A Grip

[Daz66]

Hi everyone, same as some of the other members here, I'm not new to diabetes, have had it since January 2001 and should know better than to have poor control. I am ashamed of myself and keep on blaming my poor control on other things that have happened in my life over the past 10 years, in and out of jobs, divorce, relationship problems, money problems due to the CSA taking 40% of my take home pay. All contributing factors but I only have myself to blame, I don't want sympathy but a kick up the jaxxie and encouragement/advice to get myself and my health back on track.

I am overweight, a good 3 stone which isnt good by any stretch of the imagination. I actually got down to 14 stone a few years (6ft tall) but that was due to not eating or taking my diabetes medication for about 6 weeks due to a relationship break-up, the weight just dropped off of me, felt like cr*p but looked great, went from size 44 waist to 36 ! Obviously not a good way to lose weight , unfortunately I am back to size 44 waist and look awful, god knows what my new partner sees in me ! I have no energy, feel sh*t most of the time and just laze around the house when I am off not wanting to do anything, I'm also very moody, have aches and pains, headaches and dental problems (not sure if diabetes affects your gums although I imagine it could if your blood sugars are high regularly). Sometimes I feel I don't wanna be alive, especially when I'm feeling cr*p, I am really down in the dumps and just going around in circles. If I don't take control soon I will end up with complications that nobody wants.

Sorry this is such a depressing introduction but I really do need some good advice. I have had a quick read through the forum and other parts of the site and already feel perked up and ready to try and change things. I have been to my HCP , recently moved to this area so my GP is new etc....they have already given me a diabetes check up , eye check etc and things were not horrendous but could be much better. I know what to do I just need encouragment. The hardest part of all of this for me is losing weight, does insulin (novorapid and levemir) really make you put weight on or is it the fact that you think you can eat more because you are taking insulin ?

Thanks everyone, no doubt some of you will reply so thank you in advance for any comments you post. Please don't pussyfoot around me, just be honest but most of all positive with advice. cheers.

 

[daisy1]

Hi Daz and welcome to the forum Here is your kick up the jaxxie as requested - you have to take control of yourself - no-one else will do it for you and your problems can be alleviated to a large extent if you just put in the effort. I know you are not newly diagnosed and you should know what to do by now but you need to get back to the basics to get under control. Lecture over :wink: . Here is some basic information written by the Forum Monitors which you must try and follow to help yourself:

Postby sugarless sue » 02 Oct 2010, 17:49
Here is the advice that Ken and I, as Forum Monitors, usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, 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.

For more information on CARBOHYDRATE see here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20306

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

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. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have 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!!

For TIPS FOR STRIPS see here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19002#p173253

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking and before meals).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l...(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals........................no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals......................... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do at least 30 minutes moderate exercise a day, it can be split into 10 min sessions to start with. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Finally a few QUESTIONS TO ASK AT DIABETES CLINIC.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17091



Sue/Ken.

 

[Daz66]

Hi Daisy, many thanks for your quick reply AND for the much needed kick up the bum :mrgreen: !

You are soooo right , I have been on weightwatchers for the past few weeks but with no exercise (blames the job but need to find time) so time to make a fresh start and make some effort to lose some weight and feel good about myself again.

As you say, only I can do this, so time to brush myself down, stop being negative and get on with it !

THANK YOU DAISY !!!

D x

 

[faircot]

Daz66, To be frank you only have two choices.

1. Carry on as you have been for the last 10 years and live with the consequences of a progressive disease like diabetes gradually eroding your quality of life and lifespan, or
2. Get a grip of the issues and solutions AND start taking excercise. No more excuses.

I'm so aware of the insidious effects of this disease. My father was diagnosed in his 40s and basically ignored his condition. The effect was to lose his sight and legs in the next twenty years and die far too early.

Don't let it happen to you.

 

[donnellysdogs]

As a side step to the diabetes subject, I am also concerned with how you are feeling.... I have it emblazoned on my GP notes for too many years to mention that 'I am fed up with living'.

For the first time I have a GP that has not just fobbed me off with an antidepressant and sent me away....because of other illness I have, depression is a major part of it, as well as the pain, and then also the diabetes...

I made it clear to my GP that although I am fed up with living, that I was not going to harm myself, as I knew it would devastate my family and friends, so I wouldn't do it, but that I need help with the way that I handle my life.

I now have a counsellor, who has helped me enormously. She most of all listens, and helps me to think of other things, and other ways to manage things, and just talking to her helps me so much.
I now have an expensive tablet instead of the normal antidepressant, which helps my depression and my pain. I had to go through many, many different tablets and side effects to get one that suits me.
I am also enrolled on a stress management course, which is not 'group therapy' where you sit around and say I can't stop getting stressed. It is where they actually teach you how to handle stress better. The best saying of which I found is 'what is the worst that could happen'-and just that phrase alone has helped me evaluate the options that I take a lot better, and it also kicks my **** when I need it. However, it also makes me more rationale at handling things that I can no longer do.
GP's can also send you to gym's to help diabetes and depression. Mine didn't work out, as they didn't specialise in gym exercises appropriate to my actual illness, HOWEVER, I have 2 friends that go that suffer from depression and it has helped them to be be more active and positive in the way that they think as well.

Diabetes will be helped if you can lift yourself out of the depressive mode that you appear to be in at the moment. If you can start to feel better about the way that you are and what you do, then you will take more care of your diabetes as well.

You can't fully undo what has been done, except you can make your life better for the future. Dwelling on the past, whether it is relationships, jobs or diabetes, diet, injections etc. You have to give yourself that kick up the bum, and also perhaps enlist your GP to help you.

There is a huge amount of support from here, and most of all for me, it is so lovely to read how people have turned their lives around. It makes my day to see some good results.

The additional disease I have also has forums on the health problem, and I can't actually log on and read them, as they are so depserately down in the dumps and moaning....this site is fantastic, and the support is fantastic.

 

[Gappy]

I am on anti depressants too, I call them don't punch the 1st person you see pills. As I had a serious motorbike accident which I was very positive in my reecovery from (fantastic nurses and physios) then the legal system kept screwing me over in the compensation claim (too long a story to prove I'm right and they're wrong here) but I was in a bad place! However, having been diagnosed I once again have something to fight, to prove my doubters wrong. I can be a pain in the a@*e to many who have wronged me and I intend living long enough to achieve that! So in the words of Johnny Rotten (the song Rise by PIL) "anger is an energy" in my 2nd week of trying I have lost 2.1kg-it may not work for some but it's my way of turning a negative to my own advantage.