Hi all, this is my first post, I discovered this site last night and it seems great, lots of useful info here. So... A little about me, with a question for you to answer if you manage to get to the bottom of this wall of text!
I am 38 and I have been injecting insulin for the last 4 years - I was told that judging from the state of my eyes I have probably been diabetic for the last 10 years, but was only diagnosed 4 years ago when my skin started erupting in strange boils!
When antibiotics didn't cure my hideous skin diseases I went back to the doctors to demand they dug a little deeper. On a Tuesday they took a blood sample and told me to come back on Friday to discuss the results. That same Tuesday night, at 10:30pm the emergency out of hours doctor turned up at my door asking for me by name - They seems surprised that I was the person they wanted, I'm not sure if they expected to find me lying on the floor, but my blood sugar test (not sure if that was an HBA1C) was 23% so I guess they were right to be concerned! They said "Are you diabetic" I said "Not that I know of..." They said "Well you are now." and that's how I found out!
Looking back now the signs were obvious, I had such an incredible thirst, and unfortunately for me the drink of choice to quench my thirst was full sugar ribena, so I ended up feeling even more thirsty after a drink! Just before I was diagnosed I was getting through a 75cl bottle of ribena concentrate a day... A shame I didn't know that being thirsty was sign of diabetes. A shame that my friends, work colleagues and family didn't know either!
Anyway - Back to my question... Does anyone know the rough percentage of people that manage to go from insulin dependence to oral medication or even nothing at all?
My HBA1C has been going up consistently since diagnosis, the last one was just over 8. I decided to go on a diet to lose some weight as I have been injecting more insulin to counter the high values and been putting on weight as a result.
I started weightwatchers 4 weeks ago. I have now lost over a stone (yay!) but the biggest surprise for me is I no longer seem to require insulin. I was going out for a lunch at the pub a couple of weekends ago and before we left the house I felt a hypo coming on. Tested and my level was 3.5 so I had a small chocolate bar to give me a boost.
We got to the pub and the food took over an hour to arrive, I had to have a few sips of my wife's sugary lemonade as I was feeling light headed again - I went a bit mad with the food as I thought my levels were really low anyway! A couple of hours later I was back home so I tested again and to my surprise my reading was only 4.5
I guess the dose of insulatard in the morning was still doing its thing. That night before going to bed I was still at 4.5 so I decided against injecting my nightly dose of insulatard. The following morning 4.2, after lunch 4.8 etc. etc. I have been mostly without insulin for the last couple of weeks now and is is now uncommon for my levels to be higher than 5.8 even two hours after eating.
I am very aware that this might be a temporary "blip" or something so I am testing myself about 4 or 5 times a day. There have been 3 times in the last two weeks where my levels went up to 8.0 and I have injected some insulatard to bring them back down, but that's just me getting used to what I can and can't eat on the diet (apparently beetroot dipped in malt vinegar isn't good for my levels!)
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? The advice I don't want to hear is "you must go and see your doctor immediately" as I'd rather keep my levels low and let the next HBA1C do the talking...
So, thanks for reading, and any comments or advice appreciated!
Cheers,
St0ker.
I am 38 and I have been injecting insulin for the last 4 years - I was told that judging from the state of my eyes I have probably been diabetic for the last 10 years, but was only diagnosed 4 years ago when my skin started erupting in strange boils!
When antibiotics didn't cure my hideous skin diseases I went back to the doctors to demand they dug a little deeper. On a Tuesday they took a blood sample and told me to come back on Friday to discuss the results. That same Tuesday night, at 10:30pm the emergency out of hours doctor turned up at my door asking for me by name - They seems surprised that I was the person they wanted, I'm not sure if they expected to find me lying on the floor, but my blood sugar test (not sure if that was an HBA1C) was 23% so I guess they were right to be concerned! They said "Are you diabetic" I said "Not that I know of..." They said "Well you are now." and that's how I found out!
Looking back now the signs were obvious, I had such an incredible thirst, and unfortunately for me the drink of choice to quench my thirst was full sugar ribena, so I ended up feeling even more thirsty after a drink! Just before I was diagnosed I was getting through a 75cl bottle of ribena concentrate a day... A shame I didn't know that being thirsty was sign of diabetes. A shame that my friends, work colleagues and family didn't know either!
Anyway - Back to my question... Does anyone know the rough percentage of people that manage to go from insulin dependence to oral medication or even nothing at all?
My HBA1C has been going up consistently since diagnosis, the last one was just over 8. I decided to go on a diet to lose some weight as I have been injecting more insulin to counter the high values and been putting on weight as a result.
I started weightwatchers 4 weeks ago. I have now lost over a stone (yay!) but the biggest surprise for me is I no longer seem to require insulin. I was going out for a lunch at the pub a couple of weekends ago and before we left the house I felt a hypo coming on. Tested and my level was 3.5 so I had a small chocolate bar to give me a boost.
We got to the pub and the food took over an hour to arrive, I had to have a few sips of my wife's sugary lemonade as I was feeling light headed again - I went a bit mad with the food as I thought my levels were really low anyway! A couple of hours later I was back home so I tested again and to my surprise my reading was only 4.5
I guess the dose of insulatard in the morning was still doing its thing. That night before going to bed I was still at 4.5 so I decided against injecting my nightly dose of insulatard. The following morning 4.2, after lunch 4.8 etc. etc. I have been mostly without insulin for the last couple of weeks now and is is now uncommon for my levels to be higher than 5.8 even two hours after eating.
I am very aware that this might be a temporary "blip" or something so I am testing myself about 4 or 5 times a day. There have been 3 times in the last two weeks where my levels went up to 8.0 and I have injected some insulatard to bring them back down, but that's just me getting used to what I can and can't eat on the diet (apparently beetroot dipped in malt vinegar isn't good for my levels!)
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? The advice I don't want to hear is "you must go and see your doctor immediately" as I'd rather keep my levels low and let the next HBA1C do the talking...
So, thanks for reading, and any comments or advice appreciated!
Cheers,
St0ker.
