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sorry - not been online for ages, but .........

C

carolynjw

Well-Known Member
Messages
54
don't know who else to turn to.......

Basically, I feel that I would be better off dead. went to see specialist in November and my hba1c has increased from 7.5 to 8.8 in 6 months. I am on insulin (novorapid 30, 36 and 38, lantus 75), metformin 850 three times a day, byetta 10, B12 injections, statin and ramipril. Until recently, I was on 60mcg fluoxetine. I have always had a poor sleeping pattern and have been on temazepam on and off for the past 13 years but have found that they no longer work.

My GP has taken me off fluoxetine (gradually) and put me on diazepam which spaced me out for a week. I have also got zopiclone for when I am absolutely desperate with the sleeping. I am now on sertraline (low dose) for a couple of weeks as they felt that my anti depressant wasn't doing me any good.....

I have had my diet checked over by my diabetes nurse (who is absolutely wonderful, but is retiring in a week) and my GP, who can find no issues with it. I am not losing weight although I have been on byetta for nearly a year. I keep a close eye on what I eat and feel that I only eat things cos they are "good for me", not cos I "want to eat them"! My life has no pleasure at all, I am losing work due to my low mood and swinging sugars, and work has now referred me to occupational health.

I have just had my balance magazine and there is a quote "I read somewhere recently its finally been shown that happy people live longer, get sick less. I'd say it's not just about being happy, it's about feeling your life is worth living, that there's a point, that it's fun and not a drudge waking up in the mornings" - that is SOOOO me!

Don't get me wrong - I am trying to control my sugars - I am not afraid of dying, but I am terrified of the damage that bad control can cause in between!

Sorry - thanks if you have read this far, and sorry to depress anyone x
 
carolynjw said:
I have had my diet checked over by my diabetes nurse (who is absolutely wonderful, but is retiring in a week) and my GP, who can find no issues with it. I am not losing weight although I have been on byetta for nearly a year. I keep a close eye on what I eat and feel that I only eat things cos they are "good for me", not cos I "want to eat them"! My life has no pleasure at all, I am losing work due to my low mood and swinging sugars, and work has now referred me to occupational health.
Click to expand...

Hi Carolyn.
Glad you thought to come back here to us. I remember you from the Byetta thread. Welcome back.

I can see that you are obviously not too good at the moment and I can only hope that once your new drug kicks in eventually you will start to feel a bit better. As a fellow depression sufferer from a few years back who is now out of the 'woods' I can honestly tell you that although it is black at the moment the only way now is up !

I stayed in that pit of despair for a very long time till one day I just had a sort of vision that I wasn't going to be beaten....I was going to get myself out of this mess that I was in. It took a while but I eventually broke through with the help of a supportive GP and a very good counsellor. I owe her an awful lot. So, if you haven't already sought counselling I can recommend it to you wholeheartedly. It could be a first step to getting your life back......
Best of luck with your efforts.

As regards your diet.....just what exactly does it consist of on a daily basis ?

I too some years ago ate what I was told was a healthy diet, my Gp said so, my Nurse said so, my dietician said so.....how wrong they all were ??? It was only coming here in January this year that I found that carbohydrates were the biggest cause of my high Bg levels, my weight gain.

I weighed 19 1/2 stone after 11 years of rubbish advice from HCP's. With the help of members on here I drastically reduced my carbs, I am not a low carber by any means, reduced portion sizes and remained a determined user of Byetta. I quickly found that reducing the carbs helped the Byetta to work more efficiently as well. That method has helped me attain a weight of around 14 1/2 stone to date. My Bg levels are all well within target now. Without the help and information from fellow members ........I would probably be dead by now ..... :(

So if you give us some information whilst you deal properly with the depression, then maybe, just maybe we here can turn your life around too......keep coming back Carolyn, we can help you.
 
Thanks for your advice. I am supposed to be going back to my GP next week to increase the meds for my depression....

With regards to my diet I usually have a bowl of cereal with semi skimmed milk for breakfast (usually special k cos I can easily eat them without sugar!), a couple of tangerines and an apple mid morning, a jacket potato with baked beans (no butter), or a plain bread roll with a slice of ham for lunch and another apple, some frozen stew (keep a HUGE amount in the freezer!) or a ham sandwich (no butter) when I get home from work, and usually a chop, jacket potato and loads of veg for evening meal.

I know that my diet is high on carbs but don't know where to start with decreasing them. I eat loads of veg and fruit. My weakness is nuts, so I try not to have them - was having the Graze boxes twice a week in work, but cut them out. Sometimes I eat cheese, but try not to. I don't drink tea or coffee, but drink loads of water throughout the day - keep a stock under my desk (with my special k) and just top up my little bottle throughout the day.

Any advice you can give me to keep me on the straight and narrow is appreciated. Thanks for your interest.

Also, I should add that I do absolutely no exercise at all - I know I should, but I am always so tired and down, that I just can't face it - bloody stupid excuses though, hey?

When I saw my consultant in November he basically told me that I was lying to him as he could see from my results that I was not controlling my sugars, and he could not see any reason to keep spending NHS money on treating me. Oh boy, I cried! x
 
Hi again Carolyn.

As you say most of what you are eating is packed full of carbs. So, where to start ? How about firstly reducing portions sizes at all round by half. That in effect halves the carb content too. Then when you have done that try to eliminate or change those high carb foods, one meal at a time. Take it steady, don't try to do too much too soon. Just with reducing portions I am sure you will start to see a difference.

As for exercise, you could try doing what I do which is a resistance trainer. Simple and inexpensive. Can be used indoors and also whilst sitting down. 15 - 30 mins a day with this is great exercise and not too strenuous. It does work ! You can even use it at your office desk.

Now please don't be offended but here is the information we give out to new members, it may be advantageous for you to have a read. If there is any thing that you need clarifying, ASK !

Looking at your diet there is a lot of carbohydrate in it. 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.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular 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 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.

Hope that you stick with us .....we DO want to help YOU !
 
thanks for this advice. I am looking for a resistance trainer on argos etc at the moment.

Carb counter book - not so easy - can you recommend one? I have never done carb counting before. Will it tell me what to aim for?

Thanks again - you are already making me feel more positive! x
 
However can we help, Carolyn? We are here as we are concerned for others. I was at a "Self management" discussion group at DUK in November. Emotional support was a matter of prime concern. I'm not on any injections, so I can't comment on them.

You can see a thread reporting that conference here. It includes the follow-up report from the organiser.

Is there a local support group? You need real people to support & encourage you, though we will do what we can from a distance. I would suggest emotional support would be preferable to increasing medication. What is your family situation? Look back at your past - what made you happy? What are your interests? Are there church or social groups you could join?

I could not manage on your diet - I treated my leg neuropathy with reduced carb advice from people on this forum. I simply reduced all carbs to about 1/3 & increased veg, cheese & nuts. My overnight fasting BS rapidly dropped from about 7 to below 6. It took 3 months for my mobility to be fully restored.

Hope that helps.
 
forgot to say - I'm not easily offended! So you can say just about anything to me!

Seriously - I am just grateful for your interest and help...... x
 
Wow Ian - your story sounds promising! Where can I get info on low carb? I have tried Rosemary Conley, Weight Watchers, Slimming World - is low GI similar to low carb?

My Church used to be my life, but is no longer supportive. I have quite a stressful job (only 21 hours a week) and I am a group scout Leader which is also fairly stressful at the moment. However, I am working on my support mechanisms.......

thanks for all your time though - it is encouraging to talk to someone who understands..... x
 
carolynjw said:
thanks for this advice. I am looking for a resistance trainer on argos etc at the moment.

Carb counter book - not so easy - can you recommend one? I have never done carb counting before. Will it tell me what to aim for?

Thanks again - you are already making me feel more positive! x
Click to expand...

Carolyn.
Glad to hear you are feeling more positive....it does help when you have friends round you.... :D As for the resistance trainer I think I got mine from Ideal World's website. It was only about a tenner.

The cheapest Carb Counter book is is the Collins Gem which is £3.99 from W H Smith's or Amazon etc. Fits in the pocket or handbag. If you want something bigger and better for home use, then I can recommend the Calorie Carb and Fat Bible 2010 from Amazon which I think is £12.99.

Any questions, ask when you have the book to hand. We can clear things up for you.
 
carolynjw said:
thanks for this advice. I am looking for a resistance trainer on argos etc at the moment.

Carb counter book - not so easy - can you recommend one? I have never done carb counting before. Will it tell me what to aim for?

Thanks again - you are already making me feel more positive! x
Click to expand...

I use "Collins Gem Carb Counter" - £3.99. You should have been taught about carb counting when you were prescribed insulin. Reducing carb needs to be balanced with insulin/byetta & more testing.

Actually carb counting may increase the pressure on you, but basically carb reduction is easy. Cut the obvious carbs - bread, potato, rice, pasta - which we are advised to eat by DUK as 50% of our diet. They digest to glucose. Whether they are whole grain or white, they still convert to glucose.

Non carb foods are meat, cheese, eggs, nuts, & low carb foods are veg & pulse. Obviously you medical condition may limits what you can eat. I use a lot of ground almonds, & make my morning "porridge" with ground almonds, dessicated coconut, oat & wheat bran, wheat germ, all mixed with soya milk. I don't get hungry on a low carb diet, I snack with nuts & cheese. I have all the energy I need, & can play tennis for 2 hours without constantly eating bananas like the professionals. I avoid fruit juices - a glass has 25 g of sugar. I drink lots of tea, water & some no-added sugar squash. I make a "bread" with ground almonds, BP, bran, butter & egg - I will try adding soya flour for a better texture.
 
do you know - you have all been so wonderful tonight - I can't begin to thank you for your welcomes and advice.......

You will never know how much you have all done tonight to help save my sanity! I will keep talking and will definitely take on board what I have been told.

thanks everyone and I look forward to talking more x
 
Carolyn.
Here is some information regarding Glycaemic Index and Glycaemic Load which is the method that I use. You may want to take some time to read and digest the information, before you start to suffer from 'information overload' !!!

What is the difference between glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) ?
Your blood glucose rises and falls when you eat a meal containing carbs. How high it rises and how long it remains high depends on the quality of the carbs (the GI) and the quantity. Glycemic load or GL combines both the quality and quantity of carbohydrate in one ‘number’. It’s the best way to predict blood glucose values of different types and amounts of food. The formula is:

GL = (GI x the amount of carbohydrate) divided by 100.

Let’s take a single apple as an example. It has a GI of 40 and it contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.
GL = 40 x 15/100 = 6 g

What about a small baked potato? Its GI is 80 and it contains 15 g of carbohydrate.
GL = 80 x 15/100 = 12 g

So we can predict that our potato will have twice the metabolic effect of an apple. You can think of GL as the amount of carbohydrate in a food ‘adjusted’ for its glycemic potency.

That makes more sense to me as I rigidly control my portion sizes and can safely eat small amounts of what are considered high GI foods with little or no effect on my Bg levels. Making my diet even more varied and nutritious. The GL is a marker for the blood glucose effects of foods/meals consumed. The small amount of carbohydrate in a typical portion in some high GI foods, such a carrots or watermelon, gives them a low GL figure, hence I can eat some of them.
 
Cool! OK - taking on board the advice I have received tonight, I will read up on the GI books I have here, I have just ordered resistance bands off the internet, I will speak to my diabetic nurse when I see her next week about whether my lantus is the right insulin for me, and I will slowly but surely plough through all the links you have suggested I take a look at.

I feel much more positive - thanks again everyone! x
 
thanks everyone for helping out last night. I feel much more positive today. looking forward to getting my carb counter book tomorrow and feeling more in control (although I am not sure what I can do about breakfast, which usually consists of cereal or toast - any suggestions?)

Looking forward to 2010 with much more optimism! x
 
Hi Carolyn.

How about:
Bacon.....grilled
Eggs.......boiled/fried/poached/scrambled/omelette
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Cold Meats
Cheese
Apples
Porridge with berries (small portion)
Cereal.......very small portion 30g
Toast......one slice only
Mince Pie....with Brandy Sauce....only joking :lol:

Might not be to your taste but that is the sort of food I have for breakfast. Bon Appetit'...... :D
 
Cool! Good ideas - thanks.

I also wanted to ask - I eat a lot of multigrain ryvita - are these good or bad for me? Do I need to use soya milk, or is my normal semi skimmed ok? x
 
Carolyn.

Personally if I want Milk....it has to be from a Cow....Semi Skimmed for me.
Soya Milk I find disgusting !

As for Ryvita it has 61.1g carbs per 100g. One cracker is 6.72g carbs. Depends on how many you eat and your overall carb count at each meal. For me, I think I would rather eat the packaging they come in...... :D Give me a Jacob's Cream Cracker any day ! Only 5.4g carbs per Cracker.

That's it. Goodnight........... :wink:
 
Hi Caroline,

Sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time. Could be entirely unrelated to your situation but I take temazapam before visiting the dentist (big scaredy cat!) and since diagnosis I've been twice and both times the temazapam raised my blood glucose by a whopping 3 - 4 points for hours. Checked this with the GP (who prescribed the temazapam) and she said all meds that depress activity in the central nervous system affect blood sugar in some people. Again, probably not for your situation but might be worth checking all your meds with an endocrinologist.

xx
 
ok - will chuck out my ryvita and thanks for the comment on the milk.

Lizzie - thanks for the suggestion about the temazepam - I will definitely discuss it with my specialist.

night all x
 
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