This is starting to scare me.
After my last blood test in November my doctor told me my blood sugar was high. I was in the mild low diabetes range, but said i have Type 2 Diabetes: Controlled.
But lately, I have had such a bad thirst that i can't stop drinking pop, water, iced tea..etc. I cannot quench my thirst and i am going to the bathroom non-stop.
Tomorrow, i go in for another blood test and i am scared to death of the results.
I really don't know what to do if this becomes uncontrolled. Am i going to have to take insulin shots for the rest of my life. (my cat is diabetic, so i know how to administer insulin shots) But now i am getting really depressed.
I have also been feeling really tired lately also. Please god tell me everything will be okay!!
I'm just typing this worried out of my mind. If anybody has any advice, i would surely appreciate it.
Thank you,
Shawn :'( :'( :'(
I can't offer any advice.
But I am now worried myself as many of the symptoms you are getting sound like ME!! :o
Do you feel hot all the time when people say it's cold?
In the morning does your mouth feels like a deep pile carpet and you could drink an industrial sized vat of pepsi?
Perhaps I also should vissit the doc.
I haven't been for ages unless I have lost a leg or something!!
I hope you are O.K. and my thoughts are with you.
Please let me know how it goes.
JAY.
I know it's easy for me to say, but what you need to do is relax, take a deep breath, and wait until you see your doctor. If modern medicine has taught us anything, it's that the human body is remarkably resilient. If you do have diabetes, there's nothing to stop you treating it and keeping it under control.
Good luck with the blood test, and try to remain positive. :)
Quote from: RetroJay on Fri 07/03/2008 02:37:41
In the morning does your mouth feels like a deep pile carpet and you could drink an industrial sized vat of pepsi?
Yesterday at work i drank so much water in such a small amount of time that i vomited it all back up.
After that, i was still thirsty.
Whatever happens, i should be able to take care of it, but just finding out you have this disease makes me kind of scared.
I am diabetic, Type 1, and this was found out when I was 18. They found out during army physical, and heck, that was a surprise since no-one else in the family had problems with that so far. I'm 32 now and do take insulin shots three times a day, plus a nightly dose of depot insulin, and I am living quite well with that.
Thirst, and the feeling that you cannot quench the thirst, are *one* sign of diabetes. But it could also be something else. Do you also feel nervous, tired? Do you wake up with leg cramps often? Is your urine extremely yellow, almost orange? Does your vision flicker occasionally? Do you get hungry often, and seem unable to quench that hunger? These are signs too, and especially the leg cramps are a sure sign of your blood sugar being too high for a long time. People can be "high on sugar" though occasionally without being diabetic, so you need more than just one symptom to be entirely sure. Your blood sugar changes every few minutes, and within an hour you can get all sorts of readings from average to high to extremely low, so, best to have the professionals have a look.
By all means visit a doctor and let a test be taken, it takes only a few minutes, and after that you'll at least be sure.
Also, let me add that today's medicine allows you to live well with diabetes (If you take some care, where I must admit that I could've done better :P ). The treatment I get has been improved a lot since I was 18, 19. Chances are I'll see another, even better type of insulin in my life.
I wish you luck, and Don't Panic!
If the doctor thinks you have type 2, then you'll probably stay type 2. That just means your pancreas needs a boost, not that its completely gone. However, high blood sugar can kill of pancreatic cells so make sure you stick to the diet, pills, etc. that the doctor gives you. And quench your thirst with water, not sugary drinks!
Both types of diabetes are with you for life once you get them. In some ways type 1 is more hopeful in the long term as the search for an cure is concentrating there, but the risk of hypoglycaemia is higher if you use injections.
I find it wierd that some people don't like diet drinks becuase they are worried about aspartame, etc. Any risk of artificial sweeteners has never been proven, while its plain scientific fact that non-diet sugary drinks can basically kill your pancreas and leave you diabetic for life. Go Nutrasweet!
Quote from: SSH on Fri 07/03/2008 09:35:37
Any risk of artificial sweeteners has never been proven, while its plain scientific fact that non-diet sugary drinks can basically kill your pancreas and leave you diabetic for life. Go Nutrasweet!
Sorry, but that's wrong. A healthy person drinking diet drinks sends the signal that "sugar" has arrived to the pancreas, resulting in it dispensing insulin- so in fact you waste the stuff when there's no need for it. Too many diet drinks can result in Type 2 quite easily, because after a couple of years you've "spent" a lot of insulin on sugar that was never there.
Don't worry, the thirst and tiredness will go away after a while. It doesn't happen overnight, but the sugar in your blood will settle down and you'll feel better.
Type 2 diabetics usually don't inject insulin.
In fact, my mother has it, and she functions fine. You even can still eat stuff like cake (especially when you're on the pills) as long as it's all in moderation. But stay away from bread, cereal, etc, and exercise as much as possible.
Quote from: Ghost on Fri 07/03/2008 10:37:20
Quote from: SSH on Fri 07/03/2008 09:35:37
Any risk of artificial sweeteners has never been proven, while its plain scientific fact that non-diet sugary drinks can basically kill your pancreas and leave you diabetic for life. Go Nutrasweet!
Sorry, but that's wrong. A healthy person drinking diet drinks sends the signal that "sugar" has arrived to the pancreas, resulting in it dispensing insulin- so in fact you waste the stuff when there's no need for it. Too many diet drinks can result in Type 2 quite easily, because after a couple of years you've "spent" a lot of insulin on sugar that was never there.
Can you post any reputable links that can back this up? I mean, ones not sponsored by sugar companies (which a LOT fo them are...)
Quote from: SSH on Fri 07/03/2008 13:21:25
Can you post any reputable links that can back this up? I mean, ones not sponsored by sugar companies (which a LOT fo them are...)
It's a fact I learned during some training, but it's also discussed on many forums that focus on diabetes. And when you think about it it makes sense. Insulin is the enzyme needed to transfer sugar from the blood into the cells. Each time food is eaten, the body produces insulin; the sweeter the taste, the more insulin is produced. And the pancreas isn't build to last forever, over the years the production of insulin grows weaker, and enforcing insulin-production by sending false signals, well, will drain your supply faster.
So, basically I can give you my doctor's word for it ;) And a useful link I found...
http://www.gesundheit.de/krankheiten/diabetes-mellitus/insulin-suessstoff/index.html (http://www.gesundheit.de/krankheiten/diabetes-mellitus/insulin-suessstoff/index.html)
German, unfortunately, but should be translatable...
Well if it is type 1 then i assure you that it's totally manageable. My dad's had type 1 since he was in his mid twenties and hes never had a real problem with it. The injections are such tiny needles that they barely hurt at all and you dont inject them into your veins.
The needles that i inject my cat with are the 30cc short needles (5/16").
I tried one on myself and there is no pain at all, i tried it on my belly. (My ex-girlfriend was a type 1 juvenile diabetic and i watched her take her insulin shots.)
I only did that to see if my cat was experiencing any pain.
I will know Monday about my blood work.
Thanks everyone.
Quote from: Ghost on Fri 07/03/2008 15:13:14
So, basically I can give you my doctor's word for it ;)
That doesn't sound right.
If what you're saying is true, then consuming sweeteners should make your blood-sugar levels drop considerably (since insulin is released). Which could be very dangerous for diabetics who are on insulin already (not to mention all those sweet things like 'diabetic chocolate' that are falsely advertising being 'safe for diabetics')
However, my mother drinks and eats sugar-free stuff all the time, and she never notices her blood-sugar crashing because of it
Do not even try to compare the metabolism of a diabetic and a "normally functioning" person. It's tricky. But yours, being healthy, corrects its level of blood-sugar constantly. It's fine-tuning all the time because you can produce insulin and insulin-blockers. A type 1 diabtic cannot control with such precision. To take me as an example, I test my blood sugar three times a day, before each major meal. I take insulin depending on the current state of my sugar level, trying to "hit a certain mark" for the next time. In the meantime I just have to hope that I'll be somewhat average.
But basically you are right, a healthy person drinking a diet drink or similar will have a decreased level of sugar, but not for very long because it's corrected.
Hey Buddy,
I'm not diabetic, but I have End Stage Renal Disease, which means my kidneys have failed and I'm on dialysis. I can say that diabetes is managable, and it's not as bad as you could think. Make sure you take care of it, if it is diabetes, or you could end up with failed kidneys and on dialysis, which sucks a major dog bone.
The small diabetes needles are WAY better than the 15 gauge needles I get every other day for treatment. Two of them, into an A/V fistula (google it) in my arm. Not fun!
Bt
A type two diabetic could still produce enough insulin naturally to be dangerous if combined with insulin supplements. In other words, it would be noticeable by anyone keeping tabs on their blood sugar levels...
Quote from: Emerald on Fri 07/03/2008 23:21:52
A type two diabetic could still produce enough insulin naturally to be dangerous if combined with insulin supplements.
Agreed, yes. Hence the saying: Too *much* of a good thing...
Strangely enough, this thread has made me wondering, or better, being a bit more aware of the whole diabetes issue than I usually am. And, when I consider Blackthornes post, that I am a very lucky bastard.
Hope it turns out all right for you in the end, Domino.
Ghost out.
Quote from: Blackthorne on Fri 07/03/2008 22:22:21
The small diabetes needles are WAY better than the 15 gauge needles I get every other day for treatment. Two of them, into an A/V fistula (google it) in my arm. Not fun!
Congratulations, you've just earned my admiration ;)
I'd probably go supernova if I had to be on dialysis.
Quote from: Blackthorne on Fri 07/03/2008 22:22:21
Hey Buddy,
I'm not diabetic, but I have End Stage Renal Disease, which means my kidneys have failed and I'm on dialysis. I can say that diabetes is managable, and it's not as bad as you could think. Make sure you take care of it, if it is diabetes, or you could end up with failed kidneys and on dialysis, which sucks a major dog bone.
The small diabetes needles are WAY better than the 15 gauge needles I get every other day for treatment. Two of them, into an A/V fistula (google it) in my arm. Not fun!
Bt
This may seem a bit rude to ask but are you on the transplant lists? If so how long will you have to wait for a transplant?
I'm a type 1 diabetic, and have been for more than 20 years now. It doesn't really affect my life in any huge way, other than having to pay more attention to what I eat. With good control you can basically eat anything 'healthy' people do.
Ghost: I've been drinking diet drinks in huge quantities all my life and they've never affected me in any adverse way. It has certainly never been mentioned by the many diabetic specialist doctors I've had over the years.
SSH started with saying that artificial sweeteners are a good substitute for sugar because sugar overdose can make you a diabetic. As a fact this struck me wrong. It seems I cannot get my point across here, or, also possible, it might be that I've been told the wrong things.
All I *wanted* to say is that any artificial sweetener leads to the pancreas producing insulin. Right? That is different than saying "insulin being used". Because insulin opens the cells for *sugar*, not for aspartam and co. And this effect *can* over a long time result in the pancreas growing less effective, and reaching a state of "ineffectiveness" earlier.
In very much the same way most smokers do not get cancer after their first cigarette, but no-one would argue (much) that each year of smoking increases the possible risk of cancer for them.
First of all Ghost is absolutely wrong about artificial sweeteners stimulating the production of insulin. The pancreas releases insulin to the bloodstream in response to the presence of glucose in the blood. Since artificial sweeteners are not converted to glucose by the body (that's the whole point, isn't it?) and so no affect on the pancreas or insulin production (see "Release" in wiki for details ") (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin).
Second of all Shawn you are a good man for taking such good care of your cat. Don't worry too much, I had the same diagnosis about ten years ago and was able to easily correct my condition in a short period of time by doing a couple of simple things. Realize that in most cases like yours the body is functioning like it is supposed to and there is nothing broken. Most often this is due to the over consumption of carbohydrates and can be corrected by decreasing the intake of carbohydrates. There are some cases where a person's pancreas is, for any number of reasons, not functioning normally but IMHO this not the usual reason.
Glucose in excess of the body's immediate needs is stored in muscles cells as glycogen or in fat cells via insulin. From my own personal experience the glycogen mechanism (minutes) seems to work faster than the insulin mechanism (1/2 hour+). When athletes speak about "carbing up" they are in fact talking about saturating their muscle tissues with glycogen which is quickly and easily converted back to glucose for immediate use. Converting fat back to glucose takes a much longer time and therefore would not be very helpful to an athlete during an event.
If carbohydrate consumption is increased far beyond a person's needs, glycogen capacity becomes maxed out so that the remaining excess glucose is stored as fat via insulin. Now what happens if that person continues increasing his carbohydrate consumption; he will get fatter and fatter and fatter. At some point the body will say "WTF, I refuse to get any fatter!" and instead of making more insulin to store more fat the excess glucose is dumped into the urine where it exits the body. This point is different for every individual but every individual has a limit where this happens.
So now what can you do about it?
- Stop eating potatoes - This is your single most worst enemy ( ;) couldn't resist the bad grammar). Potatoes are a huge carbohydrate load, huge. McDs is even worse because the sugar coat their fries ...
- Stop eating rice and noodles - These are the second worse enemies. Not quite as bad for you as potatoes but still bad.
- Stop eating bread, cake, ice cream, etc - Believe it or not bread is not as bad as potatoes. Cake, ice cream, and other sweets probably are as bad as potatoes but usually eat more potatoes than these.
- Drink diet pop instead of regular - If by some miracle diet pop does stimulate more insulin production this will help your condition but I wouldn't count on it. Eliminating the sugar is enough.
- Eat meat - You can eat any amount of meat without increasing your blood glucose level. Be careful eating out, some meat dishes are prepared with sugars of one kind or another (Chinese, barbecue, etc).
- Vegtables are OK - Some vegetables are better than others. Stay away from the root type vegetables because they are like potatoes. The ones that grow on top the ground are a mixed bag but in general they tend to even themselves out. Use your meter to check them all out to see which ones are good or bad.
- Fruits - be careful - Fruits are a great source of nutrients, vitamins, etc but they are also loaded with sugar so be careful.
- Use Splenda instead of sugar - Great sugar substitute, same volume, flavor, and other characteristics as sugar.
- Drink lots of water - Keeping yourself hydrated dilutes glucose concentration and increases kidney function.
- Purchase Glucose Meter - I can recommend the OneTouch brand of meters. They seem to be very good and have worked well for me.
The Cure ;)
This is what I did. You can try it and see if it works for you.
Weeks 1-2
The first 2 weeks are the hardest part. Use your meter and test your blood sugar. Don't eat anything until your blood sugar drops to the normal range of say 110. When you do eat avoid carbohydrates like the plague. Buy yourself a couple nice steaks for the first few days. Measure and record your blood sugar before going to bed and first thing in the morning. These two readings are the most important measure of your progress and I will discuss this below. You of course, will also have to measure multiples times during the day to see when you are allowed to eat.
Weeks 3-6
Continue measuring and recording your blood sugar before going to bed and first thing in the morning. The difference in these two numbers is a measure of your progress. You will be surprised to find out that your sugar will be higher in the morning than it was the night before. This is because you are a diabetic and you are in a continual state of being "carbed up". So during the night when you would expect your glucose level to drop your body tries to clear the glycogen from your muscle tissue by converting it to glucose. As you continue the no or low carb diet your condition should improve. When it improves you will find that the morning reading reading will start to decrease and get closer to the night time reading. After 2 weeks your sugar level should be close to normal when normal meal times come around. Measure your sugar before your meal and let that measurement determine what and how much you eat at that meal. Alternatively, you can continue waiting until your sugar drops to 110 before eating if you feel you haven't made sufficient progress. Continue keeping potatoes, rice, noodles, etc off the menu.
Weeks 6-24
After about 6 weeks you will find that the morning and bedtime readings are nearly equal. At some point the morning reading will be lower than the bedtime reading and this is an important milestone. It means you have made a lot of progress and that you are controlling your sugar levels within acceptable limits. But you don't want to stop now because there is much more progress to be had. By the end of week 20-24 your morning reading will be ~5-10 points lower than the night time reading. When you reach this milestone your diabetes will be undetectable. You will find that you can go out and eat a bucket of fries without increasing your blood sugar above normal levels. Of course if you do this all the time you will end up where you are now. So during weeks 6-24 things should start to get easier for you. You should be able to eat at normal times, occasionally have some of those nasty carb bombs, and not have to measure quite as often as before.
Weeks 24+
If you made it this far the only thing that can screw you up is that you can loose focus because you are doing so well and the measuring and the dieting and etc seems to become unnecessary. So then you don't pay attention because it doesn;t seem to be necessary and then all of a sudden you fall back into your old ways and it sneaks back up on you.
Medication
You can probably do all of this without medication. I did easily. If you and your doctor decide to help this along with drugs discuss with him which drug he is recommending and how it works. Some drugs work by forcing insulin production and/or forcing the glucose into glycogen storage. Other drugs work by preventing the liver from producing glucose and these are the ones I've had the best results from (I believe the one I have experience with is called something like metformin).
================
I hope this is helpful to you. Let us know how it turns out.
Nice to see someone who has a very solid understanding of what he's talking about ;)
Quote from: Jack Sheehan on Sat 08/03/2008 11:55:15
Quote from: Blackthorne on Fri 07/03/2008 22:22:21
Hey Buddy,
I'm not diabetic, but I have End Stage Renal Disease, which means my kidneys have failed and I'm on dialysis. I can say that diabetes is managable, and it's not as bad as you could think. Make sure you take care of it, if it is diabetes, or you could end up with failed kidneys and on dialysis, which sucks a major dog bone.
The small diabetes needles are WAY better than the 15 gauge needles I get every other day for treatment. Two of them, into an A/V fistula (google it) in my arm. Not fun!
Bt
This may seem a bit rude to ask but are you on the transplant lists? If so how long will you have to wait for a transplant?
Not rude at all - I like talking about my experiences with kidney failure.
Yeah, I am on a list for a transplantation. It's a varied and complicated procedure, and there's really no set "time" in which I could get a kidney. They need to match you, based on several factors including blood type and antigen matching, and when a kidney comes in the system in your area, you're matched - if you're a perfect match your chances of getting are the best - unless several people match.
It's a crapshoot.
I've had a transplant before from a living donor - my father. Initially, it went well, but the kidney was damaged in an unreleated follow-up surgery and it never quite functioned well for the three years I had it. It worked well enough to keep me off dialysis, but I had a host of other problems.
It failed, actually, a year ago this week and I returned to dialysis. I've been on dialysis now for a year - it's a four hour treatment where they clean my blood and remove the excess fluid that builds up as my kidneys no longer filter out the water and toxins. The procedure itself is relatively painless, but it can leave me exhausted, dizzy and groggy. But you get by. The illness, however, leaves me with a lot of time to work on games, heh, so it's good for all of us, eh?
Bt
Now here's what you should do, regarding your diet: Ask your doctor. He or she is supposed to actually know this stuff. Don't take some forum guy's word for it, because there are loads of conflicting ideas of what you're supposed to eat, some scientific and some nonsense, and unless you spend loads of time reading up on it, you have no way to know what is what. And by reading up I mean real scientific literature, not some magazine or advice column, so it's not easy. Your doctor is supposed to have already spent loads of time reading up on it, so make it easy for yourself and go find the knowledge where it already exists.
No offence intended to anyone who has posted here, and I understand that giving informal advice about stuff is sort of the beauty of a forum, but these things are not simple, and doing something stupid can have pretty bad effects (particularly if you're diabetic). So please be aware of that.
I am officially a Diabetic as of Monday.
I called my doctor on Tuesday and was told to come right to the office because my blood sugar was way out of control.
My A1C score should be below 7, and mine was over 10, which means that I have high blood sugar.
I now have a glucose meter (and going on Metformin 500mg tablets) and have to watch what i eat. I have been pretty depressed lately, but i know things will get better.
Just wanted to let everyone know.
Shawn
Keep your chin up, man.
Living with a disease does suck, but it doesn't change who you are. It might require a little more daily effort - but in the end, you're going to be stronger for it.
Bt
I'm sure you'll get used to any changes you have to make.
Until then, let the soothing, not-at-all-ripped-off-from-suggs-from-madness vocal genius of Pat Morris wash over you and be happy: http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DP/2007/04/098_1_Pat_Morris_-_Were_Diabetic.mp3
Quote from: Blackthorne on Mon 10/03/2008 02:54:48
Quote from: Jack Sheehan on Sat 08/03/2008 11:55:15
Quote from: Blackthorne on Fri 07/03/2008 22:22:21
Hey Buddy,
I'm not diabetic, but I have End Stage Renal Disease, which means my kidneys have failed and I'm on dialysis. I can say that diabetes is managable, and it's not as bad as you could think. Make sure you take care of it, if it is diabetes, or you could end up with failed kidneys and on dialysis, which sucks a major dog bone.
The small diabetes needles are WAY better than the 15 gauge needles I get every other day for treatment. Two of them, into an A/V fistula (google it) in my arm. Not fun!
Bt
This may seem a bit rude to ask but are you on the transplant lists? If so how long will you have to wait for a transplant?
Not rude at all - I like talking about my experiences with kidney failure.
Yeah, I am on a list for a transplantation. It's a varied and complicated procedure, and there's really no set "time" in which I could get a kidney. They need to match you, based on several factors including blood type and antigen matching, and when a kidney comes in the system in your area, you're matched - if you're a perfect match your chances of getting are the best - unless several people match.
It's a crapshoot.
I've had a transplant before from a living donor - my father. Initially, it went well, but the kidney was damaged in an unreleated follow-up surgery and it never quite functioned well for the three years I had it. It worked well enough to keep me off dialysis, but I had a host of other problems.
It failed, actually, a year ago this week and I returned to dialysis. I've been on dialysis now for a year - it's a four hour treatment where they clean my blood and remove the excess fluid that builds up as my kidneys no longer filter out the water and toxins. The procedure itself is relatively painless, but it can leave me exhausted, dizzy and groggy. But you get by. The illness, however, leaves me with a lot of time to work on games, heh, so it's good for all of us, eh?
Bt
Man, you certainly deal with it well, good luck.
I hope things go well with you Blackthorne. I thought Diabetes is bad, but what you are going through I would not wish on my worst enemy.
Wishing you the best,
Shawn
edit: Eggie, that song is great. It is stuck in my head now. :)
Shawn-
Finding out about your diabetes was definitely a shock, but I believe it is a blessing in disguise. I think this diagnosis will provide you with some of the motivation you need to make changes in you lifestyle.
This is not a death sentence. It is just something in your life that you must make adjustments for, and manage it. Much like life is in general.
Watch what you eat and drink. Get some exercise (anything is a start). Give yourself some goals, and stick to them.
Most important thing.....Never Give Up!
Your Friend, Chris
It is not easy to take care of a Diabetic cat and myself!! This really sucks.
I check my blood sugar and it goes from 122 to 250 for no reason.
I get a nice 122 on saturday to being 270 today. I don't understand.
I just can't wait to go blind. I am starting to not care anymore.
Shawn,
I am sad that you have diabetes and that you are perhaps depressed by it.
I hope that you will not have too much trouble staying positive and dealing with it, keeping healthy and enjoying life.
Good luck and best wishes.