Re: new diabetic


On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 22:49:49 -0700, RJ-Giga posted:


"Nicky" <ukc802466929@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4a9mv3d7h6po9fp8g33oekcf7fkf3pnork@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 7 Apr 2008 22:57:47 -0700, "RJ-Giga" <rbjavier@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Do you mind describing how you manage to keep tight control like this?

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

I
have trouble keeping my 2-hour PP BG below 140. I start off in the morning
anywehre from 130 to 160. I take Metformin 500mg after eating 1/4 cup rice
(usually) and some protein and veggies for breakfast.

Eat more protein and veggies, and less rice. maybe none at all. Rice
is one of the foods that shoot my bg up whatever portion I have;
others are luckier. You'll need to test to see what camp you fall in,
but your numbers are too high atm. Maybe cut it out now, and try again
in a few months?

By 11:30 PM I will be
feeling hungry and anywhere between 90 and 130.

Yup, you're going too high and getting carb cravings. Try less carbs,
more protein, maybe some good fats too.

I usually feel I'm hypo at 120 mg/dl, and at 80 I start gettting blurred
vision (and a little bit shaky --- maybe just from being nervous about
needing to eat/drink right away).

That's because your body is used to too high a bg. You shouldn't be
feeling rough at 120 - 100 is perfectly normal. But it might take a
bit of time to get used to. Also, as your bg goes down, you're going
to need less glyburide - it's a completely indiscriminating drug that
forces you to produce insulin whatever your bg, so will force lows if
you're not careful. It's also flogging a sick pancreas...


1) What I'm getting from this is, my hunger is due to my taking "too much"
carbs at breakfast and lunch, and if I reduce it gradually then my body
would get used to lower carbs and eventually I will not feel hungry too
quickly. If so, I'm going to try to do it without rice and bread at all for
the next few days and see if I can "survive". I'll try different
combinations of veggies/salad, tofu/chicken/fish, corn (those canned ones),

Think "starch" whenever you see potatoes, rice, pasta, tortillas,
cornmeal, cornflour, flour, grains. The corn might be a problem. I
know it is for me.

scrambled/boiled eggs, and fruits (apple/pear, maybe orange?). If I do this
I expect to be hungry sooner (probably right after I eat :-)), so I guess
I'll have to remember to have a snack at around 10:30 AM to make it to my
rice-less lunch, and then again at 3:00 PM just so I won't (feel I'm having)
hypo before dinner.

High-protein meals tend to keep you from being hungry for longer times
than high-carb meals. If I eat cereal and toast for breakfast, I am
hungry within 1 or 2 hours. If I eat two eggs and a single slice of
bread, I'm just getting hungry again around lunch (between 4 and 6
hours after breakfast).

Do you have any suggestions for snack foods at these
times of the day? Nuts don't fill me up at all, and it would take a big bowl
of salad for me to not feel hungry. Also, would you recommend Subway wheat
sandwiches or those tortilla wraps you can buy at McDonalds?

Cheese, peanut butter, jerky (watch the salt and sugar content),
celery (good holder for peanut butter or cheese spread). You might
also consider trying a carby snack, paying attention to how carby it
is. I like one particular brand of "cinnamon snap" cookies. They have
5g of carbs per cookie. For a snack, I usually eat two, and sometimes
spread them with peanut butter.

Yoghurt is good, plain or fruity, and again watch the carbs. I like a
snack of no-fat, no-sugar cherry yoghurt (Silhouette, by Danone), and
sometimes put a few grapes, strawberries, or blueberries in it. If I
have had a low carb meal in the previous few hours, I will also drop
in a little chocolate syrup (the kind you put on ice cream or stir
into milk). Again, serving size is important.

2) Could you confirm that 90 or higher is not cause for alarm? As I said, I
generally start to feel weird (not just hungry) at around 90 - 120 mg/dl.

I would consider 90 to be good for pre-meal, and 120 to be good
post-meal, but then I only take Metformin, and have no experience with
the other stuff you take.

Testing is good. Your meter is your friend.

At
this point I would usually "scramble" for a couple of bites from a
sandwich/muffin/leftover rice lunch, and maybe even half a cup of sweet
drink (soda or pineapple juice). I would usually feel "normal" again within
20 minutes of doing this. I can deal with the hunger, so I would prefer not
to do these things if it would help me control my BG levels. It is the fear
that I may be hypo-ing so fast if I don't take quick measures that drive me
to "scramble" for food and drink (I test first, of course). If you could
confirm this, I'll be willing to try a different approach next time I'm at
that point (most probably tomorrow right before leaving from work). If I am
at 90 and see it falling to 85 in 15 minutes, I'll grab my muffin and take a
couple of bites and then test again in 15 minutes. Do you think this would
work and take my BG to 100-120?

3) Once when I was controlling through diet and exercise (i.e., prior to
taking glyburide and metformin), I know that I had tried a protein diet and
it seemed to have worked. Somehow I lost control and went back to rice and
bread (though greatly reduced from my non-diabetic days). I think the
primary reason why it stopped was because of the extra cost (in time and
money) of having to prepare 2 separate sets of meals each day --- one for me
and another for my wife and kids (my wife does all the cooking and grocery
shopping). Also, we tend to eat the same kind of food when we're eating out
(though less carbs for me). Can anyone suggest a meal plan for someone like
me who has to go to work during the day? Right now, I'm afraid what would
need to happen is for me to stick to fewer choices (mostly protein/veggies)
that are easier to pre-cook and store on the refrigerator so I can just grab
them each morning before going to work and microwave them at lunch time. I'm
OK with this if this is what's going to save me. However, this is probably
only going to work for me for a few weeks before I run out of ideas and get
"bored" with the monotony of my food choices, and I will probably start
hating to eat and hate diabetes even more. How do you guys motivate
yourselves to stick to your tight meal plans month after month (other than
the desire to live longer, of course)?

4) This may not make sense, but I remember that my FBGs (though not taken
daily) were frequently between 130 - 170 (i.e., higher than what you
consider "optimal") during the 4-month period before my last A1C. But lo and
behold, my A1C still ended up being 6.7 (improved from 7.1) last February.
This was with Metformin and Glyburide being taken regularly as prescribed.
Would it be possible that at the current levels I described at the start of
this thread, I could still get an A1C of around 6.5 in May (maybe my
physical activities throughout the day help even things out)? If this is the
case, then I would still be in the OK range (per my doctor), and therefore
may not need to dramatically adjust my current diet and medication.


As always, many thanks in advance for your wise and kind advise.

RJ

Is this really going to put me in trouble sooner? If
so, how soon? Finally, if I m like this most of the time during daytime
BUT
my A1C turns out to be between 6.5 and 7, will I be OK?

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045621.php

Nicky.
T2 dx 05/04 + underactive thyroid
D&E, 100ug thyroxine
Last A1c 5.6% BMI 25


--
Larry, T2, Saskatchewan, Canada.
DX 24 Aug 07. D&E
Metformin 2000mg, Ramipril, Simvastatin
Dx A1c 8.1 : Latest 5.1 (4 Mar 08)
.