One stop Diabetic Chat

One stop Diabetic Chat (Full Version)

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tazzygirl -> One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 12:52:31 PM)
so.. yep.... I got it. In fact, it was so bad they stated it was borderline DKA. And its been sooooooooo long since nursing school.... and since I had to take care of a patient with diabetes. Bluntly, I am out of touch with the disorder. My hopes in starting this thread is that people can talk about -- what works for you -- what you found most difficult to understand -- what mistakes you may have made -- what misinformation you may have come across -- different meds and what did or did not work -- diet tips and recipes Pretty much anything you can think of in relationship to the treatment care and management of diabetes. My sugars are running 330 - 240. I have been diagnosed only a few days, started Lantus friday. I dont want to distract from the Loser thread. Just thought it might be nice with as many diabetics are on these boards, to have a place to teach and learn.

Arpig -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 12:57:08 PM)
Just take your shots and that's about it. It's really a very simple disease to deal with and one that other than remembering to take your needles has almost zero effect on one's day-to-day life.

ShaharThorne -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 1:03:25 PM)
I am prediabetic according to the doctor and I am watching my weight carefully. That is hard to do when there is ice cream in the freezer...LOL! I have almost got sodas out of my system. Wednesday, he says I have anemia and need some B is my system. Then he goes into the no sodium, low fat, low cholesterol routine. I am only human!!! I got to have my mac and cheese once in a while! I am even doing protein drinks to make sure I can lose some much fat so I can get into some leather clothing for playing....

CalifChick -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 1:37:16 PM)
If you haven't had a class yet or met with a nutritionist, that is a good place to start. I try to have one serving of carbs at breakfast (15 grams of carbs), 2 at lunch, and 2 at dinner. Two snacks are about 1/2 serving of carbs each. Always have some protein with your carbs. My nutritionist wanted me to have so many carbs and so much food that weight gain was inevitable. I told her no. Watch for hidden sugars, always always always read the labels until you're more familiar with products. Learn what foods make your blood sugar spike, and if you must have them, have a half serving of them with protein. Bananas make my blood sugar spike beyond reason, so I either avoid them or have half of a small one, with peanut butter or cheese or some other protein. I have excellent cholesterol, so I don't have to worry about how much meat i'm eating, so I'm lucky in that regard. A diabetic friend just told me he was eating a huge bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, because the commercials say it's good for your heart. I figured out that he was probably eating four servings of carbs for breakfast, with no protein. Definitely NOT good. Often, "low fat" products will be higher in sugar and carbs because they add sugar to make up for the taste due to lack of fat. Don't worry about the fat content unless you have a medical reason. Carbs are the number one thing to control right now. By the way, I disagree with "just take your shots". Many people can manage this disease thru dietary and exercise changes, and reduce or eliminate the need for supplementary insulin. Cali

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 1:43:14 PM)
The man is diabetic, so we deal with this issue. Exercise is important, testing yourself so you know how your diet effects you is important, having a good doctor who is willing to take the time to calibrate your meds correctly is essential. Best of luck. If you are in the health care field, I assume you have a good doc. To me that trumps everything else. Find a good one, and do what he/she says.

MstrDennynSlave -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 2:01:27 PM)
I beg to differ with you Arpig. Diabetes has a huge impact on day to day life. Any exercise you do during the day can make your sugar go up or down. Any thing you eat can make it go up a lot. You have to find out what foods have an adverse effect on your blood sugar. What one person can eat, another person won't be able to eat without sugar going sky high. I have been a diabetic for almost 30 years now. Up until early this year, my sugars were under control. Don't know what changed, but now they are bouncing all over the place. As long as sugar is high, it damages your body. Even someone that has gotten their sugar under control can have health problems from it. Having sex can make you sugar go up or down. You just need to keep a close eye on your levels. I just started on Lantus last Tuesday. After having taken Victoza for over a year. The Victoza no longer worked. Sugars are still high for me, so will have to adjust the Lantus more after calling my doctor with the results of this past week on Tuesday. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you are doing ok and that it won't have an effect on your day to day life. Because it does very much so.

CalifChick -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 2:02:19 PM)
I thought of something else. There is a relatively easy way to eat, but it takes a little practice. Divide your plate into quarters. One quarter should be protein (meat), one quarter should be carbs (pasta, corn, beans, stuffing, bread, fruit, etc.), and two of the quarters should be green vegetables or other "free" food (any green vegetable except beans; tossed salad, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc.). If your blood sugar spikes too much, take a little away from the carb portion and fill it with more protein. So your meal might be stir fried chicken with vegetables, 1/3 cup rice (measure after cooking). Open-faced cheeseburger (only bottom of the bun), steamed mixed vegies with garlic butter. Chef salad. Grilled talapia with spinach salad and corn. Pork chops with no-sugar added applesauce, salad. Crustless quiche with spinach, cheese, and tomatoes. Cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage, one biscuit with butter. One large or two small pieces of french toast, low-sugar syrup, a small sprinkling of blueberries, and some sort of breakfast meat (bacon, sausage, ham, etc.). Cali

DesFIP -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 2:02:54 PM)
The Man's also diagnosed. Not insulin, oral meds. The first thing he did without almost any other changes was to switch to diet soda. There are 32 teaspoons of sugar in a 20 oz coke. The best thing you can do now is go measure that into a glass and see what it looks like. You will then have that image in your eyes every time you reach for a sweetened drink. He dropped over a hundred points by doing that and giving up candy bars. I went from 130/prediabetic to 109 by just giving up the candy bars. (I was already a diet coke fan.) Beyond that think the more whole fiber, the better. Sweet potatoes instead of white. Whole wheat bread, brown rice. Fiber slows down the absorption into the body meaning the food turns into sugar for your cells at a slower rate. That's important because when you have simple sugars, half the damage is that it slams into and out of you quickly causing your levels to yo yo. Add more vegetables to your meals, a broth (not cream) based soup, a salad with vinaigrette not ranch or bleu. Most of all, read labels. See how many grams of sugar and fiber are in stuff. And remember that food contains either sugar or fat so low fat foods have higher amounts of sugar.

HeatherMcLeather -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 2:14:24 PM)
Learning how you react to which foods is really important, I want to reemphasize that. Another thing to keep in mind is that it isn't just sugar you have to watch, it is carbs because they are converted into sugar in your system, so a big plate of pasta can cause your blood sugar to go up. I don't know what regimen you are on so I couldn't really say if it's appropriate, but one thing I do, on doctor's orders, is to increase the amount of insulin I take if I am going to have a carb-heavy meal. All the diet rules and so on seems like a real challenge, but it really isn't, it becomes habitual very quickly. Oh yes, also go for whole fruit rather than juices, that way you get the fibre you need as well.

DeviantlyD -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 4:28:39 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Arpig Just take your shots and that's about it. It's really a very simple disease to deal with and one that other than remembering to take your needles has almost zero effect on one's day-to-day life. That may be your experience with it, but clearly this is not the case for all. Brittle diabetics may do everything right (i.e. diet, exercise, insulin regime, etc.) but still end up in crisis.

MasterG2kTR -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 4:51:53 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DesFIP There are 32 teaspoons of sugar in a 20 oz coke. Nothing like a slight exaggeration! That equals 5.3 oz. of sugar. The reality is that first there is no sugar in Coke. They use HFCS, but if you equate that to sugar there is only about 13 teaspoons of sugar in 20 oz. That's sounds like a lot until you consider that most people put 3 to 4 teaspoons of sugar in a 6-8 oz. cup of coffee or tea. When you multiply that out it's pretty much equal.

DarkSteven -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 4:56:57 PM)
I have heard that HFCS is worse than sugars. I try to avoid it. I avoid frozen dinners and sodas. I simulate sodas with a glass of crushed ice and carbonated water, with maybe 1/10 to 1/4 fruit juice. I avoid sugar replacements as well. My personal prejudice. I have never had insulin. I take Metformin twice a day, as well as one-a-day vitamins specially for diabetics. I think about exercise.

LinnaeaBorealis -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 4:59:12 PM)
I was the caregiver for a brittle diabetic for 7 months. We kept her sugars pretty well under control with diet & exercise, but every now & again, seemingly for no good reason, her sugar would spike. Under my care, it never ever hit even the high 200's though. Her previous caregiver was so afraid of a low that her sugars were in the 300's a lot. One of the things that you have to look at is artificial sweeteners also. Over on the Admit it thread today, LillyBoPeep posted a couple of links about sucralose in the form of Splenda. It seems that all artificial sweeteners, according to the articles, also have forms of sugar in them. You need too avoid things like maltodextrin also. Just because something says it's "sugar free" doesn't mean that it actually is. Oroweat, or whoever's name is on that brand in your area, makes a 100 calorie sandwich roll sort of thing. It looks like a flat hamburger bun. I used to give those to my lady. And remember that not all vegetables are carb-free. Peas & corn, for instance, are high in carbs. Different fruits have different amounts of sugar in them. I used to go to a website that listed the amounts of sugar in each type of fruit. We never gave Granny more than half a banana, for instance, due to the high sugar content. There are many websites that will give you all kinds of great information. I agree with Cali that the first place to go is to a nutritionist. But remember, they are humans with bias. You may not do well on a diet given to you by a nutritionist. If the first one doesn't work, look for another one. Regular exercise is very important in keeping blood sugars under control. Granny was 98, so we walked around the house every 2 hours. I tried to get her to go 10 times around the house each time. It seemed to help her levels to do this at regular intervals. I assume that you're capable of much more than that, but I think that the key was spreading the exercise out over the course of the day.

zephyroftheNorth -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:22:26 PM)
quote: I agree with Cali that the first place to go is to a nutritionist. But remember, they are humans with bias. You may not do well on a diet given to you by a nutritionist. If the first one doesn't work, look for another one. Just a quick FYI. I know that at my hospital there are nutritionists who specialize in helping diabetics. You might look into finding one of those, Tazzy.

tazzygirl -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:35:57 PM)
quote: I take Metformin twice a day, as well as one-a-day vitamins specially for diabetics. Im on metaformin three times a day at the moment as well. Vitamins for diabetics? Wow, am I out of touch.

tazzygirl -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:36:58 PM)
Cali Thank you very much for the info. I hope you dont mind if I pick your brain from time to time?

tazzygirl -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:38:12 PM)
Thank you Desi. Some of this stuff is slowly coming back. And I am addicted to diet coke.

tazzygirl -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:41:09 PM)
quote: Just a quick FYI. I know that at my hospital there are nutritionists who specialize in helping diabetics. You might look into finding one of those, Tazzy. LOL funny thing about that. My clinic uses residents... not normally an issue.. except the resident I had last time. The attending came in, said she wanted me to see a dietician. I got the paper work.. no referral for one. Got to the pharmacy... and this is partly my own fault.... Metaformin TID (three times a day) a total of 60 tablets. No syringes for the insulin. I can see Im gonna have to watch these kids like a hawk next time.

tazzygirl -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:43:38 PM)
Thanks for replying Linnaea. Its sorta hard to get around with this heel (achilles tendonitis). But I am working on it. [:D]

zephyroftheNorth -> RE: One stop Diabetic Chat (9/25/2011 5:45:31 PM)
LOL yeah I've run into residents like that. God love 'em most of them try so hard. I'm surprised though, didn't a staff doc double check all that stuff? At any rate, there may be one or more dietitian(s) affiliated with the Endo dept.

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