Battling Glucose Type II


 
I do not have time now to tell the whole journey...I was diagnosed with type ll diabetes. Because of an off hand comment by a doctor, I beat it.
If you are like many
 
Okay........ ya'll, we do need to be care with insulin dependent vs not insulin dependent, and Type I vs. Type II. Type I, aka deficient, is nearly always insulin dependent. I was diagnosed in my 30's with diabetes, but not with an official Type I or Type II diagnosis, as I really didn't fit easily into the categories. Empirically, I rather strongly suspect that I'm a Type I, deficient, based on the fact that I do lose weight rather easily, especially with long periods of physical activity. In my early 20s, I had a nasty throat infection and more or less had to just tough it out as a broke college student, and ignored the warning signs that showed up over the next 10 years. I went 15 years with oral meds, diet, and not enough exercise before I finally started on insulin. Type II, aka, resistant, can also become insulin dependent when their insulin requirements simply outpace what their pancreas can deliver. I have a good friend (I actually diagnosed him as a Type II and said get your *** to Urgent Care NOW!) who finally started on insulin a couple of years ago. He is drastically overweight, and just can't seem to shake it.

I get a lab A1c twice annually, don't think insurance will spring for quarterly. Yes, there are home A1c kits...... and the accuracy is far from decent, something like +/- 15-20%. Yeah, indicators for sure, but it's the lab results that I'm really interested in. I took one a week ago, I tend to take them every 2-3 months just to keep on top of things and it showed 5.4. That's rather low, my August lab result was 6.4, and I'm pretty sure that I haven't been pushing the insulin & exercise THAT hard (I'm suspecting a sampling error.)
 
My 90 day supply of insulin consists of 14 bottles of Humalog and 5 bottles of Levemir. Therefore I am monitored closely and I effing hate it.
 
My 90 day supply of insulin consists of 14 bottles of Humalog and 5 bottles of Levemir. Therefore I am monitored closely and I effing hate it.
HOLY <BEEEEP>. Okay, I got very very little in comparison to be worried about, I'm using less than half of that. I stick my fingers at least every time I shoot up (3x a day for meals plus a night time basal,) and whenever I feel my b/s dropping.

Have you considered a Continuous Glucose Monitor? Quarterly consumables alone over the counter run about $800, I'd had to wonder if your insurance would cover it considering how much insulin you're using and how brittle it sounds like you may be. The new systems really are awfully impressive.
 
HOLY <BEEEEP>. Okay, I got very very little in comparison to be worried about, I'm using less than half of that. I stick my fingers at least every time I shoot up (3x a day for meals plus a night time basal,) and whenever I feel my b/s dropping.

Have you considered a Continuous Glucose Monitor? Quarterly consumables alone over the counter run about $800, I'd had to wonder if your insurance would cover it considering how much insulin you're using and how brittle it sounds like you may be. The new systems really are awfully impressive.
Dexcom rules and thank Buddah for insurance.
 
BTW I did not mention being on insulin. I am on a long acting insulin with a fixed dose. IOW I don't have to take a reading and then inject accordingly. I take just shy of 60 units split into 2 doses. One in AM one in evening. I think it is a synthetic product. It's called Toujeo and it's crazy expensive. Month supply is just shy of $600 (with BCBS insurance). But, Sanofil has some type of "poverty" program. You apply, give them your insurance info and somehow magically they can find a way to sell the month supply for $55. Go figure
 
I was told back in 2004 that I was a Type II and it was shocking to me then I tested my blood as much as my fingers could handle it.
But now it is under control, and this being the time of year with all the sweets,pies,and other such holiday goodies.
My list of helps:
No alcohol, no sodas, limit juices like orange,apple, etc mostly for morning pill intake.
Exercise, light weights but mosty just walking ,at parks, or scenic areas.. this helps the most I have lost waist sizes and gained lung capacity. AIC has been much easier to maintain.
 
BTW I did not mention being on insulin. I am on a long acting insulin with a fixed dose. IOW I don't have to take a reading and then inject accordingly. I take just shy of 60 units split into 2 doses. One in AM one in evening. I think it is a synthetic product. It's called Toujeo and it's crazy expensive. Month supply is just shy of $600 (with BCBS insurance). But, Sanofil has some type of "poverty" program. You apply, give them your insurance info and somehow magically they can find a way to sell the month supply for $55. Go figure
Yep, manufacturers do that with a lot of products to make them more competitive, especially when not preferred formulary products. Lantus and Basaglar are essentially the same product and may be cheaper on your insurance, so the company gives you a copay card to bring your cost down. They have built enough profit into the price to cover that additional payment to the pharmacy. Unfortunately, many of those plans have an expiration date or an upper cash limit. I would suggest you do not wait until out to refill the Rx. Most insurance plans will pay the claim once you have exceeded 75% of the days supply. If you have a problem, that gives you time to deal with it. As a retired pharmacist, the thing I miss least is dealing with insurance and discount cards.
 
Why aren't you simply doing Atkins and eating BBQ'd chicken and steak 3 times a day? I'm 85% not kidding. But kiss any carbs g'bye. Also here's a book recommendation, not about Atkins but about overall mending your auto-immune system, especially your gut microbiome:

Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health

This is a great plan for some folks,but nothing works for everyone. A pill or injection I may take would harm several others here. No I am a firm believer to use time and trial and error to find the best path for you. And also keep up with your Doctor, and your diabetic training to stay on top of new procedures that are coming out all the time. Some of these maybe a fit for you and make your life much easier.
Diabetes is either in you at a lower stage or all the way up to higher injection range. So not all things work for us all.
I have some sensitivity to some medications that would make my life easier but I must use a different path.
 
Why aren't you simply doing Atkins and eating BBQ'd chicken and steak 3 times a day? I'm 85% not kidding. But kiss any carbs g'bye. Also here's a book recommendation, not about Atkins but about overall mending your auto-immune system, especially your gut microbiome:

Beat Autoimmune: The 6 Keys to Reverse Your Condition and Reclaim Your Health
It is not that simple with diabetes. They need a balanced diet with the right proportion of protein, complex carbohydrates and sugar. If you basically eat nothing but fat and protein, you can develop ketosis, kidney damage, high cholesterol, heart trouble, etc. New diabetics usually meet with a diabetic educator to help them with a proper diet-then they promptly ignore it.
 
It is not that simple with diabetes. They need a balanced diet with the right proportion of protein, complex carbohydrates and sugar. If you basically eat nothing but fat and protein, you can develop ketosis, kidney damage, high cholesterol, heart trouble, etc. New diabetics usually meet with a diabetic educator to help them with a proper diet-then they promptly ignore it.
I'm personally not there. Had my own probs. But I have heard of so many people who took healthy paths (diet and exercise) to get off their meds and get rid of the disease. The book I linked to only occasionally mentions ketosis but that's not what the book is about.
 
Type 2, insulin plus oral meds, onset 14 years ago.

First, it is your body not the doc's, so you are right not to just "drop it" if you feel things are not going as expected. But in looking at blood sugar, remember to "note the number, but watch the trend."

That said, remember that a lot of things can affect day to day fluctuations. You have probably already looked at the obvious -- do you eat more or differently this time of year?

Are you using more non-sugar sweeteners? Some people have found that those little blue or yellow packets actually set up an impact on your blood sugar levels. I am not saying drop your use of them, just think about whether you have changed your quantity or frequency.

How about sleep? If in daylight savings time you are getting 7 1/2 hours or something and "real" time screws you up enough that you're only getting 6 or your sleep is broken up into 2 4 hour chunks with an hour of thinking in bed in between, this can affect your morning sugar -- especially if you already have dawn phenom.

Are you eating later in the evening due to the time change? WHEN I ate didn't affect my morning sugar too much until the pandemic started and I got less physically active. Now, my morning readings can be as much as 40 points out of whack if I have a bowl of cereal or a few cookies at 9:30 or 10. More out of whack than that if I go full-on-stupid and have popcorn or ice cream.

Have you even done some experimenting to see if some foods set off your blood sugar more than others? (For me, popcorn can set me off terribly. Even the sugars in milk can have an impact so I have to be aware of what I am doing. But for whatever reason, fruit doesn't hit me as hard as what "glycemic index experts" would predict.) If there is something that has a larger impact on your blood than what the books say is normal, are you eating more of it, or more frequently?

Ae you checking sugar more frequently than just in the morning? How are your other readings trending? Are you exercising more or less this time of year than a few months ago? These things can affect your A1C without necessarily showing up in your morning readings.

If you do a self-assessment to see what if anything changes for you this time of year and still can't account for it, figure out what you can do to offset the change, regardless of cause. A 20 minute walk an hour or two before bed time. Meditation. Alter your diet. Forget you ever heard of Cadbury or Hershey. Whatever it takes!

I'd also suggest that you gently insist with your doctor that this concerns you and ask for more frequent testing or other suggestions.

Good luck, I know the struggle.
 
Yeah Mike, this seems to be a "seasonal" thing with me. Sleep? Don't really know what that is LOL. Between the diesel engine I sleep next to (my wife), the nocturnal pee breaks sleep is fleeting at best. I am testing throughout the day when I get the chance (if I am not running around). FWIW my after meal and throughout the day readings tend to settle down and become more normal for me.
But, yeah I am watching the trends. Which was why I contacted the dr as I was seeing a slight rise in addition to the higher numbers in the AM after waking. And yeah definitely some foods cause spikes for me. Oatmeal was one of those I discovered. I don't use any artificial sweeteners FWIW. I don't believe in ingesting that chemical s&*t storm. I do use a few drops of Agave nectar in my coffee. I read up on that being low glycemic so been using it a few years with good results.
I just seem to go through these "spikes" for awhile then settle back down and really am not sure why.
 
I'm personally not there. Had my own probs. But I have heard of so many people who took healthy paths (diet and exercise) to get off their meds and get rid of the disease. The book I linked to only occasionally mentions ketosis but that's not what the book is about.

Look up ketosis vs ketoacidosis and be wary of anyone that says you need carbohydrates and certainly sugar. Being in ketosis (a healthy and natural state where your body is using ketones for energy) and diabetic ketoacidosis are NOT the same thing and happens for different reasons.

*Modern* medicine (tongue in cheek) in many jurisdictions still focus on keeping an EVEN blood sugar level by eating more often and using the Food Guide as a basis...i.e. lots of carbs - the reason most are type 2 to begin with! Unfortunately, keeping a LOW and even blood sugar is becoming more mainstream with more progressive medical systems which are treating diabetes with very low calorie, low carbohydrate, intermittent fasting, and fasting mimicing diets.

With a type 2, rapidly cutting carbs while still on medications can be dangerous and cause ketoacidosis and should be approached carefully with medical advice and careful monitoring.

The human body does not NEED carbohydrates to work in a healthy state, and certainly not sugar. First thing a diabetic should do is cut out ALL sugar. Many doctors still believe Type II diabetes is a progressive and lifelong disease which is also not true in many cases that are not too advanced. That said, it takes some serious commitment to go low carb, and stay there, but the rewards can be remission of diabetes.
 
This is somewhat unrelated but my terrier got diagnosed with diabetes and almost died. We have to give her insulin shots twice a day at mealtimes. It's not fun. Eventually they will go blind which is really depressing knowing that. She was a ninja when it comes to snagging people food and when I cooked bbq I would often give her some. I feel terrible. Don't give your dog diabetes!
 

 

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