Diabetics Progress Reports

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by goodcelt

Canadian Mist, hot tea, and sugar-free lozenges, and not necessarily in that order! But seriously, those syrups don't really do you any good. Just drink lots of fluids and I especially believe that the hot ones are best. Hope you are feeling better.

[COLOR="Blue"]Well, I'm not choking to date tonight but I'm gonna keep your list in mind in case I get into trouble later.

Karyn[/COLOR]

[Maeve]

I was watching the Today this morning, and there was a group visiting called Diabetes New Day. I went to their website expecting to see a little something new but I didn't. I just don't understand...Are we (lowcarbers) the only ones who know that cream in our coffee is better for us than skim milk? Is the whole world eating grains 3 times a day? I just don't get it...it sort of freaks me out. I mean, what I was doing before was lowering things, but there were other things that were staying the same, like my HDL. And pushing low-fat items on us...I mean, there are a handful of low-fat things that don't have major crap added to them (and I mean, handful) but I guess I'm just saying that I feel like I've gotten my mind blown once again. How is it that this happens all the time? I mean between this new group, the American Diabetes Association, and others that I can't think of at the moment...how can they tell you to eat as many carbs at one meal as I might eat for the whole day? I just am forlorn...

[Maeve]

OK...I got on the scale tonight and have dropped a few more pounds. I haven't seen 188 for a LONG time! I was shocked. I had to look twice!

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by goodcelt

OK...I got on the scale tonight and have dropped a few more pounds. I haven't seen 188 for a LONG time! I was shocked. I had to look twice!

[COLOR="Blue"]Woohoo!!! Good for you!

Karyn[/COLOR]

[mermaid]

I know what you're saying goodcelt! Every time I'm with my family, almost all of whom are type II diabetic and medicated up to their eyeballs, I just want to scream, "Why do you eat all those carbs and then take medications to bring your blood sugar down? Just don't eat the carbs then you don't need the meds!" (Okay, some people still need some meds, but just not as many). To me it's just simple math, and I don't understand how anyone can think otherwise.

I have been using Sweet Water 0-carb liquid splenda from ebay and we really like it. I used to use ZCS but they went out of business. Sweet Water seems to be the same thing. I can't stand stevia. I have tried many times to get used to it, but always end up back with splenda.

[Maeve]

Yeah...I agree with you on all counts. I am trying really hard to stick with the stevia, though. At least for my morning cup of tea. I did see a good weight loss yesterday and since I started, my weight loss has been pretty good (better than it usually is) and I really do wonder if I can attribute part of that to refraining from using powdered splenda. I used to think that was a bunch of stuff, but, since I am trying really hard to lower my sugar to a normal level, I am paying attention. But yeah...the taste of it is really something that I need to get used to. I did buy some of that Clabber Girl stuff that they were talking about -- haven't had a bad reaction yet. I guess the truth will show itself when I used it to make my pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving

[mermaid]

You go girl!

[soon]

What is Clabber Girl? I like stevia just use a little just dont buy the new one Now has put out they say it is improved no aftertaste but it smells like old wood and taste horrible. I can use stevia in my tea but havent developed a taste for it in baking. Its so unfair I cant drink diet sodas or crystal lite....sheesh

[Maeve]

Hi, Soon. Sorry I'm just getting back to your question about Clabber Girl. They are a company that makes baking powder but now, they also make a powdered sweetener that you can buy in the grocery store and it is made from sugar alcohols (too lazy to get my bag at the moment). They have a website, too. It gives some people stomach distress but for me, so far, so good. I made my little cheesecakes with it for Thanksgiving and so far, no problem!

[Maeve]

Originally Posted by soon

What is Clabber Girl? I like stevia just use a little just dont buy the new one Now has put out they say it is improved no aftertaste but it smells like old wood and taste horrible. I can use stevia in my tea but havent developed a taste for it in baking. Its so unfair I cant drink diet sodas or crystal lite....sheesh

Why can't you drink diet soda?

[pepperette]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"]Well~ I think the "honeymoon" is over. Been keeping at 60 and below on daily carbs, and fasting sugars are up. Today was 196! I try not to eat a carbed snack after 8:30 pm, or at the least a very lc one, but still creeping up. [/COLOR]

[mermaid]

Pepperette, 60 grams carbs a day is a lot! Try down around 10-15 and you might have more success. I have to always keep under 20 a day, and I also take herbs that help with blood sugar control, no meds.

[pepperette]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"]Mermaid~love the pic! The doc has me on Insulin 4x's a day- I was in the 400's- tried oral meds and was in the high 200's before switching to Insulin. It and the lc brought me down nicely, but noticed the slow creep. I have moved to a lower carb level, but not the 10-15~ I get too hungry. I increased my meal-time dose to 9u and the sugars are back down.
Thanks for the help.[/COLOR]

[mermaid]

Slow and easy is a good idea when you're on meds. You're sure doing a lot better now than before, so hang in there. For sure you don't want to go around hungry if you can help it.

If I ate 60 grams carbs a day, my blood sugar would be in the 200's.

[marnie4949]

Hi all, may I join this thread? I am a 65 year old grandma who has been a diagnosed hypoglycemic since my twenties but a couple of days ago my doctor finally declared me a diabetic. I have been a LC believer for most of my life and doc thinks that is probably the only reason I wasn't diabetic long ago.
My DH is a chef and also border-line diabetic, so LC is our way of life. We eat the usual meats, cheeses, salads, etc. and use low carb sweets & breads instead of diabetic labeled foods as the carb counts are better.

As long as we eat right our blood sugars are OK but I just can't seem to get mine to ever fall under 100. Doc thinks that anything under 120 for fasting is just fine but I'm not sure I believe him. What do you guys think?

[Maeve]

Marnie - all I can say in reply to your question regarding 120 fasting being ok with your doc is that they lowered the number to be in the normal range -- 99 is the top of the norm. That said, you never know...they could up it again. Your doc is your doc, and has his own opinions.

Mine is currently 101 and I am hoping that it will go down when I go back in April. I'm certainly working on it.

[mermaid]

Hey Marnie, I don't believe him. Normal is under 100, and normal is what to shoot for if you want to be normal, right?

That said, mine is still around 110-120 and I'm happy with it for now. I think it will go down once I lose more weight. Still have 60+ pounds to lose, a lot of it around the gut. I can also use herbs to lower my BS, but just don't feel into that right now, so letting it just do its thing.

Anyone can join this thread any time, of course. Come on out lurkers and share your story!

[Maeve]

OK...I have been fighting a cold for days -- the worst was yesterday. Today, I am thinking about how much I am tired of using stevia and how Clabber Girl sweetener gave my tummy the "wobblies" this morning (from my having 3 tsps. of it yesterday). I am up to 40 carbs and "berry" week on the ladder, and am thinking about throwing in the towel and going back to my splenda. I was perfectly happy with my splenda until I read the Dr. Bernstein stuff and other stuff online. I want my sugar down, I've been working really, really hard. But I swear...I feel like just going back to the splenda (of which there is plenty in my house) and going ahead and counting each packet.

I feel good that I am no longer taking a diuretic, no longer having to eat that darn banana, and glad that I am doing Atkins (with my doctor's blessing).

Anybody have any comments about their sweetener? I just get such an aftertaste from the stevia, even though I have hung in there with it for several weeks now and have the mindset of what it's NOT doing to me...I just love the taste of splenda better...

[mermaid]

You and me both Goodcelt. I'm splenda all the way. I think all of that bad rap it has gotten is pretty trumped up. They have been using it 30 years now in other parts of the world without known problems. And you are not alone in stevia making you feel sick--that actually happens to a lot of people. Just my observations/feelings.

I do use a carb-free liquid splenda called sweet water. You can google it. I also occasionally use erythritol in goodies where I need a little bulk. I use it in combination with liquid splenda in recipes calling for that bulky splenda stuff. It works well, costs less, and does not raise blood sugar very much.

Use about 1/3 cup with 20 drops liquid splenda to equal one cup of the bulky splenda--sorry I forget what they call it). I noticed that a bag of that splenda that supposedly replaces a pound of sugar only weighs 5 ounces, so I figured 1/3 cup erythritol would work nicely, and it does if you add some liquid splenda along with it.

Okay, Chatty Kathy signing off, LOL.

[Maeve]

[pepperette]

[COLOR="DarkGreen"]I used to use Sweet-n-Low, but now I am back to saccharin for drinks (even the unsweetened Almond Breeze- van and choc), and Splenda granulated for other things. Diet sodas I pick for the taste. Tried stevia-YUCK! The Splenda granulated makes a great cinnamon/sugar for toast![/COLOR]

[Maeve]

Yeah, I am tired of the stevia and the Clabber Girl. I also like my diet rite. I am about to got ot bed and am outof it; been listening to the winds bloww...I made myself something out of these cravings... tsp of peanut butter, sprinkled with a little splenda, and topped with the whipped ceam topping. It was good........

[carrielyn]

There are some other sweeteners out there also. In order to not abuse any one of the artificial ones (I will use them all saccharin, aspartame, sucralose) just not much of any. I also use Whey Low D for diabetics and that other plant sweetener, Luo Han Guo which isn't too bad. I don't care for powdered stevia at all so I don't use that but I have used liqud stevia with vanilla and it's not too bad.

I have a bag of sweetener at home which has sweet n low, nutrasweet and splenda all mixed together, then when I use a tspn full it's only a 1/3 of each. Seems to work okay.

My blood sugar is a yo-yo, for example, one day it went from 110 (fasting) to 230 to 83 to 155 and I have no idea why. I'm on 1500 total for the day of Metformim and I'm having a terrible time getting any weight off, though I have manage to get 4 pounds off in 10 weeks. And since down is down I'm not going to complain.

Hope everyone is doing well....

Carolyn

[chocolatefolie]

I'm so happy to find that this thread is here. I just stumbled onto it. I'll tell her about it, and she'll be thrilled, so grateful for company and support.

This is one terrific site.

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by chocolatefolie

I'm so happy to find that this thread is here. I just stumbled onto it. I'll tell her about it, and she'll be thrilled. She does need company and support.

This is one terrific site.

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Hello! Yes, definitely have your sister stop by and tell us about herself... I only WISH this site and this WOE had been something someone had clued me in on a few years ago.

I don't know if I'd have committed myself to taking better care of myself early on, but I'd like to think it could have been a wake up call for me. Since finding this site and all the support available, I've done much, much better at getting and keeping my BG under control. There's almost always someone here who can help or can point you in the right direction.

Karyn [/COLOR]

[FatCat]

...as I'm sure a lot of my questions have been asked and answered before. But with this topic, I'm a newbie. The Dr. proclaimed me 'diabetic' 2 weeks ago. I'm half scared, and half po'd about it. I detest needles and the multiple sticks for testing each day make me even more mad. I'm on Metformin HCL 500mg, twice a day.

Why is my blood sugar so high in the morning? ~300 or so.
How long does it take for the Metformin to work? I haven't seen any lowering of my counts yet.
I got strick on my low carbing a couple weeks ago, prior to the Dr's visit. Will I be able to get off the pills after I've lost the weight? Why hasn't my blood sugar gone down from just LC? It did before..?
My lowest reading so far has been 175. How can it be so high if I'm not eating sugars, starches, etc?

This is all new to me, and I hate it.

[Jewelthief]

[COLOR="Blue"]Hi, FatCat. There is a TON of info out there for diabetics, and I'm going to share a couple of great sites to start you off, and I'll ask you a favor as well... Go to the start of this thread and read it all. Some of it may apply to you, heck, all of it in one way or another may apply, but the thing is, is there aren't any shortcuts. You *have* to start at the beginning to learn, and you have to learn what does and doesn't apply to YOU.

You won't know that until you get real serious with yourself though. And that means you have to test, test, test (hey, none of us are masochists here... at least none I know of ) and you can't learn what affects YOU without testing. You also should get yourself a food program to learn what foods contain how many carbs (******, Calorie King, etc.) plus a notepad, and take note of every bite of food you eat, when you eat it, how much you ate, and keep track of your test results. Ideally you will test when you wake up, again at 90 minutes to 2 hours after the first bite of each meal, and some also test before bedtime. (Myself, I often test at 2 hrs. after eating something new that I want to know how my body responds to as well.)

Has your doc assigned you to any diabetic education classes? Those will help familiarize you with how, when and why you test, although many diabetics find the "diet" the educators recommend is way off-base for us carb-wise to get our glucose under control. You'll read more about that on the diabetes sites I list later.

Your weight, foods, portion sizes, meds, family history, exercise, and how well your body handles its carbs can and does affect your numbers.

Let's tackle your questions though... then you can do some (more) reading. [/COLOR]

Originally Posted by FatCat

...as I'm sure a lot of my questions have been asked and answered before. But with this topic, I'm a newbie. The Dr. proclaimed me 'diabetic' 2 weeks ago. I'm half scared, and half po'd about it. I detest needles and the multiple sticks for testing each day make me even more mad. I'm on Metformin HCL 500mg, twice a day.

[COLOR="Blue"]Metformin is a typical medication prescribed to people who are pre- and confirmed diabetic although others take different meds in addition to insulin. Still others have been able to stave off diabetes by controlling their weight through diet or have managed to stop medicating due to low carbing.

I'm not a needle fan myself but I will tell you that the lancets are not as bad as you imagine them to be, and if you get a good device, you'll often hardly notice you've stuck yourself.[/COLOR]

Why is my blood sugar so high in the morning? ~300 or so.

[COLOR="Blue"]Could be many things. Look up "dawn phenomenon" and that'll give you a textbook definition. It can be combatted with diet and medications, but you may not always know "why." [/COLOR]

How long does it take for the Metformin to work? I haven't seen any lowering of my counts yet.

[COLOR="Blue"]Depends. And what it depends on is you, your diet, your weight, your body's ability to counteract diabetes on its own, how far *your* diabetes has progressed... Also depends on how long you've been taking it.[/COLOR]

I got strick on my low carbing a couple weeks ago, prior to the Dr's visit. Will I be able to get off the pills after I've lost the weight? Why hasn't my blood sugar gone down from just LC? It did before..?

[COLOR="Blue"]A couple of weeks isn't necessarily enough time to see much of an effect. You didn't gain your weight in such a small amount of time, and you know you can't lose it in such a small amount of time. Same with the diabetes, and any treatment you use has to have TIME to get rolling. [/COLOR]

My lowest reading so far has been 175. How can it be so high if I'm not eating sugars, starches, etc?

[COLOR="Blue"]Ouch! That's way too high, but again, SO many factors to consider, and you are at square one. You cannot control what you don't understand, so you've got to roll up your sleeves and learn as much as you can about you, this disease, and what it's gonna take to get it under control.

And you can control it... with meds, exercise, diet, insulin, many things will help you be healthier and live better. There will be days, even weeks, perhaps months, where you will struggle and sometimes you might think you are failing, but be as gentle on yourself as you can and as tough on yourself as you must.

We didn't get here overnight, and we won't see results overnight...

But you CAN see better results. [/COLOR]

This is all new to me, and I hate it.

[COLOR="Blue"]Yep, been there, done that, got a lousy t-shirt!! Some of us feel that being diagnosed diabetic was a wake-up call, a blessing in disguise, if you will. And you might not feel that way today--or maybe never--but it's a fact of life now, and you'll have to decide for yourself to take better care of yourself, and be as healthy as you can be.

Am I thrilled I can't eat sweets or breads or starches without abandon? No way. Not by any stretch of the imagination... but in the 2 years since my diagnosis, I have been off my medication for 4 months and am seeing near-normal blood sugar readings from low caring, and I lost 60 pounds during that course of time. My days aren't a picnic, but I am not miserable, and my life is full of things I love to eat--they're just very different and in smaller portions more times throughout the day than they once were.

Read, read, read... and take notes... and test. Hit this thread and also these few others. All your questions might not be answered right away, but you'll figure out many things along the way.

It's a hard thing to accept, but it doesn't have to be a death sentence, okay?

What They Don't Tell You About Diabetes
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. A Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars. Official Web Site
David Mendosa: A Writer on the Web

Okay, those 3 are by no means the end all be all of sites, but check them out and post back when you like. We all learn from each other, and none of us are out there alone.

See you around, FatCat. You've come to a good place.

Karyn
[/COLOR]

[FatCat]

Thanks for the excellent reply and links, Jewelthief. This thing has really got me down, then throw on the fact that I was laid off from work a week later. Can you say 'Merry Christmas'?

I've got a lot of reading to do to understand what is happening. Thanks again for the reply.

[Jewelthief]

Originally Posted by FatCat

Thanks for the excellent reply and links, Jewelthief. This thing has really got me down, then throw on the fact that I was laid off from work a week later. Can you say 'Merry Christmas'?

I've got a lot of reading to do to understand what is happening. Thanks again for the reply.

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]You're welcome... And please don't feel rushed out the door! This is a good place for support and understanding and commiserating and learning too. We all have been right where you are at one time or another, and when we find ourselves out of control, whether by our own hand or due to illness or stress, we're right back at the start--frustrated and sometimes feeling mad at the world.

I got my diagnosis for Thanksgiving, right after my birthday. Yep, ugh.

Hang in and post as often as you like. Not feeling like you're all alone sometimes is great "medicine."

Karyn[/COLOR]

[dreamerdee]

Hi Karyn,

That post for Fatcat (how about a first name?) was fabulous! I just had to thank you for it. You truly are a jewel.

And welcome, Fatcat. It really does get easier, I promise.