Diabetics Progress Reports

[mmshadows]

Thanks, Chiody. I think you're right. I just checked it before lunch, and the reading was back to 90. It's probably just something I'm going to have to work on, I guess. The only other change in routine have been lunches & evening meals. I'm working longer hours again, and sometimes my morning readings are higher when I have my evening meal (no matter how light it is) after 6:00 p.m. And in the last week or so, I've had school lunches daily. Usually I give the stuff that isn't good for me to one of the students or just throw it away. But...those lunches probably aren't good for me either.

[floridagirl6]

Hi All,

I'm new to this thread. I recomitted on April 17th and my blood sugars went from the high 300's to 123 this am! I lost 6 pounds last week. I am just happy to have brought my bs levels down.

[chiody]

Fascinating decrease in so short time period. Were you just diagnosed? And are you on any meds? T1 or 2...1.5? Supplements taken? Exercise?

KUTGW!!!

[hpjrt]

Originally Posted by floridagirl6

Hi All,

I'm new to this thread. I recomitted on April 17th and my blood sugars went from the high 300's to 123 this am! I lost 6 pounds last week. I am just happy to have brought my bs levels down.

I agree with Chiody. What an inspiring bs drop in just a couple of weeks. Do let us in on your "secret" ... and the details of your diagnosis etc.

Mary

[amyAZ]

4 months ago I dropped Byetta and changed from VLC to ZC. My A1C was 5.2; now 5.7. It is exactly what I expected it to be. I'll check my A1C again in 4 more months; I'm monitoring my BG closely so that I don't go over 5.7; in fact, I'd like to improve it. I'd also like to try getting rid of the Metformin XR I take, but I'm uncertain about taking that step so I'm putting it off for a while for now.

I'm hopeful that as my weight drops, my numbers will get better. 4 years ago I was 329; now 202.

[chiody]

How has your BG correlated with the A1C changes? Did they trend upwards too? In many respects, the daily readings are a better indicator to depend on for hard numbers. Is there any particular concern you might want to DC the XR? Seem like your control is right in line?

Your wt. has been moving in the right direction. KUTGW!

[SlowMovingWoman]

Welcome Floridagirl6. This board has gotten very slow and we can sure use
some new input. Sounds like you are doing really well on controling your sugar.
That's great!!! Keep it up!!!

[amyAZ]

Originally Posted by chiody

How has your BG correlated with the A1C changes? Did they trend upwards too? In many respects, the daily readings are a better indicator to depend on for hard numbers. Is there any particular concern you might want to DC the XR? Seem like your control is right in line?

Your wt. has been moving in the right direction. KUTGW!

My BGs have trended upwards a bit, too - using Jenny's BloodSugar101.com site's tool for estimating A1C, I was spot-on in predicting the 5.7 result.

As for discontinuing the Metformin XR, there's lots of reasons:
- I'd like to be free of the runny BMs. I get them several times per week such that I think about my daily schedule of meals & meds when I make appointments and such.
- I'd like to be controlled by "diet & exercise"
- I'd like to try "intermittent fasting" but don't see how I can do that and take Metformin XR without a resurgence of #1 above (or should I have listed that as #2? tee hee)

95% of the time, my BG reads as between 104 - 120. The other times I might be as low as 92, or as high as 124. A very tight range - regardless of fasting, or X hours after a meal.

Thanks for the encouraging words, and your response!

[WendyWanders]

After my first week on Metformin, I quit taking it and switched to LC eating. The pounds have effortlessly fallen off me. I went from a blood sugar of 478 in March to an average of 100 for the week, now.

At my official weigh in Thursday I am down 87 pounds since February. At first I lost weight on diuretics because I had severe edema. Now that I eat LC, the edema is gone, and so is a heck of a lot of fat The doc told me I am "cured" of diabetes. I know that's not exactly true, but it sounds good!

Here is what I ate to bring down my blood sugar and lose weight...
My low carb menu vault Wendy Usually Wanders

[Monkee]

Haven't posted here in a long time. My BS seems to be steady. I am still taking metformin as it also helps with my PCOS but the glipizide has been cut in 1/2 and now will be discontinued. It gives me a hypoglycemic episode within an hour and I get too shaky. It works too well and it is too strong for me at this point even with only 5mg. I am still keeping my bottle around in the event that I wake up with high dawn numbers, but it is not something that I need on a regular basis anymore. Pretty excited about that.

[30something]

I am doing very well A1C 5.4-5.6 x 2 years. Metformin 1000 ER works for me no side effects at all. I could use a laxative effect, but glad I do not have it, I have to add fiber and take mild herbal laxative now and then.

I stopped testing which I did consistently for 2 yrs. to discover triggers and tailor my eating plan to meet my needs.
Unfortunately, I deadened most of my finger tips........ I can feel them, but fine finger tip coordination is not great such as snapping snaps on a boat canvas, picking up a needle, opening jars, taking off caps etc. Very annoying.

Jan 2009, I switched from my 5 small meal low carb/balanced prot/fats to 3 small low carb/balanced prot/fat meals..........wt loss radually stopped, I was getting too thin, and after 1.5 yrs on 3 meals I am switching back to 5 small balance meals.......I gained 20 lbs on 3 small meals and would like to lose 10 lbs for selfish reasons. I bought all new clothes in new size-pants size 4-6 or 8, threw everything else out and do not like clothes-bras-underwear feeling tight etc.

I exercise 3 x wk T-Tapp exercise dvd-core upper/lower body workout and walking/upper/lower body workout, and just added going to gym (treadmill/elolyptical/bike) to work on getting 1000 steps a day.

It is a journey-------

Denise

[ratgirldjh]

hi all!
i've been lurking on this forum reading this thread.
i just wanted to let everyone know that i've ordered bernstein's book - the diabetes diet - and i'm going to also order the diabetes solution.
the first book should come monday or tuesday.

i am a 50 year old woman who was diagnosed first as a type 2 about 5 years ago. they put me on glycophauge (sp?) and it worked well - but i became allergic to it and then they put me on glypizide and then avandia which neither of worked at all for me.

later they decided after a test (absence of insulin pre-cursers) that i was type 1. so i have been on insulin for about 2 years.

i am NOT overweight. if anything i am thin - but i have gained weight since my diagnosis - i was under 100 lbs then - and i am 5 foot 8...

now i weigh about 145 and don't really want to lose weight.

i take 12 units of 70/30 in the AM and 6 in the PM.

all day long i have been having to eat carbs to keep my blood sugar from going too low.

when i first started on insulin i was on 12 in the morning and 12 in the evening. this worked at first - but since i am active i had to reduce it as above.

i noticed right off that if i didn't eat any carbs that my BG would go very low - so i have been pretty much feeding my insulin!!!

anyway i am going to start eating low carb and see what happens. i no longer have a doctor because all of my doctors just wanted me to eat more carbs and take more insulin... and in my understanding diabetes is really an intolerance to carbs... so we don't agree at all.

also i don't trust doctors! i have just been buying my insulin at wal-mart - no prescription needed!!! can you believe this???

so i'm going to just stop the insulin and implement the diet and if need be in a few days add back some normal insulin during my meals - but i really don't think i will need to since i've already experimented with eating small amounts of carbs with very small amounts of insulin and my blood sugar was still going too low.

the only thing i'm concerned about is getting too thin - but i guess this can be remedied by exercising - i do have fat around my stomach - classic type 2 - so i think this will be the part i will lose - i hope anyway.

i'm also concerned with my BG going too low since i am accustomed to my BG being in the low 100's... or even higher - because if i would let it get below 100 just walking down the street would make it go to 40 or below - so i've had to keep it higher then i liked... so i feel weird when it gets to 100... but this may be in my head!!!

does anyone (not on meds) have problems with their BG going too low on low carb?

does anyone else here have NO BUTT? i have NO butt!!! i am sure this has something to do with my diabetes... a few other people i know with diabetes have this problem also!

djh/texas

[RW City Sue]

Hi ratgirldjh, I don't always check back on this thread regularly, so I just saw ur post. I would be interested to hear how ur doing and what u think of the Bernstein book. I feel about the same as you describe about not really trusting the medical professionals and the insulin pushing I felt they were doing. I get scared of the lows that can happen also. I find that weight loss makes the biggest dif in my BGS but u describe not having weight to lose--completely dif situation, so I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to say based on my own experience. If you can stick successfully with lowcarb, it will be interesting to see how that affects you.

What u describe about feeling weird when ur blood sugar is higher than usual, though, makes sense to me because I think we tend to get used to a certain level and it takes awhile before something different starts to feel 'normal' for us.

Good luck to you.

Sue

[floridagirl6]

Sorry for the slow reply. I was diagnosed 16 years ago and at first was able to controll my diabetes with diet (protein Power) and exercise. Well, I went back to eating badly and was put on metformin (which made me sick) and then avandia. Since avandia is no longer available, I am back on metformin (still makes me sick). I was still having high BS readings (in the 300 and 400 range) and my dr. changed my meds to: Glimepiride 4 mg 2x a day and Janumet 50/500 2x a day - and I still get sick from the metformin.

[BabeDumplin]

Floridagirl...
Try the Metformin ER, the reg. Met upset my stomach but the ER does not.
Maybe you can use this one. Good luck.

[Cherylg]

Isn't that Janumet expensive? - I do the glimepiride and ER metformin and so far soo good but I do have high numbers (130-160) in the am, fasting.

Hey, Floridagirl - where on the Treasure Coast? I am in Stuart!

[floridagirl6]

My insurance is awesome - I pay only $4.00 total for all of my prescriptions.

Cheryl - I also live in Stuart.

[Monkee]

4 bucks for all your meds is awesome.

I pay 25 and I need refills way too often! I am on 2,000 metformin daily. Stopped using the glipizide since it lowered my blood sugar too much. It worked too well. I started to get crazy low hypo-episodes. Not a nice feeling.

[Cherylg]

LC_Monkee - You don't have a Publix supermarket by you, do you? Down here in Florida, they started a diabetes campaign, and a 30 day supply of Metformin is FREE every month and they gave me a free meter with 10 strips.

[Monkee]

I don't have a PUBLIX nearby but I do have other stores that offer discounted meds. I just need to shop around. Some metformin are very fishy smelling though. I know they will mostly all smell fishy, but some are WAY TOO STRONG and it seems to vary where I get my prescription filled. That is why I've stuck with paying a bit more.

[Monkee]

I woke up in the 80's today!!!



I am so excited. I've sure come a long way from the high 200's morning readings.

Goodbye Dawn Phenomenon. Kicked its butt. It took two years, but I did it!

[VeeJay]

I found this thread last week and started reading from around the 700th post (early 2009) forward. I have found the discussions and information to be very helpful.

I was diagnosed in May 2010 with diabetes and given the ADA diet to follow, a free glucometer and a prescription for lances and strips - and sent on my way. When I voiced my opinion that the 180+ carbs a day diet was WAY TO MANY CARBS the PA said to do what I wanted (easier to say that to a determined patient than to argue, I guess). She certainly wasn't going to agree with me, though. The Dr. did not order an A1C test, and I haven't been back yet to have another one. I'm hoping by the time I do, it'll be somewhere in the 5% range.

I started out with numbers well under 200, for which I am thankful. In the Drs office it was 140 - still high but not dangerously so. I'd been sort of low-carbing for a couple weeks before then.

Since then I've fine-tuned my diet - help from Blood Sugar 101 and Dr. Rosedale's book. My numbers pretty much stay below 120, even after a meal. I even have some readings in the 90s during the day, but not consistently. My fasting numbers go from 106 to 119.

LC_Monkee -- I hope to beat the DP also - hoping it won't take two years, though. Congratulations on getting this kind of control - from reading past posts I know it's been quite a struggle for you.

Last night I was at a Mexican restaurant and ordered a dish that previous experience showed it did not spike my blood sugar. I asked to have the beans and rice replaced with lettuce and tomato - but they brought lettuce, sour cream and guacomola salad. Well, I tasted the guacomola and it was sort of sweet - should have put the fork down then, but went ahead and ate over half of it (probably 3T or so). Well, I KNOW it had sugar in it because an hour later my bg reading was 148. I didn't even take the 2hr reading. However, this morning it was 119 and after breakfast was 108.

The last time I over endulged in carbs the readings were in the upper 120s - for 3 days. So I'm thinking that there has been some healing since I recovered so quickly. However, I don't plan to endulge again anytime soon.

Excuse my rambling. I hope others can come back to this thread. It's so helpful.

[VeeJay]

Originally Posted by ratgirldjh

...does anyone else here have NO BUTT? i have NO butt!!! i am sure this has something to do with my diabetes... a few other people i know with diabetes have this problem also!

djh/texas

Is this a problem???

But, NO, I don't have much of a butt. Never have, even when thin. I do have a fat mid section - but thin arms and legs - and no butt!

[VeeJay]

My bs readings have been all over the place these last few days. And for no apparent reason. It's been puzzling and a little discouraging.

I just discovered that the soap I've been washing my hands with has given false high readings. I have an Ivory liquid soap in a pump bottle in the kitchen. When I test after washing with that, the readings are 20-30 points higher than when I use a very mild (no scent) hand soap I keep in the bathroom.

Live and learn.

My fasting bs was 88 this morning! Yeah



Is there anyone else out there????

[Monkee]

Great fasting numbers, Veejay.

Interesting about the soap causing higher numbers. I've heard of it happening to others, but haven't experienced it myself. At least I do not remember. (My mind is on vacation lately. Ha Ha)

on the guacamole at the restaurant. I've never heard of prepared guacamole having sugar. I'll make sure to ask what is in it from now on. Thanks for sharing.

I had my A1c done recently and am now awaiting the results. They should be ready today or tomorrow. I always feel like I am back in 1st grade awaiting my report card. I hope I get A's on my A1c.

I am still off of the glipizide and am only on metformin now. I've stopped taking a dose at bedtime and even so my morning readings are still within range. That is pretty exciting.

[VeeJay]

Originally Posted by LC_Monkee

Interesting about the soap causing higher numbers. I've heard of it happening to others, but haven't experienced it myself.

I'm having to question all my higher numbers now - maybe the guacomole wasn't the problem - maybe (hope so) it was the soap. I'm going to ask about the guacamole next time we're there (although there's a real language problem with the staff there - most have limited English).

That's great that you've been able to continue with fewer meds - you must be doing everything right.

[Monkee]

I got my A1c results today. I am at 5.4 which I am happy with, but I thought that based on daily readings it should have been lower. For some reason my A1c never matches with my records. Oh well, 5.4 is still great! Yay! Go me.

[VeeJay]

That's great, Monkee. Way to go!

From what I read on Blood Sugar 101 - below 5.5% is great.

I haven't had an A1C test yet (don't ask me why the Dr. didn't run one in the beginning). I haven't been back since May when I was given the diagnosis, but am due to go in soon and most likely will have it done then. I have high hopes - my monitor runs between 109-114 for one week - most of the time.

What are your monitor readings, Monkee?

[Monkee]

Originally Posted by VeeJay

That's great, Monkee. Way to go!

What are your monitor readings, Monkee?

Thanks.

These days my readings are between 80-105 or so. I've had a few higher readings during times of stress. But most seem to be around high 80's to 100.

That's why I think my A1c should have been lower.

[amyAZ]

I lowered my Metformin XR by 25% for weeks; then dropped it entirely. I've been about 4 weeks since my last dose. So far, it has proven to be the right decision as I'm enjoying not having the side effects. The first 2 weeks though, I gained 9 pounds; by the end of the 3rd week I was back down again. Don't know how much was the loss of the Metformin XR or the unintended consumption of some wheat while on vacation during the same time (damn, I should have known to ask what was in those sausages!)

My BGs range from 105 - 118 at any time; nice tight range. I'd like it to be a smidge lower, but what I like most is the steadiness and my target is to be under 120 all the time. I'm hoping by year's end I'll be hovering around 100.

I am still eating "zero carb", that is, no plant foods except for spices. Been at that for 7 months and it works great for me. I exercise regularly at Curves.

Hate seeing the Avandia stuff in the news - I took it for a long time (2 years maybe?) some years ago until I was having serious fluid retention, edema, whatever. I don't know if I have had permanent heart damage from it, but I sure as hell was on the way. Got diagnosed back then as having sleep apnea and asthma -- I think I was just so congested in my chest with fluids that I couldn't breathe. No sign of either (apnea, asthma) anymore and haven't had any such symptoms in years. So, am I supposed to go sue somebody now? Damn bastards. I really felt like I was starting to slowly die - in my mid-40s. Glad my doctor had me quit that med (next step back then was adding Lantus).

Lucky me -- Jenny blogged about Metformin on June 24th; right when I needed it! Thanks, Jenny! Thanks Dr. Bernstein for informing me about a better way. Thanks DH for being so supportive. And a pat on my own back for striving for something better. I am now diabetic-med free!!!