diabetic

so i went to the dr a few months ago and they keep getting on my ass about my sugar. bla bla bla....... put me on some medicine called metformin. that stuff made me shit like a bear... so i quit taking it. fast forward to last month. i had an injection in my back. and of course they ask you 100 questions and there it was..."are you diabetic" my answer was "depends on who you ask. if you ask my dr or my wife i am, if you ask me, im not".

proablly not a good answer. the nurse said ok not a problem, we can test it now with the blood from your iv... well fuck.... so i guessed it would be 77, my wife guessed 150. now with this said it is 8:30 am and i am fasting for the injection.... well the number was 199. so then i had to hear it from the nurse and my wife just looked at me with that look, yeah you know the look...

not a good day....

then my wife starts asking me questions like "honey have you noticed that ot takes your cuts and scraped longer to heal" "why do you think that is......."

ok so at this point im like ok whatever. i dont feel like i have diabetes (not sure what that feels like)

so at this point my wife made me make another pcp dr visit and change my meds....

I have no idea why i have a hard time admitting that i am diabetic. im like the heathiest fat guy you know.

i dont eat breakfast, i dont eat lunch, and i eat dinner anywhere between 6 and 8 pm. not the best schedule i know. i dont eat alot of bad things. very seldom do i eat out, my vise is coffee. but its just creamer. i dont put sugar in my coffee. i drink alot of water, and i have cut my sweet tea intake in half over the last year.

now she has me scheduled for an endocrinologist visit.

suggestion?? do you have it?

 

Sorry to hear about it, Ralphie. I think diabetes can be hereditary, but if it doesn't run in your family then it's a mystery how you got it.

I'm surprised I don't have it myself; up until a few months ago I'm pretty sure I ate the equivalent of a few bags of sugar every year. Only recently I started to cut back, but it's slow process. Had a physical last month and they said I was in good shape.

If it's any consolation, keep in mind that it's not the end of the world.

Not by a long shot.

Remember that you want to be there for your girl's wedding down the road.

 

im not sure about the hereditary part. i know my moms side never had it, but for some reason i think i remember hearing about it on my dads side. maybe i should call him and ask. give me a reason to call him. lol

yeah i need to be around so when she has her wedding when shes 50 im here.

 

Ralphie I don't have it but you do, based on that elevated fasting blood sugar.
Try to think about dealing with it as a long term project.
There's medications, changes in diet and lifestyle, etc. It's a lot to digest and learn about and you won't be able to do it all at once.

It is important that you have a Doctor you can communicate with and work with.
When you got the runs from metformin (many people do) it would have been good to call them, let them know and make changes from there.

You can do this.

 

You are right I have a tenancy to not communicate..... I hate change but I guess I need to accommodate it

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and apparently my A1C is 7.5

 

My little brother went on a keto diet and resolved his diabetes, which is rampant in my family. Even though I was not diabetic, I decided to head it off at the pass and went on keto also, and have lost 50 pounds in about a year. I feel a whole lot better, and my feet are thanking me. Keto is hard to start, especially cutting out sugar altogether, but it's not impossible. I follow Dr Ken Berry on youtube for information. KenDBerryMD

Some people can count carbs and lose weight, but for me, it kept me thinking of food 24 hrs a day. Good luck

 

ive herd of the keto diet but i know nothing about it, i may try to educate myself.

im learning that education is important with this.

 

Well im learning alot. this new med sucks also. it fucks with my stomach also, but i dont know if its working or not. my sugar is constantly in the upper 200's every morning.

 

Many many many of my patients are diabetic. I’m a pelvic floor physical therapist, but I’m also an orthopedic physical therapist. I’m sure you know a lot of the bad things that can happen if you don’t address your blood glucose levels, but here are a few that might be more important to you:

Diabetes frequently causes vascular problems and neuropathy. Yes, it happens first in the fingertips and the feet, but did you know that it will ALSO affect your dick? You will lose your ability to have an erection OR feel anything with your penis. You also may start to wet or soil yourself. You may lose feeling in your fingers, making you prone to injuries or problems doing the kind of work you do now. Same with the feet.. constant burning sensation or numbness? Not fun.

Many many many of my female patients with diabetes have continence problems. Most of them improve with physical therapy but if their glucose is not well controlled, it won’t resolve. We talk about that piece of things on day 1.

My female patients without diabetes? When I ask some of them about sexual activity, they say they are not active. When I ask why, about 50% of the time I hear “my husband is diabetic and can’t get it up, so he won’t touch me at all anymore.”

The meds are not fun to start. I know that and I have many patients who are healthy weight and still have diabetes - it’s not just a fat person problem. It’s a sugar processing and hormone problem and it can throw your other hormones (thyroid, testosterone, etc) out of balance, hence the endocrinologist suggestion. My suggestion? ASK for and SEEK the education. It is the most powerful thing you can do, to understand the chemistry of what is happening and WHY it is bad and what you can do about it. Your glucose levels fasting are double the cut off for pre-diabetes (100). That means that extra sugar in your blood is essentially turning it into syrup, making it harder for your heart to move it, harder for your lungs to oxygenate it, and causing the sticky sugar to gather in your tiny blood vessels and kill them and nerves because they can’t get oxygen or other useful nutrients. You need to address this.

Sorry to harp on you a bit, but as a medical professional, the people who won’t address diabetes early are the ones who don’t get better or lose fingers, toes, feet, and use of their genitals because they are too stubborn to change their habits and use the meds. Insulin is expensive as fuck in the United States, so if metformin will work (at the right dosage and timing) along with lifestyle changes, you need to work on it before you require insulin! Keto can help. Knowledge can help more. Not eating much during the day is also part of your problem - regular meals are important to keep your glucose fairly consistent. Please read and ask if you don’t. I’ll be happy to explain some things to you via PM or send you resources if you wish.

 

I just learned more by reading this than i have by any other means (exccept a PM conversation i have had with a member)

first of all, you are not harping. i appreciate it more than you know.

metformin sucked ass, so they put me on something else, i dont remember what it is called. it starts with a Q. its a little brown pill.

on a personal level, I love sex..... my wife is getting better about enjoying it (maybe its cause shes 38) but sometimes yes it will get hard, but not HARD if that makes any since. i typically blame it on other meds or just having an off day. i dont want it to quit working. I dont want my wife to be one of the ones that you stated.

the tingling in my feet has been there for some time, i just never payed it any attention. Im a dumbass.....

my appt with an endo is Sept 17th. there is another dr in the same office that everyone within a 200 mile radius loves but i couldnt see her as a new patient for 11 months and im not willing to wait that long. so i made an appt with another lady dr in the same office. i just want to see someone

ive been looking for classes to help me understand but they are hard to find that i can make it too. but thats no excuse.

on a side note, my pcp that i have been seeing for all this kinda pissed me off a little with the situation. after my last visit (last week) just talked about my blood work and told me how to use the machine that measures my sugar. Not once did she ever ask to see my feet, and ive learned that it is an important thing for when you are diabetic for the dr to examine your legs/feet. the more i thought about the more it made me mad, and my wife was PISSED that she didnt. so im considering finding a new pcp.

Thank you @PonyPotato

 

To reverse diabetes you need to cut all starches and sugars. Need to eat meat and low sugar vegs. The information is all on the Internet. Ted talks, Youtube. I was developing neuropathy on my feet and a few months later is normal.

 

Never herd of ted talks... Is it just a website

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TED Recommends

 

Still very frustrated and aggravated every morning when I take my sugar it is between 260 and 280 I'm trying to pay attention to the things that I eat the articles that I read and I continue to take my medicine and it's just getting fucking aggravating. I started taking it in the evening as well normally about 8 or 9 and even then it is averaging around 290 or 300. My appointment is on the 17th and I'm kind of looking forward to it. At the same time hopefully they can tell me that my thyroid is jacked up and can give me some medicine so I can lose weight so hopefully it's a two-fer. I have noticed that cuts and nicks are taking a lot longer to heal but that may just be because I am just now paying attention to it.

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My husband started the keto diet...it's the first diet he's started that I was on board with...bacon and eggs...yum. He's been very dedicated to staying on track with it. We can enjoy steaks together as long as we avoid the high carb foods, drinks and alcohol (Pasta, lots of beers, potatoes, lots of veggies are high carb) and I've also found him the keto friendly atkins bars that have helped. He used heavy whipping cream in his coffee now and also has gotten used to almond milk. He dropped a lot of weight as a result. He bought these keto strips to test himself while going through the change (although did have a period of 'keto-flu' where he felt pretty lethargic as his body was coming off the sugar dependence.

You can do this. If there's a nice diet to try...I like this one. This also sorted out his high blood pressure.
You can do it! I will echo the others to find a PCP you're comfortable with to try and get the conversation going and keep it going.

 

keto flu??? thats a new one on me. but i do understand what no sugar can do to your body.
what is keto strip?

 

Holy fuck ralphie - at 280mg blood glucose in the morning while on Metformin, you're dangerously close to a case of DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA): Symptoms, Causes, Treatment). I suggest you carefully read the link and if you notice any of the symptoms (especially fruity breath/taste for no reason), get your ass to the nearest ER.

Ketone strips let you check your urine for the level of ketones in your body, and you should definitely check it daily as it's a great indicator for how screwed your bloodwork is. Metformin is usually prescribed to pre-diabetics but if your blood glucose was this high while on it AND your intake of sugary foods is as low as you say, then there's a good chance your pancreas is majorly fucked.

I don't know your exact weight, but I remember some of your pics. If you're still that kind of weight and considering your age, there's most likely a need for very drastic and immediate dietary and exercise changes if you want to avoid becoming fully diabetic. Being diabetic would suck a lot more than just dealing with the side effects of the current medication. Plus it greatly reduces your lifespan if you don't very carefully manage the condition.

Educate yourself on the foods that have high amounts of carbs/sugar, and avoid them as much as you can (especially complex carbs). Beer, bread, fruits, milk, and such add more to your blood sugar than most people realize. Drink a fuckton of water.

There's some serious effort you're gonna have to do immediately if you want to avoid becoming diabetic... if it's not already too late. And even if it is too late, you still want to make a lot of these changes to your lifestyle so that you can minimize the daily injections of insulin and reduce the worst-case risks of losing limbs, going blind, heart attacks, etc.

Hope the Doctor appointment in a couple days goes well. Best of luck.

 

Ralphie is not pre-diabetic.
He has diabetes.
He is not dangerously or even remotely close to having DKA at that blood sugar level.
Encouraging him to control his diabetes is a great thing.
Scaring the crap out of him and giving him inaccurate medical advice really isn't.

 

Sigh, this is what I get for not spending proper time on my comment.
1) Yes, he has diabetes.
2) Metformin is commonly prescribed to those at-risk long before developing diabetes, and those who are prediabetic and diabetic. Unlike insulin, it has a much broader range of health applications (and in fact may be something everyone outside of athletes and hypoglycemics should consider taking).
3.a) A type 2 diabetes diagnosis isn't necessarily a permanent condition. If drastic measures are taken, it can be reversed. See both Cayvmann's anecdote above and this link: Can You Reverse Type 2 Diabetes?
3.b) Much of the chances to reverse diabetes will depend on the state of his pancreas, which is generally determined by a specialist ordering/reviewing further diagnostics.

Don't have too much to say on this bit, quite frankly. Lessons learned from multiple close calls in my family and the below disagree with you:

Source: How to Avoid Blood Sugar Highs and Lows if You Have Type 2 Diabetes

Source: Diabetes and Hyperglycemia - Hyperglycemia Symptoms and Causes

DKA is primarily a function of very high blood glucose levels, the levels of insulin production, and ketone level increases due to glucose-based energy not getting into the cells. Since ralphie's fasting blood sugar is 260-280 while on Metformin and (supposedly) relatively low sugar intake, it doesn't bode well for his pancreas and he is certainly an at-risk case for developing DKA. Since he is also wholly uninformed of what keto strips are and it's shocking how many physicians overlook DKA risk unless it's already present, it's only prudent to be extremely watchful for symptoms of it in his current state.

I'll agree to disagree on the efficacy of the scaring part, but what exactly is inaccurate? No sarcasm here, I'm legitimately curious what I got wrong.