I Will Tell You Mine, If You Will Tell Me Yours…
I had so many great comments from y’all out there that I decided to do a little “open mic” night kind of thing. I thank all of you that commented on my previous post “Is at home glucometer monitoring truly effective? New research says maybe not!“. There was some differing points of view, which is always nice. Yes, we all have diabetes but we deal with it differently and on an individual basis.
And I also enjoy being challenged, just ask my hubby. Haha. But it truly does make me think and dive further into research and find new and up and coming topics. I do want to make sure that I remind you that I bring you content for the most part from a clinical point of view. This means that I am providing new research, studies, techniques and ideas, and I don’t always agree with them! I am a medium to help you along.
Now with that being said, tell me your regimen? I want all of you to comment on this post and share what your daily diabetic treatment’s are. Do you test once a day or before and after each meal? Have you seen a big improvement in your lab numbers? Do you eat low carbs or no carbs at all? Do you have anything that you would like to share with fellow diabetics?
Personally, I test 3-4 times a day; when I wake in the morning, mid afternoon about an hour after lunch, before dinner and before bed. I think that testing at these times gives me the most accurate picture of my blood sugars. This is what I have decided on after 3 years of dealing with my own diabetes. This is not the end all or what will work for everyone, but it does for me. But I am always open to suggestion! I also eat low carb, I do eat 5 servings of low GI fruits and veggies a day, and I drink 1-2 cups of coffee a day, as well as 1 diet coke and 100 glasses of water. Ok, that might have been an exaggeration but that is what it feels like. Yes, then I take 50 bathroom breaks a day, I have to work on that. I pair all that with exercise, cardio for 30 minutes 4-5 times a week and low weight training 3 times a week. And of course the after dinner stroll is always nice!
So that is how I do it here in my neck of the woods. Tell me about you? Yes, I really do want to know! It helps us all challenge ourselves and re-evaluate whether our own treatment of our own diabetes is effective!
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POSTED IN: Diabetes, Inspiration, Opinion, Personal, diet
7 opinions for I Will Tell You Mine, If You Will Tell Me Yours…
I Will Tell You Mine, If You Will Tell Me Yours… by diabetes.MEDtrials.info
Jul 30, 2007 at 12:21 pm
[…] whether our own treatment of our own diabetes is effective! … article continues at Kendra James, RN brought to you by diabetes.medtrials.info and […]
Russell
Jul 30, 2007 at 1:07 pm
At age 60, I was diagnosed in March of 07 with type 2, I am on byetta 10 twice a day + a Glipiside 5mg in the morning. I still have trouble with my overnight 125 to 145. I have been fighing some sort of cold for 4 weeks and have not bee able to do my normal alking 1.5 mile to 2 miles in the afternoon. I think my walking is a big contributor in controlling my BC readings. I have been testing 4 times a day since on Byetta. I keep a logbook of my readings.
I have slipped into a rutine of oatmeal each weekday morning sometimes with a banana or dired cranberries. Lunch is usually chicken and green beans or pork and green beans. I like nuts or whole wheat ritz and peanutbutter for snack.
Supper can be a 1 egg omlet with diced pepers, onions and ham or a chicken and green bean cassrole.
The first 2 months were bad because I did not think my primary care physician was working to get my numbers down. A1c of 6.6, BC of 356 when diagnosed. Since going to an ENDO and getting on Byetta my A1c is down to 5.7 and I have lost 11lbs.
I have alway taken Nyquil at night when fighting colds and coughs but that drives my BC up. Having to learn new techniques.
My insurance company subscribes to a program called Smart Steps and I have a diabeties educator/nurse call me about every 2 weeks to check on my progress and offer ideas. This has really helped me.
Kendra James, RN
Jul 30, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Russell- I am happy to hear that the byetta is working fro you. Your meal planning sounds right on the money. What kind of oatmeal do you use? I love oatmeal, but maybe I have tried the wrong types and that is why I have trouble with it. And that is tough having to learn new ways to deal with old colds! There is always the cold medicine made specifically for diabetics. I don’t know where you are located but the Target and Wal Mart in my area have this type of cold syrup right outside the pharmace counter. Might be worth a try. Congrats on getting yourself settled in a routine, it is a big adjustment and takes some will power. Thanks for the thoughts and comments. K :)
Mary X
Jul 31, 2007 at 10:28 am
I discovered that I had a blood sugar issue via home testing. My doctor doesn’t even know - he tests fasting blood glucose, and it doesn’t show itself, it is still under 100. But 2 hours after eating, I was at 175! I repeated this test several times and there is definitely a problem. I have used this meter to learn what foods are causing it, and then I avoid them. Home testing is very effective, it guides me and I make changes accordingly.
Roger Holmen
Aug 1, 2007 at 6:08 am
I was diagnosed in 1998 with bg of 350mg/dl & HbA1c of 15.5%. Yes, that’s really 15.5% which is equivalent to a “sort of” average for the last 3 months with emphasis on most recent weeks of about 425mg/dl. Scared the wits out of me!
I was prescribed Glyburide (20mg once a day) and the ADA diet plan, which I tried for a couple of months. My blood glucose (bg) was all over the place from very high to low. So, the ADA diet plan was having me eat lots of carbohydrates (200grams/day) driving my bg up & the Glyburide was causing production of lots of insulin which would cause my bg to come plummeting down, frequently necessitating eating to bring it back up.
Kind of a roller-coaster effect.
I was fortunate that my “then” doctor prescribed me lots of test strips. I was on private insurance at the time, so cost was minimal.
I then discovered thru reading that for Type 2 (T2) diabetics that carbohydrates are the only food type that will cause bg’s to go up. So I drastically cut my carb consumption & my bg’s no longer skyrocketed up after eating. I was able to reduce my Glyburide dose in half in a couple of days & stop it altogether in about 4-5 days. My bg’s had dropped into the “normal non-diabetic range” (Fasting/Pre-Prandial 70-110mg/dl at that time).
I continued this very low-carb regimen for 7+ years maintaining a HbA1c of 5.6% to 6%.
I was testing my bg’s fasting, pre-prandial plus 1 & 2 hours post-prandial & bedtime.
At about the 7 year point I found information that said that the truly “non-diabetic” will have an HbA1c closer to 5% than the top of the normal range at 6%, so I asked my Dr (after some research on medications) to prescribe me Metformin (2000mg/day) & Glyburide (20mg/day) which I have been using in “tailored doses” timed to coordinate the effects of the meds with the digestion of the few carbs that I do eat. My HbA1c was then running around 5.2%, so that experiment was successful.
But then, along came Medicare & a new Doctor because we’d moved across the country. My Doctor only wants me to test once a day at random times which is IMHO a waste of time & strips. It teaches nothing.
But I am still able to get 3 strips a day from my supplier (so far). So I “hoarde” stips to use for testing meals where I’m not sure of their bg effect & occasionally will test at bedtime plus the following morning to check my Dawn Effect (DE). This strip hoarding means that some days I don’t test at all when I’m being really careful about carb intake & other days I’ll test quite a lot around my meals to learn how a particular food combo effects my bg’s.
Doing it this way has caused my HbA1c to slip back up to 6% & I’m not happy, but haven’t found a way yet to get more test strips which will allow me to keep better control. Testing & seeing the results also is a motivator. If bg’s are higher than I want, I adjust what I eat. If they’re good enough, then that’s more motivation to do the right thing.
My goals for bg to maintain good HbA1c is to have fasting/pre-prandial of 70-99mg/dl (the latest non-diabetic number), 140mg/dl or less at 1 hour post-prandial & 120mg/dl at the two-hour post-prandial mark, returning to fasting level before the next meal.
Those kind of bg numbers give me that
Allison Kraeger
Aug 19, 2007 at 6:19 am
Allison’s Daily Diabetes Treatment (background, dx type 1 2001, pumping for 3 years, currently on the MiniMed 715 –hoping to get on cgms in the near future – use WaveSense KeyNote meter for testing.
I test 6-10 times a day. I used to test only pre-meal and seemed to do ok with my A1c (around 7.5) and then 8 months ago I got motivated to begin checking more often to find where I was running high throughout the day. I now test 1-2 hours post meal (I can set an alarm on my meter) and whenever I can remember throughout the day. With the pump, it is very easy to make a small, quick correction when needed to get back to my target range. Since testing more, I have seen my A1c drop to under 7 ( 6.8 to 6.5 for the past 6 months – the lowest I have been since diagnosis).
I do not eat consciously a low carb diet. I love carbs, I just have to be a little picky about which ones I choose to eat! Since diagnosis I have cut down on the huge heaping plates of pasta that I love to consume, but still enjoy the occasional Italian meal. I usually eat a large salad for lunch or dinner and any fresh fruit throughout the day. Desert is my weaknesses …I find it much easier to have a spoonful or two and stop rather than cutting something I love totally out of my life.
I run 3-4 miles 6 days a week and fit in light weights whenever possible. My yellow lab still has lots of puppy energy so we walk at least once a day also.
I am always open for new suggestions to my daily diabetes regiment; this is just what works for me right now!
Allison
Community Outreach
AgaMatrix, Inc.
http://www.wavesense.info
Grace
Oct 30, 2007 at 9:39 am
I myself don’t have diabetes, but my grandmother does. I’m fairly certain her testing regimen is before each and every meal.
I know there have been times where she’s forgotten though and tested after eating and her blood sugar level was through the roof! I think she had that problem a lot more when she was first diagnosed though, and has really since gotten most everything under control.
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