Diabetes, not me

[hilary1617]

I'm so glad his blood sugars are improving and that he is up for tackling the list of appointments step-by-step from here. Wishing you both good health and much happiness ahead!

 

[Munchkin]

Looks like things are headed in the right direction!

 

[Georgepds]

Interesting - his fasting/before meal blood sugars have been going down slowly - ....
Don't have the results from the specialized tests yet, ..

Heard back from the vascular surgeon - ....

Neurologist doesn't think he had a stroke. ..
.
Tomorrow he sees the podiatrist....

He still hasn't even made an appointment with the prosthedontist...

He's scheduled for a Moh's procedure in December ...

At his discretion, his retinologist is ....
.
We're getting his lifetime of Medicare taxes back up-front.

Remind me of Rahm Emanuel's quote:

"Never let a good crisis go to waste"

 

[DianaCox]

Just a bit of an update.

Charles' diabetes meds have been tweaked a few times since we first discovered this was going on.

• The PCP first put him on Lantus (long acting insulin) once a day
• The endocrinologist a couple of days later added fast acting insulin before each meal - that brought his blood sugars down into the high 100a - mid 200s
• She then added Trulicity (injection once a week), stopped the insulin with meals, and added metformin - 500 mg with breakfast and dinner, then after 4 weeks, added a second metformin (1000 mg twice/day) and now his blood glucose is between 85-130 most of the time.
• He finally got a Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor, which really helps him figure out what he can and can't do - we tried an experiment last night with a small serving of mashed potatoes - his BG jumped to 200 within an hour, then dipped back down.

He's seen the podiatrist who has him wearing different shoes, cut his ingrown nails and gave him stuff for the funky fungus. He also sent him to a vascular specialist to check the blood flow in his feet, legs and groin, which were OK.

The vascular surgeon (different guy) who saw him for the possible aneurysm had him get a CT with contrast to look at various things - he's got some occlusion in one of his kidney arteries, but it doesn't need treating yet.

He didn't have a stroke, but we still don't have the results from the MRI of his head and neck which explains the continuing issues with the strength in his left arm, but the spasms have mostly stopped.

His electrolytes are still not perfect, and his last blood draw a couple of days ago had several numbers that were not within range, but not far off - possibly because he was dehydrated (he thought he wasn't supposed to drink even water in the morning for the fasting blood work, which he needed).

He had the Mohs procedure on Tuesday, which got all of the remaining cancer on his cheek on the first scrape - he's got a long superficial wound on his face that he has to go back to the dermatologist for on the 23rd.

So I guess it's SORTA OK that the RV STILL hasn't been 100% fixed, though most of it is done - and I'm still engaged in a battle royale with our extended warranty company over how much they are going to pay for.

Because Charles, who is feeling better, still doesn't feel up to driving it to CA, so we're going to miss Xmas with the kids. Dammit to hell.

But we're doing OK, he's eating properly, and I haven't lost much because I keep cheating on "his" diet. But I'm enjoying cooking more from scratch, and that he's willing to eat stuff I make that's good for both of us (fish and sauteed bok choy with leftover low-carb stuffing was a recent yummy meal). He's getting closer to quitting smoking too. And he's overall a bit less grumpy than he's been for a long time. So I might wait a bit longer to off him.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I'm glad things are going so well, sounds like.

a Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor

from everything I've read, these are excellent and why don't more people have them? (money, I suppose)

I'm still engaged in a battle royale with our extended warranty company over how much they are going to pay for.

I hope you show them what's what; they don't know who they are dealing with!

 

[southernlady]

Because they typically will not let type 2 diabetics have them. We aren’t special enough.

 

[Munchkin]

Low carbing sucks a whole lot during the holidays. I am sorry for both of you. But it is great he is continuing to improve. How is he doing on exercise/moving?

 

[Georgepds]

Because they typically will not let type 2 diabetics have them. We aren’t special enough.

Fwiiw... my NP prescribed one for me back before DS.. the only catch was I paid for it out of pocket.. I did have to ask... for all the people with diabetes that NPs/GPs care for, you think they'd be more up on the latest technologies.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Because they typically will not let type 2 diabetics have them. We aren’t special enough.

so wrong.
I saw a commercial for one recently, that seems weird.

 

[DianaCox]

So now that he’s more stable, we’ve tried small servings of two different versions of potatoes - instant mashed, and a few pieces of real potato cooked with beef stew. Both sent his blood sugar up to 170-200 within an hour, which quickly dropped back down within another hour. Is that normal and OK? Or does that mean he shouldn’t eat potato at all?

 

[Munchkin]

Daniel was the same when he was diabetic. My thought was that potatoes and white rice have little nutritional value so if they also raise BS, he didn’t need to eat them. Green peas were bad too. And corn was awful!

 

[southernlady]

I did a lot of testing with my glucometer. I tested rice, potatoes, and other starchy foods over the first six months. Potatoes were a safe food for me. Rice was like pouring pure sugar into my system. My brother in law was the exact opposite.

My theory, which has absolutely no basis in fact. I grew up in the South where rice was a stable food served at almost ever meal. He grew up up north where potatoes where served at almost every meal. His body became very sensitive to potatoes. I became very sensitive to rice.

 

[hilary1617]

Because Charles, who is feeling better, still doesn't feel up to driving it to CA, so we're going to miss Xmas with the kids. Dammit to hell.

But we're doing OK, he's eating properly, and I haven't lost much because I keep cheating on "his" diet. But I'm enjoying cooking more from scratch, and that he's willing to eat stuff I make that's good for both of us (fish and sauteed bok choy with leftover low-carb stuffing was a recent yummy meal). He's getting closer to quitting smoking too. And he's overall a bit less grumpy than he's been for a long time. So I might wait a bit longer to off him

I hope you have a wonderful "date Christmas" and can catch up with the kids early in the new year for a wonderful gathering, where Charles feels fantastic and you whip together an amazing home-cooked meal for all.

 

[Georgepds]

So now that he’s more stable, we’ve tried small servings of two different versions of potatoes - instant mashed, and a few pieces of real potato cooked with beef stew. Both sent his blood sugar up to 170-200 within an hour, which quickly dropped back down within another hour. Is that normal and OK? Or does that mean he shouldn’t eat potato at all?

Probably means he should not eat potatoes. I'm a little Rusty on my T2 info, but IIRC the forums were filled with folks that had a high response to some foods, while others did not

The other factor in play is the fast insulin response ( I.e. just after a meal) diminishes in the late stages of T2 diabetes. This means the pancreas can produce insulin, but not quickly enough to cover the peak BG just after a meal. I forget the cellular path that explains this effect, that said, the effect is common.

His CGM and a food log helps terrifically here.

Be warned , it's a lot more complicated than he just can't eat potatoes. Two things come into play

1.. the previous meal
2.. the contents of the recent meal


If you mix high fiber with digestible starch/sugar you damp the high BG response. The idea is the fiber traps some of the sugar and is thus digested more slowly... This is where a food log will help. Potatoes may cause a high BG rise, but potatoes and beans( high fiber) might not

 

[aaa]

I hope you have a safe and happy holiday & that he continues to improve.