Type II Diabetics - Let's Support Each Other

Well I hopefully have gotten over the weekend of hypoglycemia. Was pretty bad. I had lows of the 45s and was scared I was going to have to go to the hospital. I got back on track today with my small low carb snacks and that seemed to help. I was able to get in 30 minutes of swim after work. Couldn't do the full hour as usual because I know not to do that after work (midnight!) because I have the tendency to get the low sugars in the middle of the night. Swimming even at 30 minutes really lowers my numbers considerably. I went from a 158 to eating my snacks and work dinner, to exercise to after an 85.

Go see your doctor. Take your food and exercise log with you. It sounds like you need to have your meds adjusted.

Take care,

Oh yeah, I agree. I also realized now that I have tight control over my sugar levels, I was taking my Glipizide wrong! I hadn't been taking it 30 minutes before my meal AND I had, on occasion, taken it with my last meal (a real no no). I'm gonna make an appt to get to see him.

I did get through the night fine. Didn't crash and wasn't too high in the am (fasting read 85) So I seem to be back on track. Heading out for an hour swim now. Course I just had my pollo loco tacos al carbon! I got protein in me and hopefully won't crash after swimming.

even with taking 2 pills a day of glucovance 500mg, walking 4 miles a day, and eating healthy for since january i still cant keep my sugars under 150 and if i have any kind of fruit i jump to 250.. its frustrating but i am hoping to shed the weight and rid myself of this. any ideas on any fruits i can add to my diet that dont contain tons of sugar?

I'm guessing you've given a low-carbohydrate diet a try? Everyone's body works a little differently, but going low-carb brought my blood sugars down to non-diabetic levels within 2 weeks of being diagnosed. I test my blood 1 and 2 hours after a meal to see how what I've eaten is affecting my glucose levels, and keep track of the foods that cause spikes as well as the ones that keep me in the normal range.

Right now I'm looking for good recipes to make low-carbohydrate versions of baked goods. Sometimes you just gotta have something from the bakery, but my body sure doesn't respond well to bread. (Rice, however, seems to be the worst offender. Which is sad, because I love rice and used to eat a lot of it.)

thamk you guys for your support. I am doing a lil better the first few days i lived off salad and tuna because i had no idea what i was supposed to eat. I am still confused about carb counting. does everything count or just those above 15? live i have Vienna sausage and they have three carbs

I advice all of you that are a diabetic to search the internet for low glycemic foods. Eat things that's under 55.

Per meal, eat 45 grams of carbohydrates and per snack eat 15 grams of carbohydrates.

You can even have free foods three times a day that's consists of less than 20 calories per servings and less than 5 grams of carbohydrates per servings. Look up foods that fit into this categories. For example. Vegetables and calories, etc.

Make sure you check your blood sugar at lest 3 times a day, if you can't check it more. Before exercising is a good time to check blood sguar.

More than 100 reading, at least 10 points and up, exercise medium to intense.

100-105, exercise lightly.

90ish and below. Take a rest day.

Exercise can drop blood sugar reading fast. Your body will give sign of when something is not right.

Take baby steps into workouts. 30 minutes to an hour of workout is good for a day. If you can't do 30 minutes, start small 10 minutes to 20 minutes. Work your way up the ladder.

Drink water. You can add sugar free packets to your water. Diet Lipton Green tea is good too.

Substitute Splenda or similar for sugar.

Things that helps with lowering blood sugar. Cinnamon, vinegar, pickles. Watch sodium.

A little fat on meat is good sometimes, but there try to eat lean meats.

The last two posts were both equally correct. In the end use your meter. It tells YOU what works for YOU. I can do like the above mentioned post about 45 carbs per meal (depending on the type of carb) and be ok. Any more than that, and it's hard for me to not get a high sugar read. I also try to snack low carb snacks like low carb fruits and turkey sticks, hard boiled eggs or string cheese. The Glycemix index is good when I am picking out my fruit. I've given up watermelon and grapes for now. Considering what they do to me particularly. I also read every label. And you know what the killer is? Corn syrup. They even put it in light salad dressing. I will go out of my way to NOT buy stuff with corn syrup in it. It just totally destroys your sugar levels something fierce. I also notice 30 minutes of a good cardio will indeed lower your numbers quite well. And if you aren't sure of how you do with exercise, always take a snack with you. I can't tell you how frustrating it was to crash in the women's locker room from not eating enough before hand.

Noctuary-Thanks for reminding me that I need to check the adult swim schedule at the community pool for summer. I want to swimming into may weekly routine but keep forgetting to check the times, ugh!

I'm just getting through each day right now with my eating. It's the end of the school year and a time crunch for getting paperwork done for students, etc. I rode my bike on some trails yesterday and burned some calories and it felt great. Otherwise exercise was hard to fit in last week with all my evening stuff. This week isn't much better but next week begins my 4 week break so I will focus on my journey to better health!:bigsmile:

I'm going to try out some meal supplement shakes. Specifically the Atkins one. They have 4 g of carbs, 1 g of sugar and 9 g of fat. I am not too worried about the fat. I just want a nutritional something in between meals at work. Something that won't raise my bg but will keep me from crashing. I was going to try Glucerna. I like the snack bars. But since Atkins is low carb based, I thought why not? Anyone else try them?

Hey Noctuary,

You have said that you were going to try Atkins meal replacements. Have you tried Glucerna drinks? Glucerna is a diabetic line. They have bars, drinks and cereal.

Hey Noctuary,

You have said that you were going to try Atkins meal replacements. Have you tried Glucerna drinks? Glucerna is a diabetic line. They have bars, drinks and cereal.

Oh I use those too. I work at a bowling alley as a waitress. And though I do get to snack whenever I want, on the weekends I get very busy. So I use the Glucerna snack bars as a meal replacement when I'm hungry and crunched for no snacks on hand. I decided to try the Atkins because they are actually lower in carbs then the Glucerna ones. I figured I'll try them out and see which ones I like. I had the chocolate one made into a shake with ice (we use it in the bar to make the blended margaritas) it was ok. Not the best. But it did actually make me full and keep me from crashing while I was waiting to eat my dinner.

record lifetime weight at 211.5..doing a lot of festival drumming so i can only eat breakfast until festival ends then i have to eat..usally mexican or chinese..blood sugar is still good ended MAY at 95 morning average..June is around 120 due to festival drumming and restaurant music gigs that i picked up..working Mex Rest. music 3 time a week now from 6 to 830 and it is a very difficult food challenge..SALADS is not in the mexican restaurant volcabulary. tried to get a salad of lettuce, tomato, onions with some pico de gallo added to it and small guacamole. with a side of fajita chicken, green pepers, onions, tomatoe..they brought it all out in one plate, meat on the bottom and the rest on top. could of been half the size and it will be good..hope everybody has a good long hot summer and enjoy the adventure of LIFE LOVE PEACE HAPPINESS AND HEALTH..p.S ANY SUGGESTION ON WHAT TO EAT OR SPECIAL ORDER AT THE MEXICAN REST WILL BE GREATLY APPREACIATTED..they will cook up whatever i want

Do you like fish? They usually do a nice pan fried tilapia and you could ask for a side of black beans and a lettuce, tomato, onion salad with pico... Protein, carb, and veggie

Forgive me for intruding. I am pretty much certain that I am diabetic. I am waiting to see my doctor, the earliest they have an appointment is a week on Thursday.

Have any of you ever almost fixed your diabetes through fitness and weight loss?

My doctor diagnosed me type II a few months ago. I test once a day (I would prefer twice, but my insurance company disagrees--three times a day would be excessive for me). I started out at 377 lbs. I'm 313 now, and shooting for the 180 range. I try to keep my carbs below 50 for meals (but I'll make exceptions if I know certain foods don't mess with my blood sugar), and I exercise for around an hour a day, at least 5 days a week. My doctor wanted me on metformin, but I refused (something I could do because my blood sugar and A1c weren't totally out of control yet). I now routinely run below 130 after meals, around 100 when I wake up, and in the high 70s/low 80s after working out. Low 70s is enough to make me feel a little shaky and weird, so I usually eat an orange or something when I get that low.

In many cases, you can "fix" diabetes through diet and exercise, but understand you shouldn't just lose a bunch of weight and then stop watching your carbs. At least that's not what I'm planning on doing--I'm in this forever. Once your body shows a problem with insulin resistance, it's something you need to watch forever, in my opinion. I come from a long line of type II diabetics, and every last one of them opted to take meds instead of making lifestyle changes (I understand sometimes the meds are necessary, even with lifestyle changes). I'm not looking to go that route. Ultimately, what you can or can't do on that front depends upon both your choices and the reality of your condition. You need a doctor to help you to see where you are and what you should do.

I do want to say that I eat a wonderful and varied diet now. I'm not stuck eating only gruel or rocks, I have my treats, I have my carbs, I'm just paying very close attention to what, when, and how much. I seek out lower carb alternatives to foods I like, and I make allowances at meals if I want something higher carb. Some carbs affect me differently than others, and I'm learning which do what and making changes accordingly.

See your doc. Find out where you are. And then learn all you can so you can make a lifestyle plan you can live with that keeps you healthy.

Kris

My insurance company will cover enough strips to test twice a day IF my medical professional will prescribe that many strips, but she refuses. I'm (hopefully) about to move cross-country, and I'm not wanting to hassle with changing doctors/PAs right now, but when I get where I'm going, I'll be asking my new doctor for a script to allow twice-a-day testing.

Edited to say: My medical professional wanted very much for me to start Metformin. It seemed REALLY important to her. When cornered, she admitted that I could almost certainly keep my diabetes in check without medications, yet she continues to push for Metformin ("it will free you up to have more choices in your diet," "It will help you lose weight!"). She's even tried to double my Toprol dosage (for an irregular heartbeat), saying, "And this will make it almost impossible for you to lose weight, but don't worry, Metformin will take care of that." So I think the refusal to prescribe enough strips for twice daily testing is quite possible a punitive thing--she's refusing because I refuse to go on meds unless I find I can't control this without. But maybe I'm wrong. Who knows?

Kris

I get free test strips and meter through LA county ORSA program. I test twice a day and I usually test 2 hours after my first two major meals. These are the important numbers that actually matter. Unless you are having issues with your morning numbers etc, I'd stick to testing the problem areas, if any. For about a week I had to test at night due to low bg. But now I really need to see how high I am peaking to see if my food choices are ok for me.

A diabetic should check their blood sugar, before exercising. If their blood sugar is under a 100, they shouldn't exercise, because exercise can bring it under 70. And 70 is the lowest number they want to be. If it's 100-up, they can exercise.

I hope as diabetics your doctors are prescribing something for you to take for your kidneys and 81mg baby aspirin for your heart.

I kept my type II under control by losing a lot of weight, and eating sufficiently little to continue losing a little. I'm now switching to maintenance, so I'll need to keep an eye on what that does to my control.