[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

ciarafb · 25-05-2011 11:06PM

CathyMoran wrote: »

Latest HbA1c of 4.7, they are saying that I have leeway to raise it. Less than 2 weeks at most to my daugher now, have any other diabetic mothers on here had small babies - she is tiny and they are concerned about her weight.

First time posting here - I'm a diabetic 18 years and have 4 children a 5yr old (8lbs 5ozs) born 37 weeks and triplets 2 yrs on Fri (4lbs 9ozs, 4lbs 7ozs & 3lbs 13ozs) they were born @ 32 weeks - they were big for triplets but small singletons!!! I wouldn't be worrying about the weight, if she is a little underweight it will all be sorted before ye will go home - my smallest triplet is now the biggest in every sense of the word!!!! Best of luck with the birth.

CathyMoran · 26-05-2011 07:12AM

ciarafb wrote: »

First time posting here - I'm a diabetic 18 years and have 4 children a 5yr old (8lbs 5ozs) born 37 weeks and triplets 2 yrs on Fri (4lbs 9ozs, 4lbs 7ozs & 3lbs 13ozs) they were born @ 32 weeks - they were big for triplets but small singletons!!! I wouldn't be worrying about the weight, if she is a little underweight it will all be sorted before ye will go home - my smallest triplet is now the biggest in every sense of the word!!!! Best of luck with the birth.

Our son came home at 3lb 12 oz so she will be tiny too, they do not keep them in any more. Our son who will be 14 months soon is still small. This is our last baby, I am getting bad morning sickness at the moment and loosing a lot of weight (am being medically monitored).

CramCycle · 29-05-2011 02:28AM

I am clearly the worst lecturer ever. Shocking answers are not surprising in exams and intelligence leads you to ignore those that are clearly slips of the tongue.

Except for one student who has informed me in her exam that among the health risks associated with T2DM are having your pancreas completely removed

, no chance of being pregnant:(, your life expectancy is almost nothing after diagnosis:eek:, and my favourite: Diabetes is caused by the body having so much insulin, the body does not know how to use it and in brackets (Insulin resistance is rare but sometimes involved):pac:.

eilo1 · 29-05-2011 08:59AM

CramCycle wrote: »

I am clearly the worst lecturer ever. Shocking answers are not surprising in exams and intelligence leads you to ignore those that are clearly slips of the tongue.

Except for one student who has informed me in her exam that among the health risks associated with T2DM are having your pancreas completely removed, no chance of being pregnant:(, your life expectancy is almost nothing after diagnosis:eek:, and my favourite: Diabetes is caused by the body having so much insulin, the body does not know how to use it and in brackets (Insulin resistance is rare but sometimes involved):pac:.

hahaha your clearly not one of my lecturers cram cycle you would have been delighted to read my answer on diabetes!

robinph · 31-05-2011 09:30PM

This evening I did a 5km race and there was another guy from one of the other local running clubs who is often finishing about the same times as me in various races, he's beaten me by one place in the last couple, so I figured I'd best make sure I won today. He was right on my shoulder until the last mile where I finally managed to pull away.

Had never really spoken with him before other than nods of recognition before races, but then chatting afterwards and he started the conversation by quizzing me about the pump and if it was better with it. Had me a bit confused initially as I wasn't sure why he would start talking about insulin pumps, post race chats are usually just about the times. I don't hide the pump, but the conversations would usually start with "What the **** is that thing?".

Seems that he already knew I was type 1 and on a pump as he's diabetic himself and one of the other guys in my club had pointed me out to him as being another diabetic runner. So since then he's been on a mission to race me, but without me knowing I was his target. We were then discussing how to go about persuading the GP to refer him to the hospital to try to get a pump as he's not getting any joy out of them so far after over a year of trying.

I knew I wasn't special in being a diabetic and running, I knew there had to be more fast* runners out there who just happened to have a dodgy pancreas. Just difficult to find much information from how they deal with it. Glad that he made himself known ... now I have a target to make sure I beat in the next race.

* I'm not really fast.

BlackEdelweiss · 03-06-2011 07:06AM

I was started on insulin 7 days ago due to my erratic readings and my lack of energy. Since then my readings have come down and with a bit of adjustment they should become manageable but I still have no energy, my legs feel like lead weights and I am dragging them around. I was expecting to feel the difference at this stage but there is no improvement. Am I expecting too much, will it take longer to feel the benefits of the insulin?

CramCycle · 03-06-2011 08:48AM

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I was started on insulin 7 days ago due to my erratic readings and my lack of energy. Since then my readings have come down and with a bit of adjustment they should become manageable but I still have no energy, my legs feel like lead weights and I am dragging them around. I was expecting to feel the difference at this stage but there is no improvement. Am I expecting too much, will it take longer to feel the benefits of the insulin?

It varies person to person but it could take a good bit longer, after your bloods being so erratic your going to feel down both physically and mentally for awhile. Daily exercise will help improve your insulin sensitivity and general form, even if its a bit of a slog to get started, you will feel the benefits alot quicker (not saying your not its just if your not, that will help). Plenty of water when your high as well. Have you been testing yourself for ketones? when your bloods are high as they can make you feel terrible after a very short period of time.

BlackEdelweiss · 03-06-2011 09:23AM

I havent been able to excercise in the last month as my blood was so high and I felt so crap, I still dont feel up to excercising as my legs feel as they would not carry me too far but I know what you mean that it might be a bit of a slog but I would be better starting up again.
The insulin is working well, almost too well at times. I had my first sleeping hypo a few nights ago, I woke up feeling totally crap and not knowing what was wrong with me, it took a few minutes to realise it might be a hypo. I was at 3.2 when tested.
I was really hoping to get an instant energy boost as it is starting to get me down a bit feeing this tired but it is mainly in my legs, mentally I am not too bad. I made the mistake of looking up tired legs online this morning and was bombarded with tales of heart attacks/disease and other nice things, not exactly what I needed wen feeling down in he first place.

robinph · 03-06-2011 01:00PM

I seem to recall it took a while before I started to physically feel better once they started me on insulin many years ago. Have to allow time for the body, and your mind, to adjust after it trying to cope with being a bit broken for so long.

up for anything · 06-06-2011 11:13AM

I'm a complete Diabetes novice so I'm wondering if anyone here can shed light on a few questions for me.

I got a call from my GP the other day to tell me that my last regular blood tests (I get them monthly to monitor the effect of arthritis med that I inject weekly) showed a blood sugar level of 6.4 which she said wasn't majorly worrying but that she would like me to come in for a fasting blood sugar blood test (not sure is that correct terminology) this week. I'm finding it difficult to get any definitive idea of how high compared to normal that is by googling. The results all seem to differ depending on what site I'm looking at.

On the subject of injections - I've been doing these weekly ones now for a couple of months but last week the injection site bruised badly which hasn't happened before and didn't happen this week. It's still and fading from black to purple. Any idea what I may have done wrong?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

CramCycle · 06-06-2011 11:55AM

up for anything wrote: »

I'm a complete Diabetes novice so I'm wondering if anyone here can shed light on a few questions for me.

I got a call from my GP the other day to tell me that my last regular blood tests (I get them monthly to monitor the effect of arthritis med that I inject weekly) showed a blood sugar level of 6.4 which she said wasn't majorly worrying but that she would like me to come in for a fasting blood sugar blood test (not sure is that correct terminology) this week. I'm finding it difficult to get any definitive idea of how high compared to normal that is by googling. The results all seem to differ depending on what site I'm looking at.

Depends on when you last ate (and what you last ate) as to what it is recommended to be but I wouldn't stress, 6.4 isn't high. Wait till you get the tolerance test, before you even think about.

On the subject of injections - I've been doing these weekly ones now for a couple of months but last week the injection site bruised badly which hasn't happened before and didn't happen this week. It's still and fading from black to purple. Any idea what I may have done wrong?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

You probably hit a blood vessel, happens occasionally (but luckily not often) again, nothing to stress about.

robinph · 06-06-2011 12:26PM

up for anything wrote: »

On the subject of injections - I've been doing these weekly ones now for a couple of months but last week the injection site bruised badly which hasn't happened before and didn't happen this week. It's still and fading from black to purple. Any idea what I may have done wrong?

You didn't do anything wrong, you just got a bit unlucky. When I was on multiple injections daily I may have that happen a couple of times in a week, and then nothing again for months. It just looks a bit bad, but is nothing to concern yourself over.

up for anything · 06-06-2011 01:37PM

Thanks very for answering those queries for me.

CramCycle · 08-06-2011 06:06PM

1.8 in work this morning, not the worst symptom I ever had but it was weird, felt like I was in one of those movies where they have a facecam on the main character as he is struggling to cope with the fact that he is on drugs. Got lost in my own building three times (the corridors were all the wrong length) before I finally found the cafe downstairs, bumped into my exes mother, who I politely told I couldn't talk to her or I might die

(I am pondering wether I should explain this to her tomorrow).

Then lost my BG meter (turned out it was in my pocket) as my bloods jumped all the way back to 21.9 (I may have used the hypo as an excuse to stuff my face full of the overpriced, marshmellow filled choclate muffins in the cafe downstairs).

robinph · 08-06-2011 07:09PM

^ Everyone else has to pay some bloke in the dodgy part of town for something that your never quite sure what it is in order to get an experience like that.

CramCycle · 09-06-2011 01:13AM

robinph wrote: »

^ Everyone else has to pay some bloke in the dodgy part of town for something that your never quite sure what it is in order to get an experience like that.

As such I clearly hadn't recovered as I meant to post this in the Diabetes Discussion Thread :rolleyes:

robinph · 09-06-2011 07:40AM

gerrybbadd · 09-06-2011 07:14PM

Quick update on my latest changes! My bloods are still very high, so I had to change ratios of QA insulin again. Now I'm at 2:1 for brekkie, and 1.5:1 for lunch & dinner. I also take background insulin of 16 units in the morning and 34 at evening meal...

So despite all this, the more insulin I take, it seems the higher my readings are getting. :eek:

I was told today that I'd be sent a prescription for Glucophage (Metformin) to help increase my insulin sensitivity. Fingers crossed this will work, I'm getting tired of doing 3am checks once a week, after adjusting background insulin:(

I hope to be of some help in this thread here too, rather than venting the whole time:D I keep an eye out here nearly every day for new posts, so I hope to be of some help to somebody.

CramCycle · 09-06-2011 07:32PM

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Quick update on my latest changes! My bloods are still very high, so I had to change ratios of QA insulin again. Now I'm at 2:1 for brekkie, and 1.5:1 for lunch & dinner. I also take background insulin of 16 units in the morning and 34 at evening meal...

So despite all this, the more insulin I take, it seems the higher my readings are getting. :eek:

I was told today that I'd be sent a prescription for Glucophage (Metformin) to help increase my insulin sensitivity. Fingers crossed this will work, I'm getting tired of doing 3am checks once a week, after adjusting background insulin:(

I hope to be of some help in this thread here too, rather than venting the whole time:D I keep an eye out here nearly every day for new posts, so I hope to be of some help to somebody.

I am understanding you right that they started you on insulin before they started you on Metformin?

gerrybbadd · 09-06-2011 07:45PM

CramCycle wrote: »

I am understanding you right that they started you on insulin before they started you on Metformin?

No, I was originally started out on Metformin and Diamicron, and these had no impact, so they started me on insulin.

My control was okish unto around 6 weeks ago, when they decided to change my background insulin from Lantus to Levemir.

BlackEdelweiss · 11-06-2011 06:52PM

I had my lowest recorded reading today of 2.1, I was just wondering how low other people have actually gone and when does it get really dangerous? I think i have probably been lower as I had a few bad hypos in work around christmas but never had my monitor with me but they did feel worse than this.

irishh_bob · 11-06-2011 07:17PM

forgive my ignorance on the subject but what are the symptoms of diabietes

i myself need to drink several litres of water per day , i am always thirsty , ive been this way for three or four years now , i should point out though , i suffer from chronic pain and have been on painkiller for nearly four years now so perhaps that is what is causing the thirst

tbh · 11-06-2011 07:30PM

irishh_bob wrote: »

forgive my ignorance on the subject but what are the symptoms of diabietes

i myself need to drink several litres of water per day , i am always thirsty , ive been this way for three or four years now , i should point out though , i suffer from chronic pain and have been on painkiller for nearly four years now so perhaps that is what is causing the thirst

Classic symptoms: Unbearable thirst, constant need to pee, extreme tiredness, bad breath, blurry vision and eventually, collapse and coma.

you'd have to go to your doc to get checked bob. I will say that I couldn't have coped with the thirst (and the urination) for several years, and if your blood sugar is climbing constantly for several years I don't think you'd last, but if the thirst is that bad that it's affecting your quality of life, then get it checked out.

tbh · 11-06-2011 07:31PM

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I had my lowest recorded reading today of 2.1, I was just wondering how low other people have actually gone and when does it get really dangerous? I think i have probably been lower as I had a few bad hypos in work around christmas but never had my monitor with me but they did feel worse than this.

I was 1.9 last night. In my brain-addled state, I actually read the meter and proceeded to take 15 units of novorapid

luckily I copped on immediately - still don't know why I thought I had to take a shot, especially one so big! - and a couple of bowls of cereal sorted me out. terrible headache this morning tho

irishh_bob · 11-06-2011 07:34PM

tbh wrote: »

Classic symptoms: Unbearable thirst, constant need to pee, extreme tiredness, bad breath, blurry vision and eventually, collapse and coma.

you'd have to go to your doc to get checked bob. I will say that I couldn't have coped with the thirst (and the urination) for several years, and if your blood sugar is climbing constantly for several years I don't think you'd last, but if the thirst is that bad that it's affecting your quality of life, then get it checked out.

my doc is the kind of guy who thinks your a hypocondriac if you raise the question of having anything , he once told me that no one at my age ( was 28 at the time ) could have high blood presure , turned out i did , was suffering stress due to pain after accident , anyway , i bring a pint of water to bed every night and wake up at least twice for a drink , as for the need to visit the lavatory , around once per hour but i put that down to all the drinking , as for blurry vision , well the painkillers im on are very strong and dizziness and blurry vision is a side effect

btw , what does the test involve ?

tbh · 11-06-2011 07:38PM

irishh_bob wrote: »

my doc is the kind of guy who thinks your a hypocondriac if you raise the question of having anything , he once told me that no one at my age ( was 28 at the time ) could have high blood presure , turned out i did , was suffering stress due to pain after accident , anyway , i bring a pint of water to bed every night and wake up at least twice for a drink , as for the need to visit the lavatory , around once per hour but i put that down to all the drinking , as for blurry vision , well the painkillers im on are very strong and dizziness and blurry vision is a side effect

btw , what does the test involve ?

it's a simple blood test. In the old (really old!) days, you would pee into a bowl and the doc would drink it

but thankfully it's quicker and more efficient these days.

irishh_bob · 11-06-2011 08:02PM

tbh wrote: »

it's a simple blood test. In the old (really old!) days, you would pee into a bowl and the doc would drink it but thankfully it's quicker and more efficient these days.

how long does it take for results to come back

tbh · 11-06-2011 08:03PM

It depends on wherhere they do a finger prick test (immediate) or draw blood (about a week).

BlackEdelweiss · 11-06-2011 08:13PM

I've had a splitting headache all day too, my wife and kids took the opportunity to have some fun at my expense by piling every bit of crap they could find in the sitting room on top of me and taking pictures as I lay on the couch waiting for my lucozade tablets to kick in. Apparently it was great craic!

tbh wrote: »

I was 1.9 last night. In my brain-addled state, I actually read the meter and proceeded to take 15 units of novorapid luckily I copped on immediately - still don't know why I thought I had to take a shot, especially one so big! - and a couple of bowls of cereal sorted me out. terrible headache this morning tho

eilo1 · 11-06-2011 09:49PM

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I had my lowest recorded reading today of 2.1, I was just wondering how low other people have actually gone and when does it get really dangerous? I think i have probably been lower as I had a few bad hypos in work around christmas but never had my monitor with me but they did feel worse than this.

I remember getting a reading of 1.9 before I felt awful, really sweaty and confused and couldnt keep a straight train of thought at all!

Iv never lost control but have hit myself in the face with a sweeping brush before.

[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

Comments