mbuster

Sometimes we are not always in the best environments for good control of our diabetes. We travel, we eat out a lot, we don't cook, we don't always remember to take our meds, we have no support that encourages us to do the things we need to do, we keep getting bad advice, we have financial/insurance issues...... The list can go on and on.

In order to help ourselves and others, what things are hindering each of us from having good control of our Blood Glucose? For those who do have control, what were things that hindered you and what did you do to overcome those obstacles?

For me, I thought I was in control following my doctor's (ADA) recommendations and taking my BG lowering meds. Reading posts on this forum and Bloodsugar101 and then doing further searching on the internet helped me realize I was not out of danger. It was only delaying what they think is inevitable with diabetes.

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Think I've had this since 2003. Told I was Type 2 lean on 2/13/12.
a1c 8.8 (8/2011) 5.2 (07/2019)
TC 183 LDL 102 HDL 65 TG 52 (02/20/2020)
Supplemental vitamins and electrolytes
64 YY Love the LCHF diet. The cheese goes well with my whine
updated 02//20

Cricket

I love this topic because it is something that most of us deal with from time to time.

Although my fasting numbers are not as low as I would like them to be, my diabetes is under control at this time.

In the past, the number one reason I had difficulties was because (as many of you already know) I have an "all or nothing" type of personality. I can't have a cheat day, meal, or heck, even a taste of something that does not fall within my plan or it takes me MONTHS to get back on track. It's 100% on me.

Initially though, my struggles were related to not knowing any better. Like many of you, I tried the diabetes diet the nutritionist gave me and I just ended up taking more and more meds without getting even close to controlling it. I am pretty sure I tried almost everything out there before finally giving in and realizing that the LCHF way of life was the only thing that was gonna work for me.

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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop

Daytona

Lately I am struggling with gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying) caused by my GERD medication. For example, last night I ate at 5pm, but my blood sugar didn't start going up until 4 hours later. So I was correcting stubbornly high blood sugar when I really wanted to be asleep.

Taking the medication isn't negotiable, though perhaps the gastrologist can find a different one that doesn't have this bad of an effect on my digestion. In the meantime, I have to guess how slowly a meal will digest (liquid and 100% carb do okay, anything else is quite variable). Sometimes a split bolus works well and other times, it's like my body just eats up the first part of the bolus, and I may as well have just waited and did a full bolus after 3 hours.

It's very frustrating because the same meals don't always result in the same digestive speed. Feels like a crapshoot most days.

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Pumping insulin since 2017

VeeJay

Boy, can I relate. I have mild gastroparesis (idiopathic) that doesn't always kick in, but I never know when it will. I also have liquid meals in the evening. They seem to make it through more easily.

It's got to be frustrating to you when a problem is caused by a med to treat another problem!

Fortunately, I'm not on insulin, so I can just prop myself up in bed and sleep sitting up until it all passes.

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My low-carb recipe collection on Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/VRStudio1/...light-recipes/
70 yrs. Dx May 2010
Diet controlled: VLC/HF
BG steady with no highs or lows.
A1C in the 5% range.
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Gluten intolerant, sensitive to dairy & eggs.
Eat no grains

smorgan

I recently experienced slow stomach emptying for about a year. Yes, it is associated with "uncontrolled" diabetes, but I haven't been that for many years. Turns out it has a much simpler and it appears much more common cause: hypochlorhydria or insufficient stomach acid.

This often receives only brief mention in discussions of causes of gastroparesis , but it is probably far more common than all the others. Example, this little paragraph in the Wikipedia entry:

Gastroparesis

A simple home test can detect whether your acid is normal, low or high. Supplementing zinc "just in case" is easy and safe to do. Doctors seem to assume that sabotaging the stomach's ability to product acid (e.g., with PPIs) is always the solution to both reflux and gastroparesis. If in fact the cause is LOW acid, that's exactly the opposite of what you need.

I took steps to enhance stomach acid and both the gatroparesis and reflux are complete gone in just a few days. Only a few doctors are well-informed about this and putting out correct information but you can find them with Google.

Something worth looking into, I would think. My doctor saw signs of reflux and immediately prescribed a PPI. After a little research, they quickly went into the trash. MY approval before taking ANY medication prescribed is for me what is "NOT NEGOTIABLE"!

I healed myself in a week. Following his advice, it would have been a long and painful road of meds and more meds with only an illusion of getting better. Well, it was the same with diabetes itself, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

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Salim Morgan, T2
66 Years
DX: 9/2009 A1C=10.7
A1C 2/2010: 6.7 (DX + 4 months)
A1C 5/2010: 6.0 (DX + 8 months)
A1C 8/2010: 5.7 (DX + 11 months)
A1C 11/2010: 5.1 (DX + 14 months)
A1C 9/2011: 5.6 (DX + 2 years)
A1C 7/2012: 5.5 (DX + 2 years 10 months)
A1C 1/2019: 5.5
Diet: Approximately C:10;P:15;F:75 (as % calories)
Exercise: Not much. Stairs at home & work.
NO MEDS, No Highs, No Lows
Grandkids: 22

Daytona

Yeah, I know why I have gastroparersis. It's a side-effect from my GERD medication. I don't care to defend why I must be on this medication, or detail my efforts to get off of it. Suffice to say that it's been a decades long struggle and that at this point it is not something that I can stop taking without surgical intervention which ... I am not up to.

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Pumping insulin since 2017

tracker1

I can relate to dr and meds. I have trashed many scripts because of side effects I wasn't warned about. When one side effect is sudden death that's a deal breaker, yet most dr will perscibe all kinds of drugs without letting you know the downside.
I have dodged a lot of problems not taking a lot of meds that were prescribed.

smorgan

I'm not familiar with those meds. What do they do? Do they reduce stomach acid way down? I heard of some people testing their stomach acid at ph=7, i.e., zero. I suppose that would be worth it if the harm avoided (top of alimentary canal) was worse then all the harm that would cause down the rest of it. It would be similar to people who have had their entire stomach removed.

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Salim Morgan, T2
66 Years
DX: 9/2009 A1C=10.7
A1C 2/2010: 6.7 (DX + 4 months)
A1C 5/2010: 6.0 (DX + 8 months)
A1C 8/2010: 5.7 (DX + 11 months)
A1C 11/2010: 5.1 (DX + 14 months)
A1C 9/2011: 5.6 (DX + 2 years)
A1C 7/2012: 5.5 (DX + 2 years 10 months)
A1C 1/2019: 5.5
Diet: Approximately C:10;P:15;F:75 (as % calories)
Exercise: Not much. Stairs at home & work.
NO MEDS, No Highs, No Lows
Grandkids: 22

Daytona

Due to chronically having stomach acid in my esophagus it has become damaged and much more likely to develop cancer. I now get tested regularly and take an acid reducer for life. The alternative is a grisly surgery which loops part of my stomach around my esophagus to make a "muscle" to hold it shut and keep acid out. Basically my esophagus doesn't close all the way like it should, never has and when I do things like bend over to pickup something off the floor, I end up with a mouthful of whatever is in my tummy.

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Pumping insulin since 2017

Bunjee

I'm just curious. What is the 'simple home test'?

I also am on Prilosec equivalent for the long run due to 'silent acid reflux'. That in turn caused post nasal drip which caused high blood pressure. Fortunately, I'm in the group where weight loss will probably eliminate my need for the PPI, but losing and keeping it off isn't so easy. As we all know....

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T2 since 2011; LADA 2016
A1C 7.9 5/1/16 <---before MDI
6.9 1/9/17
6.6 3/9/17 & 6/15/17
MDI - May 2016
LCHF started 6/22/17