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Hello from Montana

2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  WCBS 
#1 ·
I have been lurking in the forums for several months now and I finally decided to join and share my story so far. I am 37 years old and live in Billings MT.

I was diagnosed with type 2 in October of 2010. I was by accident that I was diagnosed. In August of 2010 I started having left intercostal pain. I didn't have a regular physician so I went to an urgent care office, thinking they would find something minor, give me a prescription, and send me on my way. They did some basic blood tests and everything came back normal. A couple of weeks later the pain was getting worse so I went back. They referred me to Internal Medicine for a more thorough exam. When I was finally able to get in to see a doctor, he ordered a number of blood tests to diagnose the pain. A week or two later, I got my test results in the mail. It included a note that my blood sugars were high and that I needed to get an OGTT test done. I got the test done and met with my doctor soon after. He said I had diabetes.

For medications, I started with metformin 500mg once daily and over a couple of months built up to 1000mg twice daily. I started using Lantus in January 2011 working from 10 units a day up to 44 units. The past couple of months I have been able to drop down to 40 units a day.

My A1c has been 9.0 in October 2010. 8.4 in January 2011. 7.3 in April 2011. And 6.3 in July 2011.

The one big challenge I have had since being diagnosed is finding local support. I go to see my doctor and the diabetes educator every three months, but beyond that, I cannot find anything else for education or support for diabetes anywhere in the region. I have a couple of friends who also have diabetes, but they don't work at controlling their sugars. I have tried the American Diabetes Association, but their local office's address is a mailbox at the UPS store and their phone number is a voicemail box that I never get calls back from. We have two hospitals here, one I just found out has a monthly support group but they are taking the summer off and the other hostpital is not in my insurance's network. So outside of this forum, what other resources should I look to for support?
 
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#3 ·
Hi In Montana


Hi and welcome to the site. You've come to the right place and you will find many good people as well as information here.

I hear you had a hard winter there this last year. I use to live in Havre and also close to Chinook between Chinook and the Chief Joseph Battleground. Love the area but sure glad to never have to live in snow again!!!

Gene...
 
#4 ·
I cannot find anything else for education or support for diabetes anywhere in the region.
This is a problem most of us have. I know a lot of diabetics, but like your diabetic friends, they don't work at controlling their sugars, either. That is one reason we come to the forum for support.

Since you are also looking to be educated about Diabetes, I have found Blood Sugar 101 to be a great teacher for almost everything you need to know about Diabetes.

We hope you will consider us to be your support group. Welcome to the forum.
 
#5 ·
Hi and welcome...lots of awesome and clever people here...and very local lol...*waves from Australia* you are in my lounge room right now
 
#7 ·
Welcome to the board! I don't have much advice because I am new to this whole thing, but listen to these people! They are awesome! I was diagnosed on July 1, 2011 with a fasting of 123, glucose tolerance of 253 and A1c of 5.4 but I haven't had a reading over 131 since finding this forum. I keep my carbs to about 75 -100 a day and have just started 500 mg of XR metformin.
 
#8 ·
Welcome to the forum :tea:

Hope your weather is less hot than ours here in Missouri. Worked my back yard yesterday and WOW!
I have wondered about some of the local groups as to how much help they would be, if/when you connect in your area please post.
I think you'll find many of us 'eat to our meters' and do not necessarily subscribe to what the ADA considers optimal... I recently started Lantus and so far it seems fine. Compared to the intermediate acting Insulin I was using, the dose decreased, considerable. Just in case you haven't been, check out Blood Sugar 101
Good to have you here, BTW send some cool air on south :violin:
 
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