[Lancer]

Hi all -

New user here. I was just given a 'preliminary' diagnosis of Type II on Jan 4 (tests taken Dec 22). Had a FBS of 147 with A1C of 6.4.
All the other tests were pretty normal, cholesterol 164, triglycerides 113, HDL (45) and LDL (94) maybe a little reversed from what i want?

This was the first time tested. Doctor didn't want to put me on meds and wanted to try diet and exercise first. I purchased a ex bike and have been doing 30-60 minutes (10-15 miles) per day. Also have been watching carbs and giving up my morning onion bagels and also my hard candy (good and plenty, starlight mints, sweettart).
Have lost 7-10 pounds so far.

I was referred to a diabetes education program which took a couple weeks to get an appointment. Finallly got in a few days ago, got a meter and a testing schedule and have been testing since. So far, I have an average of 113 across 9 tests. Highest I have seen is 166 about 45 minutes after eating breakfast (down to 103 about 45minutes later). I haven't tested fasting am reading yet,scheduled to do that tomorrow so we'll see what that says.

Hopefully whatever I'm doing is working. I am a little concerned about the meter accuracy since these numbers don't seem to correspond to the December tests. Is this a better result than I should really expect after a couple weeks of exercise and watching what I eat.

A little background: 48 yr old male who moved from the big city of Chicago to a rural location for family reasons. When I was in Chicago, I estimate walking 4-6 miles a day total between walking from home to train station and station to work twice a day, lunch time walks, and walking around the office. I weighed a little more than ideal but in pretty good shape.

Since moving to the country and working from home, most exercise was equal to walking the 20 ft from my room to my desk. So I gained 25-30 lbs in a little over two years.

The diagnosis came after a follow-up from a brief hospital stay. Went to the ER after a series of bad nosebleeds, ended up diagnosed with moderate dehydration and hypertensive urgency and an elevated WBC that supposedly came down to stress after the doctors did whole series of tests that didn't find anything. I know they did a metabolic panel but the attending doc never mentioned a glucose issue. My doctor has the hospital tests so I'll ask her what the results were when I see her next. I'm a little concerned that they were so anxious to treat the blood pressure issue and get me out of the hospital that they may not have mentioned some things to me.

Ok, this is too long! So hi!

 

[Joshua Shorter]

Welcome to the forum. We are glad you here! I hope you come back and post often. This is a great place to learn and be encouraged.
How often are you testing? What do you consider low carb?
Again, welcome and I hope you find that this is a nice little family to get to know!

 

[Lancer]

Thanks Joshua -

My doctor only told me to test once a day (at least thats what she said on the presription for test strips she gave me). The diabetes educator gave me a rotating schedule of two tests per day so I'll probably do that for now. I am little concerned that once or twice a day is not enough, I've done a few other tests here and there just to get a baseline of what I'm seeing.

The diabetes educator told me that I should be getting 60 carbs per meal. So far, I seem to be averaging more in the 35-45 level. It's when the family goes out to dinner (they love Taco Bell, Pizza, etc) that I will have to be careful. Also, we love a lot of pasta so I'll have to watch that too.

 

[Chesney]

That's 180 carbs a day. You will find that most of us here eat 60 or less per day. Visit often..this a very knowledgeable group

 

[breezeonby]

Hi all -

New user here. I was just given a 'preliminary' diagnosis of Type II on Jan 4 (tests taken Dec 22). Had a FBS of 147 with A1C of 6.4.
All the other tests were pretty normal, cholesterol 164, triglycerides 113, HDL (45) and LDL (94) maybe a little reversed from what i want?

This was the first time tested. Doctor didn't want to put me on meds and wanted to try diet and exercise first. I purchased a ex bike and have been doing 30-60 minutes (10-15 miles) per day. Also have been watching carbs and giving up my morning onion bagels and also my hard candy (good and plenty, starlight mints, sweettart).
Have lost 7-10 pounds so far.

I was referred to a diabetes education program which took a couple weeks to get an appointment. Finallly got in a few days ago, got a meter and a testing schedule and have been testing since. So far, I have an average of 113 across 9 tests. Highest I have seen is 166 about 45 minutes after eating breakfast (down to 103 about 45minutes later). I haven't tested fasting am reading yet,scheduled to do that tomorrow so we'll see what that says.

Hopefully whatever I'm doing is working. I am a little concerned about the meter accuracy since these numbers don't seem to correspond to the December tests. Is this a better result than I should really expect after a couple weeks of exercise and watching what I eat.

A little background: 48 yr old male who moved from the big city of Chicago to a rural location for family reasons. When I was in Chicago, I estimate walking 4-6 miles a day total between walking from home to train station and station to work twice a day, lunch time walks, and walking around the office. I weighed a little more than ideal but in pretty good shape.

Since moving to the country and working from home, most exercise was equal to walking the 20 ft from my room to my desk. So I gained 25-30 lbs in a little over two years.

The diagnosis came after a follow-up from a brief hospital stay. Went to the ER after a series of bad nosebleeds, ended up diagnosed with moderate dehydration and hypertensive urgency and an elevated WBC that supposedly came down to stress after the doctors did whole series of tests that didn't find anything. I know they did a metabolic panel but the attending doc never mentioned a glucose issue. My doctor has the hospital tests so I'll ask her what the results were when I see her next. I'm a little concerned that they were so anxious to treat the blood pressure issue and get me out of the hospital that they may not have mentioned some things to me.

Ok, this is too long! So hi!

Hello and :welcome: to the forum! Don't be too surprised if they didn't test your glucose or just ignored it since your hospital stay wasn't for high or low blood sugar. I was in the hospital 4 times in 2010 all for pneumonia and I don't know what is in my records, so when it gets warmer and close to spring, I am going to request an onsite review of my medical records. Sorry about the bad attitude about hospitals, but I can't help it. There is a wealth of information on here and you will learn alot from visiting and posting. I hope you have time to visit often and take care.

 

[beefy]

Hi, and a big welcome from me! :welcome: I'm fairly new here also.

You and I have a few things in common. Specifically age and diagnosis date.

I'm 45; had my FBG (fasting blood glucose) test Dec 15th, was called back to my Dr. on Dec 19th and told that my FBG was crazy high 14.8 (or 267 in US measure) and that I was very likely diabetic. Was sent for an A1c and given another appointment for Jan 4th where I was told the A1c result of 12.1% pretty-much was a given at that point.

You are VERY FORTUNATE to find out when your numbers were still in line and you (hopefully) don't need medication to combat it.

There is great advice and support here and I'm so thrilled to have found this site.

Honestly, If I hadn't stumbled across this site I'd probably be eating what the nutrionist/diabetic educators have told me, which would have my BG's up much higher than they need be.

Starchy carbs are just not our friends. I agree with others that 180 per day is high in carbs for any diabetic... even if you can keep BG levels low, it's likely causing your pancreas to work harder than it needs (or wants) to, and it's only got a limited amount of give for those in our situation. So really watch the carbs.

Glad to hear you're exercising. That's a biggy. Moderate exercise is really helping me bring down my BG levels. I'm thrilled though my exercise bike is groaning in agony

Good luck! Hope to see you around often.

 

[breezeonby]

Thanks Joshua -

My doctor only told me to test once a day (at least thats what she said on the presription for test strips she gave me). The diabetes educator gave me a rotating schedule of two tests per day so I'll probably do that for now. I am little concerned that once or twice a day is not enough, I've done a few other tests here and there just to get a baseline of what I'm seeing.

The diabetes educator told me that I should be getting 60 carbs per meal. So far, I seem to be averaging more in the 35-45 level. It's when the family goes out to dinner (they love Taco Bell, Pizza, etc) that I will have to be careful. Also, we love a lot of pasta so I'll have to watch that too.

You are probably going to have to go lower on your carb intake. You are not on any medication and some people can control their diabetes with diet and exercise but they eat very low carb. You really need to use your meter to start testing to see how your body handles carbs. Test before eating and test 2 hours after meals. After 2 hours, you need to be down to where you were before eating. Pizza and Taco Bell are probably not the best places to eat since you probably are eating more carbs than you think. If you are going to eat at Taco Bell, you should be ordering something low carb and I honestly can't think of anything, each soft taco has 20 carbs each, so if you have any more than 2 tacos, you are already up to 40 carbs. I take insulin and I am able to eat more carbs because I can take fast acting insulin to cover my carbs, but the more I eat, the more insulin I need to inject and then I put on weight. I am T2 and depend on insulin but I still need to limit my carbs. I can eat all the meat and cheese that I want to eat and they do not raise my blood sugar. Eat to your meter until you know what foods you can handle and then you can cut back on testing if you want.

 

[onlymep]

welcome Lancer glad to hear your doc is putting you on the right track. You will continue to learn and alter things as you go... you have to find what works best for you as we are all different in our makeup. I'm T2 also and when I was first diagnosed 12 years ago I was put on diet and exercise to control BGLs too. I managed to do this successfully for at least 2 years until I had to be put on medications. Stress isn't good for diabetes so the best thing is to take a positive approach to things and realise that life happens and sometimes your best plans fail (boy I've learnt that with since diagnosed). Speaking of hospitals... here I have same problem as they want you in & out real quick. I find I'm always having to remind docs & nurses that I'm diabetic as they forget to test me when I'm real sick... oh not to mention they can never remember what medications you take and how much insulin... they tell me they have to administer it and not me... I often protest whenever I'm in there basically. The person that knows your health best is you I reckon... learn as much as you can from people and material available. Make sure you get a good medical team supporting you too... can help. Sometimes I wonder about mine as often telling them what to check. lol. Along with diet and exercise you will notice there is so many contributing factors that affect your BGLs... some within your control, some not. You will notice most people here talk about food and exercise the most... this is important... but only part of it. I notice a difference in my BGLs for example when I'm under the pump at work... when sick, etc. Test your BGLs often and get to know what impacts them and what doesn't.

 

[breezeonby]

Hi, and a big welcome from me! :welcome: I'm fairly new here also.

You and I have a few things in common. Specifically age and diagnosis date.

I'm 45; had my FBG (fasting blood glucose) test Dec 15th, was called back to my Dr. on Dec 19th and told that my FBG was crazy high 14.8 (or 267 in US measure) and that I was very likely diabetic. Was sent for an A1c and given another appointment for Jan 4th where I was told the A1c result of 12.1% pretty-much was a given at that point.

You are VERY FORTUNATE to find out when your numbers were still in line and you (hopefully) don't need medication to combat it.

There is great advice and support here and I'm so thrilled to have found this site.

Honestly, If I hadn't stumbled across this site I'd probably be eating what the nutrionist/diabetic educators have told me, which would have my BG's up much higher than they need be.

Starchy carbs are just not our friends. I agree with others that 180 per day is high in carbs for any diabetic... even if you can keep BG levels low, it's likely causing your pancreas to work harder than it needs (or wants) to, and it's only got a limited amount of give for those in our situation. So really watch the carbs.

Glad to hear you're exercising. That's a biggy. Moderate exercise is really helping me bring down my BG levels. I'm thrilled though my exercise bike is groaning in agony

Good luck! Hope to see you around often.

Hey beefy, I am going to have to come and hide the welcome sign from you!

 

[breezeonby]

welcome Lancer glad to hear your doc is putting you on the right track. You will continue to learn and alter things as you go... you have to find what works best for you as we are all different in our makeup. I'm T2 also and when I was first diagnosed 12 years ago I was put on diet and exercise to control BGLs too. I managed to do this successfully for at least 2 years until I had to be put on medications. Stress isn't good for diabetes so the best thing is to take a positive approach to things and realise that life happens and sometimes your best plans fail (boy I've learnt that with since diagnosed). Speaking of hospitals... here I have same problem as they want you in & out real quick. I find I'm always having to remind docs & nurses that I'm diabetic as they forget to test me when I'm real sick... oh not to mention they can never remember what medications you take and how much insulin... they tell me they have to administer it and not me... I often protest whenever I'm in there basically. The person that knows your health best is you I reckon... learn as much as you can from people and material available. Make sure you get a good medical team supporting you too... can help. Sometimes I wonder about mine as often telling them what to check. lol.

Oh my, don't get us started on managing diabetes while in the hospital. On one of my visits last year, I had to call the patient hotline because one of my nurses said I didn't need to take any mealtime insulin if my pre-meal reading was 70. I wanted to choke her, kinda.....

 

[onlymep]

@breeze - yeah I know that feeling. I've been close to hitting them myself. Now what frustrates me the most is that you tell them exactly what your meds are, what dosage, and what time you take them on admission. Apparently they write this down... but they still don't have a clue. A couple of times I got told "we don't stock that medication here" too... grrr. Another thing is that all the nurses seem to have a different opinion for everything... eg. it took 3 nurses over a day until finally the 3rd nurse says "what on earth is that canular doing in your hand when it's swollen?"... I had been telling them that all day. You sorta have to be your own nurse or something. lol.

 

[Lancer]

Thanks for the welcomes everyone! I'll definitely be sticking around. There is a lot to learn.

As odd as it seems to day, I'm kind of grateful for the hospital visit, brief as it was. The nosebleeds were terrible and frightening but unless they happened, I would not have known about the high bp or later the glucose numbers. i hadn't been to the doctor in years (stupid I know) and probably would not have gone anytime soon.

The exercising is actually pretty great. After being used to walking so much for the 25 years I lived in the city, not having any place to walk around here is frustrating and giving me a cooped up feeling. Working from home is great but there are definite disadvantages. I can already see weight loss happening so maybe I can get back into some of my old clothes sometime soon. If only the ex. bike had a better seat. Thats the part that bothers me, the legs are fine.

I am hoping to be able to stay off meds for as long as possible. I am on two bp meds and once a week Vit-D already.

Its only been a few weeks but so far so good I guess. Too new to know for sure. All of my testing so far has been within the doctors ranges. Except for the one test I did right after breakfast that was 166, all of the rest have been between 92 and 126.

I thought the 60 per meal sounded high, even before my first meeting with the educators i was looking at the labels and trying to be careful. If I counted right, I'm at less than 100 for the day.

There is a lot to look out for. I picked up a small frozen food at the market and the number of carbs looked ok until i noticed that label said the box contained three servings! Ugh.

Mostly, I'm a little sad to give up my favorite snacks. I was never a cake or cookie type but loved hard candies and things like Cheez-It crackers. I'm sure I'll adapt, I just have to hand off all my starlight mints and lifesavers to my grand-nephews. They'll like that.

Okay, I feel like I'm writing a dissertation here so thanks again!

 

[onlymep]

Lancer - forgot to mention I'm on this low FODMAP diet at the moment. If you have problems with mainstream carbs you may be interested to read what foods are allowed on FODMAP as it's about cutting back your fructose/fructans and lactose intake.... both carbs. I've only been on this close to a week and I reckon I've noticed an improvement in my BGLs already... but no improvement as yet for the gastro issue I have which is why I'm on it. I did post link under the FODMAP diet heading here which gives heaps of info if you're interested.

 

[breezeonby]

Thanks for the welcomes everyone! I'll definitely be sticking around. There is a lot to learn.

As odd as it seems to day, I'm kind of grateful for the hospital visit, brief as it was. The nosebleeds were terrible and frightening but unless they happened, I would not have known about the high bp or later the glucose numbers. i hadn't been to the doctor in years (stupid I know) and probably would not have gone anytime soon.

The exercising is actually pretty great. After being used to walking so much for the 25 years I lived in the city, not having any place to walk around here is frustrating and giving me a cooped up feeling. Working from home is great but there are definite disadvantages. I can already see weight loss happening so maybe I can get back into some of my old clothes sometime soon. If only the ex. bike had a better seat. Thats the part that bothers me, the legs are fine.

I am hoping to be able to stay off meds for as long as possible. I am on two bp meds and once a week Vit-D already.

Its only been a few weeks but so far so good I guess. Too new to know for sure. All of my testing so far has been within the doctors ranges. Except for the one test I did right after breakfast that was 166, all of the rest have been between 92 and 126.

I thought the 60 per meal sounded high, even before my first meeting with the educators i was looking at the labels and trying to be careful. If I counted right, I'm at less than 100 for the day.

There is a lot to look out for. I picked up a small frozen food at the market and the number of carbs looked ok until i noticed that label said the box contained three servings! Ugh.

Mostly, I'm a little sad to give up my favorite snacks. I was never a cake or cookie type but loved hard candies and things like Cheez-It crackers. I'm sure I'll adapt, I just have to hand off all my starlight mints and lifesavers to my grand-nephews. They'll like that.

Okay, I feel like I'm writing a dissertation here so thanks again!

http://www.diabetesforum.com/diabetes-recipes/2362-cheese-crisps.html. Try these instead of cheese-its.

 

[breezeonby]

@breeze - yeah I know that feeling. I've been close to hitting them myself. Now what frustrates me the most is that you tell them exactly what your meds are, what dosage, and what time you take them on admission. Apparently they write this down... but they still don't have a clue. A couple of times I got told "we don't stock that medication here" too... grrr. Another thing is that all the nurses seem to have a different opinion for everything... eg. it took 3 nurses over a day until finally the 3rd nurse says "what on earth is that canular doing in your hand when it's swollen?"... I had been telling them that all day. You sorta have to be your own nurse or something. lol.

I carry a spreadsheet with me with all of my medications and dosage, times taken who prescribed the drug and what I take it for....how can you possibly mess that up? The admitting doctor can really goof things up as well, I had no idea that they decide what meds that you will get in the hospital. If you can avoid getting a in-house doctor, do so and get your doctor in asap!

 

[Shanny]

Hello & welcome, Lancer! Glad to have you join us with your dissertations! Prowl around here a little while & you'll find quite a few of us lean toward verbosity! heheh!

Hope they got to the cause of your nosebleeds - did you have to have cauterization?

Take care and visit often!

 

[Lancer]

Hi Shanny -

Never figured out the reason for the nosebleeds. I had been sick and apparently getting dehydrated pretty badly for a week or so. Ended up with three bad nosebleeds in one day. After the third, we decided to head to the ER. As soon as I got in the car to go to the hospital the nosebleed stopped and I never had another one since. The doctors couldn't tell if the (very) high BP was caused by the shock and stress of the bleeds or if the nosebleed was caused by the BP. So they spent the 30 hrs or so I was there to moderate and monitor the BP and also to get my sodium and potassium back to safe levels. So they may not have looked at or mentioned glucose to me if it was noticeably high at that time.

 

[Shanny]

I went through a spell of nosebleeds several years ago & they eventually stopped happening. But I got so I had to carry towels on the carseat driving to work, in case it started pouring while I was driving. Some would start in my sleep, and of course the pillowcases took a beating there for awhile. One night I sat in a chair for an hour, pinching my nose while my everlovin' held an icepack on the back of my neck . . . and he warned "30 more minutes. If we don't get this stopped in 30 more minutes, we're going to ER." Musta scared 'em outta me, because I never went to ER, and never was treated. Mentioned it to doc one time during an office call, and he said there were no distended blood vessels visible that he could see, so ER was about my only choice if they had continued. Sure hope yours are over & done with!

 

[onlymep]

just a thought re: nose bleed... I had nose bleeds end of last year with bad sinus infection.

 

[MinisMom]

I'm 37 and have had chronic nose bleeds since I was still in the single digits; all the ENT does is cauterize some more vessels. No explanation. No high blood pressure. Mine are bad enough that I have to use a cup instead of a towel. If I attempt to stop it up the blood immediately backs up, and runs down my throat until I eventually throw it up. Sorry if that is too graphic.:yuck::yuck: