New Member

Hi itissteve,
In the beginning of being diagnosed, I tried diet and exercise and went from 7.7 to 6.9 within 3 months but didn’t really know what to do. My doctor seemed disappointed with my progress. I tried and tried to bring down my number but the numbers weren’t showing the improvement 3 months after that. No guidance and unaware of getting a nutritionist. Then my job became more demanding and I just gave up. In 2020, I tried again. Started to take my medications and found IF and my number of 12.5 went down but then life happened. My favorite cousin succumb to the the virus and my mom suddenly died of brain cancer. I just didn’t care anymore about me. In July 2022, I got an infection which was not only life threatening, it was necrosis. I ended up due to my 12.6 A1C losing my right breast, having a heart condition which will require surgery in the future, showing my kidney is struggling and some eye issue which can be controlled if I control my sugar. I realized all this neglect almost cost me my life and greatly impacted by husband and loved ones. I am now fighting to control my blood sugar which I think I am going down the right path based on daily monitoring. So here I am, looking for answers along with doctor’s advice and support.
Long answer to your questions. LOL

NYRican, thank you for giving us an update that must have been both physically and emotionally painful.

The last few years have been trying times for many of us. In particular being diabetic puts us at higher risk of complications anyway and the events of the last couple of years have not helped at all.

One thing I'll recommend right now is that you be your own advocate with your medical providers. I hope your care team is totally on top of things but several of us have learned that some providers are still working from old information or going by what they learned in medical school 20 years ago. New research is helping our understanding of diabetes and how it interacts with our bodies and other conditions. We're not doctors and can't provide medical advice but we can suggest actions for you to consider and questions to bring to your care team. Please feel free to ask us all here for our thoughts and experiences; there's a wide body of knowledge here.

NYRican, your first few lines sounded like the typical beginnings most of us can relate to upon diagnosis - told we are pre-diabetic/diabetic, need to lose weight, need to make lifestyle changes, need to take this or that med. We start out trying, but not really knowing what to do because the recommendations were more vague than descriptive and without much explanation. If we are lucky, our BG does come down, but eventually goes back up.

After your first few lines, all I can say is wow, Wow, WOW!!! Even more respect for your efforts to get things back in control. I can only try to imagine what you have gone through, the challenges of coping with it all, and the courage to be able to want to turn things back around. You must have a very supportive family that helped restore that fighting spirit for your own health.

Echoing what itissteve said, it greatly benefits us to become our own health advocates and learn as much as we can about this disease ourselves, even with a great medical team.

I've seen studies that say organ/nerve damage occurs with BG over 140 mg/dL. We have had members that have had nerve damage have said getting their BG levels back down did stop progression and over time the symptoms did go away. Some said it took maintaining BG under 120 for it to happen, it took a while, but it did. The body is an amazing thing that can heal itself if it's given the resources and opportunity.