[Rosa]

Have you been treated for the depression before, Rosa? Are you on any meds now?

I've taken fluoxetine (SSRI) for several years, but I seem overcome lately with acute inertia & barely get out of my chair. "Let things go" is exactly what happens. My doc has now changed my antidepressant to venlafaxine (SNRI), thinking it may restore some energy, so here's hoping.

I rather agree with you that being rid of the depression first could give you the strength to conquer the rest - you have a happy marriage & a lot of reasons to stick around a good many more years . . . perhaps even some grandchildren will come along, which are about the most fun thing on earth! I just wonder if you should seek a doctor's help in dealing with the despondency . . . it surely couldn't hurt. We're about the same age - so let's not throw in the towel just yet!

And rest assured there are plenty of us capable of creating walls of text, so "this space" is yours for the taking! I'm a bit of a nightowl myself sometimes.

Shanny, it's 3:23 a.m. here and I'm still wide awake (I'll sleep late). Your post is fantastic and really cheered me up. I've had depression problems all my life and I'm on Paxil right now. Also Remeron. I may need an adjustment or change. I'm not deeply depressed but I could feel better.

I can identify very well with your feeling of inertia. I'm experiencing a mild loss of interest in things I usually enjoy, but as I stated, I'm not severely depressed, and believe me, I've been there.

I called a service our ins. provides a little while ago. They're available 24/7. I spoke with a very nice nurse who suggested what you just did - that I see a doctor to treat the depression. I knew that but your and her prompting is just what I needed to get motivated. I have a psychologist whom I haven't seen in a while but he's very good and I'm calling him tomorrow to schedule an appt. (I should never have stopped my therapy.)

So we're about the same age And I certainly don't want to throw in the towel; I love life and esp. MY life. My husband and I live a very quiet, low-key lifestyle but we're happy this way.

Does diabetes cause depression? My depression started at about age 7 - I found out years later that my biol. father, whom I never met, had bouts of it all his life. It can be inherited. Diabetes runs on my mother's side of the family...rampant, I might add. Lucky us, huh? Oh, I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes at about age 44. Since it was familial, I'd been checked regularly since age 11, believe it or not. There was a question about my having it then, but it turned out I did not. Glucose tolerance test.

I will care more about the diabetes when I feel better about myself, I know that. Thanks so much for your absolutely lovely post. This forum is invaluable and I feel better just being here. I look forward to speaking with you and the others here regularly.

 

[Rosa]

Sugar and starch are both carbohydrates and broken down by the body to glucose. So a product can be sugar-free and still be loaded with carbs.

No, not all carbs are bad, but for diabetics it's a matter of how many carbs we can tolerate and which ones.

The mantra around here is 'Eat to your meter' - meaning learning via testing what foods you're able to incorporate into your diet, in what quantity, and even what time of day. It sounds daunting, but doesn't take very long to get the hang of it - honest!

Hi moon,

I plan on keeping a log, recording every single time I test.

I find you folks to be very encouraging and I appreciate that greatly

 

[Rosa]

To all: Please tell me if I've talked about myself too much. I don't want to place too much emphasis on myself. Perhaps I've been too conversational? I do not want to intrude on anyone else's space.

 

[Shalynne]

Hi, Rosa!

This is YOUR space too.

We all talk about ourselves here. I've written, like, novels. We all need to get stuff out, and here we're among folks who are all going through similar battles. I've learned so much from reading accounts like yours.

It's a special place where we can rant, and often our rants help others.

I don't know if depression causes diabetes, or if it's an early symptom. Experts don't seem to know, either, and have just started to look, from what I can gather. For me, depression preceded diabetes by decades. Both run rampant in my family, too.

Looking forward to getting to know you better!

 

[Rosa]

Hi, Rosa!

This is YOUR space too.

We all talk about ourselves here. I've written, like, novels. We all need to get stuff out, and here we're among folks who are all going through similar battles. I've learned so much from reading accounts like yours.

It's a special place where we can rant, and often our rants help others.

I don't know if depression causes diabetes, or if it's an early symptom. Experts don't seem to know, either, and have just started to look, from what I can gather. For me, depression preceded diabetes by decades. Both run rampant in my family, too.

Looking forward to getting to know you better!

Hi Shalynne!

Okay, please consider me a "neighbor" here. So far today, I've been good at watching my sugar. I haven't tested yet tho, will do later. I just love it here. When I first registered I didn't visit that often but now I will as I see friendships have developed here and I am definitely a friendly person, LOL. We're having chili tonight for supper - very small amount of rice for me. Snacked on cut-up tomatoes earlier. Do you eat bread? I love it, like I love all foods that aren't good for me. I buy the grain breads but even they raise my sugar. Sometimes I feel the only thing that's going to keep my sugar levels at bay is if I live on cardboard I'll be back later and thank you for letting me know it's okay to rant, vent, whatever. I look forward to talking to you again

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

Hi Shalynne!

Okay, please consider me a "neighbor" here. So far today, I've been good at watching my sugar. I haven't tested yet tho, will do later. I just love it here. When I first registered I didn't visit that often but now I will as I see friendships have developed here and I am definitely a friendly person, LOL. We're having chili tonight for supper - very small amount of rice for me. Snacked on cut-up tomatoes earlier. Do you eat bread? I love it, like I love all foods that aren't good for me. I buy the grain breads but even they raise my sugar. Sometimes I feel the only thing that's going to keep my sugar levels at bay is if I live on cardboard I'll be back later and thank you for letting me know it's okay to rant, vent, whatever. I look forward to talking to you again

Rosa, you really should avoid ALL starches unless you plan to exercise it off 30 minutes after you eat it, and I think you said that you have a muscle issue that prevents you from moving much. See if you can have the chili without the rice. And just FYI, tomatoes are actually a fruit and tend to spike some people. I think you should test now to see if they spiked you.

 

[foxl]

Yup tomatoes spike me. Especially cooked.

I lived on pasta with tomato sauce for years, now I eat neither.

... not that I haven ot found other things to eat, of course!

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

Yup tomatoes spike me. Especially cooked.

I lived on pasta with tomato sauce for years, now I eat neither.

... not that I haven ot found other things to eat, of course!

Giving up tomatoes was tough for me, but I've replaced them with celery stalks slathered in Philly Garden Veggie cream cheese - just had those for lunch!

 

[Rosa]

Rosa, you really should avoid ALL starches unless you plan to exercise it off 30 minutes after you eat it, and I think you said that you have a muscle issue that prevents you from moving much. See if you can have the chili without the rice. And just FYI, tomatoes are actually a fruit and tend to spike some people. I think you should test now to see if they spiked you.

Thank you for the warning. Going to test right now and will be right back. By the way, I did not know that about tomatoes, which I like cut up with a tiny amount of salad dressing. Here I go to test...

Okay - 260! I ate before I went to bed last night. Just took my Lantus. I'm so frustrated. I guess it's time to bring on the cardboard! Kidding of course.

 

[Jeremymc1]

Hi Rosa! Great to see you in good spirits! What was your blood sugar before you ate? Just trying to gauge some reference from where you were before and how you got to 260. If you are able to, not sure of your insurance benefits, but if you are able to test more often, that will help you. Also, your Lantus really just creates a baseline, or a foundation of insulin in your system. Pretty worthless at this point in your treatment if you are not either A. Watching what you are eating, or B. Taking your fast acting insulin 20 minutes before you eat. As you get tighter control of your blood sugar, the Lantus will play an even bigger role. You might want to order yourself a great book that tells you the carbs in most foods, called The Calorie King. Besides your meter, this will be another tool to tell you what you most likely can or should not eat.

Cheers,

Jeremy

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

Thank you for the warning. Going to test right now and will be right back. By the way, I did not know that about tomatoes, which I like cut up with a tiny amount of salad dressing. Here I go to test...

Okay - 260! I ate before I went to bed last night. Just took my Lantus. I'm so frustrated. I guess it's time to bring on the cardboard! Kidding of course.

260 is seriously dangerous, you need to bring that down. Salad dressing will most likely spike you too - even just 2 tbls can have about 10 carbs. Don't think of your diet as a doom and gloom thing, I did at first also, but there ARE ways around everything. Save the sugary sweet stuff for special occasions, like your birthday and a holiday here and there, but daily living, uh uh. Replace your dressing with your own homemade carb-free marinade or just vinegar and lemon juice like I do. There's lots of tips and recipes here, just go back through the forums and you'll see a bunch.

 

[Jeremymc1]

Rosa, something just occurred to me. Have you been walked through proper insulin treatment? As in, how to caculate the carbs in foods, how to calculate how much insulin to take to counteract the carbs, when to take your insulin, etc? Proper insulin treatment can go a long way fast to bring down your numbers. You will still want to watch what you eat, and when you are physically able, try to get some sort of exercise, but the insulin should help provide a buffer. Let me know, I am happy to offer my unprofessional advice

Cheers,

Jeremy

 

[Rosa]

Hi Rosa! Great to see you in good spirits! What was your blood sugar before you ate? Just trying to gauge some reference from where you were before and how you got to 260. If you are able to, not sure of your insurance benefits, but if you are able to test more often, that will help you. Also, your Lantus really just creates a baseline, or a foundation of insulin in your system. Pretty worthless at this point in your treatment if you are not either A. Watching what you are eating, or B. Taking your fast acting insulin 20 minutes before you eat. As you get tighter control of your blood sugar, the Lantus will play an even bigger role. You might want to order yourself a great book that tells you the carbs in most foods, called The Calorie King. Besides your meter, this will be another tool to tell you what you most likely can or should not eat.

Cheers,

Jeremy

Thanks, Jeremy

I didn't take my blood sugar before I ate, only a little while after. I think I'd mentioned I ate before I went to bed last night - a bad habit, I know, but I love hot soup just before turning in, so it was not a fasting blood sugar test. Also, thanks for the book recommendation - I've bought a lot of books from amazon.com.

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

Thanks, Jeremy

I didn't take my blood sugar before I ate, only a little while after. I think I'd mentioned I ate before I went to bed last night - a bad habit, I know, but I love hot soup just before turning in, so it was not a fasting blood sugar test. Also, thanks for the book recommendation - I've bought a lot of books from amazon.com.

Rosa, you need to let go of these habits. I'd love nothing more than to pig out on some Italian rum cake but if I did I'd have to work out for 2 hours after I ate it. It's not a bad thing to eat something an hour before bed - at least 8 grams of protein, like a string cheese - can stop liver dumping while you sleep so you could wake up with a decent bg. Soup before bedtime is seriously a bad idea - unless you make it yourself and it has no carbs in it, ALL processed soup is bad.

 

[Shalynne]

Rosa, something just occurred to me. Have you been walked through proper insulin treatment? As in, how to caculate the carbs in foods, how to calculate how much insulin to take to counteract the carbs, when to take your insulin, etc? Proper insulin treatment can go a long way fast to bring down your numbers. You will still want to watch what you eat, and when you are physically able, try to get some sort of exercise, but the insulin should help provide a buffer. Let me know, I am happy to offer my unprofessional advice

Cheers,

Jeremy

What Jeremy said.

I had to get my insulin adjusted a couple of times before it would help me at all. Then a few times more, for fine-tuning.

On the odd occasion when I've been, ohhhh, unwise before bedtime, I've put bedtime off an hour or three so I could take a corrective bolus shot, if necessary, then make sure the shot did its stuff. (So far, this hasn't happened on a work night!)

 

[Rosa]

Rosa, you need to let go of these habits. I'd love nothing more than to pig out on some Italian rum cake but if I did I'd have to work out for 2 hours after I ate it. It's not a bad thing to eat something an hour before bed - at least 8 grams of protein, like a string cheese - can stop liver dumping while you sleep so you could wake up with a decent bg. Soup before bedtime is seriously a bad idea - unless you make it yourself and it has no carbs in it, ALL processed soup is bad.

I love cheese but nothing clogs one's arteries faster.

There goes my soup - and yes, it's been the processed kind. Campbell's tomato, my favorite.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

I love cheese but nothing clogs one's arteries faster.

There goes my soup - and yes, it's been the processed kind. Campbell's tomato, my favorite.

Thanks for your reply.

Rosa, Rosa, Rosa, you really HAVE been away a long time! Cheese will not clog your arteries - most of the folks here follow a high-fat/low-carb diet - the saturated fat/cholesterol myth has been debunked and proven false. Most of us eat cheese all day long, no clogging. Don't fall for the lies!

 

[Rosa]

What Jeremy said.

I had to get my insulin adjusted a couple of times before it would help me at all. Then a few times more, for fine-tuning.

On the odd occasion when I've been, ohhhh, unwise before bedtime, I've put bedtime off an hour or three so I could take a corrective bolus shot, if necessary, then make sure the shot did its stuff. (So far, this hasn't happened on a work night!)

Jeremy, I've never gone into in-depth "study" of my insulins - Lantus & Novolog. There's where I am totally confused, and I still don't know what carbs or how many I can safely have. We're having chili tonight, made with ground turkey, over noodles. I plan on having a SMALL amt of noodles since I like them so much but I know they're high in carbs. Same thing with rice, which I love. Doctor told me I shouldn't even eat brown rice.

I do bolus sometimes. Question - I'm prescribed 2 Metformin daily, 1000 mg each - can a person take one more of them? I never self-medicate, but I wonder if that would be okay.

I am completely confused!!

 

[bigrosiegreenbaum]

Jeremy, I've never gone into in-depth "study" of my insulins - Lantus & Novolog. There's where I am totally confused, and I still don't know what carbs or how many I can safely have. We're having chili tonight, made with ground turkey, over noodles. I plan on having a SMALL amt of noodles since I like them so much but I know they're high in carbs. Same thing with rice, which I love. Doctor told me I shouldn't even eat brown rice.

I do bolus sometimes. Question - I'm prescribed 2 Metformin daily, 1000 mg each - can a person take one more of them? I never self-medicate, but I wonder if that would be okay.

I am completely confused!!

Rosa, I'm not sure when you were diagnosed, but it sounds as if you are still in a 'mourning period' for the foods you love. I went through the same thing - still do, every day. But even a half a fistful of noodles will most likely spike you WAY over 150, and that's doing irreversible damage, especially since you are not able to work it off. You really are going to need to have a funeral of sorts for your beloved foods and accept that you need to stay away from all sugar, grains (pasta, rice, breads) and anything with flour in it and find substitutes - believe me, there ARE substitutes for each of those things. And if you're doctor is telling you to stay away from even brown rice, you need to listen to him and to us as well, since the majority of us are living these diets every day and surviving just fine on them. I know it's hard, but given your age and other ailments - and your depression - it's high time to let the noodles and the rice and the soup go away forever. I think once you begin to eat healthier and get rid of the carbs, your depression will start to lift and you will feel much healthier. I was at a 262 two months ago and now stay below a 110 for the most part. If I can do it, so can you! But you need to start now

 

[moon]

Question - I'm prescribed 2 Metformin daily, 1000 mg each - can a person take one more of them?

No. 3,000 is over the maximum. There is an 850 mg and one can take that 3x/day for maximum 2550.