[BadThad]

Hello,

Went in for a routine check with my doc Monday and everything was perfect.....until they tested by blood glucose. ARRRGGGG....475! My doc says "go directly to the hospital from my office". WOW! I told her I just hiked over 10 miles (rigorously) two days ago and I feel great! Off to the hospital I suppost.....I ended up spending the night and getting poked with needles the whole time. I'm still waiting to find out if I'm T1 or T2. I have another visit to my doc in a few hours, hopefully, I'll know soon.

Must say, I'm VERY shocked! My weight is perfect, I exercise regularly, I don't smoke, I eat right.....OK....what the heck? So, here I am trying to understand diabetes. I hope to gather a lot of info from this forum! I love forums!

Anyhow, this goes to show ANYONE can get diabetes. Let the learning begin!

 

[Joshua Shorter]

How old are you? This sounds more like T1 to me. It is a shocking thing to hear. With the right attitude you can control this and live a great and long life. Please visit often. There are a lot of good tips and trips to be found.

 

[Shanny]

Welcome to Diabetes Forum, Thad. And yes, diabetes is no respecter of persons, regardless how thin, fit or healthy they are - it moves in and rearranges the furniture to suit itself, until we finally catch on and get him cornered. Then the trick is to keep him cornered, and a resolute patient can maintain control by close monitoring and attention to the changes required to subdue the little monster.

Keep us posted on your progress . . . there are so many wise and knowledgable people on this forum - I don't know what I'd do without them. My own diagnosis came only 18 months ago, and I'm still learning new things every day.

Do take care . . .

 

[BadThad]

I'm 47 with NO bad health history, completely healthy and in shape all of my life. Also, there's been NO history of diab in my family except for like a 3rd or 4th cousin I can barely remember. Needless to say, this is a HUGE shock.

So far it's been 2 days and I'm closely monitoring my BG levels....about 6-7 times/day. It's been running 200-300 and I have to keep injecting myself with insulin. I'm using the Humalog pen which makes it pretty easy. Before bed I have to use the other pen (forgot name) with the "long acting" insulin. So far the lowest number I've seen with my meter is 131. They put me on the "low sliding scale" for now. Based on what I'm seeing, it's not high enough. I'll talk to the doc about it in a couple hours from now.

I already started recording everything, i.e. levels, units injected and carbs. This is not hard for me because I'm actually a scientist. However, I have a LOT to learn since I'm a science geek, I want to learn it all as fast as I can so I can control this.

 

[foxl]

Hi Thad ... sounds like MY diagnostic experience.

SO be sure you get testing for: GAD-65 antibodies, and C-peptide.

C-peptide might be better after 6 mos post-diagnosis (there is good evidence of beta-cells coming back!) ... but get the GADs right off! You might have autoimmune D.

 

[BadThad]

Welcome to Diabetes Forum, Thad. And yes, diabetes is no respecter of persons, regardless how thin, fit or healthy they are - it moves in and rearranges the furniture to suit itself, until we finally catch on and get him cornered. Then the trick is to keep him cornered, and a resolute patient can maintain control by close monitoring and attention to the changes required to subdue the little monster.

Keep us posted on your progress . . . there are so many wise and knowledgable people on this forum - I don't know what I'd do without them. My own diagnosis came only 18 months ago, and I'm still learning new things every day.

Do take care . . .

Thank you for the welcome! I hope to be an active part of the forum as right now this is my #1 priority......learning. I greatly appreciate ANY insights to diabetes. Right now, I'm really focused on figuring out the best devices to use (money is no object). At the hospital they game me a script for the pens and a "One Touch" meter. I don't know if these are the best things for me yet....but they work for the time being.

 

[BadThad]

Hi Thad ... sounds like MY diagnostic experience.

SO be sure you get testing for: GAD-65 antibodies, and C-peptide.

C-peptide might be better after 6 mos post-diagnosis (there is good evidence of beta-cells coming back!) ... but get the GADs right off! You might have autoimmune D.

There are more tests coming from what I've been told. That's part of the doc visit in a couple hours. I'll have to google those terms you laid out, I have no idea what those are yet. Like I said....I have a LOT to learn.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[foxl]

There are more tests coming from what I've been told. That's part of the doc visit in a couple hours. I'll have to google those terms you laid out, I have no idea what those are yet. Like I said....I have a LOT to learn.

Thanks for the advice!

Yep -- take those terms along to the appt! My internist had NO CLUE what to test and it took me THREE Appointments to convince him.

Do you have any other autoimmune conditions ... thyroid, say?

 

[BadThad]

Yep -- take those terms along to the appt! My internist had NO CLUE what to test and it took me THREE Appointments to convince him.

Do you have any other autoimmune conditions ... thyroid, say?

AFAIK, I have no other conditions. I feel great and have zero complaints. I could go hike 10 miles right now with no issues. LOL

 

[Joshua Shorter]

Good luck with your appointment.

 

[foxl]

That was how I felt when I was dx'd too!

I had pre-existing -- treated -- hypothyroidism, though.

 

[BadThad]

Doc visit was fine, so far so good, nothing new other than no protein in my urine. She increase my night injection from 8 units to 11 because when I wake my BG is about 200. She also wants to put me on something and gave me a script, I'll post it here when I look at the paper. It's the lowest dose of something that's supposed to protect my bladder or something...I forget...2.5mg XXXXX. Lab results still not back to tell me if T1 or 2....so the wait continues. Next test is fasting cholesterol, which I'm sure is fine too (based on my diet and exercise)....at least it was good on last check. LOL

 

[lawprop]

AFAIK, I have no other conditions. I feel great and have zero complaints. I could go hike 10 miles right now with no issues. LOL

Hi Thad

Welcome to the best place to learn about Diabeties I have come across. You will definately find the answers you are looking for here and plenty you didn't know you needed an answer to.

Your obviously active which is great and a man after my own heart. Managing intense exercise with the right food intake is important. Finding out what your body does with it's BG levels when it's trying to draw on them for energy is a must, so test before and after and again an hour or so after aswell to find out. I have to eat well before hand and have a big dose of protein straight after a big run to stop my liver producing excess Glucose. I've got it wrong a few times and I'm just figuring out what makes the levels stay fairly balanced. Good news as after a 10 or 15k run a big high is followed by a fast drop.

So you ever get the shakes or feel wiped out and cold after a big trek?

 

[Jen]

Hi Thad - welcome to our little club! As you can see there is no barrier to membership.

Let me recommend two fantastic books that will help you fine-tune your insulin program: Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner and Using Insulin by John Walsh. Either will take you step-by-step through the process of setting the appropriate basal (long-acting) insulin doses, and then will help you get your Humalog doses in order. I've had those books for several years now and still refer to them when I hit a wall.

Best of luck in this new universe. It can be confusing at first, but will make more sense as you gain experience.

Jen

 

[DocWhitley]

Hi Thad,

Welcome to the club... I dint look at it as a group who has Diabetes but, instead as a Club who has decided that they will manage their Diabetes! To many out there are not controlling it so be glad you found this site of knowledgeable people that want to live.

Will

 

[ThoseBackPages]

Welcome aboard Thad!

i like your attitude! its fantastic!

keep us posted and ask anything you like, we love to help!

 

[BadThad]

Hi Thad

Welcome to the best place to learn about Diabeties I have come across. You will definately find the answers you are looking for here and plenty you didn't know you needed an answer to.

Your obviously active which is great and a man after my own heart. Managing intense exercise with the right food intake is important. Finding out what your body does with it's BG levels when it's trying to draw on them for energy is a must, so test before and after and again an hour or so after aswell to find out. I have to eat well before hand and have a big dose of protein straight after a big run to stop my liver producing excess Glucose. I've got it wrong a few times and I'm just figuring out what makes the levels stay fairly balanced. Good news as after a 10 or 15k run a big high is followed by a fast drop.

So you ever get the shakes or feel wiped out and cold after a big trek?

So far NEVER, I feel like I could do the hike again! LOL Thanks for the tip to check BG before. Now that it's getting cold I'm stuck with a treadmill and I'll start checking BG before and after....so far though, I feel no different before/after. I'm kind of getting scared that I will start feeling strange after excercise after reading all that I have.....arrrrggggggg. Guess right now I'm kinda of a freak!

 

[BadThad]

Hi Thad - welcome to our little club! As you can see there is no barrier to membership.

Let me recommend two fantastic books that will help you fine-tune your insulin program: Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner and Using Insulin by John Walsh. Either will take you step-by-step through the process of setting the appropriate basal (long-acting) insulin doses, and then will help you get your Humalog doses in order. I've had those books for several years now and still refer to them when I hit a wall.

Best of luck in this new universe. It can be confusing at first, but will make more sense as you gain experience.

Jen

Thank you for those recommendations. Being a chemist, I feel I'm gaining a rapid understanding of what's going on and how I need to treat myself. Not sure if I'll require addtional reading material quite yet since I still have TONS of stuff to read on the web....but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks

 

[BadThad]

Hi Thad,

Welcome to the club... I dint look at it as a group who has Diabetes but, instead as a Club who has decided that they will manage their Diabetes! To many out there are not controlling it so be glad you found this site of knowledgeable people that want to live.

Will

Thanks Will. It's indeed true, after a lot of reading it seems a LOT of folks do not monitor and control it.....that will NOT be me. I've been an analytical chemist for 23 years so testing and analysis are second nature to me.

 

[BadThad]

Welcome aboard Thad!

i like your attitude! its fantastic!

keep us posted and ask anything you like, we love to help!

Thanks! It's good to know there's lots of people to help if I have questions. For now, the only pain in the rear is figuring out how many carbs are in food, adding them up at meal time and seeing how much insulin I require based on what I'm eating. It's really an art form combined with science I'm seeing. It's not an exact science now and I'm going to do my best to make it more exact for me.

I have a couple booklets from the hospital and doctor but I don't like them. Does anyone know where I can find a better food-carb chart on the web I can print? Or perhaps even a good book that makes it easy to look up carbs for specific foods? Next week I'm meeting with a dietitian at my docs office so maybe I'm jumping the gun. I'm sure she'll have a ton of info for me to digest.....however, you guys are the voice of experience.