[Cricket]

It wasn't until recently, while I was chatting with a friend that is also diabetic that I realized that the challenges each of us face may be similar but DEALING with those challenges can be very different for all of us. Maybe we can discuss what the biggest challenges are for us?

What is your biggest challenge living with diabetes?

 

[Cricket]

For me, it is not wanting diabetes to define who I am, yet sometimes it feels like everything comes back to that. I need to learn that when someone is handing me candy, I don't have to explain that I am diabetic. I can simply say, "no thank you" rather than making everything come back to that.

When my older kids feel like something is okay for just one day or just one bite, I need to learn to say no, it does matter to me. As an example, some folks may be able to have just one bite of something on a special occasion. I am not one of those people. Once I give in, just a little, it can take me MONTHS to get back on track.

 

[Katieboosmama]

Once I give in, just a little, it can take me MONTHS to get back on track.

I'm the same way, kind of an "all or nothing" girl. For me the hardest part is dealing with the Doctors, with them resisting in spite of what my numbers tell them. With the system, treating it as if it were a "one size fits all" problem with a "one size fits all" solution. In the beginning, my biggest problem was fear. My Dr missed my elevated levels on my 2015 physical, and I was not diagnosed til 2016. I was terrified that I had done permanent damage to my organs. I know now that I am ok, but for a long time that fear ruled my life.

 

[Cricket]

I'm the same way, kind of an "all or nothing" girl...

Over the years that has proven to be my biggest strength and also my biggest weakness. :smile2:

 

[moon]

Until recently my biggest challenge was giving up on my beloved homemade pistachio ice cream, and yes - I thought about it often the last years (almost six). Looking back, adapting to diabetes was not as challenging as I would've thought, considering what a carb addict I was.

But that was then, and now - for the first time since dx I loosened my grip.

Had gone through a period of over a year where I didn't test. But, I didn't change my eating, and kept carbs very low. Made no exceptions. When I tested again, my bg was right where I left it. Not testing was a function of not wanting to think about diabetes, and coincided with not logging in here for about 1.5 years I think it was. None of that was a good idea, but fortunately I stuck to LCHF and it worked out.

Right now it's different and I'm wading through it. Have had some meaningful pain and fatigue issues, and shopping/cooking became a burdensome chore. So I went for freshly prepared comfort foods, none of which had labels. Mostly this was hot soups and salad bars, and fresh prepared hot foods like ribs. Ack! I wiped off the sauce before eating, but knew it still was pretty high-carb stuff. For soups I was selective, i.e. no chowders with potatoes, etc - but all those fresh hot soups have high carbs no matter how careful. Even the hot vegetables like the brussel sprouts sometimes would have a hint of sweetness - I'd tell myself it was balsamic, maybe it was.

What I need to do when energy allows is cook up a storm and freeze lots of portions. Both my finances and bg will thank me. Have a standing freezer for just that.

At the same time, am not beating myself up. I made better choices than I could've. I wasn't testing but do get monthly metabolic panels. My bg started averaging 20-25 points higher - not good, but not the end of the world. If I continue this, though, that number will climb.

Getting back on the horse ...

 

[VeeJay]

Boredom and fatigue. Both of which I suffer from more now than ever. When fatigued, my mind immediately goes to food in the vain hope that more food will give me energy. When not having anything meaningful to do or energy to pursue much of anything, I turn to eating. Always a lose/lose situation.

A few times in the last couple months I've even dug into my husband's always-present bag of Fritos. Sends my BG up to above 160 (which isn't so bad, but not so good either since it restocks my liver's store of glycogen).

 

[TiggerTeddie]

I think for me it is being defined and stereotyped as a "diabetic". I am still the same person, but my body just doesn't process sugar the same as other people!

Plus, to be honest, I love my adult beverages and not having them whenever I want is HARD!!

 

[Dudeness]

For me, it is not wanting diabetes to define who I am, yet sometimes it feels like everything comes back to that. I need to learn that when someone is handing me candy, I don't have to explain that I am diabetic. I can simply say, "no thank you" rather than making everything come back to that.

I had to start doing this but it's almost like your hurting their feelings when you say no so I started saying "no thanks, I'm trying to watch my figure" and coming from a guy that always gets a chuckle and lightens the mood.

When my older kids feel like something is okay for just one day or just one bite, I need to learn to say no, it does matter to me. As an example, some folks may be able to have just one bite of something on a special occasion. I am not one of those people. Once I give in, just a little, it can take me MONTHS to get back on track.

I found out I'm some what the opposite of that, if I keep myself from something for a long time that's when I'll go off the wagon and start over eating carbs/sugar. So over the last year or so I've learned by testing just how many french fries, how many chips or with my true love of mini snickers bars how many I can have and still test below 140.

My latest challenge has been not adding more carbs to my meals. My last visit to the doc I told her I wanted to up my met from a 1000 a day to 1500 to get my A1C lower so we did and I have to say I've been quite pleased with the results. Problem is the little guy in the back of my head saying "you're taking more met you can have more potatoes". So far I've been keeping him at bay and sticking to what I know keeps me under my target.

 

[DeMaistre]

It wasn't until recently, while I was chatting with a friend that is also diabetic that I realized that the challenges each of us face may be similar but DEALING with those challenges can be very different for all of us. Maybe we can discuss what the biggest challenges are for us?

What is your biggest challenge living with diabetes?

I'd say the ubiquity of Dunkin' Donuts.

 

[Katieboosmama]

I'd say the ubiquity of Dunkin' Donuts.

Has no power over me lol, however, I have to plan my tractor supply runs after 11 am so I don't see the blasted "hot and ready" sign at my local Krispy Kreme lol :vs_laugh:

 

[Daytona]

After finally being diagnosed, with staggeringly high blood sugar, near DKA, I stumbled on gluten-free+low-carb and like magic, was able to bring my blood sugar so well under control that my doctor decided that I wasn't diabetic anymore. I took that to heart, not that I was cured, but that I could manage my diabetes like this forever... and that turned out to not be true. I am now insulin dependent.

I beat myself up about this 20 times a day. It's a regular topic to be reviewed when I wake up at 2am. You'd think I'd get tired of the subject! :biggrin: Every day I have little talks with myself about if I really have diabetes or if being on insulin is my fault, a choice that I made to get away with eating again. Low-carb worked so well at first that it made me think that I was in control, and that anything other than "non-diabetic" blood sugar levels was because I chose to not do the "right thing". Unfortunately this mentality was often encouraged, never by my doctors, but by the blogs/forums that I frequented.

For maybe two years, I coped with my declining insulin production by eating less. Before finally going on insulin, I was only eating once a day and my blood sugar was still sky high in spite of the daily 18 hour fast.

I don't know how to "fix" what's wrong in my head.

I flipflop between utterly hating myself, punishing myself, resolving to go back to restricting, as if that would bring back the easy magic of those initial years after diagnosis. Then the next day I remind myself that my genes were stacked against me from the start, that my multiple auto-immune diseases mean that maybe my Type 2 diagnosis isn't the full story (as though there's virtue to be found it having diabetes caused by an autoimmune attack vs some other cause... there isn't), and that I can manage what my doctors are all encouraging me to do: for the love of god, eat and don't skip your insulin.

So yeah, if you ever wondered how one gets to be a moderator on this forum, I'm a great example that one of the requirements isn't having your diabetes act together. :devil:

For me, managing my blood sugar isn't my biggest diabetes challenge. Sure it's something that I think about 24/7, but I don't struggle with it. I struggle with letting go of the blame, the guilt and the arrogance that made me believe that I knew the cause of and solution to diabetes.

 

[DeMaistre]

Has no power over me lol, however, I have to plan my tractor supply runs after 11 am so I don't see the blasted "hot and ready" sign at my local Krispy Kreme lol :vs_laugh:

My Tractor Supply is in a fastfood dead zone, but Home Depot takes me past a Turkish place with the best flat bread in the world. The flesh is weak!

 

[smorgan]

After finally being diagnosed, with staggeringly high blood sugar, near DKA, I stumbled on gluten-free+low-carb and like magic, was able to bring my blood sugar so well under control that my doctor decided that I wasn't diabetic anymore. I took that to heart, not that I was cured, but that I could manage my diabetes like this forever... and that turned out to not be true. I am now insulin dependent.

I beat myself up about this 20 times a day. It's a regular topic to be reviewed when I wake up at 2am. You'd think I'd get tired of the subject! :biggrin: Every day I have little talks with myself about if I really have diabetes or if being on insulin is my fault, a choice that I made to get away with eating again. Low-carb worked so well at first that it made me think that I was in control, and that anything other "non-diabetic" blood sugar levels was because I chose to not do the "right thing". Unfortunately this mentality was often encouraged, never by my doctors, but by the blogs/forums that I frequented.

For maybe two years, I coped with my declining insulin production by eating less. Before finally going on insulin, I was only eating once a day and my blood sugar was still sky high in spite of the daily 18 hour fast.

I don't know how to "fix" what's wrong in my head.

I flipflop between utterly hating myself, punishing myself, resolving to go back to restricting, as if that would bring back the easy magic of those initial years after diagnosis. Then the next day I remind myself that my genes were stacked against me from the start, that my multiple auto-immune diseases mean that maybe my Type 2 diagnosis isn't the full story (as though there's virtue to be found it having diabetes caused by an autoimmune attack vs some other cause... there isn't), and that I can manage what my doctors are all encouraging me to do: for the love of god, eat and don't skip your insulin.

So yeah, if you ever wondered how one gets to be a moderator on this forum, I'm a great example that one of the requirements isn't having your diabetes act together. :devil:

For me, managing my blood sugar isn't my biggest diabetes challenge. Sure it's something that I think about 27/4, but I don't struggle with it. I struggle with letting go of the blame, the guilt and the arrogance that made me believe that I knew the cause of and solution to diabetes.

OK, I'm where you WERE. 8 years and LC/HF is working SO FAR. One meal a day doesn't sound at all difficult and in fact its something I've been considering lately as I feel like I'm eating too much and feel "stuffed" a lot. So far, no readings out of normal.

Can you tell me when you "lost control" eating one meal a day, what were you eating? Not specific foods but more like % of fat, protein and carbs. And what were your glucose numbers that constituted being no longer in control? I hop I'm not heading there, but just curious for details.

 

[Cricket]

After finally being diagnosed, with staggeringly high blood sugar, near DKA, I stumbled on gluten-free+low-carb and like magic, was able to bring my blood sugar so well under control that my doctor decided that I wasn't diabetic anymore. I took that to heart, not that I was cured, but that I could manage my diabetes like this forever... and that turned out to not be true. I am now insulin dependent.

I beat myself up about this 20 times a day. It's a regular topic to be reviewed when I wake up at 2am. You'd think I'd get tired of the subject! :biggrin: Every day I have little talks with myself about if I really have diabetes or if being on insulin is my fault, a choice that I made to get away with eating again. Low-carb worked so well at first that it made me think that I was in control, and that anything other than "non-diabetic" blood sugar levels was because I chose to not do the "right thing". Unfortunately this mentality was often encouraged, never by my doctors, but by the blogs/forums that I frequented.

For maybe two years, I coped with my declining insulin production by eating less. Before finally going on insulin, I was only eating once a day and my blood sugar was still sky high in spite of the daily 18 hour fast.

I don't know how to "fix" what's wrong in my head.

I flipflop between utterly hating myself, punishing myself, resolving to go back to restricting, as if that would bring back the easy magic of those initial years after diagnosis. Then the next day I remind myself that my genes were stacked against me from the start, that my multiple auto-immune diseases mean that maybe my Type 2 diagnosis isn't the full story (as though there's virtue to be found it having diabetes caused by an autoimmune attack vs some other cause... there isn't), and that I can manage what my doctors are all encouraging me to do: for the love of god, eat and don't skip your insulin.

So yeah, if you ever wondered how one gets to be a moderator on this forum, I'm a great example that one of the requirements isn't having your diabetes act together. :devil:

For me, managing my blood sugar isn't my biggest diabetes challenge. Sure it's something that I think about 27/4, but I don't struggle with it. I struggle with letting go of the blame, the guilt and the arrogance that made me believe that I knew the cause of and solution to diabetes.

You have no idea how much your response helps me. I can't even begin to explain it, but basically it just helps knowing that I am not alone in this crazy challenge....

 

[Cricket]

My biggest challenge this week is that I get so weary of trying to figure out how to enter recipes in the MyFitnessPal app that I have started shying away from recipes completely and just eating very simple stuff that I can enter with the click of a button. I need to get past this hangup and figure it all out because there are so many new recipes I want to try!

 

[Sam037]

View attachment 8401

It wasn't until recently, while I was chatting with a friend that is also diabetic that I realized that the challenges each of us face may be similar but DEALING with those challenges can be very different for all of us. Maybe we can discuss what the biggest challenges are for us?

What is your biggest challenge living with diabetes?

Hi Cricket! My biggest challege is keeping my reading down in the morning. I took my metformin two hour later this morning. I normally take it at 6am. Today I took it at 8am. I will have to wait until noon to see what happens. My noon readings are usually around 190-200.

 

[judyp]

For the first 25 years since my DX, I thought having Diabetes was no big deal. I used insulin when I ate, I pricked my finger 4-5 times a day, but my readings were fine and I ate anything I wanted. That's the beauty of insulin I thought. Of course, I also took 2 types of insulin and Metformin. Much better control. A little over a year ago I went on the pump and my readings are horrible. I am having a hard time changing my diet and being on only one insulin and no Metformin, it truly is harder to manage. I cook for 3 other people and they want "real" food so I am tempted to eat my pastas and potatoes but trying for small portions and in the last year I want to snack. Never snacked in my life, but now I want to snack. So I am constantly adding more insulin to my daily portion. Yesterday, I heard that the AMA now says Diabetes is the third highest reason for death in the USA. Nice. Medicare did recently approve a sensor and will allow Medicare patients to have it...after many, many difficult tests you must pass to be eligible. I'm 79 years old so I don't know if I can change much at this age.

 

[Sam037]

For the first 25 years since my DX, I thought having Diabetes was no big deal. I used insulin when I ate, I pricked my finger 4-5 times a day, but my readings were fine and I ate anything I wanted. That's the beauty of insulin I thought. Of course, I also took 2 types of insulin and Metformin. Much better control. A little over a year ago I went on the pump and my readings are horrible. I am having a hard time changing my diet and being on only one insulin and no Metformin, it truly is harder to manage. I cook for 3 other people and they want "real" food so I am tempted to eat my pastas and potatoes but trying for small portions and in the last year I want to snack. Never snacked in my life, but now I want to snack. So I am constantly adding more insulin to my daily portion. Yesterday, I heard that the AMA now says Diabetes is the third highest reason for death in the USA. Nice. Medicare did recently approve a sensor and will allow Medicare patients to have it...after many, many difficult tests you must pass to be eligible. I'm 79 years old so I don't know if I can change much at this age.

Judy, thank you for writing. I exercise a lot, but it only brings my reading down in the afternoon. My reading in the morning go up when I exercise. It didn't used to do that. I am going to have to look up sensor. I don't know what that is. I am 73.5. I have had this just about as long as you have. My wife watches what she gives me. I try to eat very low carb and higher protein. My readings seem to be all over the place. I guess we just have to keep hanging in there. I am not on insulin yet, but I don't doubt I won't be on it next time. I read this is progressive. Thanks for writing me.

 

[Sholleman]

Trying to keep my weight on....I was dx in Sept w/high blood sugar, and started eating low carb and testing. I am 5' 4", and have a chronic illness which has left me too thin to start with...103 at the start of this 'diet'...I've been struggling to stay above 100........the last 10 days I went down to 98.something twice, and it's scary. I am too ill to cook, so I eat cheese and sandwich meat and a few raw veggies. My sweet husband cooks up a week's worth of scrambled eggs and bacon for me to have for breakfasts, but he's not much for cooking otherwise. I'm going to fade away.
The other problem is BOREDOM of what I'm eating! Since I can't cook, it's cheese & meat. If I hadn't found the Atkins meals, (only 2 weeks ago), I wouldn't get many cooked meals. Unfortunately, they don't put weight on me either.

It's kindof funny. At first, I thought the worst thing was no sugar in my coffee and no popcorn every night (I have it once a week now)....I've gotten used to the sweetener and really look forward to my once a week popcorn!

 

[Cricket]

Trying to keep my weight on....I was dx in Sept w/high blood sugar, and started eating low carb and testing. I am 5' 4", and have a chronic illness which has left me too thin to start with...103 at the start of this 'diet'...I've been struggling to stay above 100........the last 10 days I went down to 98.something twice, and it's scary. I am too ill to cook, so I eat cheese and sandwich meat and a few raw veggies. My sweet husband cooks up a week's worth of scrambled eggs and bacon for me to have for breakfasts, but he's not much for cooking otherwise. I'm going to fade away.
The other problem is BOREDOM of what I'm eating! Since I can't cook, it's cheese & meat. If I hadn't found the Atkins meals, (only 2 weeks ago), I wouldn't get many cooked meals. Unfortunately, they don't put weight on me either.

It's kindof funny. At first, I thought the worst thing was no sugar in my coffee and no popcorn every night (I have it once a week now)....I've gotten used to the sweetener and really look forward to my once a week popcorn!

Have you tried fat bombs yet?