[Diabetes-talk] hello to Linda

[Julie Kline]

Hi Linda,

 

My name is Julie and I live in New York State.  I was diagnosed with
diabetes about 2 years ago, but mine runs in my family and mostly on my
mom's side.  I went through, and sometimes still do, some of the same
questions and things you wrote about as far as why to bother with testing,
what to do next, what can I eat, etc., so I know what you're saying.  As far
as the testing issue, I try and do mine one or two times a week first thing
in the morning before drinking anything because my doctor is just interested
in my fasting numbers mostly.  I work too, and felt really uncomfortable
testing after meals because there wasn't a private place I could go into for
testing, the bathroom was too small and their sink didn't have a counter,
and I was getting into trouble with my bosses for taking too long on my
breaks to get enough blood to finally run the sample.  Having said that, I
guess the only advice I can offer you is it takes time and things won't
happen over night.  It's not to say not to try, but it does take time and
practice and pacience.

 

I am currently participating in Weight Watchers and have been for about the
past 12 weeks.  Altogether, I've lost 9 pounds, but it hasn't made much
difference in the medication usage I have.  I take two different kinds of
blood sugar controlling medication a day, and haven't had any changes in
dosage since my weight loss.  As you probably know, Weight Watchers does
encourage slow weight loss, half a pound to 2 pounds a week for your first 3
weeks, and then your body will continue to lose gradually over time until it
reaches a level where it wants to be.  I haven't met my goal weight yet, but
am working towards it.  They now have a new plan called PointsPlus, and as
not to bore people on here, you can write me off list and I'll be happy to
share with you what I know.

 

The big thing for me was when I first started, I was afraid to eat much of
anything because I didn't know how I would be effected.  When I first
learned of my diagnosis, I was doing diabetic foods, bars, shakes, specialty
stuff that I'm not sure was worth it in the long run.  Over time, I figured
out that I could still have things I wanted, but not all the time, and if I
did, not so much of it.  I guess the saying enough is as good as a feast
holds true.  Easy to say, hard sometimes to follow.

 

I can relate to difficult family situations too.  Diabetes doesn't run in my
husband's family, and they love baking, cooking, anything fried, barbecued,
cookies, sweets, pies .  About a month after I was diagnosed, we went to
their houses for holiday get togethers and it's one of those things that you
get together and stay for the whole day and into the night.  We're both
blind and there's no transportation out there, so we were kind of a captive
audience there waiting on the person who drove us out to decide when she
wanted to leave.  There's no transportation out where they are, and there
was no way to just excuse myself because there was nowhere to go.  Our
houses are about 3 hours apart so paying for a cab would have been too much.
Anyway, I felt really awkward because they kept offering food to me and I
felt like I was being rude by saying no.  They were new in-laws as we were
newlyweds at the time, and well, I felt very pressured.  Anyway, you can
imagine how that goes, and yes, I blew it and ate a whole bunch of stuff I
shouldn't have.  I'd like to think having had a handle on it for almost two
years now, I'll be able to deal with that situation better.

 

You were asking about books: are you a member of bookshare?  They have some
nice books on their site, and NLS has some good ones too.  One book that
gets recommended here a lot is a book by Gretchen Becker and it's a guide
for people with diabetes, and handling your first year.  I really liked this
book because she's real, down-to-earth, and it was fun to read.  If you have
an I device, there are some good books from the I books store for both
diabetes and weight watchers materials.  I can go through some of what I
have if you'd like.

 

Does diabetes go away after weight loss?  I don't know the answer to that.
I'm not a medical person so I really can't comment here.  For some people
who have had weight loss surgery, they've had their diabetes disappear
within a day, but my grandmother and mom were at normal weight at one time
and still carry it, so I really don't know what to say.

 

Anyway if I can be of further help, please let me know.  I'm still learning
too and new things come out sometimes, so I appreciate the help and
resources I have gotten from here.

 

Julie