[Diabetes-talk] Concerns about my blood sugar, and wanting thoughts about medication

Mon Sep 12 19:34:14 UTC 2016

Terri,

Please take this for what it's worth, which is truly to provide meaningful
advice.

Diet is number one for diabetics. What we eat affects our glucose numbers
more than anything.

I'm not a fan of taking unnecessary medicines if you really don't have too.
Perhaps if you tried eating better, watching carbs and calories, you would
notice a difference without over-medicating.

Today, we want to medicate for everything when often there are non-medicine
methods for helping our health. If you truly require certain meds, then of
course, take them, but if other means can achieve your goals, that's best.

Everything you describe- glucose numbers, liver enzymes, cholesterol, etc.-
sounds like it stems from your poor diet, which affects your diabetes, which
affects your over-all health. It's a never-ending cycle.

I know changing life style is difficult. Changing perspectives on food and
activity is not easy, but once you implement changes, most often you notice
changes to your health, sometimes drastic changes, for the good. It's a
matter of choices. Yeah, changing a life style sucks, but if you need to,
you either do it or don't. It's that simple. The process is not easy and
takes time, but making the choice to make better decisions for your health
is truly as simple as doing it or not.

And you don't have to give up food. You just need to learn portion control
and moderation. And maybe you can't eat McDonald's every day or candy every
day, but you can treat yourself periodically. If you plan to eat a
carb-heavy meal for one meal, watch carbs at the other meals. Meat has no
carbs at all, so it does not affect glucose levels. If it has a sauce or
coating of some kind, likely it will have some carbs, but meat alone will
not raise glucose levels. Protein helps stabilize glucose levels, so eating
a lot of protein is good. Personally, I use turkey meat for almost
everything. My family doesn't notice a difference, but if you don't care for
it, you can stick to beef, just do lean beef.

My husband used to be a non-veggie eater too. When we had kids, he made a
point to start eating veggies to set an example. There are some veggies he
actually enjoys now. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you
accept changes. Veggies are good for many reasons, and most veggies have no
carbs, or are so low in carbs you would have to consume a ton to have it
affect your glucose levels. Trying to implement veggies in your diet would
be helpful, and eventually, I bet there would be something you would like,
or at least be able to tolerate.

Taking a medicine is not a guarantee your glucose levels will go down
without making changes elsewhere along with it, such as changing eating
habits. Food and exercise are the two keys to diabetic management. You can
take all the medicine in the world, but if you're mismanaging food and
activity, it will still affect glucose levels.

Like I said, it's not easy, but refusing to make better choices for diet,
you're not really taking complete control of your diabetes. We all struggle
with this. Don't think I'm saying all this without understanding the
struggle. And it's a process, especially in the beginning, but if you would
implement some changes into your diet, you would notice changes to your
glucose levels and general health.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Terri Stimmel via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 1:14 PM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Terri Stimmel <princessterri76 at gmail.com>
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] Concerns about my blood sugar, and wanting thoughts
about medication

Hello everybody,

Probably a few months back, I wrote to the list and told you all about my
situation with Met Forman. My doctor took me off of Met Forman, and I have
been doing much better health wise.

He left me on my other medication which is,Victoza. I take 1.8 units in the
morning, and I have been on this dose for a couple of years now. That has
always worked well for me.
Well, he told me that he was not going to put me on another medication,
because he didn't feel that there was anything else that was comparable to
Met Forman. I was pretty bothered by this, and really didn't like it. But I
didn't know how to talk to him about the issue.
He told me that he wanted me to take .6 units of theVictoza at night. I
really wasn't comfortable with this, because I was always told that this
medication was only taken once a day. But I figured I would try it, because
I was worried about my blood sugar. I was supposed to go back and see him on
October 18. But today I called them and told them that this Victoza alone
was not working for me, and then I wanted to see if I could get an earlier
appointment. So now I will be going into see him on October 4. I have a
nurse that comes in once a week. I told her about the situation with the
Victoza, and she didn't think I should be taking it at night either. I have
been though, and it's just not making a difference. I'm trying to eat well,
but this is a difficult thing for me. My blood sugars have been around 200,
maybe about 160, or 170, in the morning. Sometimes at night they get over
200. But dad's on a day when I realize I have eaten worse than what I should
have.
Anyway, my nurse recommended that I talk to my doctor about Januvia. I hope
this is spelled correctly, or you wobble know what I am talking about?
Anyway, do any of you take this medication? Do you have to take other
medications with it, to control your diabetes?
Are there many side effects you have noticed?

My nurse says that this medication doesn't really have too many side
effects, and that it is on my taken once a day.
I want to talk to my doctor about this. I've never been on a medication that
you only took one today. But I want something else to help me. These blood
sugar numbers have got to get lower. Last time I was at their office, the
nurse made a comment that people with diabetes usually have hired a 1C
readings.
I think my reading the last time I was there was 6.6, or something like
that. But they didn't seem bothered by it. I was. I don't want to be the
average diabetic. When I was on the Met Forman and doing well, mine would be
around 5.3, or 5.5. This is what I prefer.

I know I need to eat better than I do. But that is hard when it's difficult
for you to cook, or you can't always have someone cook for you. Plus, I
don't like a lot of vegetables. I never have. Not to mention, I have tried
turkey burger, and I think it is disgusting!

So any advice, or dogs would be very helpful. I would really appreciate it.
This is starting to affect my body again. My liver enzymes have gone back
up, and I have a fatty liver disease. So of course I don't want that. Also,
my cholesterol is up.

So I would appreciate any help possible. I will keep you all posted as to
what the doctor does when I see him on the fourth. I have to admit, right
now I am not very pleased with him. And he used to be one of my doctors I
really liked.

Thank you for reading. I hope you all have a great day.

Terri

Sent from my iPhone
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