[Diabetes-Talk] Starting to feel a sense of panic when it comes to my diabetes

Sat Oct 5 17:26:37 UTC 2019

First, stress can and does affect glucose levels. Finding ways to decrease stress can help some for your anxiety along with your physical health. That being said, I'm going to be blunt.

Lots of things can impact BGs but food, particularly carbs are the number one direct correlation between glucose management. What we eat directly impacts our body and health including BGs. You need to schedule some visits with a nurse educator and dietician at your doctor's office, which it should have so you can learn about food and what is healthy and what is not. But also, some foods affect us differently than others. Some people, even diabetics can eat something like bread and it doesn't impact their BGs as much as it does for others. You need to learn how foods, especially carbs work in your individual body and may have to avoid foods that cause spikes in your glucose levels.

Diabetes can be genetic, but not how carbs impact your BGs. This is all very individual.

You really spend less ordering food as opposed as buying food at the market? Usually, it's the other way around. What most people spend on a meal out, they can buy the ingredients cheaper or at the same price, but have left-overs. The reality is that food made at restaurants is not healthy. Even salads at a restaurant have way more calories than when we have a salad at home. This is all stuff a dietician can go over with you and show just how many cals, grams of fat and carbs, not to mention salt, you're consuming when eating out. And lots of research shows that people spend less on food when buying from the market and preparing for themselves than eating. The exception is if you buy a lot of pre-packaged items that are unhealthy for you. The advice usually given is to avoid the middle of a store and buy products around the outside and close by.

Cheesey bread and wings from Pizza Hut are complete junk food and will do nothing good for BGs. The sauce on the wings is high in carbs, and if you get boneless wings, it has breading, which adds to the carbs. The bread of course is all carbs. Here's nutrition info on your Pizza Hut dinner:
Cheesey Bread: serving size 1 breadstick
Cals: 170
Fat: 7 g.
Sodium: 370 mgs.
Carbs: 20g.
Now multiply for how many breadsticks you had, which was 4 correct? That's 80 grams of carbs.
Pizza Hut wings: serving size 2 wings
Cals: 100 g.
Fat: 4.5 g.
Sodium: 520 mgs.
Carbs: 5 g.	
Again, multiply the amount you had, which was 12, and that's 30 grams of carbs. So for your entire dinner, you had 110 grams of carbs.

Skittles are pure sugar. Just a handful will spike glucose levels. A serving size is just 1 oz., which is about 25 Skittles. So in a single serving:
Cals. 190
Fat.2 g.
Carbs: 45 g.
If you had more than 25 Skittles, do the math. 45 grams of carbs alone is quite a bit. When combining the Skittles, for dinner, you had a total of 155 grams of carbs.

So what you ate for dinner was loaded with carbs that worked on your BGs through the night, resulting in high glucose levels. Not to mention nothing you ate had nutritional value.

Sandy can chime in because she was an actual dietician, but based on what you're describing, I would encourage a diet full of fresh veggies and not coated in cheese, protein but be careful of too much red meat a small amount of fresh fruit (definitely avoid canned fruit which is loaded with sugar) and restrict breads, grains and pastas which are all high on the glycemic index which will spike BGs. And junk food and sugary treats should be a rare treat, maybe a couple of times a month.

Most of us have a poor relationship with food. Few of us are educated on food and our body's response to food. For various reasons, I've made a study out of this my entire life. Even if I'm not making great choices, I at least want to be fully aware of food and what it does to my body and what my relationship with food is.

As for exercise, yes, it helps with diabetic management, but many people have various other conditions that make exercise challenging. Because you have pain, I recommend yoga and swimming. Both are really great for the joints and muscles and are low-impact. A local YMCA will have a pool and usually offer yoga classes. I'm taking a yoga class at my Y. Yoga is also great for mental health. But beyond this, just moving around the house as much as you can. Take a slow walk around the block. Anything you can do for movement. But if it causes more pain, don't push yourself, and definitely speak with a doctor.

I ginuenly feel for you and 100% understand how overwhelming diabetes can be. I'm being blunt here, but I see so many of us lack true education about diabetes and food. Nothing's easy, but if you want better glucose control, it might be time to start taking more dramatic measures. You might have to consider eliminating certain foods from your diet, at least on a daily basis for better glucose control. And definitely learn how many carbs are in specific foods and dishes so you can better bolus.

Also find ways to cook. Perhaps there are cooking classes in your area you and your boyfriend can take. Your doctor's office might offer cooking classes or at least have info about where you can take one. Actually, I've been meaning to post recipes here for a while; later today, I will post some recipes that are healthier, not difficult to make and my family enjoys. If is of interest to anyone, grin.

Don't stop reaching for support and advice, but understand that it does take discipline to get BGs under control; and everyone in this group understands that struggle. If you find a good routine, it will get easier though.

Hope this helps in some way.

Bridgit
-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Terri Stimmel via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Saturday, October 5, 2019 8:14 AM
To: Diabetes-talk <Diabetes-Talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Terri Stimmel <icecreamlover76 at outlook.com>
Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] Starting to feel a sense of panic when it comes to my diabetes

Hello everyone,

First of all, I am very thankful for the support all of you offer here. It is very much appreciated. I know I don’t respond back a lot, to replies I get. I intend on doing so. But I get caught up in a lot of mail at times.

As my subject says, I am starting to feel a sense of panic, when it comes to my diabetes. At my last appointment, which was just a couple of weeks ago, I learned that my A1C was 9. I forget what they said that my average blood sugar was. But I believe it was over 200. They raised 2 of my medications, and this is not at all what I wanted. But I know it was necessary. Here is what I take. I might not spell the medications properly.

I take point 5 of Ozimpic, once a week. I now take 70 units of treceba every morning. And I take 20 units of Novolog with every meal. But I have more insulin, depending on what my blood sugar is. For example, if it’s 150 to 200, then I take an extra unit.

I think I have mentioned this before. But I am totally blind. I have had diabetes for about 11 years now. I am 43. 

I live with my wonderful boyfriend, who also has diabetes, and who has probably had it for about 10 years or so. His diabetes may have affected his vision, as he has very limited vision in 1 eye, and none in the other.

Neither of us really cook. We purchase food together, as it is more affordable for us to do this. We are both motivated to change how we have been eating. Although, I feel I am a bit more motivated. We talk about it a lot. But I also feel that if 1 of us mentions eating a snack, like ice cream, we kind of play off each other. In other words, I don’t feel neither of us have very good will power.

This last time we ordered groceries, we did purchase a fresh fruit bowl to enjoy. We also got some of those fruit cups. Even though those might not be the best things. We also purchased some of those steamers you can prepare in the microwave. 1 has broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower in it. The other is broccoli with cheese sauce.

I would like to do some cooking for us. But as I mentioned before, I haven’t cooked much, in years. Standing is difficult for me, do to physical pain. I also get tired easily. My boyfriend has talked about attempting to cook some. But so far this hasn’t happened.

Last night, we ordered from Pizza Hut. We got 4 different types of boneless wings, they were all 8 counts, and we got 2 orders of the garlic cheesey bread. They come with 5 long pieces each, that can be separated in half, to make 10 pieces.

We got Hawaiian tarioky, honey barbecue, spicy garlic, and garlic parmacian. I had all 8 of the spicy garlic, 3 of the Hawaiian, and 3 of the honey barbecue. Then I had 4 whole pieces of the garlic cheesey bread. I drank water. Needless to say, I was quite full. We ate at around 5. I didn’t eat anything else until around 8. That was a fun-size pack of skittles. I drank water the rest of the night.

Well around 7 this morning, when I tested my blood sugar, it was 257. In a way, I was surprised it was so high. I did take my insulin before dinner. If I remember, it was around 200, before dinner. But I can’t remember exactly.

This is very hard on me, because I know things need to change. It doesn’t feel the small changes are making a difference. But maybe it takes time?
I don’t exercise. I know I need to do this as well. I actually want to do this, more than attempting to eat better. But my physical limitations actually make this quit difficult. The pain can get so intense for me, just when standing, and trying to walk.

While my boyfriend is very supportive of me, I feel I don’t have much support in this area. We both talk a good game. But that seems to be about it. Plus, he thins if his blood sugar fasting is at 200, that this really isn’t a bad thing. I disagree. Ijust feel at a loss. But I also know that a lot of this is on me. So then I feel depressed. When I learned what my A1C was, it was all I could do not to cry.
I don’t want things to get worse. And I don’t want to keep having increases in my medications. This can not be a good thing.
My boyfriend says that how we eat is not the only thing that can affect our diabetes. He says that genetics plays a part in it as well.
Does anyone know if this is true, or not? What if I start exerciesing, and changing how I eat, and none of it really makes a difference?
Also, how offten can you have a cheat day? Is it once a week, or once a month? Or does that just depend on the person?

Thank you for listening to me ramble. I really appreciate it. I am just sad and frustrated over all this.

Thank you,

Terri

Sent from my iPhone
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