[nannetteph]

I'm not taking any medications as of yet. I'm hoping I can keep it this way just by eating the right food. My mother was diabetic but did not get it until she was in her 60's. I got it too soon. I'm having difficulties adjusting to my new diet. I grew up eating a lot of rice (breakfast, lunch & dinner). Now I have to limit myself to 1/3 of cup at dinner (I used to be able to eat 2 cups in a meal). I lost about 10 pounds just by watching my carbs intake. I have my weak moments at times and eat what I'm not suppose to eat.

At times after I eat my head feels heavy (it's not quite a headache), is this part of being diabetic?

[Harold]

Hi Nannet, hope I got that right. Welcome to the forums. I like your intrest and do that myself after working 70+ hours week after week and get some time off. Like you caught the bug early like thirty years earlier than my father, he was in his 80's. Mine can be attributed to another desease that statistically has a higher percentage of diabetics. We have all been guilty of carb splurging sometime in our lives.

Suspect your heavey head feeling after eating is directly caused by your diabetes. It comes from your bg's rising quickly to a level your not use to. While it is admirable your trying to go it alone on diet, but it takes a lot of exercise as well to work and you occupation ad lifestyle may inhibit your ability to get enough. Please do not wait too long before using meds. Even prediabetes take meds now and some do reverse it. You may be too far along the road of resistance to go back, bit you can severely slow down the progression early and it will make it a whole lot easier for you to control.

Good Luck! Harold

[Cyborg]

Welcome aboard

[nannetteph]

what does this mean? Is this diabetes related?

[kgm0612]

Welcome to the forum. You'll learn alot from the great people and tons of information you find here!

Karen

[Cyborg]

Some people feel tired and lack energy when their bg levels go up. How often do you test?

[nannetteph]

Twice a day only - before breakfast and before dinner.

[seacomp]

Numbness in the feet can be a sign of neuropathy, nerve damage, from diabetes. Your feet should be examined as part of an initial diagnosis of diabetes.
You indicate that you test twice a day. What are the results? You should be testing at all relevant times of the day, although many insurance programs make this difficult for T2s. For example, your BG could go very high after a meal, but be back near normal when you test. The period when your BG is high will damage your bady, but you wouldn't "see" it with a limited testing schedule. One solution is to test at different times every day and for different circumstances so that after a few days you test the key times.
Also, do you know your HbA1c (long term BG level)?

[Harold]

Neuropathy, nerve damage, or cardiovascular (circulation) both come to mind as a result of uncontrolled diabetes, but they take time to develope. Even exercise if done for bg control could be called diabetes related. Many people have circulation problems and don't have diabetes. This is something you should let your doc know if there is no known reason for it like in new exercise. How long has it been since you have seen the doctor? You should be having a HbA1c done every 3 to 6 months to see how your doing with your control.

Excuse me for being blunt, but your testing schedule is totally useless. You have no idea what any of the foods you are eating are doing to you. You can only do this by testing post meals, and you should have a goal of less than 140 to start off with. Actually it should be lower than that, but for starters it's a good point. You might find that that 1/3 cup of rice is still too much for you to handle. Try this for a schedule, 3 or four days a week test after you get up in the morning and 2 hours after each meal. Make note of what your eating and what your levels are after that meal. You will begin to see what your eating and how it affects you. When you do find a particular food that makes you high and still want to have it. Try halfing the portion you had and see what it does. Only by testing and acting on the results will you be able to control diabetes. Anything else and diabetes will control you, it is time for you take charge of your health.

[nannetteph]

I guess I'm in denial that I'm OK. As one of you suggested that I should check by blood sugar more often and I did yesterday and I averaged around 150+/- but 211 before bedtime.

Let's see what my doctor says today. He might start giving me some sort of medication. This morning my blood sugar was 111.

[ladytaz]

Hi Nannett and welcome to DF! Harold is exactly right about testing when you get up, and at least after each meal, so you can learn how different foods affect your blood sugar! In the beginning I used to test before and after each meal, so I knew what I was starting out at BEFORE I ate, and then after so I knew exactly how much that particular affected my blood sugar. It's a learning experience, once ya know what does what to ya, then, later on, you can slack off on the testing so much! (This is for Type 2's. Type 1's it's a whole nother story! ) I average about 3 tests a day now ( 1 year and 2 months after diagnosis. But sometimes I only test once in a day (I ALWAYS test each morning when I awake) It all depends upon if I've stuck to what I know, or if I've eaten something I'm not sure about, or if I'm not feeling 'right'. Pay attention to how you are feeling physically. Like the heavy headedness .... check your blood and see what your numbers are. If you feel, shakey, cold sweats, irritable, can't think straight .... check your blood, you may be low and that needs to be treated by eating some carbs! Not a whole bunch you can do for going high. But NOT eating is NOT a good thing to do, in that case, eat things that have no carbs or are VERY low carb. My dad can eat a salad and it will bring his numbers down. I haven't tried that, myself, but I don't too often go overly high anymore (Thank God!)

And, don't fear the meds, they can be VERY helpful!! If it weren't for the meds, I'd not be able to have the control I do! I'm still working on getting under REALLY good control, but I am SO much better than I was in the beginning!

Have any questions, ask away! Everyone here is SO helpful and kind!!

[nannetteph]

I started taking Avandaryl, Vytorin and Gabapentin (300MG) for my neropathy. The doctor did say I have neuropathy. My A1c is 7.1 which is down from 8 something and my cholesterol is down from 300+ to 165. All this is something I inherited from my mother. I didn't think that I was a candidate to get diabetes. I didn't even know that I had it until my doctor told me. I didn't have the symptoms. I'm only 4-11 and only weigh 108 pounds. I guess the illness does not discriminate.

[Ronin]

Hi Nannet!

Like others have noted, your headaches/heavy head episodes are probably due to swings in your BG levels. I strongly suggest that you look at "grazing" in lieu of "meals." It does take a lot of planning in that you take the typical three-meals-per-day and turn that into six or more "snacks" that you space out at regular intervals. Of course that has to work into your work schedule to be the kind of snacks you can grab while working. The mantra for a grazer is "Never Hungry yet Never Full." The "Never Full" part is where most people have difficulty as most of us have leared to eat up to, and usually past, satiation.

The up-side is that if you can make it work your BG levels smooth out and you don't get the swings. Once it becomes part of your life-style and is second nature you begin to notice that the people who eat the traditional three-times-per-day consume an significant amount of caolries in a rather concentrated time frame.

[Keezheekoni]

Hi Nannette and welcome to the board. Glad to have you here. I would definitely start testing more often. Sorry to hear that you've already got some neuropathy, that just sucks!

Hope you enjoy it here!