[GrayHeadedMule]

All righty then! I'm here to learn about diabetes and how to control it!

My sister is a diabetic and has been in and out (probably six times) of the hospital since April of this year. Carotid artery, stint, stint, pacemaker and high sugar levels (487) in that order.

She has been a diabetic for a few years but does not take it seriously. She does not monitor her sugar level at all. She says she may go without checking it for two weeks at a time.

I am trying to convince her how dangerous this disease is! She is 61 yo and does not have a positive attitude about life in general.

She is living with me and has been over the past month. She says she is so weak that she can't even get out of bed. I have been telling her the only way she will get her strength back is to get up and walk! Today I think I finally hit the right nerve. I have tried every type of motivation gimmick invented. Understanding, sympathy, tough love and now the last one that I think is going to work. I told her this is what you are going to do! You WILL get p every hour on the hour and walk to the living room. Got home today from work and the wife said she has been walking every hour on the hour.

Now for getting her mind right to accept that she must take her condition seriously! I came home and she had eaten lasagna for lunch. I asked Me.."Did you take your blood sugar before eating? Her.."NO!" I asked "Why not".....her..I don't know! Well we are going to check it in a couple of hours.....OH the look I got!!!! Tested after 2 hours......318. I said "No more lasagna! She said how do you know it was the lasagna and not just my pancreas acting up"?........ I said because your sugar level is totally out of whack!

Now a question. Can a pancreas just go crazy and produce whatever it does to make her sugar level spike? Or am I right that it was probably the lasagna?

I am here to learn all I can so I can convince her on what she needs to do!!

Thanks in advance for your help.
Mule

[Handybear]

I am betting on the lasagna for the high bg number. Type 2 diabetics have to follow a low carb program to keep their numbers low and under control. I know it is hard to help anyone who doesn't want to be helped. Have you thought of trying an intervention? Maybe realizing that people care might get her into the right frame of mind to accept and try and control her diabetes.

[shutterbug]

Its tough to convince a non complaint diabetic because they are in so much denial, no mater what you say to them they think you are stupid!

I go though that with my father-in-law who is staying with us for the last 3 months. (visiting us) he will be gone in 2 weeks. We both can’t wait!

[GrayHeadedMule]

We have tried everything! I just pray that she will accept that she has a problem and the only one that can do anything about it is her!!

Thanks for the comments

[Evermont]

Originally Posted by GrayHeadedMule

...Now a question. Can a pancreas just go crazy and produce whatever it does to make her sugar level spike? Or am I right that it was probably the lasagna?...

Almost certainly it was the lasagna. More specifically, it was the pasta in the lasagna. The meat, cheese and tomato sauce are all not a problem. Well, the tomato sauce may have a small impact too given her condition, but I wouldn't worry about that too much.

I figure she's a Type 2 diabetic with fairly advanced insulin resistance. A healthy pancreas produces insulin. Type 1 diabetics have had their pancreas turned off, or partly so by a confused immune response, so they inject insulin to compensate. Insulin response is automatic. When your system detects that you have eaten and blood glucose is increasing insulin is released by the pancreas so that cells throughout the body can open up to accept the glucose as fuel. In insulin resistant people the insulin is there, but the cells don't answer the call to open up and take the glucose. Glucose is good when it gets into the cells but bad when it stays in the blood stream for too long because it leads to all those nasty diabetic complications.

This is all a bit complicated - especially for somebody who doesn't really want to understand it.

It is possible for a pancreas to just "go wacky" I suppose, if this were her peoblem, the wackiness would be a temporary lack of insulin (like a T1) which would prevent the glucose from leaving the blood and entering the cells. The pancreas doesn't add to spikes - it reduces them, or fails to reduce them.

The pasta in the lasagna is likely made from refined wheat flower. This stuff is notoriously bad. It likely has a high glycemic load and a high glycemic index. Basically, it truns into a LOT of blood glucose and it does it quickly compared to many other foods. You are most likely right, and she's just in denial. She probably likes lasagna. Just declaring it off limits is not likely to go over well with someone like her. You might find that helping her to choose or prepare foods that DO work for her will be an easier sell. There are pastas that have better results, I use a pasta made from artichokes that works really well for me for example.

When she says she's tired you might be more understanding in that her muscle cells are not getting the fuel they need because she is insulin resistant. Exercise is a good thing, and it may help but think of it like trying to warm up a car that has a clogged fuel line. Running the engine would warm it up, but that's hard to do with no fuel, or fuel that's there, but you can't get access to it. And saying "option B is better than option A" is more constructive than "No more option A". She does still need to eat right?

blah blah blah... maybe I helped. Anyway, welcome to DF and good for you looking after sis.

[davef]

Mule,

Welcome to the forums, good on you for trying to help your sister.

You have been good advice about low-carb eating and exercise. Testing is very important and you seem to have grasped that as you got her to test after two hours. My money would also be on the pasta in the lasagna.

I can relate to your sisters lack of energy and I'm 19 years younger, when I was diagnosed I had been very tired for a long time and nothing I did (sleep, rest etc) made any difference. What made a HUGE difference was getting my blood sugars down, I'm now 8 months on, have lost nearly 60lbs and feel fantastic.

In relation to the "Pancreas acting up" line, that's what it is "a line". Her pancreas is trying darn hard to cope with her blood sugar levels and it needs her to help it.

Remind her that she is a young woman, 61 is the new 30! She has a life to live and she can do that by getting her sugars down, it's an old adage but energy really does beget energy as the more she moves the more her sugars will come down and the better she will feel.

Perhaps she would like to join us on the forums, it could be part of her getting up and moving once an hour routine. She'll get a great welcome and support here.

One other suggestion, there is a really great book called "The first year: Type 2 Diabetes" by Gretchen Becker, that you might both like to read. I found it very informative and easy to read.

[GrayHeadedMule]

Thanks for the responses. The comments really help a lot!

Her attitude was pretty good last night and she was more active than she has been in quit some time! May have been because the Cowgirls were playing!

She has actually been a diabetic for a few years but just recently it has really became a huge problem for her.

Again I thank you guys for all the information. We will conquer!

Mule

[davef]

Originally Posted by GrayHeadedMule

Thanks for the responses. The comments really help a lot!

Her attitude was pretty good last night and she was more active than she has been in quit some time! May have been because the Cowgirls were playing!

She has actually been a diabetic for a few years but just recently it has really became a huge problem for her.

Again I thank you guys for all the information. We will conquer!

Mule

Good to hear she has been more active, that could well be down to getting her numbers down. Keep on keeping on!

[kgm0612]

HI Mule & Welcome to the forum.

Karen