Hi -- I'm New Here

[Jill-O]

Hi, Everyone --

Last week, I found out I am diabetic. I started on Metformin (already feeling better!), a diet, and walking for exercise.

I suspect I've had diabetes for a long time. The way I actually found out was that I was in with a new (to me) obgyn. He noted that my fasting glucose levels were 210, 264 and 285... He referred me to a family doctor (last week) so this is all new to me but may explain "a lot" of what I've been dealing with for a few years.

Over the past few years, my husband and I have wanted to have a baby, and I get pregnant easily enough but always miscarry (4th time just recently). My new OBGYN thinks this could have been the problem all along and it makes sense now. When I was in to see my last OBGYN for what turned out to be my 3rd miscarriage, the nurse wondered what sweets I'd had that morning and I'd had nothing all morning. But then in dealing with the logistics of the miscarriage, I didn't think to hard on it until now.

Hoping to get it under control, of course. I want to loose some weight and see if I can get off the medicines. However, as I understand it, even if so, assuming I can get pregnant again, that may bring the glucose levels up again and require me to be on insulin for the pregnancy.

I see the internist again in a couple weeks and at that time, he's going to let me know about meters and probably a bunch of other things. For now, I'm just cuting calories, taking metformin, walking and not eating any sugar sweets. My mood has leveled out (sugar always made me moody) and I think that's a good sign that the combination is bringing my levels to a better level. I sure hope so anyway!

Last week, I was really really upset and felt pretty dismal about what I just found out and what's been going on, but now I feel a lot more optimistic. I'm happy I found this place as I know it will be a great source of information and support.

[kgm0612]

HI Jill & Welcome to the forum. Nice people and a ton of information to be found here.

You should call your internist's office and ask the receptionist if they have any glucose meters available. If they do, swing by and pick one up now rather than waiting for your appointment in a couple of weeks. If they don't have any, I would go to Walmart or your nearest drug store and buy one now. It's very important that you test your blood sugars so that you know what foods to avoid. Besides cutting calories, you should be watching your carbohydrate intake as well. It's the carbohydrates that raise your blood sugars.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Karen

[princesslinda]

Hi Jill, Welcome to DF. Hope you find lots of good info here.

I'm T2 also, and on metformin 500 mg 2 times a day..diagnosed 8/31/06 at age 42.

As Karen mentioned above, the best thing for you to do now is get a meter...my internist gave me one at the time of my diagnosis...I think they get a lot of them for free from the drug reps. Anyway, test, test, test. This is the best thing to do. You should check your fasting each morning when you first get up, then check 2 hrs after the start of your meals, that way you'll know how various foods affect your levels, thus knowing what to avoid and what does cause any change.

I have been watching my carbs (no bread, potatoes, rice, pasta or sweets) and I exercise most every day for at least half an hour. My A1C at diagnosis was 9.6 and my most recent (3 months from diagnosis) was 6.2.

Hang in there...diabetes is certainly life-changing, but definitely doable.

Keep us posted on how you're doing. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel as you get things under control.

Linda

[ladytaz]

Hi Jill! :ciao: Welcome to the DF family! Good advice above ;) Also, cut back on the carbs (breads, rice, potatoes, pastas, etc) I haven't cut them out completely, but limit them. ;) Get that meter and test before meals (right before you start eating) and after meals (2 hours after your first bite) and you'll learn what foods affect your BGL (blood glucose level). The standard for pastas, rice and taters is 1/2 cup for a serving. Read food lables for the Carbohydrate content. Just as a starter, the average Carb count of a meal for a female is 45g of Carbs. You'll probably see a dietician and they'll do a more customized meal plan for you, but that above will get you started in the right direction! ;)

Good Luck and remember we are all here for ya! Got questions? Ask away, someone here usually has the answer for ya! ;) Wanna vent? Go ahead! We're here to listen! and READ READ READ the forums! LOADS of good info on here!!!

[tanyatype1]

Hi Jill! Welcome to DF! I'm sorry to hear about your miscarriages! Really just heartbreaking. Now that the diabetes is getting under control I hope that you'll carry to term and have a healthy baby! Finding out about diabetes could be the turning point! Good luck!

[Georgia]

Hi Jill & welcome to the forum :) You've received some great advice already from the others but I just wanted to add that DiabeticMommy - Diabetes Pregnancy, Gestational Diabetes, Trying to Conceive with Diabetes (http://www.diabeticmommy.com) is a brill place for help & support on diabetes, trying to conceive & pregnancy. Like here, they are a great bunch of people over there. Good luck with everything!! :king:

[MJM]

Hi Jill,
Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear of your miscarriages. Hopefully once you get things under control the problem of your miscarrying will be overcome. Diabetes shouldn't hold you back from doing anything, so have no fears there. You must however look after youself as best you can and exercise regularly and the benefits will become apparent fairly quickly, and you will feel like a new person. I wish you well in your endeavours. You have joined a very friendly forum with some great info and help available when you need it. It's good to hear that you are getting into an optimistic mood this early in your diagnosis as there is every reason to believe that you will have a very good life to look forward to despite the illness.
Good luck and always remember we are here to help if ever you need it.

[Keezheekoni]

Hi and welcome to the board. Glad to have you here. :D

I've had several miscarriages myself, many spirit babies in my life. :) Though diabetes isn't my explanation for miscarrying (I also have a blood clotting disorder), I can understand how it would be... I have five children, ranging from almost 17 to 3.

Definitely keep the above advice in mind and get a meter right away. :D

[sweetcheeks]

Hiya! Welcome to the forum.... I also am trying to conceive (which i think i had PCOS from the get go, which in turn partly caused my type 2 diabetes) and my obgyn is also the one that found my diabetes

I have never even been pregnant, I couldnt imagine the thought of knowing I had conceived then miscarry... my deepest sympathy regarding this.

I also have my suspicions that my husband well may be infertile as well as me possibly having pcos.... so im pretty much stuck...

the diabetes is a great wake up call, ive lost weight, eat healthier, and now im having regular menstrual cycles from both the weight loss and the metformin

they are right about getting a meter, but you can get them for free usually, you can just do a search on this forum for free ones, that come with every thing you need to start out. only thing is you have to wait for them to arrive

as far as carbs are concerned.... alot of people either stop them all together or just cut them back, i just cut mine back, i still eat the foods i always loved, but just in moderation! and today i got my a1c back and it was 5.5

most important thing is every is different, we merely make suggestions from what we have learned, you try them one by one to determine what works best for you! So dont get discouraged as some people may say NO CARBS... i eat 70 carbs per meal and still have a great numbers and a great a1c.

[Jill-O]

Thanks everyone for the nice welcome and good advice.

About the meter -- the doctor hadn't wanted me to start one until I see him again on 2/15 but I will call the office on Monday. I don't mind buying it out of pocket but before reading here I had not realized the obvious. Since I'm on a medicine that I'm supposed to take 1x a day, I wondered why am I going to be testing because what could I do if it was high. Now I see (duh), that I would avoid doing the things that make it spike high.

It's crazy, I know, but I sincerely felt better starting the very next day after starting the Metformin. Since having found out I was pregnant in December, I had cut out all "sugar sweets" and I do know that dropped my blood sugar from what it had normally been in hindsight as I had no more yeast infections which I seemed to have all the time for years (another thing I know the "why" for in hindsight).

And, I do feel optimistic because for years, I have not understood WHY I had so many miscarriages. We've had genetic testing and are fine and my new OBGYN will be doing a check on me to see if I have a clotting problem (said there's a medicine for that...), and to see if it could be something he's testing w/ a uterin (sp?) biopsy and also doing an ultra sound to look for fibriods which could be removed if I have them. The other OBGYN did not want to take the time to look into why probably because in the amount of time they could see me through one pregnancy, they could see 6 "normal" women through theirs. I hope that now knowing I'm diabetic + having these tests I can finally maintain a pregnancy. I'm 38! I tell some of my friends that it's a good thing I'm not a broodmare or I'd be hanging out in the sales barn :(

Just part of feeling better right off the bat (and I think "maybe" I did see effects of the meds quickly), is that at least now I know a "why" for some things and even though it's not cheeful news, I do already know some things I can do to make it better like cutting calories and exercising. Just knowing I'm doing something to make things better helps a lot! And, I've already lost weight that I see on the scale and in me just in a week and a half which is encouraging, too. Plus, in hindsight again, I have been tired or sleepy aobut 70% of most days for YEARS. I felt more energetic the day after I started the medication and in a big way.

I've been worried about things like what if I have damaged my kidneys badly already (new obgyn said protein was in my pee). A challange for me on this forum will be not to let myself dig for more worry material. I'm a gifted worrier. It's tempting to try and search out things about kidneys and anything else scary I will come to know about.

[princesslinda]

From on "gifted worrier" to another....information is a good thing....TOO MUCH information...another thing altogether. Take it one day at a time, learn what you need to know to make good decisions and try not to worry about what "might" happen in the future.....sounds good, doesn't it? Feel free to quote me to me when I'm in one of my panic modes..which happen quite regularly. Good thing I have my DF friends to keep me in line:proud:

[sweetcheeks]

well yes to a certain extent theres nothing you can do if your high....however, it does let you know how your doing for a personal goal and as doctor's goals so that way if you know the food your eating is not spiking you, you can continue to eat those foods without testing as often lol

my rules! some other might feel the same
1. if your high, eat lower carbs, and drink lots of water
2. if your lower you can eat a bit more carbs and maybe even a cookie or two for a snack instead of the carrots/celery etc..

you can still have sweets, just not as many as before

good luck!

[Jill-O]

Thanks again, folks! You all are great!!!

What I mean by gifted worrier is I will dig and dig until I come up with the "information" that will make me stay up at night thinking about all the ways this might be my own situation. But, if I wait until I hear the further test results from the internist, that's probably smarter as then I'll know what's happening in me vs. what I worry might be if that makes sense?

So far, I actually love what I'm eating just question if it's the best plan and the meter will help as will more talking to the doctor and maybe a nutritionist. I've been eating a high protein / low carb breakfast (a shake), snack of almonds, a lean couisine type "dinner" for lunch (and maybe a sugar free pudding), then for dinner another diet frozen dinner and some wheat toast w/ lite or fat free cream cheese. THEN sometimes I do get into the Edys no sugar added icecream which I do grasp is maybe not okay (but I do control the portion). I love that stuff!

From how I feel, I know I'm better than I was in terms of sugar levels because I have energy where I didn't before but I do understand I may need to change from the current diet because of how it may effect my levels. Maybe if I have to change now, once I get the weight off, I may handle it differently because my body will handle glucose better w/ less weight on me (?).

The thing that really encourages me is that there are things I can do that will make things better if not perfect. It's been frustrating with the miscarriages because everything else I've wanted to acheive in my life I've been able to do if I just tried hard enough. Now I know at least a starting point for trying to improve.

[sweetcheeks]

i eat blue bunny no sugar added double strawberry, oh man its so GOOD!

i eat it a couple times a week.... and usually eat about a cup full, which is about my 30 carbs for snack...

your not breaking any rules there! i bought edy's this time to try the cookie dough no sugar added... i still havnt tried it yet tho

i think the weight that i've dropped has helped me some.... i can go to a mexican restaurant now and eat a chimichanga, fried rice, and refried beans and cheese and still not go up past 140 on the meter... ( i know that isnt the best food ) but just saying before i lost the weight i probably would have went up to 200 eating it

[Jill-O]

Thanks, Stacey --

I've had the Blue Bunny ice cream years ago and really liked it. I have some of the Edy's cookie dough icecream, too, but also haven't opened it yet. I've been way into the mint chocolate chip, though!

And here it is, 5am, and I'm thinking about ice cream!

Jill http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/_950/food.gif

[EasyType2]

Welcome Jill-O!

Just a repeat of the sound advice above.

Metformin may, or may not, cause mild nausea at first, but for me - and most folk - it went away quickly.

Best wishes.