Question on control

[viranth]

I read that some people aren't taking care of their diabetes for years. How is that possible?

As soon as my BG goes up, I feel like utter ****, so I would be unable to walk around like that for years ...

[shiftzor]

The lack of bg control results in a higher A1c(average bg). Your body just gets use to being at a higher A1c. An A1c of 5.0% would mean that you would normally be a lot more aware of hypoglycaemia (lows) and hyperglycaemic (highs). A high A1c would make you less aware of highs and so life goes on, with mood swings etc. Not a nice place to be.

[ant hill]

I read that some people aren't taking care of their diabetes for years. How is that possible?
It's possible by manipulating your doses of insulin and the knowledge of how much carbohydrates that is in the food that you eat and exercise will also lower your BG too.
There has been cases of those who don't understand what to do or they have their minds on other things rather than themselves. ;)

[REDLAN]

Having been one of those aforementioned people who "didn't take care of their diabetes" I can report that shiftzor is absolutely right.

I got used to having high blood sugars according to my A1C my average would have been around 13 mmol/l - it just felt normal

one morning I had a 40 mmol and felt just a bit unwell and a bit tired. :( simply put my frame of reference moved. The one bonus was that I used to get really good hypo warning symptoms.

I used also to have a lot more periods of being unwell - I found it harder to shake any virus or cold that I got.

nowadays with my last A1c of 7.1 (should be better now I've fixed my overnights BGs- thanks to xmenace for those posts on how to test overnights) - yeah I start to feel unwell when my BG crosses the 13 mmol threshold, which used to be my average BG - the only downside is significantly reduced hypo symptoms and now they start well below the 4.0 mmol mark which is not so comfortable.

On a more philosophical note, diabetes affects each of us in different ways. And we each cope with it differently. The people on this forum are highly motivated to control their diabetes. For some this fits with their personality, others have more personal reasons. There are others who have very different priorities and choose to manage their diabetes in other ways (like I used to). I personally believe that it is important that we do not judge others for how they cope with this disease.

Me? I was fed up with feeling tired all the time. There are days when I miss my devil-may-care, yeah no worries I'll eat cake if I want to attitude - I still do eat cake when I want to (it's just alot more complicated - do I need to test? how many carbs? how much insulin do I take?). I just remind myself that this is what keeps me feeling well, and I can still have my cake and eat it :)

[ant hill]

I just remind myself that this is what keeps me feeling well, and I can still have my cake and eat it :)

Heh heh, That's a good post Redlan and so true. :biggrin:
There is another thing too as you change the doses and eating habits you go and test test test and know whare you are so that you're are on track to control. :D

[Jan B]

Redlan and Peter have already answered! The simple act of testing much more frequently causes most people to make better choices and control their disease better. I have been super-controlling a little too much lately & am becoming unaware of hypos until I'm well under 60 (3.3 or less). Balance is so important!

[xMenace]

It is a stressful disease. All you have to do is read posts on this forum to discover that. It is very easy to run away and hide from. Sweep it under the rug and forget about it.

I have talked with many friends who are both new type 2's and long term type 1's about coming here and/or to our local support group, maybe a dozen in total. Not one taker yet. We have an estimated 8,000 confirmed cases in our area and we are lucky to get 8 at our meetings. :(

[Eddy]

I read that some people aren't taking care of their diabetes for years. How is that possible?

As soon as my BG goes up, I feel like utter ****, so I would be unable to walk around like that for years ...


Pre-DX I _did_ feel like utter **** for quite a while. I'm glad I now know what to do... but I felt terrible yesterday with a stress-induced 10.0(180) reading, which would have been lower than a pre-DX "good" day. Like Redlan said, different people deal differently. I'm with you -- I don't see how I could consciously ignore BG control.

It's a bit funny:

At DX, I started getting annoyed with the hospital. "We know that this will drastically change your life... that it will be hard... that blah blah blah."

Hunh? When one already feels bad, knowing the workaround is a _good_ thing, not a bad one. I remember being sleep-deprived, hyperglycemic, and grouchy at the time, and saying something to the extent of "this isn't rocket science; I can deal with it".

That was bad enough. Their video program was positively offensive... the makers should be shot for encouraging "pity parties".

(Opinionated? Who, me?)

[viranth]

At DX, I started getting annoyed with the hospital. "We know that this will drastically change your life... that it will be hard... that blah blah blah."

Hunh? When one already feels bad, knowing the workaround is a _good_ thing, not a bad one. I remember being sleep-deprived, hyperglycemic, and grouchy at the time, and saying something to the extent of "this isn't rocket science; I can deal with it".

That was bad enough. Their video program was positively offensive... the makers should be shot for encouraging "pity parties".

(Opinionated? Who, me?)

The people that work in the hospital were ok, some better than others. But the learning material they gave me was horrible. It talked more about the possible long term effects diabetes can have on your body, and barely anything about those who live with it good.

If I had to stay there without the visits from family and friends, I would probably go deeply depressed. It was very shocking to read about all the stuff that could happen.

I think it's time for the material and talks to newly DX'ed people to get updated, especially to a more user friendly level. Right now it seems like it's 40 pages of "You can die in x years", 2 pages about the different insulins and no single page on how to deal with it on a daily basis.

[silverfrost]

Yeah, it's strange how our bodies become used to such different sugar levels. Before diagnosis, my average BG was probably 450-500. I only felt really bad on certain days... God knows how high it went then. When I first starting insulin, 100 felt like a hypo to me.

Now, however, I feel crappy when it's above 160, and I am much less sensitive to lows, as others were pointing out. Once in the 200s, I just feel like sleeping the rest of the day.