Intro from member number 1527

[The9thPawn]

Turned 25 recently, and figured it would be a good time to get a physical. I asked to get some blood work done too, since I figured there were a great number of things that can be found by doing so. Always said that I wanted to know of any "problems" early on, so I put my words into action. Obviously (like everyone else) never once did I actually think something bad would come back from it.

I have no details yet (like type 1 or type 2, etc) but I do have a return visit for the Doctors office on Thursday. Im guessing since the only details I have are "need medication" and not "need injections", that I have type 2. That and I read only 5-10% of all diabetics are type 1 IIRC.

Probably easy to pick up I have very little knowledge about this, but have been reading a ton the past few days, and already changing a bit of what I eat. One thing I know for sure, I already hate this f-ing disease (welcome to the club eh?).

I have some questions written down that I want to ask the Doctor already. But for those who have had that first "talk" before, any questions that you wished you asked early on, but didn't?

[lgvincent]

Looks like somebody is a Battlestar Galactica fan. I used to watch it when Lorne Green (or was that Ben Cartwright?) played Commander Adama but I don't have cable so I can't see the new version.

[HeatherP]

Hello and welcome! Don't worry, it's overwhelming at first but you'll find your pace and get the hang of it. You should see a CDE/dietician as soon as you can - you'll learn a lot and be able to ask questions. Nutrition/eating is half the battle with this disease so having a meal, meds, and excercise plan is very important. Most docs don't know much about nutrition so don't rely on him/her.

Did you have any symptoms that made you feel like something was wrong? You could have gone for years not knowing and doing damage to yourself so it's really great that you went in and found out (granted the dx is a bummer, but you'll be better off in the long run for finding out now!).

I'm T1, and I grew up with a diabetic mother and so I had a good idea of what to expect. I knew what I had from the symptoms but the dx was still a real jolt.

You'll find lots of info and friendly people here so I hope you'll enjoy your time with us!

HeatherP

[Dewey]

Hello, welcome to the "family!" As Heather said, you'll find many friendly folks and lots of great info. Glad you found us and hope to "see" you on often. :)

[Harold]

After my blood test the doctor tells me "You have Insulin Resistance. I am sending you to classes. Here's a prescription, take with food. See you in three months." The classes were scheduled for 8 weeks later. Two weeks later I recieved a forum, to send back for the classes. On this forum it asked "How long have you had Diabetes?" Grabbed the phone and called the doctors office and ask the doctor's nurse if I was diagnosed with diabetes. She said she would call me back after asking the doctor. She called back and said yes. A week later I had my first and only low with a case of severe shakes, feeling week at the knees, and my mind drifting away from my senses. Hello welcome to Diabetes, no info and no meter with classes 5 weeks away. So my answer to your question EVERYTHING.

In some cases doctors will not prescribe insulin right off for type 1 so ask him which type.

Meds, ask how soon will you start seeing results and how long before it fully kicks in. some meds take 6 to 12 weeks to reach their full potential. Also what sides you should be expecting like LOWS or loss of intestinal fortitude, and which ones you should contact him in case you have them. You should ask about sides with any drug prescribed to you from now on.

Meter ask him for a meter. The meter makers give them or coupons out to doctors to give away. Now if he still balks ask him how your going to know when the meds kick in and how your going to establish a base line.

Classes or training depending on where your at. If you have good insurance or can afford it, demand it. No insurance and cost too much contact your local ADA and ask if there are any free classes in your area. When you do go to classes tell them you don't have a meter or unhappy with the one you have and they will give you one. Included in the cost and the meter makers give them to them to give away anyway. Besides you may need a back up meter, you never know.

Lab Test Results; Always ask for copies every time you have them and put them in a three ring binder. You will need them later for reference and even though you may not know how to read them at first you will learn.

From now on your the one responsible for managing your health. Some doctors will try to make you believe it's their job, and it's not. You are the one living with this 24/7 and they only see you at most once every three months. Your doctor and any specialist he sends you to are part of your health team and work for you. Remember you are not there at their convience, but for their service.

Good Luck and tell us how many questions you forgot to ask. :smartass:

[buzzborne]

Hey :) and welcome to the best ''family'' on the WWW!!! Glad that you have found us, dont hesitate to ask anything if you have any queries, and good luck with the Dr on thursday!

See ya around! :)

[mg_2204]

Hello and welcome! This is a wonferful site.

Harold gave you the best advice possible :)

Years ago, when I was diagnosed, I had no follow up worthy of the name. It could have ruined my health. I was very lucky. So don't take any chances. It's your health after all. I can't underline enough what Harold has already said to you : you are the one living with this disease 24/7.

The very best to you,

[Barb]

Hello and welcome! Don't worry, it can be very overwhelming at first but you'll get the hang of it.
Same thing happened to me...take teses pills don't eat bread see ya in three months oh and join a class,,I think every Doctor in every country is the same

Harold gave you all the right answers...ask every Question you can think of..write them down so you wont forget anything..these is no such thing as a Stupid Question with Diabetics...

[Dode]

Welcome Pawn, You have found a wonderful place to be. I have learned a lot from the wonderful people here in the last while and I thought I knew a lot about handling diabetes. Harold what excellent advice. I never thought to ask the Dr. about sides, I have always relied on what the drugist said. Another thing I have learned is that if you don't like who they send you to, they are not going to die if you ask to be sent to someone else. I was always afraid to speak up for myself but now that my husband has to see a specialist as well I told the Dr. not to send him to the one I was seeing as I felt it was just a waste of his time to go . The Dr. then said if I wasn't satisfied he would send both of us to someone else. Wow what a load off my shoulders.
Any way Pawn take one day at a time and we will help you all we can.

[Ryan]

Good to meet you. I'm a diabetic n00b as well.. diagnosed at the very end of February. TII but I need shots. :mad:

[Belinda]

Welcome to the "family" Ask all the questions you want. I keep a running log on the computer of things for my doctor and just print it each time I go. I have been a diabetic since 1977 and still ask lots of questions(that could just be part of my personality :whistling )

[am1977]

:) Welcome! :)

Hope to see you around and posting often! Try not to worry so much...things will come with time. My advice...keep education yourself, do your best to control your blood sugar, and find a support system (this forum is great ;) ). One day at a time...

[The9thPawn]

Did you have any symptoms that made you feel like something was wrong? You could have gone for years not knowing and doing damage to yourself so it's really great that you went in and found out (granted the dx is a bummer, but you'll be better off in the long run for finding out now!).
No problems prompted the visit last week. But because I am overweight, I always got asked "Are you diabetic", to which my answer always was (till last week) "No" lol. Actually, the main reason I went was I had been exercising more, and wanted a normal physical so I could get an accurate weight measurement... Kinda like a "before" meaasurment, even though I knew where I was for the most part. Just added the blood test since I was there and I didnt have to pay for it ;) They gave me a test called an "EKG" and the results were good according to the Doctor. So I actually walked out of there feeling better about myself based on that, lol. **** that phone call.

I'm a diabetic n00b as well.. diagnosed at the very end of February. TII but I need shots.
Holy Cylons! Type 2's need shots sometimes too? Grrrr. Im not a big fan of the long needle like objects being driven into my body and sucking out blood like a chupacabra.

---------

Even though I didn't really feel anything wrong, at least enough to prompt a doctors visit, this does explain a couple things. When looking over the symptoms of untreated diabetics, I have a couple that didn't seem serious to me. Of course, I read that thats a big reason so many people go undiagnosed.

I did just get over a cold/sinus infection before the visit, that took more then 2 weeks to get over enough to return to work. This also partially explains why that cold seriously kick my "rear".

Thanks for all the replys and comments. And thanks a TON Harold for your post as well. It gave me some more things to write down on my list. Thanks HeatherP for your post too, Im going to inquire about a dietician as well.

... I just hope Dave Thomas can forgive me for not visiting his fine establishments he left behind on a dialy basis anymore...

:(

[duck]

I LOVE the new Battlestar Galactica! lg, I think you would like Olmos as Adama--I was suprised when I came to accept it easily.

"Long needles": 9thPawn, this is not the dark ages anymore. Needles nowadays are much shorter and often times do not hurt when used due to length and lubrication. :thumbsup:

[FlyGary]

I have some questions written down that I want to ask the Doctor already. But for those who have had that first "talk" before, any questions that you wished you asked early on, but didn't?

First - welcome to the group. I hate this disese also for a whole bunch of reasons like my career was a pilot and I had to give that up and do not have any other training. And I went to long before taking it seriously.

Now for the things I should have asked and learned.

1. Coffee - I still do not know why but my case caffine consumption made things worse. I stopped all caffine and sugars dropped 60-70 points.

2. Oral meds take time to work and one doctor I had had me switching every two weeks to something else. At the end of year I was confused and sugars remained high.

3. Starving yourself does not help, eating regular and right does.

4. It seems that muscles burn sugar, while exercise is good, muscles seem better.

5. I was to patient to get sugars down, I waited about 8 months to long to get serious about this. As a result some issues have developed that I THINK might get better.

I am still new and frustrated but those are my thoughts.

[Ryan]

Yeah.. my needles are very tiny and very painless.

[The9thPawn]

Yeah.. my needles are very tiny and very painless. Thats good to know in case I get to the point where I need em. Not so worried about that now since you say they are small and painless.

1. Coffee - I still do not know why but my case caffine consumption made things worse. I stopped all caffine and sugars dropped 60-70 points.
I have an issue with processing uric acid correctly, although not severe, it does cause some problems. Things like kidney stones (had one at 18 and a second one at 20) and gout (last flair up of gout was about 2.5 years ago). After my second stone, after changing what I eat and do, I was still baffled as to why I got another stone. And a huge part of it was caffeine. Apparently it acted as a stress depresant and stress is a big cause of my stones/gout. So I cut almost all of my caffeine intake out since about 2001 or so. I still have some from time to time, but its normally in small amounts and far inbetween. That was pretty hard to cut back that much (for a 21 year old geek working with computers on the second shift, with 5-6 soda/pop machines placed all around for us addicts), but I did it, and glad I dont have to cut back as much now.

The Doctor didn't mention anything about caffeine, but I will bring it up to the deitician, as I will be getting a referral sometime next week for one.

----

Well the visit went good. He explained where he felt I was, and was very "glad" that I suggested the blood test. I hadn't been expierencing any symptoms often enough for concern he said, and it may have gone unnoticed for some time.

Got my test results printed out for me, and I noticed my Uric Acid levels were high too, which I expected, but just barely marked on the "high" level. Regular Vitamin C and B Complex, and little to no caffeine has helped that apparently since I am almost "in range" now.

The Glucose level at the test was 216 (with a "normal" range of 65-120).

Got two medications. One for Metformin (diabetes pill) and the other for Lisinopril (for high blood pressure).

FlyGary: I will be taking the same amount of Metformin as you are according to my instructions. I will continue excersizing, and watching what I eat (already started too). So hopefully I can lose some "poundage" while keeping my sugar levels where they need to be, and control it better.

All in all, it was a good visit. He wasnt going to recommend a Glucose meter today, rather on my next visit a month from now. I asked him why, and he thought it would overwhelm me at first doing all this. I said even though I've never had to take medications before, Id rather know what I feel like when Im high and low, and see how the drugs are working, so "gimme one now dangit!" hahaha. Of course, my pharmacy that I'm going to go to is out lol. So they are going to have one tomorrow.

And the result of the diabetes test was..... drumroll.... Type 2

[The9thPawn]

Well I've stabbed myself 8 times for 2 readings, wasn't that fun.

Picked up the OneTouch Ultra on Friday, and got 100 strips and 100 miniture knives with it.

First test took 7 tries to get enough blood, grrrr. Then I felt like I was going to pass out (like when I had my lab test last week after fasting for 16 hours). Im not sure I did it right, as the strip wasnt full with the blood sample, but it did reach all the way down, which triggered the countdown on the meter. It read 56? So either it was way off, or it WAS that low and thats why I felt all weird after doing it.

Just a few minutes ago it read 193 (enough blood on the first try yeeehawww). I had just got done eating lunch. I am going to do one more test tonight before starting the medication. I just wanted a couple of regular readings to make sure I was doing it right.

Well, for those keeping track, I'm up to -2- tests so far. I think I might do something special for the 10th, 100th, 1000th, etc. Like put on some mood lighting, slow jazz, etc. Or maybe go somewhere special to test, like at a football game, or fancy restaurant. Lol, sound crazy? I just might be...

[KickStart101]

Hi 9th Pawn: Welcome to this Great Forum. HAPPY Recent 25th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: UNFORTUNATELY...Welcome To The Club, Eh?
Read lots and ask lots of Questions. Take Care.........You Do Have A Life!!!! ;)