Diabetes

[julesapple]

The BH has been to see the practice nurse this morning. He's had fasting blood and urine tests. The bloods have been sent away but the nurse has said that there is enough sugar in his urine to safely say that he has Type 1 diabetes and will probably go straight on to pills (I don't know what pills she meant)

I'm concerned about this because it's been very sudden. He's lost half a stone in two weeks and over the past few days has started to drink enough water to drown himself. It was the drinking that I picked up on and send him to the doctors, especially as the BH has no gallbladder and I'm now entertaining horrible thoughts about his pancreas....

Can anyone give me some practical advice on diabetes? I'm going to be a blumin' nervous wreck now until the bloods come back so it would be good for some one to say I'm being daft!

Jules

[Florence Fennel]

It's a worry Jules and it could be a lifestyle change, but I'm sure you'll both cope. I'm surprised that the Practice Nurse is advocating pills (hypo/hyperglycaemic drugs) for Type 1 Diabetes, that's usually insulin dependent, but I suppose it varies from person to person. My friend's 9-year old has just been diagnosed with Type 1 and she is coping brilliantly. Fingers crossed for you both.

[Capsid]

He has type 2 diabetes NOT type 1 (excessive thirst is a symptom). This is treatable through medication (pills) and importantly through diet and exercise.

I have no experience of the condition, so others will be able to comment but I just wanted to make sure you were clear about the type of diabetes he has. But maybe you should double check again with the nurse.

[snuffer]

I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The tablets I have been prescribed are called Metformin. To the best of my knowledge they help regulate sugar levels in the blood.

[donnakebab]

When I was first diagnosed with type 2 I had lost a stone in weight and was drinking lots of water. I started taking metformin but it took a long time for my sugars to come under control and in the mean time I lost another half a stone. My sugar reading at diagnosis was 26 (between 4 and 7 is mormal) . Don't let the type 1 / type 2 issue confuse you. They are the same long run and both as serious if not treated correctly. I am now insulin dependent but it's not scarey and you do get used to it. Everything I have read so far leads me to believe that I have type 1. My brother was type 2. He was obese, never lost any weight and never progressed to unsulin. His sugar readings were never above about 15. I was never obese or even over weight, ate a healthy diet and took plenty of exercise.

Our Health Trust runs a series of information days for diabetics and from that I learned that I should have been hospitalised and treated with insulin to get my sugars down then prescribed Metformin. I felt like s**t at the time but my doctors said I was fine to go to work. It was a Friday morning, I phoned work in tears and said I wouldn't be in till Monday. That is the only day I have ever had off sick due to diabetes. That was 2004.

Diabetes UK has a very good website and a helpline. There is a dedicated magazine that is published every 2 or 3 months called Balance. Try those first and I can recommend a good book that explains things really clearly called;

The Diabetes Revolution - Dr Charles Clark and Maureen Clark published by Vermilion.
ISBN 978-0-09-191264-2

Don't be scared. It will be fine. Everything is doable.

You would be surprised how many famous people have diabetes. Even sporting legends such as Steve Redgrave.

Keep us posted. Take care. X

[Jardiniere]

Julesapple
I know nothing about diabetes BUT having recently been diagnosed with a life changing illness I have found that a forum like this one where you can 'talk' to others in the same position - including family and friends - is absolutely invaluable - try and find one for diabetes = there must be one out there ...you will soon have new virtual friends who can help you with support and advice sometimes more then the professionals.The one I belong to is brilliant.
Good luck and best wishes to you and your OH.
Jardiniere

[Alison]

SIL was dignosed when she was about 8 and has managed it herself pretty much ever since. She had got to the point where she was having to inject quite a lot of insulin (depends on what you do and eat - Steve Redgrave used to have stupid amounts when training / competing) and took the opportunity to have a pump to put the insulin directly into her stomach. It's connected pretty much all the time (you can take out when washing etc) and drip feeds a small amount in normally with the ability to press a button for more when eating. This has reduced her insulin loads which is good news and she finds it great.

[julesapple]

I've just been chatting to my Ma about my father's diabetes (Type 2) as I knew Dad takes pills - the Metformin you mentioned, Snuffer. Mum says that the tablets would not have been mentioned unless it was Type 2 as Mark said.

I let the BH go by himself this morning and, he's asked no questions at all. He's just said that all forms of sugar must be cut out of his diet and I've said that that is a physical impossibility, but he's not listening quite yet (he will be by teatime) My mum has said, and I know this myself, that my Dad eats a normal diet, just cuts down on sugars where he can (half sugar jams, that kind of thing) but she said Dad had a panic and tried to cut every bit of sugar out and it just made him ill and her stressed. He became obsessed at looking at sugar levels in everything and if anything mention anything ending in 'tose' or 'crose' he wouldn't eat it........then he ran out of things to eat and came to his senses. My mother now just cooks normally and the Diabetic Clinic have said Dad is fine.

This is going to be hard on the BH. He has no choice but to lead a sedentary life, so he does a lot of boredom eating, although I censure this habit as much as I can. And he makes chocolate as a past time...........I think Sarz has had some of his Chilli & Lime chocolate. He's looked into decent diabetic chocolate by request of other diabetics and he says it's an impossibility, an oxymoron, so the chocolate will be out the window because he'd rather not eat chocolate than have to eat vegelate with sweeteners.

I'm hoping that the doctors will look into this thoroughly as the BH has no gallbladder and this could be a symptom of pancreas problems stemming from the near-death experience BH had with a ruptured gallbladder. We'll see what the bloods say, and fingers crossed they'll check absolutely everything!

Jules

[donnakebab]

Jules I'm off to work now. If ever you've got any worries just mail me and I'll help if I can or at least point you in the right direction. It will be a shock for you both at first. But as I said you will get used to it.

Bonus for me is that I don't have to pay for prescriptions or eye tests anymore.

[julesapple]

Thankfully, we have free prescriptions and eye tests too. The BH is sat, all forlorn, worrying about missing out on sweet treats. I'm sat here saying nothing, because I've thought it through further...he already has a high glaucoma risk because of his Pigment Dispersal Syndrome and other problems because of having no gallbladder, and this will have a knock-on effect in later life too.

He's just told me I'll have to take over all of the cooking and make sure I cook sugar-free everything. I have to see what sugar-free baking I can do, I have to make sugar-free jams and pickles.......this is now my problem and not his responsibility. Big barneys are forecast, I can see.

I shall await the blood results and doctors opinion. And then I'll beat him to a pulp. I think keeping my mouth shut whilst he comes to terms with this, in his own head, will be hardest. I'll just get on and do it, while he has a thunk about it all. We've dealt with worse.

Jules

[donnakebab]

By the way Jules if I was you I would go with him for the results. Your BH should be given the option to see a dietician - take it and go with him. They can offer really good advice about what to eat and how to build up a menu that suits. It's not like he'll never be able to eat chocolate or sweet stuff again but obviously not every day and to be honest we shouldn't eat chocolate every day anyway should we. (Some people may disagree with that!). Also there are some good Low GI recipe books around that can help. The Book that I recommended earlier has recipes in it too.

There's lots of information out there, but that doesn't mean you'll find all the answers straight away. One step at a time.

[taff]

I shall await the blood results and doctors opinion. And then I'll beat him to a pulp. I think keeping my mouth shut whilst he comes to terms with this, in his own head, will be hardest. I'll just get on and do it, while he has a thunk about it all. We've dealt with worse.

Jules

I've been struggling with refraining from doing the same thing, for similar reasons, but for a different disease
My mother has had diabetes since she was about 40, and went from taking metformin, to injecting insulin. One thing I would say, and discuss with his doc, is regular checking for kidney disease. It crept up on my mother before she was even aware she had it, and has caused a lot of complications. A regular blood test should be all that's needed, but you might have to push to have them.

You dont have to not ever eat sugar again, but you do have to eat it in moderation, and the diet sheet is pretty much whole grains, much less refined foods, like white flour etc, more veg, etc etc.
He'll just have to find another sedentary hobby

[donnakebab]

As a diabetic blood tests should be done at least once a year. You shouldn't have to push for it as it is now standard procedure. They check for liver and kidney function amongst other things and eye tests are done every year to check for retinopathy. In the last few years it has been compulsory for eye tests to include a digital photograph that is kept on record so that they can be compared year on year. Not every optician has this facility but there are normally a few to choose from within a location.

[julesapple]

All of his hobbies have to be sedentary, being crippled by Failed Back Syndrome Taff. His other major hobby is reading, and he loves nothing better than to do this with a snack. That's going to be hard for him. At present he's feeling pretty low - he doesn't have many pleasures in life, bless him, and now another one has gone. There has been problem after problem these past few years and it's hard for him, he's not quite fifty and yet he used to be so fit, so vital.

When we get the results, I'm going to challenge him to come up with a really good treat that he can have. He's a trained chef, he can do these things, he just needs to look at them slightly differently now.

I will go with him to discuss the results with the doctor because I want to push for a deeper explanation as to why he is now diabetic. I don't want the medics to just accept that this patient has diabetes because there could be, in his case, a serious underlying cause. So I want all avenues checked. I want his pancreas and kidneys checked etc etc, but maybe the bloods will reveal any functional abnormalities if they're testing conclusively. But I want to be there in case he needs me too.

I feel better about the dietary implications now I've had a chat with my Mum. I also bimbled around the supermarket and studied a few labels today - that was quite helpful. I think a low sugar diet is going to be easier to achieve than a totally fat-free diet that he was on with his infected gallbladder a few years back.

Jules

[Hilary B]

I can't remember the name, but there is a sugar that diabetics can take, that is what is in the diabetic sweets and deserts they sell. I don't know exactly how it gets used in cooking, but someone at the pancake party I went to on Tuesday is diabetic, and they simply offered her the diabetic sugar to put on her share.