Guest guest Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 > What sort of things happen > when you lose control? I can describe what happened to my wife if that is any help. It can come on you suddenly. You get an infection with fever and you notice that your BG is unusually high (over 200). Sometimes you get the high BG even before the fever. You might think you have a flu and you get into bed until it passes off. Then the next time you check your BG it is over 300, you have to pass water more frequently than usual and you start to get worried. If you are on oral medication, you might decide to try taking an extra tablet. WRONG! If you have a serious infection, stop your oral medication! You should now be on your way to the nearest emergency room but you decide to wait to see if it will go away on its own. Now you are passing water at an amazing rate and you are feeling a little woozy, lying very still and quiet when you are not passing water. In fact you are in a pre-coma. Somebody who is with you decides to check your BG and the meter reads " HI HI " so they rush to the phone to call the paramedics. By the time they get there, you are out. You are rushed to the emergency room and somebody takes a blood sample and sends it to the lab - 967mg%! You are put into the intensive care ward and given fluid to repair your water household and insulin drips to very slowly bring you back down to a reasonable value (200-300mg%) and antibiotic drips to fight the infection. After 2 days you get transferred to an ordinary ward and nursed back down to normal BG values, treated for the infection and checked to see what else you lost along with the water (minerals, etc). Then they start off checking to see how much your memory has been affected. After another 10-12 days you get sent home again. Quite exciting, all told! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 In a message dated 6/7/2004 10:49:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, atombombix@... writes: > > As yet, I haven't experienced any bad symptoms as a Type 2, > however, from what I've read on this list, many of you seem to > be testing your daily blood sugars in a chronic manner (a form > of blood sport?). What sort of things happen when you lose control? > > Joe > > Hi Joe, the only time I was out of control was after a doctor gave me a massive load of steroids into my knee prior to what should have been surgery. This sent my BG's well over 300 and when I showed up at the hospital for surgery he yelled at me! I did some checking around, and discovered that he should have never done the injection in the first place out of the hospital, and it would have required very close monitoring in a hospital prepared to use insulin to counter the disaster. I obviously got another doctor, fired the first doctor, and my knee has behaved itself ever since! It does not want to go back to that hospital I guess! During this time, my eyes became very blurry, difficult to focus, I became thirsty like a diabetic (normally I am not a thirsty diabetic) I learned a lot from this, but did have no lasting affects, except a big feal of steroids. Hugs, Marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 In a message dated 6/7/2004 10:49:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, atombombix@... writes: > > As yet, I haven't experienced any bad symptoms as a Type 2, > however, from what I've read on this list, many of you seem to > be testing your daily blood sugars in a chronic manner (a form > of blood sport?). What sort of things happen when you lose control? > > Joe > > Hi Joe, the only time I was out of control was after a doctor gave me a massive load of steroids into my knee prior to what should have been surgery. This sent my BG's well over 300 and when I showed up at the hospital for surgery he yelled at me! I did some checking around, and discovered that he should have never done the injection in the first place out of the hospital, and it would have required very close monitoring in a hospital prepared to use insulin to counter the disaster. I obviously got another doctor, fired the first doctor, and my knee has behaved itself ever since! It does not want to go back to that hospital I guess! During this time, my eyes became very blurry, difficult to focus, I became thirsty like a diabetic (normally I am not a thirsty diabetic) I learned a lot from this, but did have no lasting affects, except a big feal of steroids. Hugs, Marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 In a message dated 6/7/2004 10:49:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, atombombix@... writes: > > As yet, I haven't experienced any bad symptoms as a Type 2, > however, from what I've read on this list, many of you seem to > be testing your daily blood sugars in a chronic manner (a form > of blood sport?). What sort of things happen when you lose control? > > Joe > > Hi Joe, the only time I was out of control was after a doctor gave me a massive load of steroids into my knee prior to what should have been surgery. This sent my BG's well over 300 and when I showed up at the hospital for surgery he yelled at me! I did some checking around, and discovered that he should have never done the injection in the first place out of the hospital, and it would have required very close monitoring in a hospital prepared to use insulin to counter the disaster. I obviously got another doctor, fired the first doctor, and my knee has behaved itself ever since! It does not want to go back to that hospital I guess! During this time, my eyes became very blurry, difficult to focus, I became thirsty like a diabetic (normally I am not a thirsty diabetic) I learned a lot from this, but did have no lasting affects, except a big feal of steroids. Hugs, Marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 > I have trouble understanding why > some of you control your BG > multiple times a day. Different strokes for different folks, Joe! I can think of a number of reasons why non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetics would do that: 1. They know they are liable to hypos and check every time they have symptoms or think they have symptoms (there are other physical conditions that cause similar symptoms) or routinely in the early morning (3-4 a.m.) from time to time if they get the chance naturally, 2. Before they go on a long drive and at intervals during the drive (I start to make driving errors, e.g. go over very late yellow lights, tailgate the car in front, brake very late for an unexpected obstruction) when I am down near 70mg% or below, 3. They have gastroparese (late stomach emptying) and want to know if a recent meal has passed out of their stomach into their duodenum yet, 4. They do not want to start eating a meal before the BG rise from the previous meal has subsided. That way they won't ratchet themselves up from one high to the next high throughout the day, 5. They suspect they have an infection and want to check that they are not on the way to a metabolic " derailment " of the kind that I described in my previous message (often happens with infections of the urinary tract, especially in women), 6. They have a reason to suspect that something has changed since their last quarterly HbA1c test and don't want to wait until the next appointment to find out (for these they need to do at least 7 measurements a day for 3 days in the week and take the averages), 7. They are newly diagnosed and unsure of almost everything unless they see it on a meter (a quite reasonable approach to take). If insulin is being used that is a different ball game but I don't have any experience of that. > Don't you get to the point > where you know what to eat and > how much to eat? It has much more to do with the treatment than with the nutrition. What and how much of it to eat depends primarily on your body weight and what you want to weigh and for that you need a good bathroom scales, not a BG meter. I don't believe in steering nutrition with blood glucose. > Wouldn't it be easier to only > check once in the morning and > once in the evening? It is not a matter of being easy but of what you are taking the readings for. A BG reading in itself is useless. It is what you do with the reading that matters. If you are satisfied with less than close control then you could rely completely on the quarterly HbA1c result. If you want to catch problems early, it is good to know what is happening ahead of time. Once in the morning and once in the evening at truly random times and calculation using statistical methods or using a special calculator is also a method. As I said at the start, Joe: Different strokes for different folks! And those are my strokes! Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 > I have trouble understanding why > some of you control your BG > multiple times a day. Different strokes for different folks, Joe! I can think of a number of reasons why non-insulin dependent type 2 diabetics would do that: 1. They know they are liable to hypos and check every time they have symptoms or think they have symptoms (there are other physical conditions that cause similar symptoms) or routinely in the early morning (3-4 a.m.) from time to time if they get the chance naturally, 2. Before they go on a long drive and at intervals during the drive (I start to make driving errors, e.g. go over very late yellow lights, tailgate the car in front, brake very late for an unexpected obstruction) when I am down near 70mg% or below, 3. They have gastroparese (late stomach emptying) and want to know if a recent meal has passed out of their stomach into their duodenum yet, 4. They do not want to start eating a meal before the BG rise from the previous meal has subsided. That way they won't ratchet themselves up from one high to the next high throughout the day, 5. They suspect they have an infection and want to check that they are not on the way to a metabolic " derailment " of the kind that I described in my previous message (often happens with infections of the urinary tract, especially in women), 6. They have a reason to suspect that something has changed since their last quarterly HbA1c test and don't want to wait until the next appointment to find out (for these they need to do at least 7 measurements a day for 3 days in the week and take the averages), 7. They are newly diagnosed and unsure of almost everything unless they see it on a meter (a quite reasonable approach to take). If insulin is being used that is a different ball game but I don't have any experience of that. > Don't you get to the point > where you know what to eat and > how much to eat? It has much more to do with the treatment than with the nutrition. What and how much of it to eat depends primarily on your body weight and what you want to weigh and for that you need a good bathroom scales, not a BG meter. I don't believe in steering nutrition with blood glucose. > Wouldn't it be easier to only > check once in the morning and > once in the evening? It is not a matter of being easy but of what you are taking the readings for. A BG reading in itself is useless. It is what you do with the reading that matters. If you are satisfied with less than close control then you could rely completely on the quarterly HbA1c result. If you want to catch problems early, it is good to know what is happening ahead of time. Once in the morning and once in the evening at truly random times and calculation using statistical methods or using a special calculator is also a method. As I said at the start, Joe: Different strokes for different folks! And those are my strokes! Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 I have trouble understanding why some of you control your BG multiple times a day. Don't you get to the point where you know what to eat and how much to eat? Wouldn't it be easier to only check once in the morning and once in the evening? Any other comments would be welcome. Hi Joe, well, not really. For some reason, my bg's seem to have a life of their own. They go up for no reason, go down for no reason. I usually test before a meal to see how many carbs to shave off. Then, 2 hours after a meal to see if my plans worked ;-) I like to walk right after dinner as it is my biggest and sometimes only meal for the day. I get caught up in my business and by the time I think of it, it is too close to a meal so I have a cracker or two with a little cheese maybe. I am trying to make my self hydrate better, and have taken to carry a bottle with me. I hate this, but I am not a good drinker. Never have been. I am really seseptable to kidney stones and am an equal stoner. Calcium and uric acid stones. I blame this on my lack of desire to drink, and I thought diabetics were such a thirsty lot! So, I have to test often, and try very hard to stay on top of this. Hugs, marilyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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