A1c Results

I had my A1c drawn at my doctor's apt. on Monday.

I was anxious to see if I had changed my results with changing my diet.

My A1c that started this whole awareness 4 months ago was 6.2.

My doctor told me I was pre-diabetic.

Since it was in my genes, I wanted to stop it in it's tracks!!

I knew I was a 1st class, died in the wool, could eat a whole cake at a sitting,  carboholic!!

So I drastically changed my diet.

I did not cut out all sugar!  That, for me, would have been a sure plan for failure!

I've been writing down everything I've eaten since June and counting the carbs.

(The app, Calorie King is a great help with that.)

Reading, reading, reading labels!!!

I've tried to keep under 180 carbs a day.  Some days it was a little more and quite a few days I stayed under 160.

More importantly, as I found out later, is keeping each meal a more steady amount of 35- 45 carbs and then allowing low carb snack between meals.  I try to eat more carbs in the morning and less for supper and in the evening but that is hard.

I seem to be the most hungry in the evening.  I think, though it's because that's when I am finally sitting down and doing a lot less.

In August I decided to start testing my blood sugars to see exactly what foods affected my sugar the most so I got a meter and test strips and at first tested really often. 

 (Like 6-7 times a day.)

Fasting, in the morning, then 1 and 2 hours after each meal.  

I found out that my blood sugar had it's rise in one hour and was back down by 2 hours.

Other people may have a slower rise.  

So then I only checked randomly once or twice a day after breakfast and supper.

I found out that white bread was a bad culprit!

I never really had a spike over 157 and that was only twice.

I also read up on the good things that foods with a low or medium glycemic index can do.

Anyway, my new A1c level is 5.4!!!!!!

Yippppeeee.

This new awareness can only be a good thing.  I am past that horrible craving for sugar all the time.

Yes, I do bend to the occasional big chocolate chip cookie from Panera or a cheesecake brownie from Starbucks.

But I at least only have just one!!

I read labels on everything and am trying to eat foods that are much less processed and mostly organic if I can.

So, it was a good thing that my elevated A1c was caught so early and yes, I believe you can stop or at least put off the development of type 2 diabetes.

I'm not a doctor, but I am a retired RN and you have to educate yourself about your health.

That's for sure!

It has certainly made me so much more aware and has made me educate myself much more on 

this ever increasing disease.

Shirley

The Emotional Stages of Diagnosis in Diabetes

I read an article in "DiabetesForecast"  (It's free and is put out by the Diabetes Assoc.)  

It was about stages of emotional changes after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 

or pre-diabetes.

I think I have almost gone through them all pretty quickly!!

It states it pretty clear in this article too.

http://www.diabetescarecommunity.ca/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleId=185

The stages turn out to be the same as the stages of grief.

(This is me)  

1.  Denial:  They must've mixed me up with someone else!  I'm thin and                                                        fairly active and I'm not overly thirsty or peeing all the time!!!

2.  Anger:  Well, damn, why did this happen now!  I'm just getting over my                                                   belly problems and dealing with back and arthritis problems!  It's                                                 not fair! 

3.  Bargaining:  OK, I'll watch my diet a little.  If I do good, maybe this will                                                        just go away.  If I just eat this much now, maybe I can have                                                        all that cake and ice cream later before bed!

 4.  Depression:  This is what I've got to do???  Watch what I eat all the time!                                                         Eating was a big pleasure of mine and I love carbs!                                                                     This isn't fair.  I'm 72 and deserve to enjoy my life.  

                          Poor me, poor me.                                                           

 5.  Acceptance:  (I'm working on this one!)  I can do it.  I'll be healthier.

                                                       Things I've found out so far:
•Body size and weight is only one of the predisposing factors in Diabetes Type 2.
Genes can play a factor too.  Oh, I have that!
•Exercise helps your body use excess sugar in your blood.
•Pre-diabetes is just diabetes caught very early.
•If you do something about it right away you have a better chance of avoiding any bad       complications of the disease.  And I don't want them!
•Count and limit carbs in each meal, not so much to count the grand total for the day.
•Start monitoring your blood sugar to find out what foods and how much would make you have a spike.  Keep a food and blood meter journal.  Record how you feel physically and mentally, etc.
•Your primary doctor basically, at this stage, orders blood work, tells you about it and writes Rx's if needed.  Other than that, you're pretty much on your own to track down info.  I have to say that my doctor brought in a dietician/nutritionist that was also diabetic to give a talk.  That was very helpful.

So here I am trying to make my way though this and other ailments I haven't mentioned in this post.  Aging can be the pits sometimes but I'm probably, now, not that different from other 72 year olds.  Just the names of ailments change!!

Shirley

Diabetes and Other Assorted Problems

My first blog about diabetes was written a few days ago.
It is on my regular main blog here:
http://shirleys-world.blogspot.com/  

I think I figured out how to start a separate blog so this is sort of a test.

I didn't want to write about health problems on my regular blog as I know it's sort of boring for people to read it if they don't have the same problems.
So this blog will be about numerous health issues and aging but mainly diabetes type 2.
I would like to hear from anyone with the same condition and about their everyday experiences with it.
I'm new at this diabetes thing and was only diagnosed about three months ago.
So I'm not writing this blog as any kind of an expert.
I'm and RN but retired a long time ago
I'm 72!

Here is my first blog I wrote a few days ago.

http://shirleys-world.blogspot.com/2014/08/its-always-something-diabetes.html
Here is a copy of that post.

They call it Pre-Diabetes
I found out a couple months ago that I'm what they are calling "pre-diabetic".

Since then I've found out that it just means that the diabetes was detected in an early phase.

I always thought to myself that I would never be surprised if I got it as it is in my genes on my mother's side.  My aunt and my grandmother both had type 2 diabetes.

But, you know, I am sort of surprised.  Mostly because I've always been thin and pretty active.

Obviously, that doesn't always matter!

I didn't have the signs I always associated with diabetes; thirst and frequent urination.

But I did have other signs that I tried to ignore.

Fatigue, hunger, tingling in hands and feet and at times, blurred vision!
Since I knew I was and probably have always been, addicted to sweets, I started counting carbs!
That is very hard for me, let me tell you.
The only way I could do it successfully is to write down every morsel that I eat and the carb. content.
After 2 months, it became a little easier and I am aware of the carb grams in many things that I eat.
I try to keep it under 180 per day but it was hard.  I want to make it below 150.
Now I read that that's the wrong way to do it.  You can't play around with the count so you end up at a certain number.  You can't eat nothing for lunch and save the grams for a big bedtime snack.  NUTS!
It's better to eat at an even level all day.
I'm also learning how the glycemic index of things comes into play.
This past week I've started testing my numbers with finger sticks and a meter.

This is a hell of a lot to learn and change at 72!  That's for sure.
I denied it at first, then was angry and now I'm rather depressed the more I read!!
But I'm always HUNGRY!!!!

Please, I'd appreciate any thoughts and help from you people in my blogging world that have type 2.
My A1c was 6.2 by the way.

I'll be writing more shortly.

Shirley