NEW YEARS: MONITOR BLOODSUGAR & WEIGHT

[megamania]

Stress has always been a problem for me. I work 70+ hours a week and still can't make the bills. The wife and I have....issues. Sometimes I think this is why my bloodsugar is suddenly coming down on average 50 points. I still have my bills but the stuff between the wife and I are much better.


To make matters worse, my comfort thing to do when depressed / stressed out is food. Pizza, chips and subs mostly. All the high carb stuff. I am fighting depression now as the heating bills, taxes and insurance bills are beginning to stack up against my morgage and utility bills.

 

[Scotley]

There is a lot of information out there about diabeties is on the rise because of lifestyle. They tend to blame it on how we eat, but I wonder if stress isn't as big a factor. I face a lot of the same things you do, but fortunately to a lesser extent. Hope things get better for you soon.

 

[megamania]

92


Yup. I tend to agree that stress is a major player and Americans anyway live a very stressful life. Kinda sucks.

 

[megamania]

Today I will attempt to check myself every two hours to get an idea of the flow. Scary since i know I lean towards checking myself when I will be generally the lowest.


So.....

7:30am a whole whopping 170!

I expected high but not that. I did eat just before going to sleep however at 2am.

 

[kenobi65]

7:30am a whole whopping 170!

I expected high but not that. I did eat just before going to sleep however at 2am.

I wouldn't be too surprised by that. You ate right before going to bed, and only slept for 5 1/2 hours. How much (and what) did you have to eat?

Your sleeping metabolism works very differently from your waking metabolism, and your body has little immediate need for food that you ate right before going to sleep...so the sugar just floats around in your system.

 

[megamania]

02/05/07 7:30am 170
At 1:30am I had two hamburgers, 1 beer and a piece of cake. Today I will attempt to check every two hours to get a feel of the day’s sugar levels.

02/05/07 9:45am 135
No food yet, had 1 Metaforum

02/05/07 10:55am 120
1 hour spent playing Racquet ball

02/05/07 1:00pm 234
Turkey salad sandwich, ½ pringles tube, diet soda and a small handful of sugar free candy

02/05/07 2:45pm 141
Quality time with the wife

02/05/07 5:00pm 138
On a “cushy” job tonight no hard labor

02/05/07 7:00pm 69
Took the rest of my medication after testing at 5:00

02/05/07 9:15pm 167
¼ lb cheese burger w/bacon, small bag of Cheetos and Diet Soda

02/06/07 midnite 69 Hungry

 

[megamania]

well....its educational anyway.


I want to do this a few more times before my Hemoglobin test on the 26th 0r 28th of the month. Try a day I do both jobs and see what I get. I had today off from the store so as to bring the wife to the doctors.

 

[kenobi65]

02/05/07 7:30am 170
At 1:30am I had two hamburgers, 1 beer and a piece of cake.

Well, pardon my french here, but holy carp! No wonder you were at 170. You were sleeping on a gut-bomb (including a bunch of sugar from the cake) for 6 hours.

No food yet, had 1 Metaforum

Just FYI, in case you didn't know this, metformin works better if you take it *with* food. I'm on two a day, and I take them with breakfast and dinner.

 

[Elodan]

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in.

I was diagnosed with Type I (aka Juvenile or Insulin dependent) diabetes when I was 15 and have been taking 2+ insulin shots a day ever since (22+ years = a helluva lot of syringes). I've seen blood sugars in the 400s and had hA1Cs as high as 11 over the years. I've also had surgery for retinopathy (somewhat painful but it's amazing what they can do these days, i.e. that laser surgery, digital blood sugar monitors and other such things that did not exist when I was first diagnosed). My goals/plans are probably similar and yet dissimilar to yours so take from this what you will.

First of all, it's great that you are trying to get your blood sugars and weight to a happy place.

I don't recall seeing anyone mention this, but I think it would be a good idea for you to meet with a nutritionist. They'll help you come up with sensible eating plans that work with your medications (it's very important for type Is to balance the two, not sure about how close it is for type IIs). Do not weigh yourself every day, one a week is plenty. There are all sorts of factors why you might be a little heavier or light from day to day. Don't forget that muscle is heavier than fat. The fit of your clothes is a good indicator of weight loss.

Also, while it's very important to keep your weight and blood sugars (BS) under tight control; do not obsess over them. It's very easy to get frustrated when your BS or weight do not seem to always be exactly where you want them to be (a BS of 123 is still damn good). It then becomes very tempting to say, "what's the point" and not pay attention.

My understanding is that normal is usually 70 - 120 (of course it was 80 - 120 when I was 1st diagnosed). Also, there are test strips you can buy to check for ketones. Again, my understanding is that they usually show up when your BS has been high for a while as they are the result of sugars spilling into the urine.

I'm sure you've heard this all before (I know I have) but I think it's a good thing to realize that others are going through something similar to you and face the same struggles.

Tom

 

[megamania]

I am type II.

I was dignosed roughly 9 years ago while fighting cancer (age 28)

I was good with it then. Spoke to diet specialists and all that but that was alooooong time ago.

During this time I have been forced into a spot of working 70+ hours a week.

For most of the time my wife and I had serious issues. The kind I should have left but couldn't.

I have always been prone to stress and frustration issues

Treated for aniety problems

In the past 6 months I have corrected everything but the money issues which will be with me forever from the looks of things and my blood sugars which I am now trying to correct.

was going to say fix but its too late for that