In December’s diet for/not for diabetic series, I did talk about the three basic things I never eat. There’s a fourth, in a broad category defined by brand. That is McDonald’s.
Maybe it was easier for me to stay away from McDonald’s than it would be for most people because I detest onions in all forms. That’s a plus for me as a diabetic.
My parents noticed since the onset of my diabetes that McDonald’s always triggered high sugar surges no matter what was eaten. Burger King, Burger Chef, and Dairy Queen did not have this effect even with directly comparable meals.
As an adult I noticed that a McDonald’s breakfast did not seem to trigger such high sugars, but I could never figure out the specifics. I thought maybe they added sugar to their frying oils or to the grills themselves. Maybe fries had a sugar coating that leaked into the fryers.
I learned more recently the direct cause. A former manager who was retired due to disabling complications of his Type 2 diabetes spilled the beans.
The sickness uniformly inflicted on diabetics by McDonald’s food is directly related to all the health problems caused by the chain’s food. The secret is not within the fries and oil or meat. It was fully compatible to why the Egg McMuffins never seemed to bother me.
McDonald’s sandwich bread is more this composite of sugar, old-time lard, sesame seeds and just enough wheat for the alien product to be classified as bread. There’s some exaggeration in the way I wrote that for attempted comic delivery, but the general content is accurate enough. The sandwiches may have the taste you want, but eating anything on the luncheon rolls is traitorous to the diabetic body.
The nature of McDonald’s bread-type products explains the sugar spiking tendencies, the calorie content and the cholesterol costs.
Neither Burger King nor Wendy’s ever had such severe effects on me. I state this as a diabetic who always managed his condition by feel, not by sugar numbers. McDonald’s always made me feel unwell while its competitors did not.
I’ve avoided most fast food whenever possible. I lean towards Subway whenever lunch on the run was something of a necessity. The alternatives are just healthier and the vegetables more diverse.
That does not mean I’ve been perfect, but that I choose healthy options whenever possible or productive. If I need a boost before bowling, I am inclined to snatch a couple Burger King cheeseburgers. The food itself does not overwhelm me as McDonald’s will, and Wendy’s burgers are usually dressed with mayonnaise rather than sugar-rich ketchup. When I stop for those burgers, I am eating for the sugar rather than enjoyment. Burger King burgers seem to have gotten smaller yet again.
I do not view McDonald’s as a viable choice under any circumstances.
Showing posts with label Type 2 Diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Type 2 Diabetes. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Bamboozled!
I approach this topic reluctantly, but while discussing diet and food intake, I think I would be remiss not to discuss alcohol on some level. Several people who have passed through my life have been alcoholic, some recovered, some not, and some who have fallen down those twelve steps. A couple people in that last category are among those no longer in my life who I miss the most, so the subject can be somewhat loaded for me as I was not able to help people no matter how much I sincerely wanted to and tried.
I am not judgmental about alcohol use. I drink on occasion but can take it or leave it. I felt a certain propensity towards becoming an alcoholic that I have successfully resisted since that first bottle of blackberry brandy in the woods behind the house at age 15.
The diabetes itself, I think, can increase the propensity. Most diabetics are not consistent in temperament. We can be prone to depression and suffer hormonal changes to our biochemistry. This brings certain vulnerabilities to alcohol dependency or abuse that anyone can suffer. so diabetics who feel these daily desires may not be able to deny inappropriate use of alcohol as non-diabetics.
I do not think diabetics need to totally avoid alcohol or can never safely drink. Health benefits such as found in wine usually apply to diabetics. With wine, the diabetic must remain self aware as the grape source of wine can elevate sugar levels with fructose. Moderation with alcohol should always be followed.
A second hand concern was the core of my perceived need to address alcohol. Just as my experience with low fat milk elevating my sugar level more than whole milk, a diabetic friend tells me that light beers raise his sugar more than regular beers. I never acquired a taste for beer, so do not know how they achieve the reduced fat and/or calorie effects in lute beer. Strictly in a blood sugar effect, I say diabetics need to pay attention to their beer drinking.
Most of my drinking experience is with hard liquor. Basic straight alcohol–rum, gin, vodka, whiskey, etc–will lower blood sugar. But as most of the straight hard stuff is often mixed with fruit juices or liqueur varieties, this effect can be easily overridden or overlooked. Liqueurs contain sugar. contain sugar from their manufacturing and processing. Brandy and Schnapps will often have sucrose added on top of natural fructose.
The effect on sugar levels can be very inconsistent, depending on so many factors that diabetics need to be self analyzing. A shot of vodka will lower blood sugar. A screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) may have the two sugar influences cancel each other out over time, but from my experience he orange juice sugar will take effect first and be lowered by the sugar reducing alcohol. A Fuzzy Navel, which is made with orange juice, vodka and Peach Tree Schnapps, will raise the sugar. How much this effect happens depends on prior consumption sugar levels, and whether the last meal contained a lot of carbs or not, and the proportions in the drink consumed, and activity level.
There’s a lot of variables that are just harder to track with any temporary mental impairment brought by the alcohol consumed.
Diabetics are wise to avoid most alcohol, but drinking always pares down to personal choices and comfort levels, so give this opinion without judgment. The important thing, as with anyone, is to drink responsibly.
I am not judgmental about alcohol use. I drink on occasion but can take it or leave it. I felt a certain propensity towards becoming an alcoholic that I have successfully resisted since that first bottle of blackberry brandy in the woods behind the house at age 15.
The diabetes itself, I think, can increase the propensity. Most diabetics are not consistent in temperament. We can be prone to depression and suffer hormonal changes to our biochemistry. This brings certain vulnerabilities to alcohol dependency or abuse that anyone can suffer. so diabetics who feel these daily desires may not be able to deny inappropriate use of alcohol as non-diabetics.
I do not think diabetics need to totally avoid alcohol or can never safely drink. Health benefits such as found in wine usually apply to diabetics. With wine, the diabetic must remain self aware as the grape source of wine can elevate sugar levels with fructose. Moderation with alcohol should always be followed.
A second hand concern was the core of my perceived need to address alcohol. Just as my experience with low fat milk elevating my sugar level more than whole milk, a diabetic friend tells me that light beers raise his sugar more than regular beers. I never acquired a taste for beer, so do not know how they achieve the reduced fat and/or calorie effects in lute beer. Strictly in a blood sugar effect, I say diabetics need to pay attention to their beer drinking.
Most of my drinking experience is with hard liquor. Basic straight alcohol–rum, gin, vodka, whiskey, etc–will lower blood sugar. But as most of the straight hard stuff is often mixed with fruit juices or liqueur varieties, this effect can be easily overridden or overlooked. Liqueurs contain sugar. contain sugar from their manufacturing and processing. Brandy and Schnapps will often have sucrose added on top of natural fructose.
The effect on sugar levels can be very inconsistent, depending on so many factors that diabetics need to be self analyzing. A shot of vodka will lower blood sugar. A screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) may have the two sugar influences cancel each other out over time, but from my experience he orange juice sugar will take effect first and be lowered by the sugar reducing alcohol. A Fuzzy Navel, which is made with orange juice, vodka and Peach Tree Schnapps, will raise the sugar. How much this effect happens depends on prior consumption sugar levels, and whether the last meal contained a lot of carbs or not, and the proportions in the drink consumed, and activity level.
There’s a lot of variables that are just harder to track with any temporary mental impairment brought by the alcohol consumed.
Diabetics are wise to avoid most alcohol, but drinking always pares down to personal choices and comfort levels, so give this opinion without judgment. The important thing, as with anyone, is to drink responsibly.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Milking the Diet
Cow’s milk has always been a major part of my diet, both as the base in which to eat cold cereal and on its own.
My body can be pretty primal. I don’t fight cravings, and any serious problems with bones or teeth or other problems such as a traumatic toenail injury will make me crave milk. During a time when a low level tooth infection went undiagnosed and treated, the milk craving was at an extreme. I would stop and buy two gallons at 7-11. I would swig from the gallon before driving the six blocks home. When parked, I would swig some more then walk up the two flights. I’d swig some more before putting the two new gallons in the fridge. The gallon I’d be drinking from could be more than half gone before it ever hit the fridge.
My doctor told me this was diabetic thirst. I know better. Milk doesn’t quench thirst; it usually coats the tongue and throat and increases thirst. Those times I have diabetic thirst, only water satisfies.
I never noticed any changes as the milk addictions came and went. About the time I gained a roommate, I switched from whole milk to the "healthier" 1% low fat milk. That was just easier than arguing for what I liked better. I also did not notice any change in my sugar during the time of the change. The 1% habit remained for years.
What has become apparent is that my body cannot metabolize the 1% as well. I’m not talking about lactose intolerance. Low fat milk raises my sugar more than whole milk does.
Shooting up extra insulin after a milk binge could not compensate when I indulged the cravings. When the ankle collapsed due to the Charcot Foot, my milk cravings were at a new high. The night I went into the hospital for the sudden toe infection had been a high milk night. I had eaten little throughout the day, a reasonable dinner, then about a half gallon of 1% before going into the hospital. Having become aware that milk was contributing to higher sugar levels, I had shot up before leaving.
My sugar was still in the 600’s when they tested in the hospital, and I could feel the insulin dose doing nothing.
I’ve since gone back to whole milk. The roommate mostly stays with 1%, but he has always been inconsistent about that and often eats cold cereal with ½ and ½ poured over it.
My sugars have felt better since I made the switch. 1%^ milk actually raises my sugar more than a glass of Kool-Aid will. Whole milk gets absorbed by my body in a more measured way, without absolute sugar surges.
I don’t claim to understand this. Low fat salad dressings definitely have added sugar. Low fat milks do not. Something about the low-fat process changes the milk’s biochemistry and how my diabetic body reacts to it.
This effect as observes in a "whole food" form reinforces my theories that "healthy" dietary changes can be beneficial to the normal dieter but catastrophic to diabetics. Our bodies metabolize changed foods in some fundamental and often unexpected ways. Diabetic diets are best in avoidance of pre-prepared and processed foods. As that can never be fully avoided in this day and age, we need to watch what we eat and what effects any change may bring.
The lower fat and reduced cholesterol benefits don’t amount to much if our blood sugar is always higher for the change.
My body can be pretty primal. I don’t fight cravings, and any serious problems with bones or teeth or other problems such as a traumatic toenail injury will make me crave milk. During a time when a low level tooth infection went undiagnosed and treated, the milk craving was at an extreme. I would stop and buy two gallons at 7-11. I would swig from the gallon before driving the six blocks home. When parked, I would swig some more then walk up the two flights. I’d swig some more before putting the two new gallons in the fridge. The gallon I’d be drinking from could be more than half gone before it ever hit the fridge.
My doctor told me this was diabetic thirst. I know better. Milk doesn’t quench thirst; it usually coats the tongue and throat and increases thirst. Those times I have diabetic thirst, only water satisfies.
I never noticed any changes as the milk addictions came and went. About the time I gained a roommate, I switched from whole milk to the "healthier" 1% low fat milk. That was just easier than arguing for what I liked better. I also did not notice any change in my sugar during the time of the change. The 1% habit remained for years.
What has become apparent is that my body cannot metabolize the 1% as well. I’m not talking about lactose intolerance. Low fat milk raises my sugar more than whole milk does.
Shooting up extra insulin after a milk binge could not compensate when I indulged the cravings. When the ankle collapsed due to the Charcot Foot, my milk cravings were at a new high. The night I went into the hospital for the sudden toe infection had been a high milk night. I had eaten little throughout the day, a reasonable dinner, then about a half gallon of 1% before going into the hospital. Having become aware that milk was contributing to higher sugar levels, I had shot up before leaving.
My sugar was still in the 600’s when they tested in the hospital, and I could feel the insulin dose doing nothing.
I’ve since gone back to whole milk. The roommate mostly stays with 1%, but he has always been inconsistent about that and often eats cold cereal with ½ and ½ poured over it.
My sugars have felt better since I made the switch. 1%^ milk actually raises my sugar more than a glass of Kool-Aid will. Whole milk gets absorbed by my body in a more measured way, without absolute sugar surges.
I don’t claim to understand this. Low fat salad dressings definitely have added sugar. Low fat milks do not. Something about the low-fat process changes the milk’s biochemistry and how my diabetic body reacts to it.
This effect as observes in a "whole food" form reinforces my theories that "healthy" dietary changes can be beneficial to the normal dieter but catastrophic to diabetics. Our bodies metabolize changed foods in some fundamental and often unexpected ways. Diabetic diets are best in avoidance of pre-prepared and processed foods. As that can never be fully avoided in this day and age, we need to watch what we eat and what effects any change may bring.
The lower fat and reduced cholesterol benefits don’t amount to much if our blood sugar is always higher for the change.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Splendid Equality
Here’s a natural bridge from the last post about sodas. I stated how I did not like the aftertaste of soda varieties sweetened with Splenda©. It tastes like sugar soda to me.
I don’t use Splenda, but have stuck with Nutrasweet as an artificial sweetener, in soda, coffee or any other things I feel the need to add an artificial sweetener. I like the taste and am used to it. If in a restaurant where the options are only Splenda or saccharine-based Sweet-n-Low, I will use Splenda.
But I would never allow myself to use Splenda regularly or habitually. This is a precaution based on the processes of my brain I call logic. I have not specifically researched this independently or for this post. My declining eyesight does not really allow me to research it now.
Here’s my precautionary logic:
Splenda is made from true sugar. It was modified to be a no- or low-calorie sweetener that tastes like real sugar. It did succeed in that, as my dislike of Diet Coke with Splenda demonstrated to me. I have no doubt that this is a great product for dieters.
I am not convinced it’s a good idea for diabetics, whether childhood or age advanced. Splenda, as a modified sugar, seems very likely to be processed by the body as sugar. Diabetics may benefit from the reduced calorie aspects, but could easily find that Splenda would raise their sugar as much as real unmodified sugar does.
I never tried Splenda to know if it would have such an effect on me. I saw no reason to risk this and still don’t.
You can call me paranoid, or cite studies that say Splenda is perfectly safe for diabetics. I will still stick with Equal.
Splenda is a new product, so may have effects not yet realized, or, worse, have effects that are being concealed. I do not know if it was ever specifically tested with diabetics. I would assume that any such tests were carried out by the manufacturer and spun to say what the manufacturer wanted without any outright lies.
This same logic, based on a general understanding of basic sciences, kept me from any temptation to try inhalable insulin, which was very shortly pulled from the market for causing lung cancer.
Just as I never thought inhaling a hormone was a good idea, I just don’t see any wisdom of diabetics habitually consuming modified sugar.
I don’t use Splenda, but have stuck with Nutrasweet as an artificial sweetener, in soda, coffee or any other things I feel the need to add an artificial sweetener. I like the taste and am used to it. If in a restaurant where the options are only Splenda or saccharine-based Sweet-n-Low, I will use Splenda.
But I would never allow myself to use Splenda regularly or habitually. This is a precaution based on the processes of my brain I call logic. I have not specifically researched this independently or for this post. My declining eyesight does not really allow me to research it now.
Here’s my precautionary logic:
Splenda is made from true sugar. It was modified to be a no- or low-calorie sweetener that tastes like real sugar. It did succeed in that, as my dislike of Diet Coke with Splenda demonstrated to me. I have no doubt that this is a great product for dieters.
I am not convinced it’s a good idea for diabetics, whether childhood or age advanced. Splenda, as a modified sugar, seems very likely to be processed by the body as sugar. Diabetics may benefit from the reduced calorie aspects, but could easily find that Splenda would raise their sugar as much as real unmodified sugar does.
I never tried Splenda to know if it would have such an effect on me. I saw no reason to risk this and still don’t.
You can call me paranoid, or cite studies that say Splenda is perfectly safe for diabetics. I will still stick with Equal.
Splenda is a new product, so may have effects not yet realized, or, worse, have effects that are being concealed. I do not know if it was ever specifically tested with diabetics. I would assume that any such tests were carried out by the manufacturer and spun to say what the manufacturer wanted without any outright lies.
This same logic, based on a general understanding of basic sciences, kept me from any temptation to try inhalable insulin, which was very shortly pulled from the market for causing lung cancer.
Just as I never thought inhaling a hormone was a good idea, I just don’t see any wisdom of diabetics habitually consuming modified sugar.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Drink Coke, Soon Croak
The last absolutely forbidden food to me is sugared soda. I learned this at 15 ½ years old in my driver’s ed class. My sugar was down, and I drank a quarter to a third of a friend’s can of Coca-Cola. By the time I was home, I was feeling ill from high sugar.
The effect was so pronounced that nearly thirty years later, I cannot comprehend why any diabetic would knowing consume sugar soda. In general, diet sodas are readily available almost anywhere, and the quality of the product has skyrocketed since the advent of Diet Coke n the mid-1980’s. Even with those who are allergic to the phenylamine in Nutra-sweet, the damage sugar soda will do to a diabetic body does not come close to compensating for the allergy.
I seldom order fountain soda in restaurant due to the risks associated with server error or the kitchen staff accidentally hooking up the wrong syrup bag to the diet spigot.
I can drink Kool-Aid. I can drink a restaurant brixed lemonade if my sugar is lower to begin with. Both will raise my sugar, but not to drastic levels. I cannot drink sugared soda under any circumstance.
Not all sugared sodas are the same. Caffeinated varieties such as colas and Mountain Dew contain more sugar than other varieties. Sprite or 7-Up have less sugar than Coke. Ginger le still has even less sugar than lemon/lime, but why would you drink it at all? It’s absolutely empty sugar than can overwhelm your system before you know it.
Tab stick urine sugar testers can be used to determine that you have indeed received diet soda in restaurants. If what you are served tastes like regular soda, it is best to return it and have it removed from the bill and drink water with the meal. Any other action can and usually will amount to an argument with the server that neither side can win, An error could have been made in the syrup bag, and even if fixed, sugar syrup may remain in the line.
If you are a Type 2 who doesn’t like the "aftertaste" of diet soda, you just need to make a longer adjustment. Switch to the diet of a different flavor or brand of soda and drink that exclusively for about a month. Then switch to the diet variety of "your" soda and the particular aftertaste will not be as noticeable. If still available, Splenda varieties of soda will have a very similar aftertaste to regular sodas. After forty years of diet soda, I don’t like the aftertaste of regular sodas, or their Splenda counterparts. This gives me innate understanding of Type 2 diabetics who have difficulty to this particular change necessitated by a new condition, but I still have no sympathy on that one. I am no fragile diabetic and can eat almost anything in moderation, but sugar soda always makes me ill.
The effect was so pronounced that nearly thirty years later, I cannot comprehend why any diabetic would knowing consume sugar soda. In general, diet sodas are readily available almost anywhere, and the quality of the product has skyrocketed since the advent of Diet Coke n the mid-1980’s. Even with those who are allergic to the phenylamine in Nutra-sweet, the damage sugar soda will do to a diabetic body does not come close to compensating for the allergy.
I seldom order fountain soda in restaurant due to the risks associated with server error or the kitchen staff accidentally hooking up the wrong syrup bag to the diet spigot.
I can drink Kool-Aid. I can drink a restaurant brixed lemonade if my sugar is lower to begin with. Both will raise my sugar, but not to drastic levels. I cannot drink sugared soda under any circumstance.
Not all sugared sodas are the same. Caffeinated varieties such as colas and Mountain Dew contain more sugar than other varieties. Sprite or 7-Up have less sugar than Coke. Ginger le still has even less sugar than lemon/lime, but why would you drink it at all? It’s absolutely empty sugar than can overwhelm your system before you know it.
Tab stick urine sugar testers can be used to determine that you have indeed received diet soda in restaurants. If what you are served tastes like regular soda, it is best to return it and have it removed from the bill and drink water with the meal. Any other action can and usually will amount to an argument with the server that neither side can win, An error could have been made in the syrup bag, and even if fixed, sugar syrup may remain in the line.
If you are a Type 2 who doesn’t like the "aftertaste" of diet soda, you just need to make a longer adjustment. Switch to the diet of a different flavor or brand of soda and drink that exclusively for about a month. Then switch to the diet variety of "your" soda and the particular aftertaste will not be as noticeable. If still available, Splenda varieties of soda will have a very similar aftertaste to regular sodas. After forty years of diet soda, I don’t like the aftertaste of regular sodas, or their Splenda counterparts. This gives me innate understanding of Type 2 diabetics who have difficulty to this particular change necessitated by a new condition, but I still have no sympathy on that one. I am no fragile diabetic and can eat almost anything in moderation, but sugar soda always makes me ill.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Diet at Fruition
The talk about the dangers of fruit pies to dieters and diabetics alike emphasizes one point of the "diet series" posts. Some things that are good for dieters are not so good for diabetics. Fruit. These are healthy foods with many benefits, but can easily be eaten into excess. Many menus or meal plans that diabetics receive from dieticians have the impractical inclusions of half a piece of fruit just for this reason. For all the health benefits, fruit contains a lot of natural sugars and can quickly throw diabetics out of whack. Diabetics are often advised to six to twelve servings of fruits and vegetable per day. The emphasis on such plans is to the vegetable, which should be roughly a ration of 2:1.
Diabetics should choose fresh fruit sources. As sweet as fruit is, most "prepared" forms have added sugar. The combination of sucrose and fructose can easily overload the system.
Canned fruits should always be checked and preference should be given to varieties with no sugar added. Apple sauce should always be analyzed for added sugar.
Jellies and jams are usually loaded with sugar and should be used sparingly, if at all.
Fruit juices, particularly "cocktails" also need close examination. Even without added sugar, juice can be high in sugar, particularly grape and orange. Properly made Tang actually has less sugar that whole and pure orange juice. Tang will provide Vitamin C, but not potassium and other benefits of orange juice.
The 100% "pure" Juicy Juice is typically one of the best alternatives, especially the varieties that mix lower natural sugar fruits with the higher. Cranberry juices almost always have sugar added.
As much as I would love to be more precise, my vision is no longer cable of label and ingredient comparison, even online. Fruit is an excellent option for dieter as the water based fructose generally pisses out of the system effectively, and an excess ill often trigger other bodily purges. Diabetics, however, need to limit and monitor consumption in the goal of keeping sugar levels down. This can be easy to forget when dealing with something so healthy.
Diabetics should choose fresh fruit sources. As sweet as fruit is, most "prepared" forms have added sugar. The combination of sucrose and fructose can easily overload the system.
Canned fruits should always be checked and preference should be given to varieties with no sugar added. Apple sauce should always be analyzed for added sugar.
Jellies and jams are usually loaded with sugar and should be used sparingly, if at all.
Fruit juices, particularly "cocktails" also need close examination. Even without added sugar, juice can be high in sugar, particularly grape and orange. Properly made Tang actually has less sugar that whole and pure orange juice. Tang will provide Vitamin C, but not potassium and other benefits of orange juice.
The 100% "pure" Juicy Juice is typically one of the best alternatives, especially the varieties that mix lower natural sugar fruits with the higher. Cranberry juices almost always have sugar added.
As much as I would love to be more precise, my vision is no longer cable of label and ingredient comparison, even online. Fruit is an excellent option for dieter as the water based fructose generally pisses out of the system effectively, and an excess ill often trigger other bodily purges. Diabetics, however, need to limit and monitor consumption in the goal of keeping sugar levels down. This can be easy to forget when dealing with something so healthy.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Covering Condom’s...
Condiments, that is.
Like the low fat varieties of salad dressing or even the vinegarettes that can have major unrealized sugar content, condiments are typically the biggest source of unrealized sugar intake.
Ketchup/catsup is really one of the worst things a diabetic can casually eat. The sugar content exceeds orange juice, and, depending on the manufacturer, can contain multiple sources of sweetener such as both raw sugar and corn syrup. Manufacturers like mixing these two types of sweeteners in all sorts of products to make the taste sweeter without having to list a single sugar ingredient higher on the ingredient list. The United States Food and Drug Administration requires ingredient lists to be ordered from highest content to lowest, so dividing sweetener between multiple sources can be a deceptive way of "reducing" sugar content.
Barbeque sauces should also be reviewed before consumption. Typically, the spicier the condiment, the less sugar it will have, but particularly with barbeque sauces, the ingredient lists must be checked for sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, molasses and maple.
Mustards also follow this trend. A "mild" mustard will almost always have more sugar than a naturally hot mustard.
Restaurant "special" sauces should always be suspect, not just for sugar, but also for salt.
Steak sauces and marinades should also be checked before consumption.
I’m not advocating bland diets of plain food. By my experience, here in America, if something "needs flavor," chefs add sugar or salt or onions and think things much improved. I just hope to help diabetics and dieters be more informed in their choices and to think twice about their decisions. I don’t find catsup to be an enjoyable enough addition to anything to use it. I use barbeque as a more flavorful replacement, but have noticed that some push my sugars up higher than other.
All condiments from relish to basic salt should be checked for sugar. We are so familiar with these products that we may take them for granted and discount the things hidden within.
Like the low fat varieties of salad dressing or even the vinegarettes that can have major unrealized sugar content, condiments are typically the biggest source of unrealized sugar intake.
Ketchup/catsup is really one of the worst things a diabetic can casually eat. The sugar content exceeds orange juice, and, depending on the manufacturer, can contain multiple sources of sweetener such as both raw sugar and corn syrup. Manufacturers like mixing these two types of sweeteners in all sorts of products to make the taste sweeter without having to list a single sugar ingredient higher on the ingredient list. The United States Food and Drug Administration requires ingredient lists to be ordered from highest content to lowest, so dividing sweetener between multiple sources can be a deceptive way of "reducing" sugar content.
Barbeque sauces should also be reviewed before consumption. Typically, the spicier the condiment, the less sugar it will have, but particularly with barbeque sauces, the ingredient lists must be checked for sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, molasses and maple.
Mustards also follow this trend. A "mild" mustard will almost always have more sugar than a naturally hot mustard.
Restaurant "special" sauces should always be suspect, not just for sugar, but also for salt.
Steak sauces and marinades should also be checked before consumption.
I’m not advocating bland diets of plain food. By my experience, here in America, if something "needs flavor," chefs add sugar or salt or onions and think things much improved. I just hope to help diabetics and dieters be more informed in their choices and to think twice about their decisions. I don’t find catsup to be an enjoyable enough addition to anything to use it. I use barbeque as a more flavorful replacement, but have noticed that some push my sugars up higher than other.
All condiments from relish to basic salt should be checked for sugar. We are so familiar with these products that we may take them for granted and discount the things hidden within.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Low Fat, High Sugar
In almost all cases, it is advisable for "healthy folk" to follow diabetic diets. Diabetic diets emphasize a balanced healthy diet. The reverse is not true. Diets for the general population typically are geared for weight loss, the quicker the better. Instead of emphasizing balanced, sustainable diets, they encourage the avoidance of certain foods or food classification, and this is seldom any healthier than bulemia.
One food diabetics need to avoid at all times is low fat or non fat versions of foods. In removing fat content, the manufacturers need to make the products taste good. The easiest and most frequent way they do this is by replacing the reduced fat with sugar.
One statistic I like to cite long after I have forgotten the source is that obese women consumer the most raw dietary sugar via low fat salad dressings. Obviously, diabetics and dieters alike should read labels carefully. What is being saved in low fat varieties may be providing excesses in other areas. Diabetics need to eat to avoid sharp and sudden rises and falls in their sugar levels, so obviously low fat but high sugar options are typically counterproductive to those goals.
Something seems to counteract most healthy choices as widening American population pursues lower fat diets in haphazardly convenient ways. E get information from people trying to sell us something. We embrace ground turkey as a low fat alternative to ground beef without realizing that turkey contains a much higher cholesterol content. They get you coming or going and prey on our choices for convenience.
The best diets are the ones you can consume for the rest of your life, not some fad that will be broken in a matter of weeks.
One food diabetics need to avoid at all times is low fat or non fat versions of foods. In removing fat content, the manufacturers need to make the products taste good. The easiest and most frequent way they do this is by replacing the reduced fat with sugar.
One statistic I like to cite long after I have forgotten the source is that obese women consumer the most raw dietary sugar via low fat salad dressings. Obviously, diabetics and dieters alike should read labels carefully. What is being saved in low fat varieties may be providing excesses in other areas. Diabetics need to eat to avoid sharp and sudden rises and falls in their sugar levels, so obviously low fat but high sugar options are typically counterproductive to those goals.
Something seems to counteract most healthy choices as widening American population pursues lower fat diets in haphazardly convenient ways. E get information from people trying to sell us something. We embrace ground turkey as a low fat alternative to ground beef without realizing that turkey contains a much higher cholesterol content. They get you coming or going and prey on our choices for convenience.
The best diets are the ones you can consume for the rest of your life, not some fad that will be broken in a matter of weeks.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Diet Differences
Popular or common use of the term "diet" does not fit exactly to "diabetic diet." The general term among non-diabetic populace carries an indication that the diet can be ended or suspended at any time. Diabetics just can’t do that. Every sugar spike, no matter how temporary, adds to the debilitating effects than can plague diabetics.
Diabetic diet must become a lifestyle change of healthy eating and exercise. The diabetic cannot take a week off from the diet. Upon diagnosis, the diabetic must cat back and cut out of their diets and routines. Forever.
That Boston Creme donut enjoyed once a week? Gone.
Diet soda is no longer an option, but the necessity of soda.
McDonald’s is a place that should never be entered again.
"Healthy" people wanting a diet routine could do well to look at diabetic allowances and routines. Diabetics cannot base their diets of fat cutting, calorie counting weight loss "tricks." Too many of those options just are not healthy.
Diabetic diet must become a lifestyle change of healthy eating and exercise. The diabetic cannot take a week off from the diet. Upon diagnosis, the diabetic must cat back and cut out of their diets and routines. Forever.
That Boston Creme donut enjoyed once a week? Gone.
Diet soda is no longer an option, but the necessity of soda.
McDonald’s is a place that should never be entered again.
"Healthy" people wanting a diet routine could do well to look at diabetic allowances and routines. Diabetics cannot base their diets of fat cutting, calorie counting weight loss "tricks." Too many of those options just are not healthy.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Pissing the Days Away
(Feeling it Out: The High Sugar, Part 1)
The most obvious sign of high sugar is the most obvious symptom of the onset of juvenile diabetes itself the insatiable thirst and frequent to constant urination. This makes sense with basic understanding of how the body works. The body senses the excess sugar as waste material that must be purged. It makes you thirsty to give itself the raw material of water to ease and speed the removal. In Type 2 onset, this is also present as a condition and symptom, but less prominent. Not being able to sleep through the night without a need to get up and pee is one of many subtle signs.
With some but surprisingly little exaggeration, when my sugar is really high–and I do not let it stay that way–you could pretty much stand me over a toilet with a garden hose to my mouth. At a critical high I remember (caused by having forgotten to take the insulin before work and not realizing it until after having eaten) I had to go every fifteen minutes. I’ve had nighttime surges that had me awake more frequently than every hour, and more frequently than every half hour if unable to get fully back to sleep in between trips.
This is not a comfortable situation. I do not hesitate to shoot up to resolve the problem. If I get up a second time in the night ro pee, I shoot up no matter what. Often I shoot up if I wake at all without having an "innocent" cause such as having drank a lot just before bed. Most of the time, barring other issues such as insomnia, I sleep through. I feel healthy when I do that.
This is part of the very difficult balancing act. Other people often do not understand the true difficulty involved in "controlling" the blood sugar and maintaining balance.
If my sugar is too low, I cannot sleep at all. A night of higher sugar does not provide restful sleep. For purposes of sleep "normal" hours in duration and the actual time, I rest best when the sugar is starting at (by feel) a somewhat elevated level but is on the way down. Daytime function can also feel best under those circumstances.
Most of my sugar control problems have been the at night, either too high or too low, one extreme or the other.
Because I have managed by feel rather than testing numbers for so long, I tend to notice changes in my system rather then effects on numbers. One of my HP’s weaknesses is a tendency to blame any symptom on the sugar instead of other possible factors. Prozac acts as a diarrhetic on my system, creating excess urine from the amount of water taken with the pill. My GP waved that off as urination due entirely to high sugar. My body says otherwise in function, particularly as that first draining after a Prozac pill tends to be very foamy.
While the thirst and urine cycle is the most obvious sign, I always note that diabetics can get thirsty or piss more for other reasons. A handful of pretzels can trigger great thirst for the salt but not actually raise the blood sugar. Diet soda can be a diarrhetic, causing urination in quantities beyond the amount of fluid consumed.
The most obvious sign of high sugar is the most obvious symptom of the onset of juvenile diabetes itself the insatiable thirst and frequent to constant urination. This makes sense with basic understanding of how the body works. The body senses the excess sugar as waste material that must be purged. It makes you thirsty to give itself the raw material of water to ease and speed the removal. In Type 2 onset, this is also present as a condition and symptom, but less prominent. Not being able to sleep through the night without a need to get up and pee is one of many subtle signs.
With some but surprisingly little exaggeration, when my sugar is really high–and I do not let it stay that way–you could pretty much stand me over a toilet with a garden hose to my mouth. At a critical high I remember (caused by having forgotten to take the insulin before work and not realizing it until after having eaten) I had to go every fifteen minutes. I’ve had nighttime surges that had me awake more frequently than every hour, and more frequently than every half hour if unable to get fully back to sleep in between trips.
This is not a comfortable situation. I do not hesitate to shoot up to resolve the problem. If I get up a second time in the night ro pee, I shoot up no matter what. Often I shoot up if I wake at all without having an "innocent" cause such as having drank a lot just before bed. Most of the time, barring other issues such as insomnia, I sleep through. I feel healthy when I do that.
This is part of the very difficult balancing act. Other people often do not understand the true difficulty involved in "controlling" the blood sugar and maintaining balance.
If my sugar is too low, I cannot sleep at all. A night of higher sugar does not provide restful sleep. For purposes of sleep "normal" hours in duration and the actual time, I rest best when the sugar is starting at (by feel) a somewhat elevated level but is on the way down. Daytime function can also feel best under those circumstances.
Most of my sugar control problems have been the at night, either too high or too low, one extreme or the other.
Because I have managed by feel rather than testing numbers for so long, I tend to notice changes in my system rather then effects on numbers. One of my HP’s weaknesses is a tendency to blame any symptom on the sugar instead of other possible factors. Prozac acts as a diarrhetic on my system, creating excess urine from the amount of water taken with the pill. My GP waved that off as urination due entirely to high sugar. My body says otherwise in function, particularly as that first draining after a Prozac pill tends to be very foamy.
While the thirst and urine cycle is the most obvious sign, I always note that diabetics can get thirsty or piss more for other reasons. A handful of pretzels can trigger great thirst for the salt but not actually raise the blood sugar. Diet soda can be a diarrhetic, causing urination in quantities beyond the amount of fluid consumed.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Blood Sugar Downer
The change in Wal-Mart generic insulin manufacture has brought more frequent periods of discomfort with "low" sugar levels. I use quotes on "low" as acknowledgment that this is by feel, not by blood testing numbers.
Overall the sugar has felt lower with the Novolin than it had been with the Humulin formula. Since the toe problem that landed me in the hospital in the spring, I was making a concentrated effort for an overall lowering of the blood sugar. The change in insulin seems to have made a sharper change in that direction, unfortunately at a time when I was looking to slowly raise it again so I would feel overall better health.
People, including my GP, do not understand that last statement. Diabetics do. I do not feel as good when the sugars are lower. Diabetics who are good doobies and paint by numbers also report that they feel less well when their sugars are at better numbers. I’m still waiting for that lucky day when I meet a doctor who understands that how a patient feels is somewhat more important than what test numbers statistically say about their health. At least two of the three other diabetics with whom I have most recently spoken with in general terms report that they primary care givers and/or diabetic specialists have railed against missed target numbers without regard to how the patients were actually feeling, so I am not holding my breath on meeting the more compassionate and logical doctor. Both of those acquaintances were discouraged that no effort seems enough.
I have never recovered the feelings of wellness and functionality I possessed prior to "taking care of myself better." By the full chains of events, I would not be blind nor crippled by the collapsed ankle via Charcot foot if I had not started taking care of myself better. I My numbers had risen again and things got better, but never back to where they had been, even discounting the blind thing and the cripple thing.
I did make a renewed effort on my own after this spring’s hospitalization. The Charcot foot had nearly totally impeded circulation in the foot, allowing for the sudden infection and almost instantaneous gangrene and the collapse of the bone structure that has permanently impaired my ankle. My largest steps were to eliminate as much of the big (and hidden) source of sugar in my diet as possible, and letting my sugar levels stay at critically low feeling longer than I usually would.
I don’t need an A1C test to know I have succeeded. I don’t feel as well as I did prior to the hospitalization. Fatigue is constant. When the sugar hits a low feel level, the physical symptoms hit much sooner after the temperament issues than they used to. Those temperament issues are more severe and the "calm" times between are periods of severe depression that is biochemically impacted beyond the constant "useless gimp" feelings that are situational depression that anyone would feel in my situation. My thoughts are usually slower. I tire more easily. Stamina is gone. Neuropathy burns are more frequent. The depression had reached such an abyss that I found no choice other than to resume antidepressants.
Does this sound like healthier living?
It sure don’t feel like it.
Overall the sugar has felt lower with the Novolin than it had been with the Humulin formula. Since the toe problem that landed me in the hospital in the spring, I was making a concentrated effort for an overall lowering of the blood sugar. The change in insulin seems to have made a sharper change in that direction, unfortunately at a time when I was looking to slowly raise it again so I would feel overall better health.
People, including my GP, do not understand that last statement. Diabetics do. I do not feel as good when the sugars are lower. Diabetics who are good doobies and paint by numbers also report that they feel less well when their sugars are at better numbers. I’m still waiting for that lucky day when I meet a doctor who understands that how a patient feels is somewhat more important than what test numbers statistically say about their health. At least two of the three other diabetics with whom I have most recently spoken with in general terms report that they primary care givers and/or diabetic specialists have railed against missed target numbers without regard to how the patients were actually feeling, so I am not holding my breath on meeting the more compassionate and logical doctor. Both of those acquaintances were discouraged that no effort seems enough.
I have never recovered the feelings of wellness and functionality I possessed prior to "taking care of myself better." By the full chains of events, I would not be blind nor crippled by the collapsed ankle via Charcot foot if I had not started taking care of myself better. I My numbers had risen again and things got better, but never back to where they had been, even discounting the blind thing and the cripple thing.
I did make a renewed effort on my own after this spring’s hospitalization. The Charcot foot had nearly totally impeded circulation in the foot, allowing for the sudden infection and almost instantaneous gangrene and the collapse of the bone structure that has permanently impaired my ankle. My largest steps were to eliminate as much of the big (and hidden) source of sugar in my diet as possible, and letting my sugar levels stay at critically low feeling longer than I usually would.
I don’t need an A1C test to know I have succeeded. I don’t feel as well as I did prior to the hospitalization. Fatigue is constant. When the sugar hits a low feel level, the physical symptoms hit much sooner after the temperament issues than they used to. Those temperament issues are more severe and the "calm" times between are periods of severe depression that is biochemically impacted beyond the constant "useless gimp" feelings that are situational depression that anyone would feel in my situation. My thoughts are usually slower. I tire more easily. Stamina is gone. Neuropathy burns are more frequent. The depression had reached such an abyss that I found no choice other than to resume antidepressants.
Does this sound like healthier living?
It sure don’t feel like it.
Feeling it Out: Wal-Mart Generic Insulin Change
With a few more weeks of (mostly) twice daily dosages under my skin, I think there are larger differences to the Novo Nordisk manufactured Novolin from the generic it replaced, Eli Lilly Company Humulin. I report these changes from feel, not from home monitoring of blood sugar numbers. I am also talking about the time release "N" variety and have not begun using the instant "R."
The Novolin seems to peak less often in the day. The humulin would spurt in several times over twelve hours and then it was just gone, fully absorbed and needing replenishment. The Novolin peaks are stronger than the humulin peaks. This makes sense with the lesser frequency of peaks.
The first surge is strongest and is not always easily leveled.
The Novolin lasts longer than the 12 hours I was used to with the humulin. That strength of the first peak after the injection may be that the first of the latest injection is combining with the last of the prior injection.
The change has brought more frequent periods of discomfort with "low" sugar levels. Overall I feel that the sugar is lower than it had been with the humulin formula. Since the toe problem that landed me in the hospital in the spring, I was making a concentrated effort for an overall lowering of the blood sugar. The change in insulin seems to have made a sharper change in that direction, unfortunately at a time when I was looking to slowly raise it again so I would feel overall better health.
Diabetic patients do need to watch themselves more closely when adapting to the new generic.
The Novolin seems to peak less often in the day. The humulin would spurt in several times over twelve hours and then it was just gone, fully absorbed and needing replenishment. The Novolin peaks are stronger than the humulin peaks. This makes sense with the lesser frequency of peaks.
The first surge is strongest and is not always easily leveled.
The Novolin lasts longer than the 12 hours I was used to with the humulin. That strength of the first peak after the injection may be that the first of the latest injection is combining with the last of the prior injection.
The change has brought more frequent periods of discomfort with "low" sugar levels. Overall I feel that the sugar is lower than it had been with the humulin formula. Since the toe problem that landed me in the hospital in the spring, I was making a concentrated effort for an overall lowering of the blood sugar. The change in insulin seems to have made a sharper change in that direction, unfortunately at a time when I was looking to slowly raise it again so I would feel overall better health.
Diabetic patients do need to watch themselves more closely when adapting to the new generic.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Untested Theory
I do not test my blood sugars for reasons that make logical sense to me, including the hastening of neuropathy problems in the fingers and moral outrage that pharmaceutical companies’ financial interests take priority in this country over the long term interests of patients. Other alternatives exist but are suppressed for the profitability of test strips and lancets. I am not alone in this; one of the doctors I saw about a specialized problem in the past year is a Type 2 diabetic who also does not home test. Like me, he relies on A1C tests to gauge his progress or lack thereof.
Readers, however, should keep in mind some things about this (non) practice. The first is that I fell into it out of necessity during financially destitute times, not an intentional rebellion from the inescapable status of being diabetic. I had been diabetic for fifteen or more years by that time and paid attention to what my body would tell me.
Non-testing could be dangerous to those who can’t or won’t pay attention to their bodies’ telltale signals and I do not advocate the practice even while discussing it. Knowing the signs can take time, so newer diabetics need to go through the regimen up until a time that other home testing alternatives are made available.
I stopped even urine testing due to financial constraints sometime around 1989 to 1990 and managed the sugar by feel. One key aspect of this, something I had to "unlearn" from prior diabetic education and parental control. In that abandoned approach, the theory impressed on me was that the insulin was taken only at certain times and the rest of your life was to be planned around that until the nest scheduled dose. I think most people can imagine the post high school difficulties in this, with college schedules and variable work schedules. Employers certainly understood it: I had been told outright in 1987 that I would not have been hired if the boss had known I was diabetic. Wonder how many bosses since just never said so outright after such statements became illegal.
The new approach I adopted was to react to what my body told me. This is not just a matter of eating when my body said it needed food, but shooting up with more insulin if my body said it needed that. This had not been an approved method of treatment growing up. Starving the patient was the directive on food, and taking insulin outside the approved times was also not allowed. This mentality left me with long stretches of feeling uncomfortable and probably triggered some aspects of old bodily damage.
My refusal to test my sugars outside occasional A1C lab tests (the same method that doctor I mentioned uses) does not equal not taking care of myself or emotional denial of my condition. I feel uncomfortable whenever the body feels that the sugar is too high or too low, and will make efforts to moderate extreme feelings.
But as I managed by feel for more than two decades, my body diverged entirely from the medically approved number scales of any blood testing. I feel good at what are considered to be horrifically dangerous numbers. Any and all efforts to control the sugar by the numbers has resulted in the manifestation of side effects and complications. I felt healthier when I was a purely "bad diabetic" by professional standards. In the decades of no testing, even by A1C, my body regulated itself to a place it wanted to be and I could fully function in every way, but the numbers rose to levels that make my GP wonder why I had never been in a coma. I had managed by feel and in light of the problems that have developed as a result of "taking care of myself better," I wish I had stayed with the "lifestyle" that had worked so well for me for so long.
Readers, however, should keep in mind some things about this (non) practice. The first is that I fell into it out of necessity during financially destitute times, not an intentional rebellion from the inescapable status of being diabetic. I had been diabetic for fifteen or more years by that time and paid attention to what my body would tell me.
Non-testing could be dangerous to those who can’t or won’t pay attention to their bodies’ telltale signals and I do not advocate the practice even while discussing it. Knowing the signs can take time, so newer diabetics need to go through the regimen up until a time that other home testing alternatives are made available.
I stopped even urine testing due to financial constraints sometime around 1989 to 1990 and managed the sugar by feel. One key aspect of this, something I had to "unlearn" from prior diabetic education and parental control. In that abandoned approach, the theory impressed on me was that the insulin was taken only at certain times and the rest of your life was to be planned around that until the nest scheduled dose. I think most people can imagine the post high school difficulties in this, with college schedules and variable work schedules. Employers certainly understood it: I had been told outright in 1987 that I would not have been hired if the boss had known I was diabetic. Wonder how many bosses since just never said so outright after such statements became illegal.
The new approach I adopted was to react to what my body told me. This is not just a matter of eating when my body said it needed food, but shooting up with more insulin if my body said it needed that. This had not been an approved method of treatment growing up. Starving the patient was the directive on food, and taking insulin outside the approved times was also not allowed. This mentality left me with long stretches of feeling uncomfortable and probably triggered some aspects of old bodily damage.
My refusal to test my sugars outside occasional A1C lab tests (the same method that doctor I mentioned uses) does not equal not taking care of myself or emotional denial of my condition. I feel uncomfortable whenever the body feels that the sugar is too high or too low, and will make efforts to moderate extreme feelings.
But as I managed by feel for more than two decades, my body diverged entirely from the medically approved number scales of any blood testing. I feel good at what are considered to be horrifically dangerous numbers. Any and all efforts to control the sugar by the numbers has resulted in the manifestation of side effects and complications. I felt healthier when I was a purely "bad diabetic" by professional standards. In the decades of no testing, even by A1C, my body regulated itself to a place it wanted to be and I could fully function in every way, but the numbers rose to levels that make my GP wonder why I had never been in a coma. I had managed by feel and in light of the problems that have developed as a result of "taking care of myself better," I wish I had stayed with the "lifestyle" that had worked so well for me for so long.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Burns and Blood
It’s easy to confuse the specifics among generalities and similarities. I have caught myself doing this recently in causes and effects within my legs. I don’t think aspects of this mistake hit the blog, but it’s better to be clear.
A diabetic is inclined to have many problems with their extremities. My earliest side effects of being diabetic related to my legs below the knee. My lower legs easily cut or scrape with the slightest aggravating touch. These minor mishaps generally heal well but do scar easily. The other longstanding sign is caused by my good habit of protecting my feet with constant covering of quality socks. I should all along have been using socks that did not constrict around my ankles as much. I should have been choosing socks with less upper elasticity. The tighter socks had a tendency to rub constantly on my legs. My legs could rival the hairiness of a spider’s legs, except that socks tend to shear away hairs along the lower shins and ankles. The natural indent behind the knobby bone of the ankle maintains a tuft of hair because the socks stretch over the area rather than rub against it.
These quirks result from diabetics’ reduced circulation. Neuropathy is a completely different affects the same areas as reduced circulation, but is a completely different thing. Neuropathy is a condition of the nervous system. Circulation is blood flow. Reduced circulation hinders the main function of the blood stream: delivering oxygen throughout the body.
Neuropathy causes different problems. Usually the first sign is reduced sensations of touch and feeling. The diabetic may not feel minor cuts or other injuries to the feet and lower legs and the hands. This can be dangerous as unknown injuries will remain untreated. The poor circulation conspires with the neuropathy to raise these risks of infection and gangrene, as I perilously learned last May, as recounted in most of the entries under the "Sturdy Hospital" label.
The second most common sign of neuropathy is burning sensations. This generally occurs as the problem advances. It feels as though someone took a wooden match, lit it, then pressed it against my skim. The burns may throbs. I never had this problem until after "taking care of myself better" by working with my GP starting in 2005.
The burns will often throb in time with my pulse, and may synchronize with points of pain in different locations. The pain is not generally constant, and occurs more often at night. It can manifest from the toetips and up the legs to the waist.
My sugars have been up and down over the past few years in self-comparison. Oddly enough, I feel the burns when my A1C blood tests are higher.
A diabetic is inclined to have many problems with their extremities. My earliest side effects of being diabetic related to my legs below the knee. My lower legs easily cut or scrape with the slightest aggravating touch. These minor mishaps generally heal well but do scar easily. The other longstanding sign is caused by my good habit of protecting my feet with constant covering of quality socks. I should all along have been using socks that did not constrict around my ankles as much. I should have been choosing socks with less upper elasticity. The tighter socks had a tendency to rub constantly on my legs. My legs could rival the hairiness of a spider’s legs, except that socks tend to shear away hairs along the lower shins and ankles. The natural indent behind the knobby bone of the ankle maintains a tuft of hair because the socks stretch over the area rather than rub against it.
These quirks result from diabetics’ reduced circulation. Neuropathy is a completely different affects the same areas as reduced circulation, but is a completely different thing. Neuropathy is a condition of the nervous system. Circulation is blood flow. Reduced circulation hinders the main function of the blood stream: delivering oxygen throughout the body.
Neuropathy causes different problems. Usually the first sign is reduced sensations of touch and feeling. The diabetic may not feel minor cuts or other injuries to the feet and lower legs and the hands. This can be dangerous as unknown injuries will remain untreated. The poor circulation conspires with the neuropathy to raise these risks of infection and gangrene, as I perilously learned last May, as recounted in most of the entries under the "Sturdy Hospital" label.
The second most common sign of neuropathy is burning sensations. This generally occurs as the problem advances. It feels as though someone took a wooden match, lit it, then pressed it against my skim. The burns may throbs. I never had this problem until after "taking care of myself better" by working with my GP starting in 2005.
The burns will often throb in time with my pulse, and may synchronize with points of pain in different locations. The pain is not generally constant, and occurs more often at night. It can manifest from the toetips and up the legs to the waist.
My sugars have been up and down over the past few years in self-comparison. Oddly enough, I feel the burns when my A1C blood tests are higher.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Kidney Pie
Kidney disease as part and parcel of the entire nightmare of diabetes is easy to understand with a little knowledge of how kidneys work. In essence, they are filled with blood vessels.
Learning that simple fact also tied the connection between blood pressure and kidneys in my brain. I had not been able to grasp the logic of the kidney-blood pressure correlations even asking questions of doctors. I knew that blood pressure medications are usually also beneficial to kidney health.
The tiny blood vessels within the kidneys act as the actual filters for waste products in the blood. The kidneys expel the waste through urine.
Those facts make a lot of the diabetes connections self evident to me.
The primary symptom of high blood sugar in diabetes is severe thirst and frequent urination. The kidneys sense too much waste sugar and make you thirsty to give them the fluid they need to expel the waste at peak efficiency.
Constant high blood sugar damages blood vessels. This damage is most apparent in retinapathy and circulation. Kidneys follow closely behind these problems. Knowing that the blood vessels in the kidneys are tiny makes it quite understandable that they can be damaged easily.
High blood sugars thicken the blood. The thicker blood passes less easily, especially through smaller vessels. Like Coca-Cola that was wiped but not washed from a surface, the blood becomes sticky, and this further reduces the blood’s ability to pass freely. The smaller vessels and passageways clog. Weaker blood vessels can break, restricted vessels can increase blood pressure, and smaller vessels will clog or reduce circulation, which deprives body parts of needed oxygen.
Constant high blood sugar overworks the kidneys on a regular basis and thus can hasten damage just by effectively wearing out the kidneys with overwork. The waste products that the kidneys remove from the blood slide through "filter holes" in the kidney. The waste stays molecularly smaller than protein and healthy blood cells. Overwork of the kidneys essentially enlarges the holes over time and allows good protein molecules to pass into the urine.
The lab test for kidney function and performance is usually a simple test. The lab checks for amounts of protein in the urine. The kidneys are supposed to filter waste but retain protein. The presence of protein in the urine indicates a problem. This really is the best way to determine kidney problem at a stage where further development of the problem can be kept in check.
Other "early symptoms" of kidney disease are vague and overlaps with too many other potential problems with the body. The overlap is also high with other symptoms that diabetics may feel on a daily basis without kidney problems. These general symptoms include fatigue, poor appetite, poor concentration, insomnia or other sleeping difficulties, general weakness, and upset stomach.
The best preventative maintenance for kidneys is to drink a lot of water regularly, not just when your body says it’s thirsty.
Learning that simple fact also tied the connection between blood pressure and kidneys in my brain. I had not been able to grasp the logic of the kidney-blood pressure correlations even asking questions of doctors. I knew that blood pressure medications are usually also beneficial to kidney health.
The tiny blood vessels within the kidneys act as the actual filters for waste products in the blood. The kidneys expel the waste through urine.
Those facts make a lot of the diabetes connections self evident to me.
The primary symptom of high blood sugar in diabetes is severe thirst and frequent urination. The kidneys sense too much waste sugar and make you thirsty to give them the fluid they need to expel the waste at peak efficiency.
Constant high blood sugar damages blood vessels. This damage is most apparent in retinapathy and circulation. Kidneys follow closely behind these problems. Knowing that the blood vessels in the kidneys are tiny makes it quite understandable that they can be damaged easily.
High blood sugars thicken the blood. The thicker blood passes less easily, especially through smaller vessels. Like Coca-Cola that was wiped but not washed from a surface, the blood becomes sticky, and this further reduces the blood’s ability to pass freely. The smaller vessels and passageways clog. Weaker blood vessels can break, restricted vessels can increase blood pressure, and smaller vessels will clog or reduce circulation, which deprives body parts of needed oxygen.
Constant high blood sugar overworks the kidneys on a regular basis and thus can hasten damage just by effectively wearing out the kidneys with overwork. The waste products that the kidneys remove from the blood slide through "filter holes" in the kidney. The waste stays molecularly smaller than protein and healthy blood cells. Overwork of the kidneys essentially enlarges the holes over time and allows good protein molecules to pass into the urine.
The lab test for kidney function and performance is usually a simple test. The lab checks for amounts of protein in the urine. The kidneys are supposed to filter waste but retain protein. The presence of protein in the urine indicates a problem. This really is the best way to determine kidney problem at a stage where further development of the problem can be kept in check.
Other "early symptoms" of kidney disease are vague and overlaps with too many other potential problems with the body. The overlap is also high with other symptoms that diabetics may feel on a daily basis without kidney problems. These general symptoms include fatigue, poor appetite, poor concentration, insomnia or other sleeping difficulties, general weakness, and upset stomach.
The best preventative maintenance for kidneys is to drink a lot of water regularly, not just when your body says it’s thirsty.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Cure Found!
I have long had the view that diabetes should be an easy thing to cure. Do a pancreas transplant. I figured there might be factors I don’t know which may make such solutions more complicated or risky or impossible than I realize, but I always figured my cynical assumption fit this lack of solution best: Pharmaceutical companies and other for-profit medical industries do not want the cash cow that is diabetes cured. Their desperation to hold onto income sources is more important than the comfort and well being of patients who are a captured market for the products and services. Manufacturers of diabetic products are the biggest donors to diabetic organizations. With their money to the charities comes their power over the charities. Their money via lobbyists and research gives power over the government and their agencies. any people, particularly doctors, are quick to call me cynical or paranoid.
My response is one of two old quotes about paranoia: "Even paranoids have real enemies" and "A paranoid is someone with all the facts at his disposal."
While worrying myself that a bad combination of probably separate digestive tract issues was diabetic kidney problem, I was perused a website:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/diabetickidneydisease.htm
From this site I picked up an offhand quote at the very bottom of the article before references are listed,
"In some centres a transplant of the pancreas is done at the same time as the kidney transplant – removing the need for insulin or tablet treatment for diabetes."
So, they are already doing pancreas transplants. They are not doing them here in capitalist America, but a country with an evil "scourge" in medicine, a socialist system.
I’ve never found this information when looking for it directly. Finding it in such an offhand and almost accidental way certainly feeds my paranoia.
My response is one of two old quotes about paranoia: "Even paranoids have real enemies" and "A paranoid is someone with all the facts at his disposal."
While worrying myself that a bad combination of probably separate digestive tract issues was diabetic kidney problem, I was perused a website:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/diabetickidneydisease.htm
From this site I picked up an offhand quote at the very bottom of the article before references are listed,
"In some centres a transplant of the pancreas is done at the same time as the kidney transplant – removing the need for insulin or tablet treatment for diabetes."
So, they are already doing pancreas transplants. They are not doing them here in capitalist America, but a country with an evil "scourge" in medicine, a socialist system.
I’ve never found this information when looking for it directly. Finding it in such an offhand and almost accidental way certainly feeds my paranoia.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Type 2 at 72
I had occasion to recently talk to a friend who has been a Type 2 diabetic for almost 10 years. He is on insulin shots and had "well being" issues during a time when his doctor would prescribe any designer insulin. He also does not feel as well when his sugars are lower.
He most definitely developed Type 2 diabetes for dietary excesses. He lost a lot of weight when he started the diabetes regimen, but never saw true success with diabetes management until he stopped experimenting with oral medications and went to the needle. I have him solidly in mind whenever I advise anyone to skip the designer oral medications that doctors and their pharmaceutical sponsors push and go right for the needle.
He is not someone "similar" to me but of a different generation. People, including sometimes his own (adult) children, consider him kind of stupid. He speaks often and too much, sometimes approaching levels of a gossiping housewife, but he does not speak well. He is not well educated, and I am not even certain he graduated high school. His presentation may not be polished and of high vocabulary, but he is not stupid. He is quite intelligent in that life experience way.
He tests his sugars via home meter twice a day these days. He used to do it far more often. He rotates fingers, using all ten. He’s experimented with finger adjustment with an innate curiosity that should tell anyone that this is no stupid person. His experimentation showed him that even the finger used can alter results of the meter test. A 100 on the middle finger might be a 103 at the thumb or a 98 at the pinky. "Never callin’ a 200 when it’s there at 120, but it’s different," he assured me.
He uses all ten fingers in rotation. "I went like a week or so only using one finger," he told me. He was noticing decline in his sense of touch, so was looking to reduce that in most of his hands. "The entire fingertip turned black," he said. This told his common seismical brain to rotate fingers. He knows the number will be off from finger to finger, but only by a few points, and always "in the ballpark."
He has to show more caution with everything he does. He has so little sensation left in his fingertips that he is prone to drop dishes when washing them. Other times, "just for no reason" his fingertips will burn from the inside.
I told him, with my usual cynical humor, that he should send thank you letters to One Touch Ultra and Accu-chek. After telling me I always was a smart ass, he told me that the fingertips problem makes writing more difficult than it’s worth.
This diabetic’s problems that I bring up is not "just" a problem of diabetes. Diabetes reduces circulation and other metabolic and neurological functions, but did not spontaneously cause the extent of neuropathy he suffers. The home meter testing caused the actual problems.
I urge anyone and everyone to talk about all treatments with their doctors and to research every aspect on their own. As debilitating as diabetes can be on its own, many of the treatments cause their own problems. Regular readers of the blog know that my own experiences have taught me these lessons, often in irreversible ways. PRP laser treatment can cause the very problems it is supposed to prevent. Routine diabetes eye care with dilation of the pupils then strobing with intense light can cause light sensitivity. Home blood sugar testing can cause neuropathy. These treatment will not change if patients follow recommendations like sheep, without thought or input of their own. Without patient input and with a love of the perks and enticements, doctors will not question the information that the pharmaceutical companies provide. Without pressure, the [pharmaceuticals will never relinquish profits, even when those are derived from the discomfort and detriment of the patients (and their government) paying for it.
He most definitely developed Type 2 diabetes for dietary excesses. He lost a lot of weight when he started the diabetes regimen, but never saw true success with diabetes management until he stopped experimenting with oral medications and went to the needle. I have him solidly in mind whenever I advise anyone to skip the designer oral medications that doctors and their pharmaceutical sponsors push and go right for the needle.
He is not someone "similar" to me but of a different generation. People, including sometimes his own (adult) children, consider him kind of stupid. He speaks often and too much, sometimes approaching levels of a gossiping housewife, but he does not speak well. He is not well educated, and I am not even certain he graduated high school. His presentation may not be polished and of high vocabulary, but he is not stupid. He is quite intelligent in that life experience way.
He tests his sugars via home meter twice a day these days. He used to do it far more often. He rotates fingers, using all ten. He’s experimented with finger adjustment with an innate curiosity that should tell anyone that this is no stupid person. His experimentation showed him that even the finger used can alter results of the meter test. A 100 on the middle finger might be a 103 at the thumb or a 98 at the pinky. "Never callin’ a 200 when it’s there at 120, but it’s different," he assured me.
He uses all ten fingers in rotation. "I went like a week or so only using one finger," he told me. He was noticing decline in his sense of touch, so was looking to reduce that in most of his hands. "The entire fingertip turned black," he said. This told his common seismical brain to rotate fingers. He knows the number will be off from finger to finger, but only by a few points, and always "in the ballpark."
He has to show more caution with everything he does. He has so little sensation left in his fingertips that he is prone to drop dishes when washing them. Other times, "just for no reason" his fingertips will burn from the inside.
I told him, with my usual cynical humor, that he should send thank you letters to One Touch Ultra and Accu-chek. After telling me I always was a smart ass, he told me that the fingertips problem makes writing more difficult than it’s worth.
This diabetic’s problems that I bring up is not "just" a problem of diabetes. Diabetes reduces circulation and other metabolic and neurological functions, but did not spontaneously cause the extent of neuropathy he suffers. The home meter testing caused the actual problems.
I urge anyone and everyone to talk about all treatments with their doctors and to research every aspect on their own. As debilitating as diabetes can be on its own, many of the treatments cause their own problems. Regular readers of the blog know that my own experiences have taught me these lessons, often in irreversible ways. PRP laser treatment can cause the very problems it is supposed to prevent. Routine diabetes eye care with dilation of the pupils then strobing with intense light can cause light sensitivity. Home blood sugar testing can cause neuropathy. These treatment will not change if patients follow recommendations like sheep, without thought or input of their own. Without patient input and with a love of the perks and enticements, doctors will not question the information that the pharmaceutical companies provide. Without pressure, the [pharmaceuticals will never relinquish profits, even when those are derived from the discomfort and detriment of the patients (and their government) paying for it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Pharmaceutical Monopoly
Millions of people take prescriptions that are more than what they need or are not what they need, period.
TV viewers must endure ads that sell them not only on drugs, but on diseases. Those types of ads are not allowed in non- ultra-capitalist countries.
We lazy Americans don’t even have to leave out armchairs to receive diabetic supplies and catheters . We have a choice of companies who will ship them for free, "remind us" when we need more (catheter users need reminding?!), and will bill Medicare directly.
A Google search of the very general term "biggest lobbyist" has two first-page hits with "pharmaceutical" or "health care" in the page excerpts.
"Pharmaceutical Monopoly" is one of my blog tags because more awareness needs to be made to this problem. The pharmaceutical companies are pursuing profits, not patient best interest. The health coverage plan sponsored by President Obama gutted provisions that might have interfered with those companies’ profits.
The best way to see drastic cuts to our endangered Medicare program would be to severely limit the reach of pharmaceutical companies.
It seems only one big corporation with a contradictory plan to the profit path can stand up to another. I can think of no other reason why Wal-Mart switched away from Eli Lilly and Company as the manufacturer of ReliOn insulin after only two years. As the big guy who brought down older favorites such as Ames and Caldor and local, smaller stores, and continues to be a serious threat to others such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart is the target of scorn. People want to root for the underdog and poke at the big dogs.
Wal-art does not threaten the economy and health the way pharmaceuticals do. The pharmaceuticals develop or discover drugs, then sometimes create syndromes or diseases to create a target audience. Their lobbying has decreased test time of new products that get pushed on the unwary doctors and patients then pulled a few years later when longer-term and often fatal side effects are discovered.
Thanks to the glut of Type 2’s, diabetics are seen as a lucrative growing market. The pharmaceuticals are the biggest donors to the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and other organizations "for" diabetics.
Diabetics using the ReliOn insulin will need to watch themselves in the weeks and months following the change from Eli Lilly’s "Humulin" and Novo Nordisk’s "Novolin." There are differences in the insulin. I’ve been a user of Wal-Mart’s generics since the late 1990’s and it has worked fine for me. There has to be some difference in each brand and trade name of insulin to avoid violating existing patents and to protect new patents. There is much more of a stir about changing insulin with this change to Wal-Mart’s generic than there had been when Eli Lilly began manufacturing it in 2010. Don’t think that is not also to scare your dollars into Lilly’s pockets. Lilly would have you switch to their non-generic equivalent of the product they labeled for Wal-Mart because that is "safer" than switching brands and manufacturers. That is not true, but the change should be monitored with more than average attention.
In circling back to the interrupted topic of blood sugar testing, the manufacturers of the lancets and test strips free meters also have your best dollars in mind, not your best interests. Those free meters are akin to casinos that offer free drinks to people on the gambling floors. They don’t need to make anything off the meter because they’ll make their money off you from the testing supplies, even while they bury patents for equipment that could test your sugar without the need for lancets and chemical test strips.
The patient shouldn’t worry about neuropathy or other effects of the testing; they’re probably working on drugs for that now.
TV viewers must endure ads that sell them not only on drugs, but on diseases. Those types of ads are not allowed in non- ultra-capitalist countries.
We lazy Americans don’t even have to leave out armchairs to receive diabetic supplies and catheters . We have a choice of companies who will ship them for free, "remind us" when we need more (catheter users need reminding?!), and will bill Medicare directly.
A Google search of the very general term "biggest lobbyist" has two first-page hits with "pharmaceutical" or "health care" in the page excerpts.
"Pharmaceutical Monopoly" is one of my blog tags because more awareness needs to be made to this problem. The pharmaceutical companies are pursuing profits, not patient best interest. The health coverage plan sponsored by President Obama gutted provisions that might have interfered with those companies’ profits.
The best way to see drastic cuts to our endangered Medicare program would be to severely limit the reach of pharmaceutical companies.
It seems only one big corporation with a contradictory plan to the profit path can stand up to another. I can think of no other reason why Wal-Mart switched away from Eli Lilly and Company as the manufacturer of ReliOn insulin after only two years. As the big guy who brought down older favorites such as Ames and Caldor and local, smaller stores, and continues to be a serious threat to others such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart is the target of scorn. People want to root for the underdog and poke at the big dogs.
Wal-art does not threaten the economy and health the way pharmaceuticals do. The pharmaceuticals develop or discover drugs, then sometimes create syndromes or diseases to create a target audience. Their lobbying has decreased test time of new products that get pushed on the unwary doctors and patients then pulled a few years later when longer-term and often fatal side effects are discovered.
Thanks to the glut of Type 2’s, diabetics are seen as a lucrative growing market. The pharmaceuticals are the biggest donors to the American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and other organizations "for" diabetics.
Diabetics using the ReliOn insulin will need to watch themselves in the weeks and months following the change from Eli Lilly’s "Humulin" and Novo Nordisk’s "Novolin." There are differences in the insulin. I’ve been a user of Wal-Mart’s generics since the late 1990’s and it has worked fine for me. There has to be some difference in each brand and trade name of insulin to avoid violating existing patents and to protect new patents. There is much more of a stir about changing insulin with this change to Wal-Mart’s generic than there had been when Eli Lilly began manufacturing it in 2010. Don’t think that is not also to scare your dollars into Lilly’s pockets. Lilly would have you switch to their non-generic equivalent of the product they labeled for Wal-Mart because that is "safer" than switching brands and manufacturers. That is not true, but the change should be monitored with more than average attention.
In circling back to the interrupted topic of blood sugar testing, the manufacturers of the lancets and test strips free meters also have your best dollars in mind, not your best interests. Those free meters are akin to casinos that offer free drinks to people on the gambling floors. They don’t need to make anything off the meter because they’ll make their money off you from the testing supplies, even while they bury patents for equipment that could test your sugar without the need for lancets and chemical test strips.
The patient shouldn’t worry about neuropathy or other effects of the testing; they’re probably working on drugs for that now.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Lilies for Evil Eli Lilly
While I am inclined to cuss out the blog host again for more changes that make things more complicated for aa blind guy to navigate online, I’ll save that for another day. One of the good things from this Google-owned/affiliated provider is that I get good stats read-outs. When someone reaches my site through a search on Google, I can actually see what search terms brought them to my blog. Other simple searches can tell me just what posts were viewed.
There has been an increase in traffic to the post that lauded Wal-Mart for coming forward with the first generic insulin and the Eli Lilly and Company’s counter-commercial reprisals, all a decade and more ago.
The recent hits to the slightly older post are certainly related to the fact that Wal-Mart has made another change to their ReliOn insulin. I say another change because the last one was in October 2010, when Eli Lilly Company took over the manufacture of the Wal-Mart generic.
I used one exact search term that lead a reader to my site, "walmart changes insulan manufacturer." (Sic) One of the top-ranked referrals was to the ReliOn site, http://www.relion.com/for-healthcare-professionals/downloads/Relion_Insulin_Change.pdf
Even after the latest change, ReliOn displayed the warnings used when Wal-Mart switched to the Lilly-made generic two years ago.
After burning my eyes out on the first four pages of results, I saw no hit likely to feature the recent 2012 change of ReliOn insulin. Wal-Mart, in less than two years, has switched manufacturing company to the Novo Nordisk company’s "Novolin."
My guess is that Eli Lilly and Company got greedy and wanted higher prices, so Wal-Mart turned to a company less greedy. I found nothing to support that suspicion, but then again I found nothing to dispute it either. The last time I bought non-Wal-Mart insulin was in 2005. It was somewhere around $54.00. One forum post I glimpsed in researching this post claimed that prices now ranged from $75.00 to $125.00. I could get online pricing from neither CVS nor Walgreen’s because I do not have registered prescriptions with them. Oddly enough, I had plenty of options for syringes and insulin covers to go over the vials. I wondered if those were like the knitted things meant to beautify spare rolls of toilet paper.
This recent change in the Wal-Mart insulin is being stated by some pharmacists. I was told in one out of two purchases in the last month. The price has held steady at $24.88.
I have noticed some changes since using the Novo-Nordisk product. It’s duration does not seem to last beyond the 12-hour range I got from the Lilly stuff, but the Nordisk product does seem to be coming to strength a little later and staying stronger in the six to eight hour range.
What they say is true. Changes in insulin type or manufacturer should be monitored closely.
There has been an increase in traffic to the post that lauded Wal-Mart for coming forward with the first generic insulin and the Eli Lilly and Company’s counter-commercial reprisals, all a decade and more ago.
The recent hits to the slightly older post are certainly related to the fact that Wal-Mart has made another change to their ReliOn insulin. I say another change because the last one was in October 2010, when Eli Lilly Company took over the manufacture of the Wal-Mart generic.
I used one exact search term that lead a reader to my site, "walmart changes insulan manufacturer." (Sic) One of the top-ranked referrals was to the ReliOn site, http://www.relion.com/for-healthcare-professionals/downloads/Relion_Insulin_Change.pdf
Even after the latest change, ReliOn displayed the warnings used when Wal-Mart switched to the Lilly-made generic two years ago.
After burning my eyes out on the first four pages of results, I saw no hit likely to feature the recent 2012 change of ReliOn insulin. Wal-Mart, in less than two years, has switched manufacturing company to the Novo Nordisk company’s "Novolin."
My guess is that Eli Lilly and Company got greedy and wanted higher prices, so Wal-Mart turned to a company less greedy. I found nothing to support that suspicion, but then again I found nothing to dispute it either. The last time I bought non-Wal-Mart insulin was in 2005. It was somewhere around $54.00. One forum post I glimpsed in researching this post claimed that prices now ranged from $75.00 to $125.00. I could get online pricing from neither CVS nor Walgreen’s because I do not have registered prescriptions with them. Oddly enough, I had plenty of options for syringes and insulin covers to go over the vials. I wondered if those were like the knitted things meant to beautify spare rolls of toilet paper.
This recent change in the Wal-Mart insulin is being stated by some pharmacists. I was told in one out of two purchases in the last month. The price has held steady at $24.88.
I have noticed some changes since using the Novo-Nordisk product. It’s duration does not seem to last beyond the 12-hour range I got from the Lilly stuff, but the Nordisk product does seem to be coming to strength a little later and staying stronger in the six to eight hour range.
What they say is true. Changes in insulin type or manufacturer should be monitored closely.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Diabetes Complications: Neuropathy
Diabetes stands as one of or the very mos common causes of neuropathy, specifically the forms of neuropathy frequently called diabetic neuropathy or peripheral neuropathy.
Diabetic neuropathy roots solely from the diabetic condition rather than external injury or toxin exposure or infection. Diabetes is just one of a number of metabolic disorders that can lead to neuropathy. Diabetes is at its core a major metabolic disorder. Neuropathy is all but inevitable in diabetes.
Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage away from the brain and spine, which form the center of the nervous system. The nerves are damaged. With diabetics, reduced circulation–also a near inevitability–causes the nerve damage. In my experience, doctors downplay the inevitabilities of diabetes because they are afraid patients will too quickly resign themselves to the eventualities without ever truly trying to take care of themselves. These problems are nearly inevitable, but the lack of self care will bring the problems sooner rather than later. I seek to communicate more honestly than doctors have by my experience, but am not dispensing medical advice. Nor do I think much of anyone who gives in to the negatives without a fight. "Inevitable" should never be interpreted as "immediate."
The nerve damage can affect sensations of temperature and pain. Neuropathy causes pain and numbness, most frequently in the hands and feet. This is the source of foot problems and high risk for them among diabetics. If the diabetic cannot feel pain in his feet, he can be unaware of injuries. Ignorance of bone problems most often results in my friend Charcot Foot. The more common risk that plays out is infections from cuts, punctures and abrasions on the feet that the diabetic cannot feel. Diabetics should wear socks and shoes at all times in an effort to prevent avoidable problems. Yet, as always with this miserable conditions, the patient must also take precautions with the precautions. Socks should not be so tight as to reduce circulation. Shoes should be well fitted, neither tight enough to cut into the feet nor loose enough to cause friction burns and abrasions. Shoes should never be worn without socks. Open wounds caused by shoes can be the most sinister; their gradual development makes them the easiest to not realize you have caused.
I learned one thing about neuropathy in a hard way that almost cost me my life. The neuropathy and generalized reduced diabetic circulation in my feet have made "toe testing" of water temperatures completely unreliable. On a friend’s boat a few years back, I had sat in the back with my feet in the water. It didn’t seem that cold. I dove in. The water was cold, so cold it triggered shock. I almost drown. Conversely, bath water might be much hotter than the diabetic toe can judge. Always check with an elbow rather than an extremity.
The neuropathy topic directly bridges into the running blood sugar testing topic. Please note the information from earlier in this post, a very subtle point in the overview: "Diabetic neuropathy roots solely from the diabetic condition rather than external injury..." Medical professionals probably will not point out to you that all the finger pricking of traditional home testing is likely to advance or cause neuropathy in the patient’s fingertips. You cannot keep sticking lancets into your fingertips without causing nerve damage on some level. This, and not the discomfort, prompted the recent push for non fingertip testing. Some sources on the net do not cite better than the 10% inaccuracy of arm testing than the patient could see with urine testing.
This risk to the fingertip nerves stood as one of my rationalizations against hopping on the home meter testing bandwagon. Again I warn: I have managed my diabetes with care, but in contrast to modern preferences and standards. I recommend anyone reading this to have frank conversations with their doctors before just doing what I do, and recent Type 2 diagnoses will require some form of home testing.
Diabetic neuropathy roots solely from the diabetic condition rather than external injury or toxin exposure or infection. Diabetes is just one of a number of metabolic disorders that can lead to neuropathy. Diabetes is at its core a major metabolic disorder. Neuropathy is all but inevitable in diabetes.
Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage away from the brain and spine, which form the center of the nervous system. The nerves are damaged. With diabetics, reduced circulation–also a near inevitability–causes the nerve damage. In my experience, doctors downplay the inevitabilities of diabetes because they are afraid patients will too quickly resign themselves to the eventualities without ever truly trying to take care of themselves. These problems are nearly inevitable, but the lack of self care will bring the problems sooner rather than later. I seek to communicate more honestly than doctors have by my experience, but am not dispensing medical advice. Nor do I think much of anyone who gives in to the negatives without a fight. "Inevitable" should never be interpreted as "immediate."
The nerve damage can affect sensations of temperature and pain. Neuropathy causes pain and numbness, most frequently in the hands and feet. This is the source of foot problems and high risk for them among diabetics. If the diabetic cannot feel pain in his feet, he can be unaware of injuries. Ignorance of bone problems most often results in my friend Charcot Foot. The more common risk that plays out is infections from cuts, punctures and abrasions on the feet that the diabetic cannot feel. Diabetics should wear socks and shoes at all times in an effort to prevent avoidable problems. Yet, as always with this miserable conditions, the patient must also take precautions with the precautions. Socks should not be so tight as to reduce circulation. Shoes should be well fitted, neither tight enough to cut into the feet nor loose enough to cause friction burns and abrasions. Shoes should never be worn without socks. Open wounds caused by shoes can be the most sinister; their gradual development makes them the easiest to not realize you have caused.
I learned one thing about neuropathy in a hard way that almost cost me my life. The neuropathy and generalized reduced diabetic circulation in my feet have made "toe testing" of water temperatures completely unreliable. On a friend’s boat a few years back, I had sat in the back with my feet in the water. It didn’t seem that cold. I dove in. The water was cold, so cold it triggered shock. I almost drown. Conversely, bath water might be much hotter than the diabetic toe can judge. Always check with an elbow rather than an extremity.
The neuropathy topic directly bridges into the running blood sugar testing topic. Please note the information from earlier in this post, a very subtle point in the overview: "Diabetic neuropathy roots solely from the diabetic condition rather than external injury..." Medical professionals probably will not point out to you that all the finger pricking of traditional home testing is likely to advance or cause neuropathy in the patient’s fingertips. You cannot keep sticking lancets into your fingertips without causing nerve damage on some level. This, and not the discomfort, prompted the recent push for non fingertip testing. Some sources on the net do not cite better than the 10% inaccuracy of arm testing than the patient could see with urine testing.
This risk to the fingertip nerves stood as one of my rationalizations against hopping on the home meter testing bandwagon. Again I warn: I have managed my diabetes with care, but in contrast to modern preferences and standards. I recommend anyone reading this to have frank conversations with their doctors before just doing what I do, and recent Type 2 diagnoses will require some form of home testing.
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