In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, September 7, 2026 11:50
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 116 of 834
Hey SIX, I saw the news about your dx. Good thing your doctor ordered the tests! Is he planning on seeing you soon?
Sorry that it's not a simple fix. It's weird that someone like you who not only has NO risk factors ... actually, with a very anti-diabetes lifestyle... would develop it. I mean, from a description of your diet and the fact that you usually eat once a day, diabeticians would give you a gold star.
I suppose the positive result is that at least it's not cancer.
Do you know if it's insulin-dependent, or can it be managed with oral meds? I've known many people with both types. Would be happy to pass along their experiences.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from the dentist and all went well. Had to have a bit of extra freezing and so there was some pain but nothing serious. Still frozen right now. Another good thing the rain held off.
Glad to hear it went well, Brenda.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
Yeah it. Need to go back in a couple more weeks for one more thing.
Well, at least you know what was causing you your problems and can tackle it with a good attitude and right diet and maybe limited meds.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hey SIX, I saw the news about your dx. Good thing your doctor ordered the tests! Is he planning on seeing you soon?
Doctor didn't order nothing. I did all that on my own. I'm actually not even sure if the doctor is aware of anything. I don't even have an appointment scheduled with him until the middle of next month. Got the Endocrinologist next week. Got my meds tonight, which AGAIN I had to do myself because they didn't call me and who knows how long they've been sitting on it.
Between the meds, the Endo doc, the change in diet and exercise and a positive attitude, my actual doctor might just be there to give me good news next month.
Quote:
Sorry that it's not a simple fix. It's weird that someone like you who not only has NO risk factors ... actually, with a very anti-diabetes lifestyle... would develop it. I mean, from a description of your diet and the fact that you usually eat once a day, diabeticians would give you a gold star.
Yup. I don't get it either. Could be that the years of extreme alcohol abuse wrecked my pancreas and I've been a ticking time bomb ever since. And my diet/activity this winter was sub-optimal, to put it lightly. You can't just be good to your body as a part time job once you hit your 40's.
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I suppose the positive result is that at least it's not cancer.
Yup.
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Do you know if it's insulin-dependent, or can it be managed with oral meds? I've known many people with both types. Would be happy to pass along their experiences.
I won't know too much until I see Dr. Endo. They've got me on oral meds right now. I'm going to take my first one with dinner tonight. I forget the name right now and it's not on me.
Warnings for it are pretty scary, and nobody asked me if I was taking any vitamins before prescribing it, which apparently they should have. They only asked if I was on any other medication.
I guess if I have a stroke or heart attack tonight we know this wasn't the right drug to take!
I'm a slave to the system now. One way or another they get everybody.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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They probably started you on metformin or a combo of Januvia and metformin (sold as a brand name drug Januvia).
Metformin is pretty benign. In fact, studies show that metformin can extend cell life.
I've known quite a number of people on it. I was on it myself, until I was switched over to Jardiance on advice of my nephrologist and cardiologist. (Not that metformin is bad for me, but Jardiance has a number of benefits that extend to the heart and kidneys beyond blood sugar control. I have what is called pre -diabetes but given everything my doctors chose to treat it rather than leave it alone.) Hubby has steroid-induced diabetes, which is harder to manage, but I do as much as he allows to help.
Anyway, there's always the rare possibility that you might have an adverse reaction, in which case there are a million other meds to try, but I wouldn't worry about it.
Much as I admire your self-sufficient lifestyle, age and illness made me acutely aware it only works if you're healthy.
Once you get your feet under you I have some possible tweaks to make your blood sugar control more effective w/o taking more meds. But one thing you're going to want to do if you're going to manage this as much on your own as possible is to get a glucose meter, test strips and lancets so you can check your own blood sugar.
Do you have insurance for doctor care and meds?
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
They probably started you on metformin or a combo of Januvia and metformin (sold as a brand name drug Januvia).
Metformin is pretty benign. In fact, studies show that metformin can extend cell life.
I've known quite a number of people on it. I was on it myself, until I was switched over to Jardiance on advice of my nephrologist and cardiologist. (Not that metformin is bad for me, but Jardiance has a number of benefits that extend to the heart and kidneys beyond blood sugar control. I have what is called pre -diabetes but given everything my doctors chose to treat it rather than leave it alone.) Hubby has steroid-induced diabetes, which is harder to manage, but I do as much as he allows to help.
That's it. Metformin.
They're probably just way overcautious in their documentation to avoid any legal blowback. List of side effects are pretty large, but only one or two of them are considered serious and require letting your doctor know immediately. (Something the urgent care doctor didn't even bother telling me about before I left).
Quote:
Anyway, there's always the rare possibility that you might have an adverse reaction, in which case there are a million other meds to try, but I wouldn't worry about it.
I'm not. Whatever. It's been in me for a few hours now and everything seems fine. Still had quite a bit of water after my meal, but we'll see how tonight goes. I'm not expecting this stuff to work miracles after one pill.
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Much as I admire your self-sufficient lifestyle, age and illness made me acutely aware it only works if you're healthy.
Yeah. But I don't plan on staying on these meds very long. And I've got an exit plan if health issues become too much and I have to force other people to care for me. That's never going to happen.
Quote:
Once you get your feet under you I have some possible tweaks to make your blood sugar control more effective w/o taking more meds. But one thing you're going to want to do if you're going to manage this as much on your own as possible is to get a glucose meter, test strips and lancets so you can check your own blood sugar.
Sounds un-cheap.
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Do you have insurance for doctor care and meds?
Nah.
All the more reason to get better. If I didn't want to do it for my independence, which I do, I'm too cheap to be paying for all of this for the rest of my life.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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SIX, check into this:
https://www.in.gov/fssa/hip/
Diabetes isn't something you're "cured" of. It's a lifelong chronic condition that needs to be managed every day. Considering that you live a non-diabetes lifestyle but were spilling enough sugar to lose weight, I doubt you can control this with diet and exercise. But if you want to manage this, you're going to need a way to monitor your blood sugar regularly, and I have a couple of options for you.
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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I know I can't cure it. But I don't need to be on those meds once I get stabilized.
I'm pretty sure I know why I got it too. I stopped eating most of the good food I was eating, I ate a ton of peanut butter and sugary cereal that I got in bulk on sale along with drinking a gallon of whole milk every 2 days, I was eating a lot of junk food from the dollar store and I fell off the gluten free wagon completely. This all happened in the span of about 4 months of hard core bad eating habits with probably 10 times as much sugar as I should have been eating per day even though I wasn't eating sweets or drinking soda. Most of that excess sugar is easily stripped completely out of my diet now overnight.
I allowed myself these mistakes while going through Gram's illness and eventual death, and the aftermath, and then the stress of the thing I'm dealing with right now, on top of the SAD that I go through every year here in the midwest when everything is dead and cold. Even without the huge external stressors of winter 2022, falling into bad habits during the winter has always been something that I've done in the past without (at least without obvious) permanent side-effects. But eventually time catches up with you.
I would imagine that by the time I see my actual doctor in the middle of May between eating right, mild exercise and having gone through these metaformin I should have the glucose level well under control. I'd probably be able to do that just by stripping out all the bullshit I was eating, but I'll gladly take the help of the pill for the next month and use this time to get in better physical shape.
Let me know what you know and I'll look into that link.
Thanks. 
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:IT DEPENDS. MOST people will need to be on meds for a lifetime and their meds will need to be increased as they get older, EVEN THO they're managing their diet etc. people whocan reduce or eliinate meds are the morbidly obese (100+ lbs overweight) who lose most of that weight. That's not you. There are exceptions but they're rare.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I know I can't cure it. But I don't need to be on those meds once I get stabilized.
Quote:that's a good step in the right direction.
I'm pretty sure I know why I got it too. I stopped eating most of the good food I was eating, I ate a ton of peanut butter and sugary cereal that I got in bulk on sale along with drinking a gallon of whole milk every 2 days, I was eating a lot of junk food from the dollar store and I fell off the gluten free wagon completely. This all happened in the span of about 4 months of hard core bad eating habits with probably 10 times as much sugar as I should have been eating per day even though I wasn't eating sweets or drinking soda. Most of that excess sugar is easily stripped completely out of my diet now overnight.
Quote:It happens to the best of us. There have been several times in my life when, for various reasons tota;y out of my control I was crazy sleep=deprived and I ate for a temporary energy.
I would imagine that by the time I see my actual doctor in the middle of May between eating right, mild exercise and having gone through these metaformin I should have the glucose level well under control. I'd probably be able to do that just by stripping out all the bullshit I was eating, but I'll gladly take the help of the pill for the next month and use this time to get in better physical shape.
I allowed myself these mistakes while going through Gram's illness and eventual death, and the aftermath, and then the stress of the thing I'm dealing with right now, on top of the SAD that I go through every year here in the midwest when everything is dead and cold. Even without the huge external stressors of winter 2022, falling into bad habits during the winter has always been something that I've done in the past without (at least without obvious) permanent side-effects. But eventually time catches up with you.
Quote:If you don't mind I'd like to tell you what I think I know about diabetes.
Let me know what you know and I'll look into that link.
Thanks.
The suagr molecule is too large to diffuse through cell membranes. That's where insulin comes in: it opens up a space in cell walls that allows sugar to pass into cells where it can actualy be burned for energy. If for some reason your pancreas isn't making enogh insulin, or your cells aren't responding efficiently to it, sugar circulating in your bloodstream builds up until it starts leaking through your kidneys and into your urine.
If NO sugar is getting into your cells, they're starving, and they start burning fat. which creates ketones. Ketones ALSO show up in urine.
Having sugar AND ketones in urine is a signal that your body is in metabolic crisis: It has all of this fuel (sugar) floating in the bloodstream but no way for cells to access it. I mention this bc some people don't make insulin at all - an autoimmune attack has destroyed the insulin-producing cells in their pancreas, and these people will need, and will ALWAYS need, replacement insulin (by self-injection).
I assume that's not you either.
The downside to diabetes is that all of that excess sugar floating around causes all kind of damage, especially to areas with a lot ofsmall blood vessels - the kidneys (kidney failure), retinas (lost eyesight), and brain (vascular dementia), damages nerves in hands and feet and promotes infections, making amputation a leading consequence of uncontrolled diabetes.
Since you can't increase your insulin production, trick is to either make insulin more effective or to match your blood sugar to your
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I know it's kind of a brain dump, but I hope it helps.
Oh BTW, stress (cortisol) can also raise blood sugar levels. I know managing stress itself can be stressful, but do your best!
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
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I appreciate your input.
I have a lot of research to do. I know this isn't going to magically go away and I'm going to need more knowledge and the proper tools to get over it. And when I say get over it, I just mean living without medication. I know there is currently no cure for diabetes.
I WILL do that. I'm declaring that right now. I will not be a slave to those pills and I will do whatever I need to do to be free of them. This is not a question of if, but merely a question of when.
And like I said in a previous post, I'm going to look at this as a blessing. An opportunity. I've been telling myself that I was going to start working out everyday for 20 years now. It's only in the last 7 days that I finally got around to doing it.
Things are certainly going to change now. But I am the one in control of my destiny. I'm the one behind the wheel. And I say that my future is going to be a better one despite all of this.
I beat alcoholism. Diabetes ain't got shit on me.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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