Comments on: Another Newbie

By: Bret Mckinney

Bret Mckinney — Sat, 08 May 2004 19:00:47 +0000

Hi group,
My name is Diana and I am 41 years old. I was dignosed when I was
11 months old. I have been using an insulin pump since 1997. I
learned about this group from Lisa ,who just joined today also(thanks
Lisa). I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.
Love&Hugs,Diana=^..^=

By: Sheila Brennan

Sheila Brennan — Sat, 19 Apr 2003 17:44:15 +0000

Something I didn’t say here, and it may actually be more helpful, is
don’t over-react to lows. I know it’s hard. You feel awful and you
want to just gobble as many calories as you can until you feel
better, but you should really try to just have about 15 grams of
carbohydrate, that’s 3 glucose tablets or six ounces of juice, then
wait 15 minutes to half an hour and check your blood sugar.
That can keep you from getting into that “cycle” you were talking
about.
Jerry

By: Sheila Brennan

Sheila Brennan — Fri, 18 Apr 2003 23:34:40 +0000

I had to smile when I read that “easier finger sticks” question. The
answer is home blood glucose testing. It hasn’t been around that
long, you know.
Before that we had only urine testing we could do at home. Imagine
what that means.
Some doctors recommended you keep your blood sugar at a level where
you would have some sugar “spill” into the urine, just so you would
have an idea what your blood sugar was. Of course, that meant your
blood sugar was too high if you did exactly what your doctor said.
There was no test we could do to see if we were low, we just had to
go by how we felt. I know now that I was probably wrong a lot of the
time.
Even when you got a result from a urine test, you had to consider
compromising facts. How much sugar “spilled” into your urine depended
on how well your kidneys were working. The concentration of sugar is

affected by how much liquid you’ve had to drink. The sugar in your
bladder may have just gotten there, or it may have collected over the
past several hours.
When I was first diagnosed, I got a urine test kit which consisted of
a test tube with a stand, a dropper, a color chart, and a bunch of
reagent tablets. You dropped a tablet in the test tube, added some
water and some urine with the dropper, waited while this violent,
bubbly, steaming reaction happened in the test tube, then compared
the test tube to the color chart to estimate your urine sugar.
In a short time, test strips became available, which made things a
little easier, but you still had all of the problems I described
above.
Some fun, huh?
So I guess the message from that is, test your blood sugar often, and
be glad you can.
Back to the original question about the biggest advancement, the
second biggest advancement is my insulin pump, which I’ve only been
using since Friday. I’m hoping that it will be as helpful as blood
testing eventually, but for now, I still have a lot to learn.
Jerry

By: Sheila Brennan

Sheila Brennan — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:05:53 +0000

The advice is easy, but taking it may not be so simple. Take the
right amount of insulin for the right amount of food. That’s the
right amount of food for your body and your level of exercise. If you
keep having low blood sugars, then you’re taking too much insulin. Of
course it’s never easy, but you can work it out.
Jerry
Type 1 for 28 years

By: Marlene Albertha

Marlene Albertha — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 02:45:56 +0000

Hi everyone! I am new to the group…Joanne, you really hit home
with me…I was 31 when I was diagnosed with type 1…..they really
wanted me to be type2…tried all the oral meds..finally found that I
was type 1…totally not the “type” for either type1 or 2. I am
about 5 feet…and 96 pounds…too old for type 1 and too young for
type 2…UGH! I was in wine country when my doctor called me with my
test results..blood sugar was 757…HELLO! Welcome to diabetes…the
bellman at our resort went to get my medicine..glucophage…of
course, I nearly expired before they gave up and I started on
injections…
Like you..I am really concerned about the weight gain associated with
insulin…it is a vicious cycle…take insulin..feel
hungry…eat..take insulin..feel hungry…
sigh…
any suggestions from the veteran diabetics?

By: Shelton Christiane

Shelton Christiane — Sat, 12 Apr 2003 00:09:26 +0000

Hey Joanne! Welcome to the group! We’ve not tried any of the
alternative treatments. I have hear of one of the herbs that is
suppossed to help type 2s, never heard how or if it helps type 1s. I
can’t remember the name of it right now, but it is a pretty common
one, even in most multivitamins, I think. Maybe someone else will pop
in with the name, or hopefully I’ll remember it later. Anyway,
welcome to the group, and hope you get your numbers under control!
Melissa