You fed her what????
I know in the past we’ve passed around oddball things that people
will mention to us about misconceptions about what people with
diabetes can eat, and how ones with diabetes should live their lives.
Recently I’ve been drumming up donations for the JDRF walk-a-thon
this fall, and have been going at it pretty aggressively. Some
people ask questions, the usual, “so she can’t eat any sugar, she
must be overweight, blah blah blah.” One woman I gingerly tried to
explain that while I don’t feed my daughter snickers bars and
slushees, I do quite often give her a dixie cup size serving of ice
cream each night before bed. Before I could explain the benefits of
this, I got a look that could have killed. I thought this woman was
going to call child protective services on me.
I had to laugh at how much people don’t know and obviously don’t
understand. I’m sure the rest of you have come up against this in
your experiences.
July 6th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Stephanie,
I had a good one recently. A friend of mine who is very skinny commented that she needs to be careful because diabetes runs on both sides of her family. A guy we were talking with said that all she needed to do is keep her weight down. I totally came unglued. He said that his dad is a doctor and he *knows* about this. I told him that I have been diabetic longet than he has been alive and proceeded to point out the finer differences between T1 & T2, and the fact that even though weight can be a contributing factor in T2, it is not a guarantee. I also pointed out that he didn’t bother to find out which type runs in her family, so his comment was stupid, insensitive, and just plain rude. And my friend backed me up on it! Grrrr! Usually I just brush it off, but it got the better of me that day. I think he was trying to show off for my friend. Obviously, *that* didn’t work.
Stacy
Stephanie <thiswomansworld2003@…
I know in the past we’ve passed around oddball things that people
will mention to us about misconceptions about what people with
diabetes can eat, and how ones with diabetes should live their lives.
Recently I’ve been drumming up donations for the JDRF walk-a-thon
this fall, and have been going at it pretty aggressively. Some
people ask questions, the usual, “so she can’t eat any sugar, she
must be overweight, blah blah blah.” One woman I gingerly tried to
explain that while I don’t feed my daughter snickers bars and
slushees, I do quite often give her a dixie cup size serving of ice
cream each night before bed. Before I could explain the benefits of
this, I got a look that could have killed. I thought this woman was
going to call child protective services on me.
I had to laugh at how much people don’t know and obviously don’t
understand. I’m sure the rest of you have come up against this in
your experiences.
July 9th, 2007 at 1:45 am
School aides have walked up to my daughter and told her not to eat something I packed for her because it had “sugar ” in it, ( i.e yogurt, pudding and fruit snacks)
Thankfully the principal is a mom of a type 1 and immediately called a meeting to “educate” the staff.
Hugs, Rhonda
July 11th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Howard,
I have been on Lantus since May 2002. My only issues with it are the fact that it sometimes stings (very badly) while it is being injected and I was having a hard time with the dosing when I took it at bedtime. My endo switched me to Lantus in the AM & NPH at bedtime. This seems to be working well. I’m in better control than ever before. Were you using a pen version? I am using the syringe & vial setup. I don’t know if that would make any difference.
Stacy
Howard Glansfield <HJGlansfield@…
Sorry Stacy, I think it was me who was confused.
How are you on Lantus? It didn’t suit me,in fact it made me ill and I
was only on it for four weeks before my consultant hastily took me off
it.My blood sugars were fine,(when the pen worked!) but I had terrible
debility which lasted even after I came off Lantus, I was ,which was
totally alien for me, aggressive,I felt ill and nauseaous.
Howard
July 12th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Stacy,
I’ve never heard the 10 servings of carb rule/guideline. Since I’ve
started going to an endo earlier this year, I’ve met with the dietician a
couple of times. She told me to avoid fats. I went to a couple of classes
given by MiniMed (pump company) and the nurse who runs those also stressed
avoiding fats. So, since March or so I have been careful in my food
choices. Of course I look at carbs, but I also check the fat content. I
have pretty much completely cut out fast food from my diet. I used to get
fast food for lunch every day at work! Since March, I’ve lost a little
more than 40 pounds. When I go to see the np/cde, first someone else will
weigh me, take my BP, take a BG reading before I meet with the nurse. A
couple of times she’s taken me back out to the scale to weigh me herself
because she couldn’t believe the numbers. She keeps asking me if I’m
aggressively trying to lose weight, but I’m not doing anything too much out
of the ordinary. The change in diet is the major factor. And, it’s not
like I’m starving myself either. Probably on a normal day I eat 150-200
grams of carbs. If I don’t have anything to bring for lunch, I get a salad
with either a fat free dressing or oil & vinegar. On salad days my carb
count is a lot less.
Like you, I’ve also done minimal exercise. I try to take a walk on the
weekend, an hour or so both days if I can. During the week, I’m usually
too busy at work and it’s already dark when I get home. Between my last
visit in June and my visit on Tuesday, I only lost a couple of pounds
because I hadn’t been walking even on the weekends; it was just too
hot/humid. This week my 10 year old niece was staying with me, and I
walked like crazy. My BG readings have been so great this week, I’m
thinking of telling my sister I want to adopt my niece.
Soooo, I am definitely above the 10 servings of carbs per day and I’m still
able to lose weight. I really think that cutting out fat/fast food is
what’s helping me most.
–
Liz
July 13th, 2007 at 6:24 am
Stacy,
Before I started the pump, I was put on Lantus, taking one shot at
night. I had to keep lowering the dose because I was waking up low every
morning and would end up being high by dinner time. My CDE split my dose
in half, and I was taking equal amounts in the morning and at night and
that worked much better. There’s no way I would have gone back to NPH,
especially at night. That used to give me killer lows in the
morning. Almost literally killer - I’d wake up having seizures.
–
Liz
July 14th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Lori,
Was her son using an insulin pump? Right now I have 3-4 unopened of vials
of Humalog in my fridge, but Humalog is the only insulin I use. No
long-acting stuff. I use anywhere from 35-45 units a day (depending on how
many carbs I’ve had) and I get three vials a month. Two would be enough
but I like having an extra just in case. It also means I don’t have to
rush out for a refill right away, and after getting my prescription
refilled a few times I can skip getting it for a month, since I’ve got extra.
Good luck with your new job!
–
Liz
July 14th, 2007 at 8:52 am
15 is the norm, but some people use whatever is equal to 1 unit of insulin as their serving size.
10, 12, 15 etc.
Hugs, Rhonda
July 15th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Good news about the job, I hope you enjoy it.
I think the pen was only available in the UK and Germany ,I am not sure
how widespread it is now but there have been huge problems with it.The
needle is a push fit whereas others are a screwed on and the delivery
of insulin was by battery so there was no physical ‘feel’when injecting.
I am on three injections a day of Novo Human Actrapid (which, in pen
cartridge form ,is being withdrawn in this Country in December) and one
of Human Insulatard.
I have a bad reaction to analogue insulin so I am having to change to
Humulin S,but I hear that that is being withdrawn too.Actrapid will be
available in phial form but I don’t want to have to go back to
syringes .I may have no choice!
Howard
July 19th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Liz,
That is fantastic! I try to avoid fats, too, as they tend to push my sugars up. For my regimen, 10 servigs is 150g. I think for me it was just that I needed to pay more attention to *what* I eat and not just eat because the food is there. I used to snack way too much. Sure, my sugars would be OK because I would take insulin for what I ate, but my body wasn’t using the food, just storing it. I just decided to make a change and start eating better and more appropriate volumes for what I do in a day. It is helping and my endo is very happy.
Stacy
Elizabeth Blake <Poodlebone@…
Stacy,
I’ve never heard the 10 servings of carb rule/guideline. Since I’ve
started going to an endo earlier this year, I’ve met with the dietician a
couple of times. She told me to avoid fats. I went to a couple of classes
given by MiniMed (pump company) and the nurse who runs those also stressed
avoiding fats. So, since March or so I have been careful in my food
choices. Of course I look at carbs, but I also check the fat content. I
have pretty much completely cut out fast food from my diet. I used to get
fast food for lunch every day at work! Since March, I’ve lost a little
more than 40 pounds. When I go to see the np/cde, first someone else will
weigh me, take my BP, take a BG reading before I meet with the nurse. A
couple of times she’s taken me back out to the scale to weigh me herself
because she couldn’t believe the numbers. She keeps asking me if I’m
aggressively trying to lose weight, but I’m not doing anything too much out
of the ordinary. The change in diet is the major factor. And, it’s not
like I’m starving myself either. Probably on a normal day I eat 150-200
grams of carbs. If I don’t have anything to bring for lunch, I get a salad
with either a fat free dressing or oil & vinegar. On salad days my carb
count is a lot less.
Like you, I’ve also done minimal exercise. I try to take a walk on the
weekend, an hour or so both days if I can. During the week, I’m usually
too busy at work and it’s already dark when I get home. Between my last
visit in June and my visit on Tuesday, I only lost a couple of pounds
because I hadn’t been walking even on the weekends; it was just too
hot/humid. This week my 10 year old niece was staying with me, and I
walked like crazy. My BG readings have been so great this week, I’m
thinking of telling my sister I want to adopt my niece.
Soooo, I am definitely above the 10 servings of carbs per day and I’m still
able to lose weight. I really think that cutting out fat/fast food is
what’s helping me most.
–
Liz