Re: Digest Number 1000
Hi Janice, I am glad you are posting. ..;O)
I think Ann probably gave the best advice, get Bernsteins book, and subscribe to
more lists. I personally found I already had more information on Diabetes from
another list than my educator gives me to date, and now everytime I go there, I
give her printouts of things I have found. In a nutshell, you need to educate
yourself, not depend on someone else to find your solutions.
Your description of whats happening to your system says you are going through
huge Blood Glucose swings, from over 200 to under 50. You need to stabalize
this out. The medication you are on is glyburide. I did a little search for
you and here is a site that tells you more of how it works.
I think it reeks of "By the Book ADA" but it still tells you its a sulf. Ask
your Dr. what kind of distribution your glyburide has. It almost sounds like
you get a huge dose that drops your BG fast, then you spike. Some sulfs have a
distribution system that slowly distributes it over a 24 hour period (so they
say) and I think you need it. I am on Glucotrol with this kind of distribution
system, and my Dr. prescribed one 8 mg a day. I had HUGE dawn effects, but when
I had the Dr. change it to 4 mg twice a day, it all fell into PERFECT lock
step- I never get over 120 or under 70.
Actos is your main Insulin Resistance medication. IR can also cause these huge
swings, and quite frankly, may be your real problem here. Your Pancreas is
producing a huge amount of excess insulin to meet your needs, and your system
isn’t going to balance itself out until you balance your insulin and insulin
need levels. If the Actos isn’t working correctly, see if your Dr. cannot
prescribe Avandia. I personally think it is a godsend where I have heard a lot
of people don’t like Actos.
I am going to put a file in the Files section on Actos, and here is a link that
tells generally what ITS all about.
Good luck, and don’t depend on someone else to educate you, its YOUR job.
Chris
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 05:47:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Janice Hurst
Subject: Needing support on my diabetes
I haven’t been active on this group in a long time. I
guess my attitude about this disease has been down but I’m
at my wits end now. Please talk to me.
When I was first diagnosed with type 2 about 8 years ago, I
was on an HMO and they wouldn’t pay for a registered
dietitian educator. I had to pay for it myself and even
still, I had to get authorization from my doctor. It cost
$65.00 then. It is now $175.00 with the same person for
the same time frame. I now have no insurance, and my
medical expenses are preventing me from taking part in any
preventative classes.
About 3 years ago, I started taking a bata blocker for
excessively high blood pressure and heart rate. This was
on a first time visit to a new GP. My fasting sugar at the
time was 185. After two days he put me on 1/2 of 2.50 mg
of glyburide. My HGA1c was 7.4 before starting the
glyburide. It went down to 7.0. I was being tested every
two months. If it went up to 7.1 he wanted me to take a
whole tablet instead of the half. With only 1/2 of a
tablet, my blood sugars were getting down to 40 and 42
before I would have enough sense to test. This was because
the bata blocker was preventing my heart from racing.
My new doctor whom I have now whom I’m very happy with was
anxious for me to stop taking the glyburide but added Actos
because my HGA1c had gone up to 8.6 with the glyburide
alone. The last time I felt a low blood sugar I was 67 so
the Actos has made me more sensitive and my doctor told me
to stop taking the glyburide and keep taking the Actos. I
am suppose to be eating 1500 calories. Without the pills,
I was eating 1200 and controlling things beautifully. For
the first two weeks without the glyburide I was 120 or
below and now I am back up to 150s.
What bugs me the most is that I am taking this medication
for quite a while now and the bottom line is that if you
are not eating the right foods and you are not killing
yourself exercising, they don’t do you a darn bit of good.
Here it is the holidays and there is a lot of food coming
into the house that I shouldn’t be eating and I’m just
disgusted.
Talk to me. give me a pep talk. Thanks.
Janice
A Grassroot Movement is like a lawn; there is a bigger picture we all like to
see…. but underneath there are many small roots. Each root has an influence
on the entire picture. We too can have an effect, we just need to figure out
the efficient way to do it.
If interested, check out my list..
Chris