A not so great way to lose weight

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Yoshi

The other day I recall talking to one of my friends and my insulin regimen. It usually goes like this: long lasting insulin in the morning and bedtime. Short acting insulin before I eat my meals and snacks. All in all, that was about 6 shots a day. So every time I eat something, I have to take a shot. Unless of course I can manage to make a meal or snack that did not have carbs. Such as raw vegetables or pure protein. Of course, honestly, those aren’t too filling. But because of this, I told her it’s a great way to lose weight because I don’t necessarily want to eat because I don’t want to take a shot.

Yeah, that’s not really a great way to lose weight.

Honestly though, counting carbs in order to calculate how much insulin to take is a really great tool to losing weight. It makes you more conscious of what you are eating and aware of how much to eat. Portion size is really important to counting carbs. In many cases, where you think a package is only 1 serving, it’s actually 2 serving sizes. This is a tactic used by food companies to appear their food has lesser calories or fat. It’s not as if they’re lying. You’re just assuming it’s only 1 serving.

Another thing you’ll learn is that 0 does not necessarily mean 0. 0 could easily mean up to 0.5 mg or more! It’s one of those loopholes that seems to appear everywhere. I believe I’ve mentioned this before. Watch what you’re eating! This definitely goes for non-insulin dependent diabetics. Something to think about.

Possibilities

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Yoshi

So as of late, things have been going good. I’m starting to really get into a routine of taking my meds and insulin at regular intervals. I’ve been getting used to doing readings every so often as well too. As of now, I’m on at least 18 different medications and two types of insulin. I’ve also been getting used to taking my vitals twice a day as well. So it’s all been getting routine.

Today was the monthly visit to the Nephrologist at University of Washington Medical Center. He’s such a great doc. Today, when we saw him he apparently heard something he didn’t like. Basically he could hear the blood pumping through my artery at my new kidney. What does this mean? There could be a collapse of the artery at that location, or there could be a “kink” in the artery because the kidney is shifting. He said in the past they haven’t really done anything about it because my bloodwork looked really good, and it wasn’t very alarming. But he said it sounded louder so it could be getting worse. He said it was better to take care of the problem while it was small instead of letting it get worse and worse then having to take care of it when it was critical.

So what does this all mean? Well, I had an ultrasound today which will hopefully help determine that. If indeed there is a big issue (a kink or collapse of the artery), then the next thing would be to do a cat scan. The cat scan will tell us exactly what it looks like and what is going on. After the cat scan, if indeed there is a big problem, then the next step would be an Angiogram. Fun. Yes, it’s similar to the angiograms for the heart. Actually it’s exactly the same procedure, except in a different location.

Lots of ifs going on there. But you know, everything is possible. We knew that eventually we would have to do something about this. Best to do it now than later I suppose. Luckily recovery is not a big deal, maybe a day or two of taking care of myself, nothing I don’t do already. I can’t do anything stressful to my body like lifting heavy objects, but you know, I can’t do that now.

So that’s what’s been going on as of late in my world of Malignant Diabetes. How’s yours?

Dealing with “normal” life

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Yoshi

Dealing with post transplant has been surprisingly easy for me. This is not to say it’s been easy on Meesh. Unfortunately, she’s had to deal with more than she should mainly because I either cannot or should not do it. She lifts all the heavy things, she cleans the litter box, she does all the food shopping, and well you get the idea. She does it all. And I’m so thankful to have been blessed with such an awesome support group. My parents and my sister have been tremendous help too.

Working has definitely been different for me. Before, I was lucky if I could work a half of a day without getting exhausted. Now I’m actually able to work a 9 hour day without even thinking about it. Having this transplant has been the miracle of my life, and I have everyone to thank for it, especially my sister.

Dealing with my diabetes has been a chore however. The medicine I’m taking makes it tough. I suppose I might just throw caution to the wind and just take my medicine and leave it at that but how disrespectful is that? Not only to me but to my sister? So I am working as hard as possible to keep healthy and keep my sugars in check. If that means sticking myself about 10 times a day so be it. It’s a small sacrifice to stay alive.

A word of caution to those diabetics that aren’t taking care of themselves: it’s really not as bad as you think. If I could do it all over again I would have bit the bullet and did all my glucose checks and taken my insulin.

How to read food labels

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Yoshi

One thing you learn, being a diabetic, is how to read food labels. One thing you must remember is simple: just because it’s not on the label doesn’t mean it’s not in there. Not everything we need to know about food is on the label. However, for the simplest things, most of us won’t have to worry about that. Another thing to remember is this: just because it says there’s 0 mg of something doesn’t necessarily mean there is none. 0 could easily mean 0.1 or as much as 0.9. In most cases, who really cares, but this is important if you really need to know exactly how much there is in something.

First you want to look at the serving and serving size. As you can see from the label to the right, this contains 2 servings per container. While what you eat is a serving to you, the label might say a serving is less than what you eat. So, looking at the servings per container is important. In this case, if you are eating 2 servings, then you’ll have to double these values you see on this label.

As a diabetic, the most important label to read is the Total Carbohydrates. This is the basis of watching just how much we eat or how much insulin to take. In general, you should talk to your nutritionist on how much you can eat. In most cases, it takes some practice to find out just how much you can eat without throwing your sugar balance out of whack. You should also talk to your physician so you know what your goals are. It’s important to know where you are most comfortable.

Note, also the sugars. Most likely your glucose levels will probably go up really fast with food high with sugar. You’ll want to avoid these. However, know that everyone is different and experimentation is always a good thing. Know what foods send you high, and what foods don’t. Knowing this could make a big difference.

Just remember these points:

Not all food labels will tell you everything. They only report the required nutrition facts. Just because it doesn’t say it on the label doesn’t mean it’s not in there. A good example of this is Potassium. It’s not always listed on the label.
Note the serving size. What you eat may be 1 serving to you, but to the label it could be anything. I’ve seen a label say that there was 3 servings per container, but the container had 1 serving of what we would eat. This makes a big difference when counting carbs!
Just because the label says there is 0 does not necessarily mean 0. It could mean as much as 0.9 in the serving. In some cases, if there are 3 servings per container, and there are say 0.9 carbs per serving, that would mean there’s really 2.7 carbs per container, when it could easily say 0. That’s a significant change for someone watching their carbs!

Diabetic Retinopathy

Posted on January 20, 2009 by Yoshi

eye Well, like I’ve said before, it seems that everything that can happen to a diabetic has happened to me except for amputation and I don’t plan on that one. Diabetic Retinopathy affects your vision and can cause blindness. How this manifests in me is pretty simple, I had blurred vision, or my vision was getting worse. I also had “floaties” in my vision where I would see black spots I could never really focus on, but they were always there. That was where the blood vessels had burst inside my eye, and left a residual trace.

I’m sure you’re wondering if I’m blind now. No, I’m lucky. With eternal vigilance (blood sugar checks and insulin), and laser surgery in my eye, I’ve managed to keep my sight. Although I have to admit I might have to get a new prescription, but only because I’m getting older.

There is a price to this situation however. I have a really hard time driving at night. I simply can’t see as well as say the average person can. The eye doctor told me it’s because when they laser the eye, what they’re doing is burning up parts of the eye. Yes, that’s right, they’re burning up parts of my eye, so I have less receptors to see. At least that’s how it was explained to me in simple, layman terms.

Unfortunately, the signs and symptons are sometimes never found. But if you are a diabetic, that annual or biannual eye exam is very important. Don’t pass it up. Which reminds me, I think I’m due for one in March…

Diabetic Neuropathy

Posted on January 17, 2009 by Yoshi

Many diabetics might know one of the major things that occur in all of us is Diabetic Neuropathy. What is it though? Basically what happens is some of the nerves are damaged because of the diabetes, and this may cause some tingling, pain, or numbness. This is especially important in the feet. We diabetics should be checking our feet out daily to make sure we don’t have any problems with them.

Neuropathy can cause a number of problems to our feet. Because of the insensitivities, we might not know if there are any cuts, bruises, or otherwise any problems with our feet. Some diabetics have plain said they don’t feel a thing in their feet. That’s not good, because we won’t know if they’re feeling too hot or too cold and as you know, this would cause some serious complications.

It also causes some pain. I get it all the time. Suddenly, my feet will begin to hurt in some random area, and rubbing it sometimes helps. Sometimes the tingling causes sharp pains, kind of like someone sticking a needle into you. This is very common too. Of course, if it gets really bad, you should probably talk to your doctor just to make sure there’s nothing else going on.

Diabetic Neuropathy, or the tingling/numbing/painful sensations in various parts of your body are going to be common. So please check out your feet daily. You should be doing this each night before you go to bed. Look at them, make sure there’s no cuts or bruises. If there are you need to make sure they are taken care of. Are they getting worse? Are they getting better? Because of the diabetes, remember that your ability to heal a wound is much much slower. If you don’t take care of your feet, there is always the possibility of getting it amputated. I’ve heard of so many people having this done, it’s not something to take lightly.

Make it a part of your day, check your feet.