Tagged with diabetes

New Diet, New Life

Almost two weeks ago I started a new diet which is more like a new lifestyle in an effort to control my Diabetes Type 2. The diet is designed to lower you weight and get your blood sugars in a normal range until you don’t need medication any more.

I’m not going to tell you the name of the diet or the doctor who prescribes it because I wouldn’t want anyone to try such a diet without asking their doctor first. But if it works for me I will shout it from the rooftops!

The diet includes both raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds. It avoids red meat and sugar, but does allow a bit of chicken and fish. It also avoids dairy, sugar substitutes, salt, oil and highly processed foods.

So far I am not hungry on the diet and I have lost my craving for sugar. But I although I don’t crave things like red meat and sugary foods, I’m kind of sad that I can’t eat them, you know? I’m already gluten-free because of having Celiac Disease , and I just feel like ,Why can’t I just be normal?, Why can’t I have an ice cream cone in the summer?, What will I do on vacation?, Why do restaurants have to be such a nightmare?

But I try to remember that avoiding these foods will help me avoid further complications with diabetes and other illnesses and will hopefully make me live longer. I want to try to live as long as I can for Tyler and be healthy while I’m doing it.

Like I said, it’s only been less than two weeks, too soon for the weight to come down where I can see results and smaller sizes of clothing. I’m sure that when that starts happening I will be psyched!

Meanwhile, Jacques went on the diet with me and his pants are already falling down! Ugh, men!

(Photo credit: tastethefood.weebly.com )

 

The Neuropsychiatric Test, etc.

After waiting five months, I finally took my neuropsychiatric test also known as a neuropsychological test. For the last couple of years, I have been having difficulty with memory, including forgetting what simple things are called, forgetting conversations and losing the thread of a conversation if there was a pause.

I don’t know how I did on the test, which lasted about three and a half hours. Some of it was hard, but some of it was supposed to be hard. I had difficulty building towers from the largest to the smallest pieces while only moving one piece at a time. The administrator did say that was one of the harder tests. I was also shown designs for ten seconds at a time and then had to draw them. Then about ten minutes later I was asked to draw the designs from memory and I could only remember about three out of 20.

Other tests included being told a number of words and asking to repeat them, describing words shown to me and a test on a computer where you had to figure out the changing patterns of cards.

I am supposed to get the results from my psychiatrist later this week.

I also saw my primary care physician for a follow-up to the nausea that has plagued me since September. I take a lot of medications which have nausea as a side effect and she said a side effect can happen at any time one takes a medication, not just at the beginning. The medication that I take for diabetes, Metformin, is particularly rough on the digestive system and since my blood sugar levels have been pretty good, she took me off the medication to see if this was causing the problem. I feel a little scared going off of it because before I took it I was almost passing out when my blood sugar was too low.

I am also afraid to try going off some of my psychiatric drugs. I am leaning towards depression but for me it is much preferred to mania and I don’t want to upset the balance that I have.

I am also going to seek a second opinion from a Gastroenterologist for my nausea.

Have you ever experienced nausea as a side effect? Have any of the side effects started after you had been taking the drug for a while?

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Trip to the Surgeon

I saw the surgeon yesterday to see about my gallbladder issues and he told me that in the absence of pain he did not believe that my gallbladder was the cause of my problems. Part of me was disappointed because I cannot deal with having this debilitating nausea with no cause and no effective way of treating it. I’d actually would be willing to have an organ taken out of my body if this would mean an end to this misery!

He mentioned that sometimes diabetics have trouble emptying their stomach which could definitely be a cause of my nausea. Actually thrilled to have somewhere else to turn, I looked this up on my smartphone on the way home but just like a gallbladder diagnosis, I did not have enough symptoms to indicate it.

I saw my endocrinologist too and was given a clean bill of health with my diabetic issues.

Today I was on Pinterest and I came upon a post that said something like “5 Symptoms You Didn’t Know Were Linked to Fibromyalgia”. I have been in remission with Fibro but I clicked on it and one of the lesser known symptoms was sweating. Then I just started googling all of my symptoms with Fibromyalgia and every one of them linked back to Fibro, including symptoms that I had chalked up to medication side effects such as dry mouth and hand tremors and even a low-grade fever.

I am some what excited about this being a possibility but I don’t see my Rheumatologist until the beginning of March so I can’t confirm it. Then I got depressed because there’s not a whole lot of treatment out there for Fibro and I pictured myself being nauseous forever and it wasn’t pretty. I cannot take a lot of the medications for nausea because they interact with my mental health medications and the one I am on now takes a long time to work and makes me tired.

My house is a wreck and I can’t do much with Tyler. Jacques waits on me hand and foot but he can’t do everything. Tonight is Bingo night at Tyler’s school and I am praying that I feel well enough to go. I hate disappointing him but sad to say he is used to it and still tells me I’m the best mom in the world. But I wonder if he will resent it when he grows up? There was a time in Tyler’s life when I felt pretty good but he was too young to remember it.

Part of me says I should be grateful because I’ve certainly been sicker than this with the pain from Lupus and the mental illnesses. But for my son, I just want to be better.

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Right Click Paste!

Writer's Workshop

Prompt: 2. Open a blank blog post and “right click paste” in the body of the post…what was pasted? Explain it.

Spoon Theory mentioned on MTV! http://www.mamasick.com/2015/03/the-spoon-theory-gets-a-mention-on-mtv/ … #SpooniesThankMTV

I am really happy that this was my last cut and paste because it gives me a chance to write about a subject that is meaningful to me and one that Mama Kat’s fans can learn about as well!

Earlier this week “The Spoon Theory” and Christine Miserandino were mentioned on MTV. Christine is the author of “The Spoon Theory and developed the website butyoudontlooksick.com This was BIG news!

As a person having invisible illnesses; diabetes, asthma and bipolar disease among them, the questions “But you don’t look sick?” or “How does it feel to be chronically ill?” came up often for me, even from some of my doctors until my diagnoses were made. I lost a lot of family and friends who just didn’t understand.

Then someone referred me to Christine’s website and her “Spoon Theory”. The theory is based on a true story developed by Christine when her best friend asked her what it was like to be sick. Basically it says that we all start our day with a certain number of spoons, but sick people use up their spoons more quickly than well people. For example, it might take a healthy person half a spoon to take a shower, but it may take a sick person three spoons. Many of us refer to ourselves as “Spoonies”.

“The Spoon Theory” has been read by thousands and seen throughout the world. The But You Don’t Look Sick’s ? Facebook page has over 130,000 likes on it.

If you know of someone with a chronic illness, or you have one, I encourage you to read “The Spoon Theory” and see Christine’s But You Don’t Look Sick’s website.

Personally “The Spoon Theory” helped saved my life and I owe Christine big time because of it! I’ve known her for over 14 years and I am pleased to say I knew her when she had a tiny blog with a little story!

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Health/Life Update

I haven’t written in a while, mostly because I’ve been in a state of limbo with my depression. Nothing has improved with the med change. I saw my psychiatrist yesterday and she increased one of them. In addition to the depression, these last few days I’ve developed an extreme anxiety when I am outside. It is a miserable feeling. We discussed putting me on anxiety medication. I stayed home yesterday and also today and I feel okay in my hideaway. Tomorrow I am supposed to go grocery shopping and we’ll see if the anxiety returns. If so, I will ask my psychiatrist to be put on an anxiety med.

I also talked to the psychiatrist about my failing memory. I don’t remember conversations with people, I often forget what I am talking about in mid-sentence. The doctor said it could be a side effect of the meds or just that I am not using my mind the way I used to. She recommended the website lumosity.com so I joined it and have been “training’ my brain for the past three days. It cost money but I figured it is worth trying to save my brain!

I’ve been sleeping too much, and I’m not sure if that is from depression or narcolepsy or a combination of the two.

I saw my Primary Care Doctor this week and we discussed my latest blood work. My cholesterol is elevated and my fasting blood sugars are increasing. She increased my diabetes medication and said we could give it another six months before trying medication for the cholesterol, while during this period I try to diet and exercise.

But are you really surprised to learn I have not worked out? There are a million good reasons why I should be going to the gym but I am held a prisoner of my mind.

I’m just feeling really down. My house is a mess with a bunch of clean clothes all over the place that I am unable to put away. I don’t have the energy, physically or mentally to clean. Jacques helps but he can’t do everything.

I go to therapy every two weeks and I schedule in chores and workout times in my calendar that I never do. My therapist is often telling me to breathe deep but I don’t even do that. Sometimes I wonder why I bother going.

One nice thing that is happening today is that Jacques and I are having an early Valentine’s Day, since Tyler will be back with us tomorrow night. Jacques is cooking Italian for me. I feel so blessed to have his love, especially when I am going through this.

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Photo credit: escapeandfeelbetter.com