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It'll be interesting to see where all this leads. That's for sure!

 

When specifics aren’t given, sometimes I fill in the information with what I can infer.

In the U.S. an a1c of 7 indicates full blown diabetes.
All About Your A1C

A healthy Navy Seal who is 21 can get a blood sugar well past 200 by drinking a large sugar soda while laying on a sofa. If he stopped exercising and went on a constant sugar drink diet, he would eventually experience the symptoms of a diabetic even if he weren’t one. It’s not as bad as being an actual diabetic.

There are varying levels of diabetes and the medical profession hasn’t been very helpful in defining diabetes. These are the type of type 2 diabetes I know of:

1. The person who is called a diabetic so that he or she will get off his or her butt and start eating healthy and exercising. No medication is given and sometimes doctors will call these people pre-diabetic, but many say diabetic to scare the patient.

2. The person who needs to take daily medication to control his or her blood sugar. Diet change and exercise is not enough. Medication must be taken to keep blood sugar at a “safe” level.

3. The person who needs to take insulin to survive. Without insulin shots, their body will maintain an unhealthy or acutely deadly level of blood sugar. They can maintain a blood sugar level of 300 for days despite exercise and not eating.

From what I can tell, questdriven is at least a 2.

The only person who needs to do constant at home monitoring is someone who is an insulin diabetic or on the verge of being one. The reason is because their body has no control anymore and they must always check and maintain the proper blood sugar for their body by giving themselves insulin. Everyone else is just satisfying their curiosity.

Of course, if your doctor says otherwise, always follow your doctors instructions. But I thought I read that questdriven’s doctor said that she didn’t need constant at home monitoring.

 

No. Just no . . . It’s just not a chance worth taking in my opinion. Lancets might cost a fortune in the UK, but in the U.S. the most expensive ones are 25 for $3. Risking infection just to satisfy your curiosity doesn’t seem very wise.

 

As I understand it, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol tend to go hand in hand.

However, that's not me being dismissive about what you're going through.

What your feeling now is completely justified, and understandable.

My point is: you're not alone. And you're obviously doing everything within your power to address this situation.

May the Lord Jesus help you endure, and bless your efforts, my sister in Christ.

 

Questdriven: I'm sorry if I got all mushy and sentimental with you on my last post! Lol

I'm typically not like that, believe me. Lol

So please don't let you that stop you from continuing to update us on your diabetes.

 

I like it. You're doing what needs to be done. You're taking care of business.

And anyone who thinks living with your mom deserves a guilt trip is a fool!

As far food stamps go, given your health issues, good for you!

 

That's interesting. I'm guessing that happens to others, as well.

 

That is probably the second most common symptom of high blood glucose. Many people who have undiagnosed diabetes have occasional blurry vision and have no idea what the cause is because our media is doing a poor job job spreading information that is truly needed.

 

Again, I'm just happy to see you're taking your newly diagnosed chronic health issue seriously.

 

The problem with determining the cause of diabetes is that there are more types and causes of diabetes than just Type 1 and Type 2. The worse types are of course type 1 and some of the type 2 diabetes where cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are destroyed. But there are also conditions where the cells of the body are unable to use insulin.

For the person whose problem is that their pancreas does not produce enough insulin, the cause is believed to be an autoimmune condition that causes the body to destroy these beta cells in the islet of the pancreas. Diet has no known methodology to contribute to this cause. But saying that, during the periods of time when the body has inadequate insulin there is a period of time when the patient can control diabetes with diet and exercise only. But, no matter how much a person may wish to avoid taking medication, this period of time will end. If the body is slowly destroying these beta cells, eventually the patient will need medication, and if the condition is serious enough they will eventually become insulin dependent just like a type 1 diabetic.

Other diabetics produce enough insulin but their cells are unable to adequately use the glucose. For these diet and exercise are often very effective and if uses correctly can appear to "cure" diabetes. But, there is another problem with people of this condition. Because the body can not fully use insulin, it will over produce insulin which will eventually weaken the body's ability to produce insulin.

If all that did not confuse you, let me just say. Diet and exercise can be almost miraculous for some, but not for others. All benefit from a good diet and exercise program including type 1 diabetics and non diabetics, so use a diet, of course, but don't let others to make you feel like a failure if it is not enough. The right way to manage your diabetes is unique to you, as mine is unique to me. You and your care team just got to do the work to figure it out, and then comes the fun part, actually doing it when life tends to get in the way.