hi my name is amanda fronduti and i have recently had a miscarriage due to my A1c being at 14%. i havnt been taking care of myself for quite a while now and thats obvious. i am currently not on the pump but my endo is working to get me on one. i was wondering if there was anything i could do, other that checking my b.s. regularly and taking my insulin, to quicken the process of getting my diabetes under control. ive just been dealing with this for so long i got tired of dealing with it and just pretended that i didnt have it. not a good idea obviously bc ive spent most of this year in the hospital with dka. i know that my diabetes wont go away and ill have it forever and im ready to get it under control so i can have a healthy child with my husband.....i just want it to happen fast. any suggestions?? thanks.
Amanda,
I definately know where you are coming from, it is so hard especially if you were diagnosed at a young age to deal with such a big issue. I was diagnosed at 14 and it wasn't until I was about 18 that I really started taking care of myself. I didn't want to have to prick my fingers and take shots, I just didn't want to deal with it all together. It is going to be a tough road BUT you CAN do it! There will be times when you just want to gie up because it seems like you feel worse or get aggrivated when you are actually trying. Checking your blood sugar ALOT and seeing what different times of the day and specific foods affect you the most. I was so frustrated because I put myself on a strict diet and started exercising 3 times a week and I felt so hungry because I had been so used to having a high blood sugar all the time. Within 5 months I went from a A1c of 9.5 to 7.4! I feel soooo much better and it gets easier after time, but it is very frustrating at first. And there's so many articles out there that have such false information and loads of crap like "diabetic meals to follow". First of all i don't know anyone that would want 4 ounces of skim milk for a snack... I generally fill my diet up with lots of protein, for breakfast I will have 2 boiled eggs (eggs make you feel full for quite awhile). Lunch I will even eat a sandwich and some apples and bolus for it. If you want pasta stick to wheat pasta and always have a salad on the side. My husband was a big support in keeping me on track as well. He was always there pushing me when I felt like I just wanted to give up. You can definately do it! You just have to put your mind to it! Good luck and you will be so amazed how much better you feels, you don't feel tired and icky all the time, like you actually have energy to get through the day!
Amanda-
I have been in the same boat. I didn't take care of myself for about 15 of the 20 years of me having diabetes. My husband has been the one to push me to do good the last 2 years. We too want to try for a baby and have been running into nothing but road blocks trying to get my A1C down. I had it at a 7.9 (total shocker but so exciting) and had surgery and it shot back up to a 8.9. We were devistated because we wanted to start trying for a baby this month. So we are back on the grind. It is not easy and lately I have wanted to quit, but then remember that it isn't about me anymore, its about my husband, our families, and the family we would like to create. Hang in there! Find someone you can be accountable to. A pump and a CGM will be your best friends. When I got my CGM, I hated it. It felt like I had a little person on my shoulder nagging at me, alerting me every time my blood sugar went too high or too low, but in turn...it has helped me lower my A1C and get on track. Good luck. And remember...there are lots of us out here for help, advise and support.
The only thing that will make a difference is to grow up and take care of yourself. At some point you'll realize it's a waste of time to have crazy blood sugars and feel bad all the time. Didn't happen for me until I was about 25.
Getting a pump helped me because I finally felt like I could control my blood sugar, instead of it controlling me.
You really need to use birth control until you are managing your diabetes well. It's not fair to subject a fetus to extreme high blood sugars. And when you do have a baby it's vital to have your diabetes in good shape so you have the energy and health to be a good mom.
I know I wasn't motivated to take care of myself until I saw the positive pregnancy test, but I sure wish I would have been. My A1C was at a 9 when I got pregnant, and i have had an A1C all the way at the max of 15. I watched my mother die from type 1 diabetes when I was 15... she was allergic to artificial insulin and took over a year to desensitize her to it and the uncontrollable blood sugars destroyed her body. You would think that would have taught me something but I still wasn't that motivated it just was hard to care about myself I guess. You have to start taking care of yourself, if you can't do it for you then you have to remember what it would do to your husband and family if they lost you, the burden you can become on them if you aren't healthy, and the possibility of never getting to have a child, and even if you do it having birth defects or even if born healthy having to grow up with a sick or absent mom. You don't want that.
I'd def recommend the pump and a CGM, CGM will help with getting A1C down and when you do get pregnant it is a HUGE help esp when you get to the point where you aren't feeling lows and your insulin needs are changing all the time so you and your doctor can track patterns easily.
Hi Amanda,
I've had diabetes for 28 years. I realized in my mid twenties that the reason I avoided taking care of myself was because I had so much guilt wrapped around my blood sugar numbers.
It came from when I was a kid (I was diagnosed young) and my parents would accuse me of sneaking food because my blood sugar was high - I never did sneak food, but I quickly learned that there were "bad numbers" and "good numbers". I got in trouble for bad numbers with my parents (they were just trying to make sure that I stayed healthy and were worried parents). And there were always so many more bad numbers than good ones because the range for good ones is so small. Right?
So I avoided testing (no test, no bad numbers). And I was like that for most of my teens and early twenties. Well... when I was in my mid twenties, I realized - Ok.. these are just numbers. Just accept them as they are - no guilt. You might have to even tell yourself that when you test. I did.
The definition of diabetes is to have abnormal sugar levels... it is not anyone's fault. It is NOT your fault - it's the disease's fault. You just have to check the numbers and correct them. That's your job in taking care of yourself. Test and see if you need to correct. And plan for what you eat (if you want that piece of chocolate cake, you're going to need to load up on insulin). That's all. Your sugars are not going to be perfect. They never will because you have diabetes. You can take control of them, but don't be too hard on yourself. There will be days when for some unknown reason, you're high. It's ok. Just do your best to correct it.
And you also have to realize that very few people - even doctors - know as much about diabetes as you. They often think that it is easy to be in perfect control. You know and I know that that is not true. It takes work. And lots of it. If someone gives me a hard time about my diabetes, I just tell myself, "it is lucky that they don't know what it's like, they probably couldn't handle it".
I also look at my diabetes as a science experiment. To get some fun out of it. I have learned things about myself since I've started looking at my diabetes this way. For me, showers and coffee raise my blood sugar slightly and oatmeal is the worst thing I could eat. I also know that when I get scared, my blood sugar drops. It's neat to know those kinds of things.
Since I've started looking at my diabetes this way (without guilt), my control has been great. I've had a HbA1C of under 7 for the last 7 years. I'm completely complication free.
I can't say that there is an easy way to get control, but I know that for me - it was a rapid turn around once I changed my way of thinking. I didn't know how much the guilt was influencing me.
Hope that helps.
Plant based diet or beverages like Black tea or Green Tea, Kombucha, Tomato juice, Prosecco can help in controlling diabetes.