I was diagnosed in 1995 with type II diabeties. And I have to admit I dont know as much as I thought I did since joining this site. When I read the discussions everyone is talking a language I dont understand. A language that involves numbers, levels, types, and much more. Right now Im feeling pretty ignorant and oblivious.
Could someone point me in the direction of some good sources (books, websites) to read and investigate so I can learn more about this crazy ride we are all on?
Diabetes is roughly devided into Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that results in destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Thus far, such destruction has been permanent, but there is informed speculation that reversing the immune system malfunction may allow recovery of beta cell function.
Diabetes mellitus type 2 or type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), or adult-onset diabetes) is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. [1] While it is often initially managed by increasing exercise and dietary modification, medications are typically needed as the disease progresses.
Then there are other types of diabetes like MODY, LADA, Gestational a.o. One can go on and one with descriptions that is too long for this reply. All diabetes has one symptom in common that is High Blood Glucose, But the causes and treatment differs.
The numbers everyone is talking about that is in my view the more important one are:
Bloodglucose/Bloodsugar: BG/BS: is measured in mg/ds or mmol/l 1 mmol/l is more or less 18.05mg/dl (mg/dl is mostly used on this site)
A1C or HbA1c: Glycosylated (or glycated) hemoglobin This is more or less a 3 months average of BS. The aim for Type 2 's is usualy lower than that of Type 1’s
Ketones (Can be more prevalent with Type 1’s) are produced by the body as it breaks down fats for energy.
Normally the body obtains the energy it needs from sugars (carbohydrates). A person may begin to break down fats and produce ketones because of:
High blood sugar levels and insufficient amounts of insulin, preventing the body from using sugar for energy, causing it to break down fat instead.
Fasting or starvation.
Prolonged vomiting.
A diet that is low in sugars and starches (carbohydrates).
Try some of these webpages or just go to a search engine like google or yahoo and type in diabetes, Some webpages are easier to read the other
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes
http://www.diabetessymptomsonline.com/
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.coml“A Blog For Medical Professionals To Discuss The Latest Diabetes News”
http://www.diabetes911.net/
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/spindex.php
http://www.diabetes.org/
Hope this is not too much info… Riëtte
The best book that I can recommend for you is The First Year with Type 2 Diabetes by Gretchen Becker (who is also a member of TuDiabetes and VERY helpful! To see her profile, click here). My Dad was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I ordered this book for him and suddenly he was an expert 
The nice part is that the book is written in a way that you can just read a bit each day and not get overwhelmed.
Another online resource (other than this community) is a new site called Healthy Outcomes, which is designed to make diabetes education fun. You get points for completing different lessons or watching videos and then you get REAL prizes in the mail. I already got my first prizes. It’s fun!
Nicole, don’t be afraid to ask the community your specific questions. Our members have all different backgrounds (from newbie to veteran to medical professional) and will be happy to explain the concepts that haven’t been explained to you. Remember, no one is born understanding diabetes. We all learn as we go.
What would you like to know?
If you’re like most Type 2s, your doctors have probably given you a desired range of blood sugar values to aim for, a basic understanding of diet, you’ve been told to lose weight, you’ve been told there are many treatment options from diet/exercise to pills to insulin, and you’ve been made to feel bad about your diagnosis in some way. Perhaps since 1995 you’ve tried multiple treatment options and found what does or doesn’t work for you.
I was diagnosed 18 years ago with Type 1. It’s an autoimmune disorder where my body attacked the insulin producing cells in my pancreas. There is no cure, I take insulin via an insulin pump, check my blood sugar 8-10 times per day, wear a continuous glucose sensor and device that reads my values constantly, and count my carbohydrates to judge my dosages. I aim to have an A1c value below 7% at my three month check-ups. My blood sugars fluctuate between 40s (on the low side) and 300s-400s (on the high side), but I am rarely above 200 because I am in very tight control. For me, as it should be, I feel high above 140 and low below 70. And I stay in that range most of the time - which keeps my docs very happy.
Type 2s make insulin (sometimes too much), but their bodies don’t use it properly. They burn out their beta cells in their pancreases over time from this haphazard insulin output. Many type 2s don’t test often, but before meals and occasionally 1 or 2 hours after is what’s considered best. A type 2 in great control is one with an A1c below 7% and who does not go over 140 after meals. They are often on lower carb diets and have healthy BMIs and have been able to go off meds or reduce their meds.
I second Gretchen Becker’s book and also recommend our member Jenny’s Blood Sugar 101 website which Riette already told you about: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/spindex.php.
Nicole:
When I first joined, I understood little more than you. There is a special shorthand/language to this internet thing. Although I have had DM 20+ years, I still don’t understand some of the “math” things. Some numbers are in “metric?” and some in a language I was trained in. I can always recommend one GREAT source of education. That is, your local hospital/clinic diabetes education program. That way, you aren’t prone to getting any misinformation since you don’t know how to filter out what applies to you and what doesn’t. You can buy book after book and still not be able to apply it to yourself. I found that the hospital program had a way of personalizing it and involving me in “actively” learning, not just “book” learning. Most insurance companies will cover diabetes education when ordered by a DR. Just explain to your DR that you feel you don’t know what you should and go from there. If you don’t want a seminar/workshop/continuing class, then I would go to a book. But, sometimes, a book just doesn’t cut it for me. (Must be the way I learn.)
Hope this helps along with the other suggestions that may come in.
Lois La Rose, Milwaujkee, WI
Wow, that was a lot of information for ME! Do you have medical background? Lois La Rose
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Im feeling better already. I have to say in the past just as I thought I understood something I didnt! I wish this could be a cut and dry disease. I guess that is Gods way of keeping in check and on our toes! Again to all of you, Thank You. I now have homework to do! LOL
Nicole, Hi. Did you get any information that you seek…some good reads? Here is what I have that I found is pretty interesting…“The Type 2 Diabetes Sourcebook for Women” by M. Sara Rosenthal, Ph.D. It is a McGraw-Hill Sourcebook Series. Put out 2005. My sister got this book for me at a medical center pharmacy. You might try to find it at your favorite pharmacy or they can order it for you. The ISBN number is 0-07-144929-9. It would probably be a hard find any where else. I wish you success and hope you find something that will be helpful for you. Please feel free to contact me for more information that you are concerned about.
You can also order this book from Amazon. Click here
That’s a few years. I was diagnosed in November of 2006. I find I still don’t understand how to think about it as well as I thought I would by now. There are a lot of factors to keep in mind. The largest factor is the way we grew up thinking about food and eating. At least, that is the case for me. I still want a steak that fills the plate. I have to say that I have not been able to adhere to all of the recommendations, but have compromised a long way from where I was. The essence of staying sane and not freaking out, while getting more control over it is taking one step at a time. When you understand something and can adopt one incremental change, that is progress. It takes repetition to really learn anything, especially if it involves unlearning as well. I found the Johns Hopkins Guide To Diabetes in one of those big box bookstores and it is helpful in explaining all the basics. I’m looking at Dr. Bernstein’s book a lot for its practical sense. The caveat is that I find his prescriptions kind of extreme. But I like the way he writes. The best thing to do is to go browse the bookstore and just take the plunge and buy something that seems to help. You will wind up with a bit of shelf space in your personal library. No way around it. I probably have a couple of hundred dollars all told, invested in books by now. Cheap compared to what the medical system charges for anything. I would just Google to see what comes up on the web. Every day something new and interesting comes up that wasn’t there before.
Hi Nicole,
Besides the great advice you have received here already, I will recommend the list of links we have collected in TuDiabetes:
http://tudiabetes.com/notes/Links
and the books we recommend:
http://bestdiabetesbooks.com/
If you purchase any of them, a percentage of your purchase goes towards the Diabetes Hands Foundation that runs TuDiabetes.
Hope this helps.
No I do not have medical background - I try to study a lot about diabetes and is currently writing a book in our language. I hope it will see the light of day this year. I want to cover both type 1 and 2 but as I go on I found there is sooo much to put in. So at one stage I will have to decide what is the most important info that I would like to cover and for what purpose.
a question for Kristin,Melissa , and Riette, Hope this isnt a stupid one!
If you have recently kinda adopted the Atkins diet, and your blood surgars are still some what high, and you have keytones, How would you know if those are from the diet or your BG’s?
I may be wrong, but my understanding has always been that diabetics should avoid diets like Atkins that promote ketones because our bodies cannot flush them due to our insulin issues (type 1 or 2). A possible indicator of whether it’s your diet or your sugar levels would be exactly how high you are considering “somewhat high.” Personally, I don’t see ketones unless my blood sugars are above about 240. But you can produce ketones at any blood sugar level if your body is not handling your glucose control well, so I don’t know.
I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about any trace ketones and get yourself to the ER if you see ketones in the medium to large range. I would also encourage you to add some balanced carbs back into your diet, but make sure they are whole grain, high fiber items in small to moderate amounts.
The best thing I found that helped me was a book called The Diabetic Bible(Your All-in One Guide to Living With Diabetes)
U might tey a book called The Diabetic Bible( Your All-In One Guide To Kiving With Daibetes)
Cory I have that book,thats where i got the idea for the atkins.lol
Melissa thank you for answering. The reason why I chose the atkins is because I can just look at or smell a carb and there go the BG’s!. I am going for my first consult with the CDE next week to start adding a fast acting Insulin along with my Lantus and Metformin so hopefully this will all get worked out,and yeah those “somewhat high” BG’s (holding my head down in shame) have been running from 250 to 340. Will change the diet today back to lower carb and see what happens.
Hey, Debbie. Don’t be ashamed! But girl, you’re over 5 years from diagnosis now, so it’s time to whip those BGs into shape. 250 and upwards aren’t “somewhat high.” That’s like when I met my husband and he said he smoked “occasionally.” I joke now that he meant “occasionally a pack a day, 'ccasionally a pack and a half.” (He quit after we started dating, thankfully. laughs) Those are some nasty highs and they’re not good for you and it’s no wonder the ketones have reared their heads recently.
I hope that the CDE gives you a lot of great advice. Your A1c isn’t too bad (good for you!), but I think the fast-acting insulin will help you bring down those highs and fight off the ketones. Do mention these concerns about ketones and your diet to the CDE. He or she should be able to offer suggestions more credible than mine.
Two resources for you to check out would be Gretchen Becker’s “Type Diabetes the First Year” and Jenny Ruhl’s website Blood Sugar 101. Both women are members here and highly knowledgeable.
I don’t know much about this topic Debbie, but this article (to read click here) summarizes what ketones are and the difference between ketosis (associated with low carb dieting) and ketoACIDosis (which is a dangerous condition experienced by diabetics).
If you have only trace amounts of ketones, it’s possible that you are experiencing ketosis, which is when your liver converts protein into usable energy (in this case you should have ketones in your blood, but they should not regularly spill over into your urine). Ketoacidosis is experienced when your body does not have enough insulin and starts breaking down your fat rapidly, which casuses there to be high levels of acid in your blood too, which can be dangerous.
IF YOU ARE EVER READING HIGH KETONES, call your doctor or go to the ER.