The BP problem is the worst of it, as you know. Hopefully you get yours figured out, or at least it is manageable. I have days that are totally normal then it goes back to low.
Add Magnesium and zinc to your diet. Both help control dizzyness. But don’t take them at the same time of day as they compete for the same receptors in the brain. If you must choose one over the other, choose magnesium Chloride. It will eventually settle the dizzyness and is a very needed mineral in the body. And yes, you’ll live to 100!
Make SURE it is magnesium chloride and nothing else, with nothing else added!
magnesium will also help reduce and reverse any muscle wasting and help build them back up again.
I’m glad you told me that. I have good and bad days too. Do you have days when the low occurs all day long, or is it bad only in the morning? I never have a morning that is completely normal.
I have never had a full day but I have had it go on untill about 3-4 in the afternoon. Most days I am up by 6 or 7, so that feels like all day.
Thanks for the information!
M asked me what was my definition of a double diabetic. I said it was one with insufficient insulin production and insulin resistance. I said I would ask you as our revered Diabetic statement with way more experience.
If the definition is only a type 1 that develops insulin resistance later. I may still qualify since I was only able to honeymoon for a maximum of 2 years on a 1400 cal/day diet and 3 hrs of exercise. As soon as I started eating a bit more calories the bg shot up and avandia and metformin did nothing for my blood sugar control the average and standard deviation were the same. so the progression to insulin dependency was definitely slower that a child usually has.
I certainly feel closer to you than any other diabetic on the site since whatever was the path to get there we are now in the same boat. And it is possible that we can find similar solution. A lot of insulin in both case and some chemical and exercise that cuts the consumption down to something that will permit us to stabilize our weight and .hopefully some.
I can see people leaving at times some of this type 1 vs type 2 all out war is destructive. I think there is much overlap and much to learn between type 1 and type2 and for us blessed with both insufficient and resistance it is practically the same disease. What to you think?
I think you are doing pretty darn Good Richard, after so many years of Diabetes. You have done so much to inspire in your Lifetime and are a Successful Man. I’m sad to hear that the Insurance won’t cover your Dex. Hopefully that will change since I know how much you enjoyed using it. You just stay on Top. You have many years until you hit the 100th. A Party to celebrate. Oh, you’re not getting nervous about your trip are you Richard? 
You can do it easily! Enjoy!
FYI. Zinc & copper need to be in balance. Too much zinc sends copper low. Minerals really have to be taken in the right ratios.
Oh I do agree with your last statement. Many of my best online diabetic friends are type 2. We never argue about differences. I don’t understand why anyone feels the need for arguing about that. Bigotry among diabetics because of type differences is inexcusable.
A double diabetic is either 1. “A type 1 who develops insulin resistance later”, like you said, or 2. A type 2 who no longer produces enough insulin and becomes insulin dependent…
I definitely feel that Metformin is the answer for me. I am almost certain that my endo will approve. I have read several type 2 diabetics saying that Met helped them lose weight. It is a shame that Met was not the right choice for you.
Hi Terrie, thanks for the reply. If you are talking about our trip to the UK, it has been canceled. My wife was so nervous about going that I could not do that to her. It would have been a miserable trip for both of us because of her fears. We have now purchased plane tickets, and reserved hotel rooms in Minneapolis for mid October. We will have a meet-up with about 10 of my online diabetic friends there. We will also be attending the Diabetes Expo and visiting the MOA (Mall Of America), the huge aquarium, and the Zoo. We will be there Oct 13-17. The Expo is on Oct 15. Why don’t you fly down and join us. Bring your hubby, there will be several spouses at the dinner we are planning for the meet-up. A smaller group will also go to the Expo with us.
Dear Richard
Thank you so much for your reply it is uplifting I do not like the present drift on DD and will try to limit my reading to the posts or replies of people that are more tolerant. Some type ones there cannot accept the fact that for many people insulin is a weight gain drug, by many I mean a significant minority. It isn’t for them.
Dean even objected to the use of the word drug for insulin. I certainly think it is because injecting excessive amounts ( because of IR) into the tummy grease certainly does not reproduce a normal pancreas even if the insulin was identical to the natural molecule which it is not.
I would like to have your thoughts on what you think or your Endo thinks causes IR. My transition to insulin dependency was fairly “rapid” from onset of the disease to insulin dependency was at most 2 1/2 years. This in spite of a 1600 C/day diet and a lot of exercise. As long as I was loosing weight the BG were only slightly high but when it stopped which it obviously had to the BG skyrocketed.
I was put on NPH and novolog ( as it is called in the USA) which was hard to control. I ended up dividing the total daily dose of NPH into 6 shots every four hours to mimic a pump somewhat. That worked ok with a slight penalty of a steady yearly weight gain. Weight gain makes IR worst I think. I tried to minimize it.
I cant find my old logs to see what the I/C ratio was when I first started insulin when my weight was my old high school football one but I am sure it was a lot less than now.
I hope we can reduce our IR with some weight loss . what do you think?
PS I was at a meeting 2 years ago discussing weight loss. I met a diabetic (not on external insulin) that was the only one that had lost weight down to a normal size. Boy I told him you must have a lot of self control. He said not at all it was metformin. I know he was not injecting insulin which sure helps but still very encouraging.
I know a type 2 lady on Facebook who has written a book about losing a tremendous amount of weight. She has more will power and discipline than anyone else I know. It is a very good book. I have read it. She has never needed to use insulin, and she probably never will.
I lost 34 pounds and have managed to keep it off, while I was using Avandia. Now I am using Actos and have gained 9 pounds. I have reduced my carb intake and I exercise more, but I am still gaining. I am calling my endo tomorrow. She will probably let me use Metformin.
I do not know what causes IR. I know I have relatives who have it and they are type 2. I do not have any relatives with type 1. If none of my relatives had IR, I do not think I would have it either.
Dear Richard
Has your TDD gone down with the actos compared to no oral ? How is the TDD with actos compared to TDD with avandia? sorry if you have already answered this but I forgot.
Do you think you are eating more food with the actos than with the avandia?
I had an excel spread sheet that I would break down every thing I put into my mouth (except liquids with zero) into calories, carb, protein, fat and saturated fat. I got the analysis of the foods of the label or the net. Hard to say how accurate this is since manufactures may all understate bad things.
My endo and FF( favorite female) made fun of this last year so I stopped I think that was a big mistake. because no I only have a gut feeling that I am eating less which is very unscientific.
Are you sleeping well with an adequate amount of sleep ? Again qualitatively I found poor sleep = weight gain.
Why did you cancel England ? my FF is going on a bus tour of Southern England. I find the border mugging there less onerous than the US one. The Canadian ones are super mean and inconsiderate to old people also. The guard asked me for my braces I touched my mouth and was about to say that I don’t have any, then luckily I remembered that in proper English this means suspenders ! He did not have a side arm so had I erred I don’t think he would have shot me dead. If the Icelandic volcano erupts then you have made a good move.
My TDD with Avandia was 34, but it is 40 with Actos. Avandia lowered my IR better than Actos does. The higher TDD is part of the reason I have gained nine pounds since starting Actos. I am also experiencing swelling, and I have read Actos can cause that, and can also cause congestive heart failure. I have been taking water pills for many years, but they are not helping with this.
I called my endo’s office today, but she will not be able to call me until tomorrow. I think she will prescribe Metformin when she hears all the trouble I am having with Actos.
I have some loss of sleep, maybe about two hours each night. It has been that way for many years. I sleep soundly most of the night and am getting about 7 hours of sleep every night.
My wife has become very nervous about so many things as she has aged. She admitted early this year that she could not handle the long flight to England, and then be in a foreign country. She said she would still go, but I knew she would be miserable and that would ruin the trip for both of us. Now we are going to Minneapolis in October. There is a diabetes expo there and we will be joined by many diabetes friends from another diabetes website while we are there.
Aww Shucks! That’s too bad Richard. I was expectinng your reviews and photos. We were invited to go to Poland and maybe Germany later this year but I have a feeling we won’t be going either. Thanks for the invite. I’ll ask. It sounds interesting and Fun. Otherwise, I’m sure that you’s will have a Great adventure with your Friends. I know that you will have them chuckling a lot and enjoying any stories that you didn’t include in your book. 
Dear Richard
Wow that is quite a percentage increase in TDD form 34 to 40 so I in my humble opinion I would call it a bust as far as IR goes. Seven hours of sleep is not bad so that can’t really be blamed for the weight loss.
My fenofibrate is better I think the TDD has dropped from 100 u/day to at most 80 with concurrent appetite loss well at least excessive appetite. I thin I may have lost 3 pounds and converted one pound of fat to muscle.
Based on our cohort of 2 possibly we can conclude more insulin = weight gain; less insulin = weight loss (hope dean does see this)
The edema caused by actos I would really be concerned.
I don’t enjoy our 7 hour plus circling time over Heathrow to get to London. Need compression socks because of swelling of the feet. My FF took me to Turkey witch was a 24 hour affair to get there. That is a foreign country we could not say a word. ( england, france, bohemia, spain, portugal, denmark, italy and sweden we could communicate at the minimum somewhat but not in Turkey) People seemed very friendly. My FF was a curiosity since she was 2 heads taller than most Turkish women. Many new mosques being built so I wonder if it will stay secular.
Minneapolis sounds safe I should go have an old friend there.