I hope it stays in remission a long time. That is stressful worrying aboit it getting worse again. Good that low carb worked for you, I hope you can get back to it again. Untreated Thyroid disease is terrible for bg, I learned that after finally medicating my hashis.
Thatās really interesting. My blood sugar seems to skyrocket when my thyroid is high (and TSH was <0.05). But when my TSH was high (9-13 for months) although I felt absolutely wrecked (I also had several other health issues that caused fatigue on top of the thyroid!) my blood sugar seemed easier to control during that time. Since being off medication my TSH has dropped each time itās been tested, so Iām hoping that itāll stop where it is now. The TSH getting lower seems to have correlated with my blood sugar having many more spikes and generally running high. The worst is when my thyroid is coming back down or up into range. Absolute chaotic blood sugars and it makes me feel awful for months.
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Wow sounds awful Jen. Maybe graves is different. For me adding t3 was what really helped me a lot. I do need a lot more bsal on meds though. Now my tsh is a lot lower. .36 I think now and t4 is low with t3 a bit high. Endo said that is normal on t3. I think I was not converting t4. I still have fatigue though and other hashi symptoms. I am also getting fat pads under arms and neck, tummy etc.
I think this is probably itā¦less basal when thyroid is low, more when itās normal, and a lot more when itās high, perhaps. I sometimes donāt adjust basal aggressively enough because Iām scared of causing lows.
Overall, Iām feeling so much better, itās not even comparable. Six months ago I couldnāt even get dressed or walk a quarter block without needing to rest. Now that all my issues are treated, I can get through a day without literally falling asleep or feeling like Iā'm going to die. Iāve still got ongoing health issues, but my health is definitely headed in an upward direction over the past six months or so.
I just hope my TSH stops droppingā¦itās dropped by 2.0 over the past six months since stopping medication, which seems like a lot to me. Itās now at the level it was before it dropped off to 0.0 and I ended up in emergency and was diagnosed with Gravesā, so hopefully itāll stay there. At least now I know the symptoms (I was clueless before) and my endocrinologist is great about getting TSH checked right away if I email him saying Iām feeling off.
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Yes, seems to make sense, it could be why my bg is so volatile too along with my digestive issues. And how can we know in advance which one is needed at any given time. That sounds miserable, I am glad you are feeling normal again, I hope it lasts!
Last night I crashed 40 minutes into dinner and so tonight and today I was extra cautious and I spiked, so difficult.
Yeah, it is really difficult with so many factors. You and I have similar issues. Iāve got irritable bowel syndrome on top of all my other conditions, though thankfully I just started a new medication I can take as-needed that helps a lot. Plus who knows what impact the medications I take may have. I just do the best I can each day.
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So sorry you have that as well Jen, it makes diabetes even more difficult. I take immodium as needed but it can contribute to bad lows, but I get them anyway with just the ibs. I hope the new med helps you.
That is really helpful! I also get lows when my stomach randomly decides to get upset, so glad itās not just me. The IBS thing is annoying because I havenāt been able to find any triggers. Not that Iād want to avoid anything else, but it would probably be better than taking another medication.
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Ibs is awful for me but d is 50 mil times worse. None of the probiotics for ibs have helped, they make me worse. Which med are you taking? Yes it is not just you, so youāre not aloneš
The medication Iām taking is called Olestyr (Questran in the US). My doctor said some people with my symptoms have something called bile acid malabsorption that is hard to distinguish from IBS, and this medication is used to treat that and other issues. I was taking it regularly for a while, then stopped due to travel and so on, but today have been having issues, so may start taking it again. Itās a bit annoying to take as itās a powder you mix into a drink (that tastes awful (okay, awful is a strong word, but it tastes chalky) unless itās flavoured with aspartame or sugar, ugh), and you also canāt take it within hours before/after taking other medications as it can stop them from working. So thatās why I donāt take it every day, because around noon is really the only time I can take it, and if I miss that window I end up skipping that day.
I find diabetes annoying at times, but I think after so many years, itās mostly just routine. I literally donāt remember what itās like to not have diabetes. I feel lucky, in a way, that Iāve always had health issues my entire life. It means I donāt have any āperfectly healthy lifeā to compare to and miss.
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Sounds yuckyš¹ I have heard of that, I am going to look it up again. At least you have found something that helps your Ibs symptoms. Ibs is not really a diagnosis, but here I am many years later with it and no treatments except immodium to help. Thank goodness for that at least.
For me D has pretty much ruined my life, it is a daily struggle to do anything. Combined with my other illnesses it so much worse. I never know if I will wake up to my normally difficult day with crashes etc. or if I may have to rush to the er. Constant monitoring, testing, devices work, site inflammations and so on. It is not a life really and I would do anything practically to get rid of it for good.
I agree, having multiple chronic illnesses makes things ten times harder. But in a way I am used to itā¦when I was five I had two major conditions, that was up to five by the time I was ten, and itās just continued to increase. Now itās probably more than a dozen conditions that either affect my daily life or require management. I never know if Iāll get to sleep through the night, wake up feeling sick or start randomly feeling sick during the day, have a medical emergency, have to remember to take a bunch of medications throughout the day, carrying emergency supplies with me at all times, constant monitoring of everything, attached to or using medical devices around the clock, endless medical appointments and tests and prescriptions to fill, if itās not one condition acting up itās another or often more than one at the same time, have to think about everything I do and plan ahead for everything, have to read every label on ever food and drink I eat, have to be so careful about everything just to stay alive.
Luckily, Iām a problem-solver so I see most of this as a challenge to overcome, so it hasnāt affected me too badlyā¦I still work, have family and friends, have leisure activities, travel frequently for work or vacation, volunteer for several organizations, live independently and manage everything. But I also have an exceptionally supportive circle of family and friends, and Iāve come close to taking a medical leave from work twice over the past few years. Each additional diagnosis makes things a little bit harder. Iām only in my late 30s and so Iāve pretty much steeled myself against the fact that I will develop other conditions as life goes onā¦though I am close to the point where Iād take a medical leave from work and/or go on disability if much more were piled on.
I hope that you are somehow able to get your life back. The last six months I felt like I was hardly living, but I knew it would pass sooner or later, and thankfully it has. I feel like things are a lot harder for people who were living totally healthy lives as adults and then developed one or more chronic illnesses.
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That is great you can manage so well all that Jen, I donāt know how really. I hope you can get a long break from graves at least. And I hope you can get a medical leave if needed. That is not an option for me, I would lose my job.
d is worst for me and after 7 years I know nothing but a cure of some type will ever help me get my life back. It is just not possible to function normally or at all at times for me with crashing bg, or spikes, but the lows are worst for me prolly although highs and ketones have put me in hospital once since diagnosis and close to it 3 times in the past few months.
Before D I was never in a hospital except for a test maybe and after car accidents only to er or to visit family members etc. Now I have a rolling backpack prepacked with everything I need in case I wake up near dka again and canāt manage it myself.
My life was not perfect before and my other conditons impacted my life but I managed it and there was no comparison to this at all.
Yeah, diabetes is definitely intense. I donāt have any one health condition that affects my life negatively, but the combination of them all, and all the daily tasks I need to do, and all the things that are ten times more work for me than the average person, do all combine to make it very difficult sometimes. I definitely wouldnāt be in the position I am if my family, friends, and colleagues werenāt all amazing. Iām also fortunate that I have a job where I can take a medical leave if I needed to, though Iām not sure of the exact criteria. Iāll also admit that Iāve been building my skills in areas where I could work from home lately, in case it ever came to that.
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In case this helps anyone, I wrote about following the intermittent fasting protocol. Itās by far the most relaxed Iāve ever been about food. Let me know what you think: https://nyti.ms/2JV5FHd
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The fact that I continue to be very interested in a low-carb diet even when Iām not following one (but I think about it almost every day!) is telling me that clearly it seems to do something for me that a high-carb diet isnāt doing. This week I have finally had a dietitian tell me how many calories I should be aiming to eat (just have to clarify with her whether thatās the amount needed to lose weight). So I think with that information and the summer coming up (in which Iāve made no plans specifically so I can dedicate it to my health), I am going to tackle this.
This week I also found a commercial egg replacer that I can actually use! All the other ones Iāve found contain potato starch. Itās not low-carb, but I think used in amounts to replace one or two eggs, it would hopefully work. Iāve had mixed luck with flax and chia seeds, especially when trying to make things like pancakes. I also found some low-carb granola bars that I should be able to eat (just waiting on email from company), and I found two plant-based cheeses that I can eat and actually like! In a few weeks Iāll have a summer vacation when I plan to experiment with all the baking.
I donāt think I would be able to eat extremely low-carb, and Iām not sure Iām willing to give up fruit, but I seemed to do extremely well blood sugar wise when I was eating around 75 grams of carbs a day. So I may aim for that level so that I donāt go crazy and am able to use these higher-carb foods I can actually eat, and combine it with daily cardio and strength exercises (something Iām learning about, which is great), and see if that helps in reducing my A1c to 6.0% again and in allowing me to lose weight.
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I am hoping for better treatments and maybe the new pump with glucagon can at least stop lows.