I turned 50 on Nov. 2 and went to the ER on Nov.5 for B/S 440 and B/P 220/115. Got meds and was sent home five hours later. I was told I was a diabetic and to follow up with my doctor. Used Insulin from a friend all weekend to control my B/S. By Saturday afternoon my B/P was 190/100 and stayed there until Sunday night at 10 pm I went back to the ER for B/P was 220/115. They gave more drugs and sent me home. Today is Monday and I can finally call my family doctor.I just started this journey and Im tired of it all ready.
Welcome to hell! Support the Faustman Lab!
Welcome. Many of us started our journey in very similar places. Some learned at a regular doctor visit, others upon waking in the ER. Your blood sugar and blood pressure were very high, so it was fortunate that you did not have more of a health emergency. A diagnosis of diabetes can be scary and it can take a while to get your head around it, understand what is happening and how your life will change. Do be aggressive with your doctor about getting on top of this, figure out what kind of diabetes you have (type 1 or type 2) and get proper treatment. You may want to visit a specialist (an endochronologist).
But most of all visit here for information and support. Ask questions, vent your feelings. We can talk about virtually anything here and the people here can understand what you are going through. I was diagnosed more than six years ago. I am just a little older than you. I have diabetes, but I still have a happy and healthy life. While some of us like Gary struggle with the difficulties of diabetes, things have changed. You can have diabetes and still lead a long, full and happy life. Remind yourself of this in the coming weeks. It may seem dark and gloomy, but you will be ok.
Welcome to the community karatejoe. So glad you joined us. Just like you I found out I was diabetic in an ER with a blood sugar of 499. I thought it was the end of the world for me. Probably because I know nothing then about diabetes… I tried to inform myself…I read…I researched…I asked… I joined TuDiabetes community where a lot of people are so supportive! It can be overwhelming at first… but knowledge and family support gave me inspiration to do things better. I agree with bsc…close coordination with your doctor, find out what type of diabetes you have for best treatment.
I can do practically everything a non diabetic does…and much much more!
Ditto everything BSC said. You have a lot going on medically right now and you need to be assessed for Type of Diabetes (antibody testing and c-peptide which your primary may not know) and started on the right treatment both for your blood pressure and your Diabetes. I was 57 when I was diagnosed with diabetes 4 years ago. I was misdiagnosed type 2 when I am, in fact, type 1. That was a journey of discovery. But today, I am living my life, getting ready to move in a week to a rural area. Diabetes is definitely a major part of my life, but it doesn’t make me miserable or take over from what I want to do. You’ve come to the right place for information and support. I’ve learned more on here than I ever did from a doctor.
Hi Karatejoe: Welcome, you have come to a good place to get support and answers. As BSC and Zoe mentioned, it is important to get a correct diagnosis and correct treatment. It sounds like you have been given a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes but you may have Type 1 diabetes and require insulin to control your blood sugar. The gold standard test is antibody testing (GAD, ICA, and IA-2; I write about the testing and more in my Bill of Rights for people with adult-onset Type 1 diabetes). I hope your visit with your family doctor goes well; let us know the outcome.
Kara, when you go to the er, that’s what you are going to get is a bandaide and a “follow up” comment, unless of course you are bleeding or dying. I’m glad for you it’s Monday and you can do the follow up. What concerns me is that you used a friend’s insulin…probably not a good thing to do…since how did you know that this was a good type for you, that you had given yourself or the friend given you enough, too much, too little? Please get your own meds, and use them as you should or are instructed to do.
All that said, Welcome to our world, not the most fun, but you are alive, can breathe on your own, can walk and talk…and be a very wonderuflly alive person. Just a person with diabetes, you have it, it doesn’t have you.
GARY!!! This is not HELL, Hell is when you haven’t taken care of yourself and you get to have a foot amputated, your eyes don’t work and you can’t see a thing, or maybe you have a stroke and you don’t die, but wish you did. Come on, man, hell is a lot worse than having to give yourself pills or shots, watching your carbs, dealing with medical people and insurance people, Hell is much worse.
+1
My thoughts exactly!!!
Welcome to the club Karatejoe. I was dx’d a year ago, just before my 55th birthday. BG was 436, A1c 12.3. I was sooo overwhelmed. I knew nothing about diabetes. I have had it long enough to have complications like retinopathy and neuropathy.
This community has been my lifesaver. The support and knowledge I have received have calmed my fears and given me direction that I probably would not have found otherwise. At least not as easily and quickly. I cruised the blogs and forums for answers to my questions. I followed the links to get more information and to find more resources. It has been an incredible and difficult year, but the results are very promising and the option of doing nothing does not exist. This is my new life. What can/will I make of it?
You have gotten some great responses here from some very good people. For me, knowledge is power. It peels back the fear and uncertainty. One other place that gave me some very needed information is Bloodsugar101. It really helped me understand what was happening to me and how I could get a handle on this.
Hang in there. Learn as much as you can because you are your best health care advocate. And try to spend some time each day here to get the type of support that can only come from some else who fights this fight.
+1 more
I doubt you will find many here who didn’t feel like they had been hit by a ton of bricks on diagnosis. How could you not. But there is in fact a silver lining, hard as that might seem for you to believe at this point. The silver lining is that compared to many other chronic conditions diabetes is treatable and to a large extent the outcome is in your hands. Big factors, regardless of which type you have, are dietary changes, being diligent about exercise, and getting serious about testing and then using the results of testing to make any needed changes.
I will echo Randy, knowledge is power and this website is a great place to get it. Spend some time reading old threads and peruse the groups. The bloodsugar101 is also an excellent resource to gain basic knowledge and chart a path forward.
G'day and welcome.
You've had good advice from the others so I'll be very brief.
Please read this:Getting Started
Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter
Umm if you experienced the same physical and mental symptoms with slightly out of range sugars as I do I would guarantee you’d agree its hell. Without being in my shoes you have no right disrespecting my opinion. My case may be rare but its reality. My dad is also on insulin and he rarely feels anything unless he goes real low. I am not so fortunate. From my experience anything post 100 pre meal and I start becoming real irritable and mentally disturbed. Even 105 is horrible. The only way I can manage this disease without wanting to blow my head off is to intentionally overdose per bolus and bail myself out of the low. Try living like that for a few days.
Gary, everyone who spends time on this board knows how you feel. Please don’t hijack someone else’s thread to complain about your own problems. If you can’t be supportive to a newbie diabetic like karatejoe – i.e. offer helpful advice – please don’t reply.
Hi Joe! I like the first amendment and all that but it does get a bit tiresome having the “you’ll only be miserable” statement tossed out all the time. I am not miserable that often. I wasn’t even before I studied Tae Kwon Do, which I did maybe 20 years into diabetes? There are some similarities in that it can be very productive to break one’s numbers down incrementally, sort of like studying martial arts? If your kick is off, practice it 300 times and improve it. Then go on to the next kick. Or block or form or throw or whatever.
With diabetes, instead of forms/ kicks/ sparring/ throws you have food/ bolus ratios/ basal ratios/ meds (w/ T2?)/ exercise and they are all connected. I studied Tae Kwon Do and a few months of Kung Fu but the connections between the various aspects of the arts didn’t seem as apparent to me when I started as they were when I got some practice.
I agree with Gary that it sucks that diabetes is challenging and that it changes all the time but that’s the way it is and, when it changes, it’s a new challenge to fix. I don’t even ■■■■■ about it changing, I expect my rates/ ratios/ etc. to change all the time. Occasionally, I will run into a stubborn change to beat up and have to intensify my “practice” which I liken to at TKD when I’d have to go back to an old form I may not have forgotten but I might not have been as sharp at and needed to make progress. Out to the garage with the book and practice until I had it down.
Nuff said! Sooooo agree!
Welcome Karatejoe,
start up is no fun, for any of us. Some have more dramatic wake up calls and others discover it at a routine appt. I was really thirsty in the night and woke up to drink water and pee, not sure which was the culprit. I knew that excessive thirst was a sign of DM and called my Doc to ask for a test. I also asked for a sleep apnea test as the number of times I woke up seemed excessive, I was exhausted, etc. Both tests came back positive. Fortunately, the excessive thirst caught my attention and I caught my DM early.
Maintaining the low carb diet takes the ‘one day at a time’ adage, at least for me. I’m really good many days, good a lot of the days, and not so good every now and then. And when I have an off day, I try really hard not to shame myself. I do take the time to look at what was going on, so I can learn what might be my triggers, so I might be able to head them off the next time a similar set up shows up in my life. But I can begin again, each day, even each hour if I need to. I can adjust my sales and my rudder and stay afloat.
It is nice to have a place to come talk about the up and downs and sometimes family isn’t able to ‘get it’ if they too don’t have DM… and even if they do, everyone’s experience is different, to some degree. I think family also gets tired of hearing about it. LOL My kids (adults are great, but I see their eyes start to glaze if I talk too much about it so stay here, connect up, tell us how things are going and you will find your way.
Michelle
T2
D&E
A1c 5.9
Love the analogy ar, as usual. I look at the challenges kind of like a puzzle to solve. I am OCDiabetic, but am learning that there isn’t blame involved. I do my best working with loads of factors I know, and even more that I don’t know. It’s kind of like trying to solve one of those puzzles where you are given a few letters and have to fill in the rest by trial and error to complete words.
Good control does NOT mean perfection (will someone beat that into my head please?), it means doing the best you can as often as possible. Yeah,it sure does suck, and I sure wouldn’t choose it, but I’d rather not add stress and self-blame to the equation when I can.