Hi Latvianchick: I’ve tried the pirogis they sell in the stores and restaurants here. Not even close! Mmm… After so many years, I can still remember how good those Latvian pirogis were( meat not potato). “viens, devi, tres, chetrie…” lol Where did that come from?
As for the drug, it makes the pancreas produce more insulin which is strange because my bs keep climbing higher and higher with each additional pill. I’m Type 2 so I must be insulin resistant so I’m trying to figure out what could have been going on if I didn’t need all that insulin. I just can’t get my head around it. It seems like I should have gone low and yet, for two months I was rarely under 13??
As for the allergies, the pharmacist says I can get a skin test. I didn’t know you could get that for oral meds. Of course, the same pharmacy told me that ALA would be dangerous because they didn’t carry it.
I hear you about the lack of care. Socialized medicine isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. How are you making out with the pork insulin? Joanne
Stores sell pirogis in Canada? I never knew. They could be Polish ones - I have tried Polish ones and they are not the same. For vegetarians I sometimes put finely chopped mushrooms and onions. Now I like both, but there is nothing like a Latvian one with bacon in it - and it has to be a certain type of bacon.
I do not know what ALA is either.
In type 2s it could be that what insulin you are producing, either stimulated by drugs or naturally is not of a good enough quality or quantity to deal with the glucose in your blood. Another reason why perhaps you cannot go down below 13 is hormones. Unfortunately us women, even post menopausal women have hormones floating around that do their level best to make us cranky and also affect our glucose/insulin levels. Do you notice a pattern in your levels?
You can get skin tests for drug allergies.
Pork for me is better because it is natural and is smoother in its reactions - I am most definitely NOT allergic to it. I do have hypos but maybe only once a day, where as on the “human” insulins, I was hypoing up to 7 times a day, swinging from hi to low like a yoyo. Depressing and exhausting. But with pork, as I have said, it is smoother and I have discovered somewhere on this site that if you want a quicker reaction you can inject the same amount of fast acting insulin as you would normally, but do it in 2 or 3 smaller doses in different sites, so that there is less to absorb in one site, and it will work much quicker. Still catches me by surprise tho!
Several years ago I was experiencing pain in part of my left foot. It was like electric shock occurring in that part of my foot. It got so bad I could not sleep, so I got up and walked the floors. that helped. It did not bother me very much in the daytime while I was active, and moving around. My A1c’s had been below 6.0 for several years, but I was having painful neuropathy, as diagnosed by my neurologist. I started using an insulin pump in 2007. My A1c’s remained below 6.0, but I stopped having so many highs and lows. A roller coaster type of control can lead to diabetes related complications even when the BS average and A1c are very good. Those highs and lows tend to average out to a good A1c. The shock to the body caused by the roller coaster effect can cause the complications. I am convinced that this is what caused my neuropathy and the pain in my foot. After a few months of pumping the roller coaster ride had almost stopped, and all my foot pain disappeared. Stable control and a good A1c is what I needed. A good A1c alone is not always sufficient. Research has been done and an article in a diabetes magazine appeared a year or so ago about this.
The only time I feel the pain now is when I have a temporary roller coaster episode that lasts a good part of the day. That night some of the pain returns, but never as bad as it was before pumping.
Thanks Richard. Your experience is definitely encouraging. Did you ever lose sensation in your foot? If you did, did the sensation return with the stable numbers?Congratulations on living so well for so long with this disease. 
latvianchick; It’s good to hear that you are doing better. I’ve never been on insulin and I’ve never had a low so I can’t imagine what that would be like. I hope you continue to gain control over those episodes.
My bs numbers are pretty stable right now so I’m hoping for the best.
I remembered that there is a pharmacy in the new Walmart in our small town. I called and they actually looked up ALA and ordered it for me. Maybe I’ll switch pharmacies. Be well!
Glad you are not as bad as me and that you are doing well.
Yep, you are right. Pharmasists do not always get it right and they are not gods. Neither are doctors (as I have learned to my cost!)
I hear you. I have had this “non-compliant” thing hanging over my head for 3 years. Not God but… so much power. Now that I stopped the drug I’m worried he will come back on me with that again. I’m hoping the new GP will prescribe for me so I won’t need to go back to that Endo.
The full name is Alpha Lipoic Acid. It is a vitamin - look in the vitamin section.
Thanks Kelly. I had forgotten that we finally have a Walmart in town. I called them and they ordered it for me. Should take a week. Thanks
I did not lose sensation in my foot and the problem had started only a few months before I started pumping and had more stable control. If I had the pain a much longer time before I stopped having so many highs and lows, then I may have lost sensation. I am just guessing though. I also had spots of retinopathy in both eyes and would have needed laser treatment, but the stable control cause all the spots to disappear and I have not had eye problems since that time.
That’s great Richard. I have a young Type 1 friend who had all the complications. She is now on the pump and she’s a different person. Her neuropathy pain was once so bad that she rarely left the house. Still… even though it took awhile to get back on track, she didn’t lose any sensation. I have had no pain…just sparks… and I have a significant loss of sensation. Even though my numbers are now pretty tight, the sparks continue. It almost seems like it’s two different problems???
It may be two different problems. Diabetics are not the only people who have these problems. A neurologist can diagnose neuropathy and other nerve problems. I have been seeing my neurologist on a regular basis.
Thanks so much to everyone for the detailed responses. I will see my new doctor tomorrow so I’m hoping for the best. Walmart has ordered the ALA for me. Thanks all.
Good luck with your doctor tomorrow! I am glad you can get the ALA. It does help! Don’t worry if you start to feel more tingling - that just means it is working.
Yes! My new GP is diabetic!!! He took action right away and gave me a B12 shot. He helped me figure out how to take the Metformin and said that if my numbers went up again he would give me insulin and not pills. He will let me participate in my treatment plan. I go back to see him in two weeks. He says that he doesn’t see why I wouldn’t get the sensation back. He plans to make sure that I do. He was shocked when I told him about the ‘non-compliant’ issue. I’m so hopeful! Thanks to everyone who helped me through the week.
You sound as though you have a gem there! hang on to him! There is nobody like a fellow sufferer for understanding how to treat things and who will know how you are feeling.
I think it is a good thing that patients are involved in their choice of care. If you want to do something, tell him what and why and then say that you would like to try it for a few months to see what results might occurr and agree to go back to what HE wants if it does not work out. Unless he explains why something would be too dangerous.
I am soo pleased for you!
Hi Richard,
Finally found a doctor who would explain it to me. He said that both problems are diabetic neuopathy but one involves damage to the nerves and the other is a circulation problem. One can have both. He said that it’s like the eyes where the bs problem can cause prescription changes or retinopathy or both. He said that ,because I could grow hair on my toes, that circulation was fine. Was he joking?? Who knows? LOL (He did test the circulation another way too)
Which was circulation? Which was nerve damage? I am curious.
I think he is serious about the hair business though. The hair follicles need a blood supply in order to grow. Perhaps yours is dimininshed but still sufficent for hair growth, but you often find that where someone or an animal has had hair, but suffered some kind of trauma, reducing the amount of blood to that area, that the hair does not regrow, however much expensive creams, potions and lotions you slap on!
Peetie, he wasn’t joking! If you don’t have hair on your feet/toes, that is a sign your circulation is bad - that is one of the things they actually look for. There are some other things that can cause that (like hormones) but in diabetics, it is a good thing to look at.
I am glad that you found a doctor you like! It is good that he gets where you are coming from. I hate that non-compliant term just because some stupid doctor doesn’t know how to help us.