As soon as I saw the doctor's phone number on caller ID I knew it was trouble. My A1c was 8.5. That's the highest it's been since diagnosis, but I could tell from the readings I've been getting that it was going to be high. He increased my glimiperide from 1mg twice a day to 2mg twice a day. I know if I take 2mg with breakfast I will get a hypo. My problem is in the afternoon and evening. I refuse to add carbs to breakfast just to keep from having a hypo. KWIM? I will take 1/2 dose (1mg) in the morning and double up in the evening, but I won't tell the dr that. I am going to completely eliminate simple carbs and just stick with complex carbs. The worst thing is, I KNOW what to do, but I always think it won't hurt to have a little bit here and there and I have to rid my mind of that thinking. I need to accept that I have diabetes and cannot eat like a normal person anymore and expect to have my health. I am really upset about this, but in my heart I knew it was coming. Maybe it's the wake-up call I needed. I know that glimiperide causes weight gain and that's not going to help me. I will use it as a tool to get me through the worst, but it is not in my plan to rely on it to keep my blood glucose down.

Sorry to hear that Carol Sue. :hug: I looked back to the day you had the lab work done as I thought I remembered you writing that you wished you had waited to have it done after you got back to exercising etc. after the first of the year. I assume it is higher than you expected though. Just look at it like this.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Just look at it this way. Now you now have enough glimiperide to use while you get things back to normal. So instead of letting it get you down just make it work for you.

I still wish my doc would give it to me, but he won't and the only way that I might get it is to go to another doc and I'm not ready to do that. I'll just do the best I can with diet and exercise.

Trish, do you really want a drug that is going to make you gain weight, or at least prevent you from losing? That's what it does. It forces your pancreas to release more insulin and insulin stores fat. Has Tony gained weight since he started on it? If he didn't, that's unusual. I don't think another doctor would give you glimiperide unless your A1c goes up. My doctor didn't put me on it until my A1c hit 7.9. After I started taking it my A1c came down into the 6 range, but now it has gone back up. I have to take it now because my kidney function is already down and I don't want it to develop into total kidney failure. I also notice that my vision is getting worse. This is something I have to do, no matter how much I don't want to.

I was going to wait to have my blood work done until I could get back to exercising and bring the A1c down a bit, but I had to make an appointment because I am having some discomfort in my throat so I want to get another endoscope done to check my hiatal hernia for changes. If it's not one thing it's another. I'm just lucky that I haven't gained any of my weight back. That's the only good thing I have going for me right now. I'm going to pot!!

Morning everyone
I was thinking of a goal for the new year,,,I've been on the weight loss journey most of my life. This year I'm going to concentrate more on losing inches. I know my BMI is crazy high and I watched a program last night called What is fat? Very informative. The documentary showed a lady's fat inside her body,,,how it encased all of her organs! Very eye opening to say the least. Then they showed how people who tried a very no/low fat diet for a week did miserably,,,,, fatigued, irritable, constipated, starving were all the complaints. The show would discuss different fats/ then show the scientific explanation of how it affected our bodies. They discussed why some fats are good for us even though they are saturated fats. At the end of the show they did say this is a new way the scientific field is heading but it's still ongoing.
After the show it made me feel better and more reassured about eating certain fats. But, one definite thing I have to change is to include more omega 3's ... It's been proven they are one thing that really helps the body.

p.a. I wish I knew were I could see that documentary. Was it on Public Television? It sounds like something I would really like. I googled What Is Fat and found a lot of different documentaries about fat but not called What Is Fat. I know there are fats that we need in our body and that eating good fats is not what causes us to get fat.

I chose my screen name Wannabehealthy because that is more important to me than the number on a scale or how I look to others. I want my blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc, to all be in good ranges. It just so happens that losing weight would help that happen, but there's more to it than just lowering my weight. The nutrients in the foods I eat and exercise play a big part, too. I never cared about nutrients most of my life. Food was just something I ate that satisfied my hunger/cravings. It never used to matter whether it was healthy food or not. My DH thinks that you should just eat what you like and enjoy it while you're here because everyone is going to die eventually whether they eat healthy or not, and while that's true, I think a healthy lifestyle contributes to the quality of whatever lifespan you have. I don't want to live to be 100 if I'm going to be laying in a bed in a nursing home. I want to be able to get around and be relatively pain free for whatever years I have.

p.a. Thanks for sharing about the documentary. I also googled What is Fat, but didn't find any new science info. I hope they will put it on YouTube so maybe I can find it there. I do remember seeing a doctor years ago when they first started talking lowfat and he said "Do not go no fat, eat lowfat". Of course since then we have learned that when you remove the fat that you are hungry all the time.

Carol Sue I never cared about nutrients either. When they came out with micro/macro nutrients, I thought "great one more thing I've got to watch". It seemed so confusing. The thing I like about MFP is that it track all that and if I wanted to pay for a membership, it would keep up with the micro/macro nutrients too. I did find in my research a way that will fit into my way of doing a CAD like woe. I made my fat/protein/carb ratio fat 35, protein 35 and carb 30. I think I read that Dr. Sears says 40% fat, but I have no desire to do HFLC.

I also am watching my salt intake now. MFP keeps up with the calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium, sugar and fiber. And I find their food lists to be pretty thorough.

Hi kids!!!

Carol
I agree with you!!! For diabetics, getting older is all about quality of life and mobility. Can I reduce my risk enough to prevent amputations, poor eyesight, kidney problems? I have a BIL who is currently losing his eyesight because he won't do what his doctor tells him. One stubborn man. I feel bad for my sister having to watch her DH throw his quality of life and life itself away. And my brother has been in a nursing home since age 54 due to diabetes and mental illness. So I see what doesn't work when it comes to self care, and I'm determined to not let that be me!

p.a.
I almost exclusively cook with olive oil since I saw that program. It's a real eye-opener.

Evening everyone I'll post the link but a friend on another board couldn't get it to work,,,even though I tested it before I linked it. I had the name wrong . It's 'The truth about fat' on TVO ( a local channel like PBS in the States.) they are starting a series called the food chain. I must remember it each week.

http://tvo.org/video/documentaries/the-truth-about-fat

Thanks for posting the link, p.a. I bookmarked it and will watch it tomorrow. I got up very early this morning and I'm so tired my eyes are burning. I hope I can sleep late tomorrow so I will be able to stay awake to welcome in the New Year. We are staying home and I don't have anything planned so I have all day to relax, and watch the video.

Trish, I don't pay attention to how much fat I eat but the times that I do track, it seems to be a big part of the pie. The pie chart does not differentiate between sat fat, mono, or polyunsaturated, but when you enter your food it does give you that breakdown. I don't like the taste or texture of greasy food. I rarely eat bacon, but when I do I have to blot it to get the grease off. I have never liked and rarely bought low fat or fat free foods, other than skim milk. But I could never eat high fat the way some do. It actually irritates my acid reflux. I would consider my eating to be moderate fat.

Cindy, I worry so much about my eyesight. It has been worse lately and I am very overdue for my eye exam, and I'm actually afraid of what I will hear. It would kill me to lose my sight as I like to read so much, and would not be able to get on the internet if I couldn't see. I'm sorry to hear that your family members have been having issues with diabetes in the past. It makes it a wake-up call for you, seeing things like that and knowing what you have to do to prevent that from happening to you. I think you are well aware of the risks and will avoid those types of issues.

FBS is coming down w/o Metformin and I just might make it into 220s within the next few days.

Everybody have a safe New Year's Eve.

Unless a tree falls on my house, I'll be safe. I'm staying home and there's no alcohol involved. The worst I can do it overeat.

Happy New Year to everyone. Let's gear up for 2016.

Hi Carol
I was thinking about your A1c and I remembered working for a cholesterol specialist. His patients would all cancel appts around this time, because they knew their blood tests would be worse than usual. So I think you were very brave to be tested around this time.

Hi Pattygirl
Congrats on lowering your FBS! Little by little we WILL get there.

Hi p.a.
Thanks for the link, it's great information.

See you all next year!

Cindy, since my blood sugar had been going so high lately I have been doubling up on my meds. I was going to run out before I was due for a refill. So I had no other choice than to go to the doctor and have him increase my dose so I could get more pills. I knew it was going to be bad, but truthfully didn't expect it to be that bad. Today I watched my carbs very well. I only took 1 gm of meds. I always check my BS before I take the meds to be sure I need them. When I checked BS at dinner it was only 88. I haven't had a BS in the 80s in over a year. So that proves I can lower it if I do what I'm supposed to do. I know I cannot eat that low in carbs long term, but if I start from here and increase gradually I should find a sweet spot, no pun intended. LOL

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016

I am really excited that I am now out of the 230s. Starting 2016 down 229.4. And my FBS wasdown 4 pts as well. I'm not taking the Metformin. I only take 1 BP medicine and hopefully that will eventually go, but if not I can live with that. I agree with you Carol Sue when I do what I know to do then it works.

Watercolor Good to see you.

Y'all have a great day.

Trish, congratulations on the new decade!! I might bring my stats and ticker back for the new year.

My fasting blood sugar is still higher than it should be but it's staying below 200. The readings 2 hours after a meal have greatly improved. I heard that fasting is the last one to improve. I don't think I will ever have a good fasting level due to the dawn phenomenon, but as long as I can get my A1c down I will be happy. I want it below 7 and my doctor is happy with that, too.

Carol
When we do what we need to do, good things happen.
The hardest part for me was accepting the necessary of HAVING to do it.
You can do it! We are stronger than we know!

Pattygirl
Congrats on getting into the 220s. A great accomplishment.

Me
FBS this murning was 133. Happy happy and doing the computer chair cha-cha!

Cindy, that's the thing. I want to be able to eat bread. I want to be able to eat a McDonald's sausage and egg McMuffin without throwing away the muffin. Last night we went to the casino. They have wonderful homestyle baked mac and cheese. I hated having to pass it up while DH sat there eating it. I understand why I shouldn't have these things, and I can have 1 forkful without much of a problem, but it's hard to stop at one forkful. Sometimes it's easier not to have it at all.

I guess I should make it my goal to get my blood sugar AND weight down to a point where I CAN have theses things occasionally without having a spike.

Here is something I found yesterday and wanted to share. I have noticed lately that after I have coffee in the morning with my sugar free creamer and no other food, my blood sugar is higher than it was when I first got up. I started wondering about that, so I googled in search of information about the effect of coffee on blood sugar. Most sites I saw said that although coffee (caffiene) is supposed to be help prevent type 2 diabetes, it can raise blood sugar in someone who already has type 2 diabetes. Then I found this article, which goes on to say that combining fat with caffiene is even worse. It says that fatty foods will raise blood sugar and it's especially worse if you combine the fatty foods with coffee. Please keep in mind that anyone can put anything on the internet but it's not necessarily true.

http://www.healthytheory.com/coffee-...r-levels-spike

Someone else told me in the past that fat is bad for diabetics and I just thought "old thinking." But maybe it's true. Maybe the theory that LCHF eating is good does not apply to diabetics, as our bodies don't work the same as a non-diabetic.

In my online search, I tried to find something that said that decaf coffee doesn't have the same effect as caffiene, but couldn't find any reference to decaf. I was going to have decaf this morning and test that theory but I forgot and had high octane coffee this morning, so maybe I'll remember to do it tomorrow morning. I was drinking decaf for a while, but it became a pain to make that decaf especially when there was a full pot of regular coffee sitting here.

Interesting.

Here comes the big "but"

BUT
If we look something up on the internet, we should look for a source from a well known reputable site. "healththeory.com" raises flags for me. Could be a radical agenda, could be a site that will go after any story just to get me to the site. I can't trust it. Also, the ADA site (American Diabetic Association) says nothing about caffeine raising sugar. They are not worried about it. They're worried about diabetics eating twinkies for breakfast.

If this site had been "ADA" or "mayo clinic" for example, I would consider the information much more seriously. If it was from Prevention mag, I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Also, a 30% rise from a normal nondiabetic man would be 20-25 points. I'd gladly accept that to get my caffeine fix.

Just my humble opinion...

As I sit here with my mug of caffeine, I have to say I agree with you. Anyone can post anything on the internet and it might or might not be true. I went there looking for the reason why MY blood sugar goes up in the morning when all I've had is coffee. I was going to do another test today with decaf to see if it still goes up, but I forgot again.

I also posted that link for what they had to say about fat. Trish and I have had that discussion many times since LCHF is such a big thing recently. We both say we cannot eat high fat, and the article gave reasons why a diabetic should not eat high fat. For me, I go by what happens to MY blood sugar when I test, not necessarily by what I read online or what happens to someone else. When something affects me in a negative way, I would rather try to figure out what dietary changes will help, whereas my doctor's answer is always to prescribe more meds. I don't want more meds, I want less, so I look for any little thing that I can do to change the situation. I don't mean to try to tell someone else what they should do and I apologize if it sounded that way.

By the way, I DID find reference to this on both the ADA and Mayo Clinic sites, but they said caffeine MAY raise blood sugar in some diabetics and diabetics should LIMIT, not eliminate caffeine in their diets. In the end, each person has to decide what path they will take and what they are willing to give up.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...r/FAQ-20057941

http://www.diabetes.org/newsroom/pre...good-2009.html

Here's my example. I got up at 8AM and my fasting blood sugar was 132. All I had was 3 cups of coffee with sugar-free creamer. Now, at 10:30 my blood sugar is 203. I want to know why. Is it the caffeine? Or the sugar free creamer? It doesn't make sense to me. If I had eaten a scrambled egg when I first got up would it have stopped my blood sugar from spiking? By trial and error I found that eating one scrambled egg before bed keeps my blood sugar from spiking overnight. Maybe this is what I have to do. I am not hungry when I first get up and I usually wait until DH gets up and he cooks our breakfast. That's our daily routine. But I have to find a remedy for this. It is effecting my A1c before I even get a bite of food.

I am going to continue talking to myself as my research produces some additional information. It appears that by not eating as soon as I get up, my ilset cells (?) continue to release glucose to keep my body running in spite of the fact that I'm not hungry. This causes my blood sugar to continue to rise. I know we are told not to skip meals and that's probably why. I know that this doesn't happen to everyone, but it could be what's happening to me. I will start to eat something when I get up and see if that changes anything. I will try to keep it small, like 1 egg, or an ounce of cheese, so I can continue having breakfast with DH later in the morning. I have learned a lot this morning.

Carol Sue My FBS has been being very high early in the morning. I haven't checked it lately after coffee. I drink my 1/2 caffeine 1/2 decaf coffee because regular gave me indigestion. I use stevia and 1/2 and 1/2 mini-moo because it didn't raise my fbs. I haven't checked it in a while.

While I don't cut fat, I don't add extra to any thing either. I've got to get some more test strips and maybe it is time for me to go back to the basics and it may be time for me to go back to Atkins Induction until I get this back under control. I don't think I need to be doing anything but strict low carb for a while. However, I don't going wild with the fat on Atkins is for me. I'm going to get my New Atkins for the New You and read it again including the one The New Atkins Made Easy. In the Atkins Made Easy, she says that you can use fat or lowfat. Perhaps I can do an Atkins type of diet eating a moderately amount of fat rather than high fat. I've already had my CAD rm so I will start a lower low carb at dinner.

I will check out the links you shared later.

Trish I think when we did these other plans we succeeded because we were not diabetic back then. This changes the rules unless we take a lot of meds . Even on the CAD thread their RM doesn't have much carb. It is just something we have to accept. I had potatoes at dinner so I am waiting to see if I over did it. I am determined to figure it out . In my research I saw references to ACV and I might try that again even though it didn't help before. I always thought I was ok as long as my A1c was good but today I read that even with a good A1c higher fluctuations are still causing damage and the longer your BG stays elevated the more damage it causes. We have to do whatever it takes to avoid that.

Someone on another thread just mentioned slow burning carbs to me. I googled it and I did some research on it and how eating a slow carb plan will keep bs level. Livestrong has a lot of info on the subject. I printed out the info and I am starting this tomorrow. No more CAD and no Atkins. The nice thing about this is that my DH will pretty much eat this way.

Carol Sue This reminds me of the way you and I used to use beans (example) to lower the glycemic of certain foods to keep our bs balanced.

Trish, we have to keep trying different things until we find what works for us, that's about it. I think the slow carbs that J follows does not allow fruit or dairy, except on the one day that she carbs-up. I know you like fruit. South Beach includes fruit and daily, along with beans. Like your doctor told you, any plan will work as long as you stick with it.

Last night I was reading the DiabetesForum. I used to belong to it but those people are so strict with LCHF and that's not something I can do long term, but they had a lot of good ideas. They were discussing ways to deal with the Dawn Phenomenon. I tried something that they suggested. I woke up around 5 this morning so I tested and was 128. Ate a piece of cheese, which is supposed to keep my BS from continuing to rise. At 9 am my blood sugar was at 168. So that theory went out the window, It might work for them but didn't work for me. One woman said she eats a bite of something each time she wakes up in the middle of the night. Now I have started drinking my coffee, but I made decaf. I will see what happens. DH should be getting up soon and making our breakfast. I will test again then. I know my fasting used to be in the teens or one twenties consistently when I was first diagnosed. I would like to get to that point, at least again.

Hi Carol and Pattygirl
I just reread my post above and it seemed kind of scolding in nature, which I did not mean it to be. So I'm sorry for that.

I agree it's all about figuring what works for each of us individually. Only our BS will tell us our personal truth. My FBS does extremely well iif I have only protein and salad at dinner. YYMV

Afternoon everyone. Lots of good discussion here....
Carol have you tried journaling what you eat , how much and how it affects your bg? Following it for a month may show a trend and help you.
I'm due at the end of the month for another check up, I'm hopin due to all the lows I'm having she reduces my meds. :)
Still plugging away at Low carb ( moderate fats) my way...not eating gobs of fat laden food but just switched to full fat products and measure.
I maintained during the holidays but up since my lowest weight, working on that for January. Also counting sodium again my dr already warned me she's testing my sodium next time... :/
Trish I'm glad you found a plan that works for you and dh, that's hard to do.

Watercolour, my bg is best when I stick to that plan to,,,,especially on my morning fast numbers! I'm trying the no carbs after 8 pm but that doesn't always work,,,no carbs after supper work best.

p.a. I didn't take anything you said as scolding. I was so upset with a might FBS reading that was over 200 that I didn't notice. Reread and still didn't see anything wrong with what you wrote.

Carol Sue I am going to just go with the slow carb, count calories and exercise along with fiber. My goal is low fbs reading along with the weight loss, but I want to do it healthy. MFP will help me reach my goal.

p.a. I track my foods sometimes and I know what I should be eating. I know what foods spike my blood sugar. It seems that the only problem I have is fasting. It goes up too high no matter what I eat. I rarely eat carbs at dinner or afterwards.

The bloodwork my doctor does includes sodium, and mine is in the proper range, but if I enter my food into Fit Day it says I had 4,900 mg of sodium per day. My brother in law was taking a BP med that lowered his sodium levels so bad that he had seizures and DH had to take him to the hospital. They kept him until they got his sodium levels up. He had been eating things low in sodium, such as low-sodium soups, and not eating salty snacks. So he went back to eating the sodium that he used to eat and now he's fine.

Carol Sue Thanks for sharing that about your blood work reading on your sodium. I just checked my sodium and potassium and it is right in the middle. So maybe I don't need to worry much about what they show on MFP although I still don't want to go overboard with it either.

Did my own plan today and calories were less than 1300 and all other numbers within limit. Only had a small breakfast, good size lunch and a snack instead of dinner. Fully satisfied and used mostly slow burning carbs. I'm looking forward to seeing how it helps my FBS as well as my weight.

Trish, I don't understand about the sodium. I know they always tell us to keep our sodium low in our diet but maybe the body eliminates excess sodium through the urine. Mine is on the low end of normal on my blood
work but on Fit Day it shows that I take in a much higher sodium level than is recommended. I know that raises blood pressure. I don't usually worry about sodium because I don't like a salty taste and I don't add much salt to my food and I don't like salty snacks like potato chips or pretzels. When I serve food that I've prepared, like soup, or potato salad, most people add salt to it because I don't cook with a lot of salt. That's the main reason I don't like bacon or ham. Too salty.

From reading the Diabetes Forum, I am starting to think that part of my problem comes from eating supper so early. When I was first diagnosed we ate dinner around 6. Now that we are retired we eat around 4. If DH has skipped lunch we might eat even earlier, around 3 or 3:30. That makes my fasting period much longer than it used to be. That could be why my fasting wasn't too bad at 5 AM but much higher at 9AM. I know I can't get DH to eat later, so I might have to skip lunch and have a smaller meal (or snack) in the evening to compensate. Actually, since breakfast is so late and supper so early I rarely eat lunch anymore. Eating in the evening always feels like cheating to me.

Hey Trish I think you got me and Watercolor mixed up.. :)

Hello ladies. This is my first time here. I am trying to get started on the right track this year. I have PCOS, I'm prediabetic, and if I don't do something about it asap odds are I will never get to be a mother. I'm told getting a firm support group that understands my particular struggles is really important. I hope that we can all bounce ideas off each other and support one another.

So how is everyone doing staying on track? Anyone going gluten free?

Welcome to the thread, Healthyby30! It's good that you are working on your pre-diabetes before it gets out of hand. I've heard that PCOS can lead to diabetes. Are you taking any meds? I don't have PCOS but from what I hear, many are taking Metformin. Exercise is important to as it helps lower your blood glucose. You don't have to go overboard, walking really helps, and you can build yourself up gradually to more if you're interested.

Are you following any particular food plan? I think most here are watching their carbs, some doing low carb and some doing moderate carb. Carbs seem to be the culprit.

There are probably some other considerations regarding PCOS. I don't know if there's anyone posting on this thread who has PCOS, but you might get a lot of information and support in the PCOS section here. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/pcos...ce-support-70/

I finally remembered to make decaf this morning. My blood sugar went up after I drank it, so it's not the caffeine that's doing it to me. I might as well stick with the high test since there's a full pot of it every morning.

p.a. I sure did. Sorry about that. I do moderate fat too. I just can't go high fat. I think I did almost no fat for so many years that it is impossible for me to do high fat. It just doesn't feel good to me. In fact I'm starting to do more of a moderate fat/carb/protein. I think I'm beginning to learn that I like more of a balance.

healthyby30 Welcome. It is good that you are starting now to get you blood glucose under control now. When I was young, I was hypoglycemic. My MIL worked for a diet doctor before I married her husband and she used to tell me "well you never have to worry about being diabetic". They thought back then that if you were hypoglycemic you couldn't be a diabetic. Wrong. So do work at getting it under control now. I don't know much about PCOS. My niece has PCOS and she is now diabetic. They tell her she will never have children. So it is good you can take care of it.

I checked my friends fbs yesterday morning. Her bs was 108. Her mother died from complications from being diabetic. I am trying to help her how to eat so she won't ever have diabetes. She said yesterday that she didn't think her doctor cares about her. He sees her and checks her enough to keep giving her meds for her nerves (put her on Prozac when her parents both died within 8 months of each other).

Carol Sue I don't understand about the sodium either. I do have a tendency to like salty snacks. I am just working at not eating things with high sodium count. However, I thought that if the potassium was higher that it would balance the sodium. I don't take potassium any more, but if the sodium/potassium readings are correct on the labels most of what I eat should be okay. That may be something I either research or ask doc about next time I see him.

I decided to check my protein/carb/fat ratios were again. I've been going by percentages on MFP, but realized that some of it was high on there. So I changed it to carbs 25% = 100 grams, protein 25% = 100 grams and that leaves fat at 50% = 89 grams. So I guess that would be considered more moderately balanced plan.

:welcome2: Healthyby30
I had PCOS, but now I'm postmenopausal, so I think it's gone.
I know what you're going through. Weight gain, chin hairs, greasy hair.
My doctor told me that exercise is extremely important with PCOS.
I eat gluten free but it's because I have celiac and get very sick if I eat it.

Carol
Interesting thought that fasting too long would cause the liver to up your FBS.
I can see it. I'll be interested in hearing what happens if you have an evening snack. I usually have something small in the morning - cereal or leftovers, then my big meal between 3 and 5, then a snack.

p.a.
Now that I'm off sugar, I just love having crunchy salties in the evening. I'm trying to stay away from them, having veggie soup or veg and hummus. Boy do they call to me when I grocery shop.

Patty
Slow carbs, calorie counting, fiber, exercise - It sounds like a great plan. Looking forward to seeing your progress"