It's So Noisy at the Fair: The Diabetic Thread

glad he’s ok Trayce - scary thing to happen!

Oh! BTW after your pasta find upthread Veg I went looking and found we have one here too:

https://cdn0.woolworths.media/content/wowproductimages/medium/117547.jpg

oh good!

Diabetes humor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsMqZFvvIxQ

I bought some Chapman's no-sugar-added ice cream:

https://voila.ca/images-v3/2d92d19c-0354-49c0-8a91-5260ed0bf531/6bb107e2-bd28-4504-9777-4bcf884302c5/500x500.jpg

Does that seem reasonable for someone with Type II (and levels that seem to be stable in the 5.5-6.0 range)?

seems like it would be ok! caveat: as long as sugar alcohol doesn’t have an adverse effect on your digestion

i generally avoid myself as they reliably give me anything from bloating/cramps to full on diarrhea

My problem with all the sugarfree/low fat snacks is they all use gross shit like sorbitol or stevia and idc what anyone says I can TELL. I dont like the taste :(

Even monkfruit sugar has a bit of a funny aftertaste.

yeah same

the only one i can handle (in small amounts) is erythritol

Yeah I think thats the monkfruit one. I can do a flat spoonful in a cuppa thats about it. A good thing anyway, that shiz is pricey!

I think maybe I have PTSD from my highschool best friend whose family all guzzled old-school diet coke and ate nothing but nugs.

I’m supposed to be testing my fasting blood sugar every morning but the first time I did it, it was 273dl/mg which didn’t seem right, but my monitor didn’t come with any control solution so I couldn’t be sure. The solution finally arrived, the monitor is apparently working correctly, so I tested today and it was 274 :/

Yeah thats quite high :( dont worry, it can go up cos of stress, cos of starchy food... and the meds will take a while, it took me like at least 3 weeks on the metformin.

yeah trayce otm - it’s scary at first bc the numbers feel like a judgement or some kind of failure etc but try to remember they’re only data points for a moment in tume, you’re starting to do the things that are needed to help get your #’s down but it can take time. chin up, keep at it

Yeah I guess I knew it would still be high but my diet has been so drastically different the last 3 weeks I thought it wouldn’t be *that* high.

When I googled the number the results were like “that is super bad” but lol I feel the same as I always feel, which is “normal” at this point.

I don't know what that 274 number means...the only one I understand is the finger-prick number.

I tried the ice cream last night--thought it was quite good. I just have to discipline myself to stop after seven or eight spoonfuls.

it's the same test, divide the reading in mg/dl by 18 to convert to mmol/L

Meaning 274 = 15.2 for a finger-prick?

for a blood sugar measurement, yeah

Best home-reading in a month, 5.3. I've cheated here and there...these things are very unpredictable.

Past couple days I've felt a little "off" at various points during the day (particularly the morning), and my natural assumption for these situations now is "huh I bet my sugar's low." But then I tested (finger-prick) and it was just fine, so maybe I'm just coming down with a bug.

The instinct to immediately assume every little thing is diabetes-related is something I'm still learning to navigate.

yeah same, the added complications of pms & perimenopause blood sugar spikes & hot flashes & shit is like, ok it could literally be ANYTHING

Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk, who commercializes Wegovy / Ozempic in the US, has reached 300B on the stock exchange, relatively close to the national GDP (380B). The pharmaceutical sector contributes to a third of Denmark's GDP, pushing up the balance of payments and the value of the Danish Krone compared to the euro, thus forcing their central bank to a range of actions to avoid currency inflation. Some commentators are making comparisons to Finland's Nokia in terms of structural importance and impact of hypothetical downfall.

Ugh I increased my metformin to 1500 last night, and stupidly also decided I'd have a few drinks. This morning I am SO SO NAUSEOUS.

And in more rage enducing news, my Ozempic needs refilling and the local pharmacy has none and says the shortage means its been v low in stock. Worried I wont find any before I need it on monday. Thanks, instabitches.

Shit, all the weirdos looking for miracle cures are now saying Metformin might curb your chances of getting Long Covid if you get Covid, so I hope there's not a run on it making it harder to get.

jfc people wear a fuckin mask and wash your hands!

Oh, and get vaccinated duh

The TGA here wont approve off-script use of Ozempic at least (you cant get it for nything but diabeets) but its still hard to get :(

Feel like I'm really beating myself up/being too hard on myself with all this lately. Vexing over my glucose levels too often, fretting if I eat a spoon of rice or have that extra vodka. I know its not healthy and I am trying to let it stress me less but ugh.

I have been put into this pilot program being run out of Royal Melb Hospital where they are getting onto ppl newly diagnosed with T2, to give them loads of extra support (educators, regular checkups/bloods, dieticians, exercise support etc) with the aim of seeing if intense work + weight loss will put it in remission. I'm greatful for the program - it costs me nothing but the time for the apppointments! - but now I feel this pressure to constantly be Dudley Do-Right as a result :(

I’ve been really struggling the last couple weeks too. Food has been stressing me out so much, so I’ve been living off protein bars and protein shakes instead of thinking about it. I caught a respiratory virus of some kind and I think that just sapped all my energy. I haven’t had a cold in years and I haven’t had Covid yet (despite jordan bringing it home from Finland last year), so I’d forgotten how miserable it is.

Some good news: I’m down from 274 to 163.

HI DERE! My A1C this year crept up to the top end of prediabetic. Doctor told me to lose weight before she even saw the result. Been riding a bike every day and doing intermittent fasting and am indeed losing, hoping I can keep it up. Trying to watch what I eat, it’s kind of depressing to look at packaging and see what’s really in everything. Also learning about glycemic is index and glycemic load, there is one website at the University of Sydney started by the woman who wrote the book on this stuff I have been looking at: https://glycemicindex.com/

My friend who is in a similar boat wears an armband that measures his GMI.

Glucose Management Indicator

Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller. Also have her book, The Low GI Handbook.

Last night I went to see some jazz at a newish place called Canary Club way down on Broome near Essex and Delancey and stared daggers at the order of french fries at the next table while I drank my water. Music was great though.

Although actually the intermittent fasting seems to be suppressing my nighttime appetite. I read something about hormonal entrainment and the growth hormone with a funny name that starts with g for growth.

I guess most people just call the growth hormone the Growth Hormone or just GH.

I'm so impressed by the Rapid Remission program I'm in, even if its meant an endless parade of appointments right when I can least fit it in cos of work crazy. Saw a dietician today, and he was so nice and so helpful and encouraging. Now I have some cocrete goals for kj, protien and carb intake, when and how to get away with a cheeky food, and what to expect. I feel very blessed that our country does things like this at no cost to me.

can you share the stuff you found most helpful?

i was given a free consult w a dietitian through my doctor & they never returned my calls grr

Giving me specific daily amounts of carbs/protein/kj to aim for (which is likely to be weight/age specific but he said 5000kj, 80-100g protien and no more than 130g carbs), getting me to go into detail about what I've been eating, being able to ask if its ok if i occasionally have rice or sneak a bit of pizza, how to mitigate it all etc and him just telling me I'm doing everything right - except not getting enough protien lol he says I should be aiming for 80-100 or more a day, Im not vegetarian but I dont eat any red mean really so I guess I need to up my tuna and salmon intake.

The basic takeaway also was "try a bit of a no no food, and measure yr BG before and after - if it doesnt spike more than 3 mmol/L then its probably ok".
So if you're 6 and it goes to 9 thats ok. If youre 6 and it goes to 11 or 12 you know that was taking the piss. But its ok if that only happens once in a while.

Sorry thats in the AU measures, 6 = 108 in the othe scale right?

BTW 500kj is low. I'm aiming for weight plateau or loss, not maintenance. Thats part of this study I think, the science seems to be there that controlled rapid weight loss can knock it on the head?

5000kj not 500 lol. 5

I went up to the next dosage of ozempic and still no side effects, so that’s pretty good. I’ve really gotta get more non starchy veggies into my diet, though.

Trayce, protein powders are a good way to get some extra protein in - the hard part is finding one that has a tolerable taste.

i got some unflavored plant protein that’s ok, hard to find any at an affordable price though. i scored mine at grocery outlet but haven’t seen it there since.

I don’t mind this one:
MOMOF4TRANSFORM MO4T Grass Fed Whey Protein Isolate Powder, Naturally Sweetened with Monk Fruit, 1.6 Pounds, 24 Serving. Natural Chocolate Flavor https://a.co/d/2eHpczY

I add some peanut butter or PB2 to it and it’s pretty decent.

My holy grail is a greek yog thats a combo of high protein, low fat and actually THICK. There's a few regular-fat ones that are deliciously creamy, but most of the low fat ones either have thickeners in them which I don't want, or they are... weirdly grainy and watery? Jalna looking at u.

Chobani's low fat's the best I've managed to get but their yog is really quite sour. My fave is this Icelandic stuff called Siggi's but its become very hard to find.

i like Fage greek yogurt over here, it’s not as sour. kinda spendy but i get it on sale sometimes
but yeah siggis is nice too! v spendy tho

my protein/fat fallback is adding peanut butter to my yogurt or oatmeal or muesli

and i eat like 7500 eggs & avocados lol

i do salami cheese snacks a bit but then i back off bc blood pressure

I used to eat Siggi's all the time in NJ but haven't been able to find it in Montana.

Greek yogurt supposed to be good for you, but lots of fat.

But came to say now I am thinking about Instant Steel Cut Oatmeal.

Like does the Instant cancel out the Steel Cut?

i doubt that it cancels it out completely? maybe less robust in terms of whole carbs
i imagine its like instant oats vs rolled oats
but i am just guessing.

mr veg makes a big pot of regular steelcut oats overnight in the slowcooker & for the rest of the week we reheat leftovers