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

i haven’t had any problems w my fingerprick setup, except remembering to adjust the needle depth to get better blood flow depending on which finger i stick, since thumb & index have thicker skin

i do it most mornings except sometimes i skip weekends because i get tired of doing it lol

Getting pushed into taking a semaglutide (esp because I’m fat, and weight loss always seems like any doctor’s #1 concern) is what’s putting me off going and getting tested for diabetes. Some of the side effects sound brutal (and chronic, even after you stop taking it). As soon as I heard gastroparesis was a potential side effect, I was like HELL no. I’d rather be fat.

― just1n3, Tuesday, July 18, 2023 3:26 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hm the hospital specialist mentioned nothing aside from gastro issues same as metformin? :/

I read some claim about suicidal ideation but it was literally one case, which could be anything really.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, July 18, 2023 4:47 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

if this is helpful… gastroparesis is not quite a side effect as much as an intended effect. hopefully any doctor who recommends trying this would explain that nausea and early satiety should be expected, particularly with larger meals. suicidal ideation I have not heard of and per quick review does not seem to be something that has been widely reported

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/27/will-the-ozempic-era-change-how-we-think-about-being-fat-and-being-thin

I’m sure you all have read this, but if not…I thought this was a pretty good lay perspective on ozempic and related drugs (though this is more focused on treatment of obesity, or “obesity”)

Yeah Ive done a lot of reading and I mean I'm not taking this thing for weight loss (I only need to lose about 10kg anyway). It seems ppl who overeat/eat v large meals might be the ones who suffer, and thats def not me - esp since I started having GERD issues. I just cant eat that much food!

The big one for me is gonna be forcing myself to exercise more and by more, I mean AT ALL. Since WFH, Ive become utterly sedentary and a real shut in. I'm lucky if I leave the house at all twice a week let alone walk anywhere much and I have to change that. I was never an active person, but I always walked everywhere.

I have started exercising — I walk around a little bit every day, but now I'm also working with resistance bands (basically a giant rubber band with handgrips on each end) and periodically glancing in the direction of a kettlebell that sits accusingly in the closet.

I'm going to be switching from Toujeo to Lantus this week, because that's what my insurance will pay for, and my doctor wants me to increase my dose of Metformin from 1000 mg in the morning to 1000 in the morning and 1000 in the evening, which is what he says most of his patients take. Gonna be interesting to see how that goes.

1000 x 2/day has been my dosage since I started it, no problems.

If the ozempic doesnt shift me from stubbornly staying around 6-7, I might have to do the same. Well with my GP's say so of course.

After my earlier post I did a post prandial 10 min fast lunch walk, which Ive read is a great way to use the body to chew up the excess glucose. I'm going to start doing that after every lunch if I can manage it.

Weird side effect from ozempic I wasnt expecting - alcohol does not agree with me AT ALL. I was only able to manage 3 stadard drinks and then I felt really off/nauseous. And apparently its A Thing!

It might be temporary who knows, and I'm thankful Ive had no nausea aside from that. I spose its a good thing, anyway.

only 3 lol <3

hahah shaddup :) My average drinking sesh is 5-6 :P

My friend has a similar reaction from metformin, so he stops taking it a day or two before drinking.

That...does not seem wise. Luckily metfo doesnt do that to me. And I mean I need to drink way less anyways. But I'd like to be able to go ham at least one day on the weekend with 5 or 6 drinks yeesh.

I basically quite drinking at 30, when I got into teachers college, so happily that hasn't been an issue for me.

Ugh, having what I assume is a pseudohypo episode today. Hands are shaking and feel irrationally crabby and quite confused, and I'm used to this feeling - Ive had low blood sugar episodes all my life (without being diabetic before, how that works ive no idea).

Checked my glucose - 5.0 not low at all? lol. I guess maybe the ozempic is fully kicking in?

This is a story up here...not trying to be alarmist, just informational; I'm sure stories like this appear regularly. (The CBC is a good news source, for what that's worth.)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/health-canada-review-diabetes-weight-loss-1.6921759

I wonder how many of those are due to people who were using it for weight loss and not getting results or had other terrible issues with dysmorphia. I mean I'm not a doctor so who knows.

Don't know, and ditto. I've got the news on in the background, looked it up after that.

Have not yet doubled my metformin dose but started the new insulin last night and my morning number was significantly lower than the previous day, almost in worrisome territory. We'll see if this holds.

My numbers are staying down too, 3 tests in lst 24 hours all around 5! But I havent pushed it by eating anything bad yet so we'll see.

I finally went to the dr today to get the initial testing done. The driving force for finally going was a symptom that only trayce and veg will understand iykyk :/

I looked up my last tests from 2020
A1c 5.8
EAG 120
Fasting glucose 130

Those results are good - fingers crossed they still are! Though then that leaves you wondering what else it could be :(

I'm struggling a bit on the ozempic - it definitely helps the sugars but I'm having a lot of heartburn, have to really watch what I eat (its like having a mild stomach stapling!), and (and I dont know if this is due to the shot) I now have constant really bad aching joints. Like, I always did anyway but it feels worse lately.

And pain in my kidney/upper ab area flared up the other day and now I'm worried my kidney is still spacking out on me uugggh. I have an ultrasound next week, and I'm not "sick", just feel very old and creaky. This sucks.

ugh that sounds rough Trayce. it sucks to have to grapple with side effects on top of everything else. sending hugs

Got my results
A1c 11.5, good cholesterol too low, bad cholesterol too high, elevated liver enzymes

Dr said at that level, it’s really only ozempic or insulin. However, it’s $1000 a month unless I convince my insurer that ozempic is my only option.

The good news is that what I thought was depression the last few years is probably diabetes.

urg sorry justin3
hopefully you can work something out & get back into safer territory

i didn’t know that depression & diabetes shared symptoms? or maybe more likely i’m not up on everything t2 entails

Sorry about that, but I'm sure you'll find this thread helpful and encouraging.

I was 5.7 at home tonight. I was more nervous doing this one than I have been in many months. First one in 15 days, and it just feels like I've been slacking off a bit--meeting up with friends, eating out, barbecuing, etc. When I cheat, I always tell myself I'll make up for it tomorrow, but I don't always follow through. Anyway, still steady in the 5.0-6.0 range.

Dr said at that level, it’s really only ozempic or insulin.

When I was first diagnosed, my A1C was crazy high (13). I did insulin & metformin for a few months until it was back under control, and then my dr switched me to Jardiance & metformin.

If you go on insulin, it may only be temporary if you respond well to it.

Welp, last night my bf had a really bad hypo attack. Its weird - he's never had one before, often been cheeky with not eating/having booze, never any repercussions. His fingerprick test dropped from 3 to 2 despite chowing on lollies and sugar water, he was a shaky sweaty delirious mess. Anyway we couldnt get it to get better. Ambulance came, they couldnt either, so they have taken him to hospital. I couldnt go with cos the kids are here today, but fuckn yay. I am hoping he'll be ok I havent heard from him yet.

My dad (who was Type 1) used to chug orange juice when he had an attack like that.

yeah the irony is due to us both being beetusy, all the drinks in the house are sugar free lol. The ambos said thats a common thing when they attend hypos.

But I tried everything else my limited knowledge knew - cups of sugar water, a handful of glucose gummy bears, a bit of bread. It was weird it didnt budge the numbers one bit. Now I'm worried.

shit trayce - sending good thoughts, that’s so scary!

...I spoke too soon he just txted me, his bloods have bounced back now (too far the other way haha, stands to reason with what we did).

No more drinking sessions on empty tummies!

My sister deals with the same thing quite often - I really worry about her passing out while she’s alone. But she also has Graves’ disease which complicates things. Is your bf on insulin or something else?

I messaged my sis to tell her about my diagnosis and that I was getting on ozempic and she had never heard of it - odd, because she’s been diabetic since age 12 AND she’s a big fan of the kardashians. I explained what it was and that it was either that or insulin and she was like “avoid insulin at all costs”.

Anyway I spoke with my PA today and she went to bat for me and got ozempic approved with my insurer.

Thats good news J I hope it will work well for you!

B ended up being overnight in hospo but is better now aside from a cold it seems he picked up while in there.

can recommend this as a good pasta option if like me you fucking DESPISE all the chickpea/lentil/nonsense pastas

https://www.aldentepasta.com/shop/carba-nada.html

eats very close to normal pasta, if slightly firmer & you can eat a pretty decent helping of it
24g net carbs, 16g protein - semolina flour, egg yolks, wheat protein etc

readily available here in Sac at at least two large grocery chains

terrible name though lol ugh

I saw yr FB post about it hehe. I thought we were ok to eat pasta in modest quantities as long as balanced with aprotein? I thought rice was the no no.

Actually looking at its ingredients I think thats precisely why it works! It seems to have boosted protein :)

Lol veg, ignore my Instagram comment, now I’ve seen the answer!

Rice and beans/lentils form a complete protein iirc?

Yeah when I do have rice I make sure its basmati and i eat it with chickpeas, lentils, eggs, tofu or chicken anyway.

I used to eat PILES of rice though. I'm training myself to go "a couple of spoonfuls is ENOUGH dammit".

Xp to veg, re depression symptoms:

So for about the 3.5yrs I’ve been feeling like I have what I call “benign depression” - like, emotionally I feel fine but my body is just so tired and mentally I’ve felt sort of shut down, like I can’t engage with anything too thoughtful or deep. Until I moved to chicago, I spent literally all my time in bed, unless I had to go to work. Sitting on the couch was too taxing. Things improved after moving (I move from bed to couch at night, I go grocery shopping, I go out on the weekends) but the fatigue is still there, I just feel a bit more motivated to push through it. But dr thinks it might be diabetes causing it. I hope that’s the case because I’ve been putting off having to mess with my psych meds again (a super slooooow and frustrating process).

oh ok that’s interesting!

Trayce;

I saw a thing online yesterday that might make you happy - when you cook and then cool rice, it creates resistant starch, which lowers its glycemic index quite significantly. So if you want to keep enjoying rice, just cook it the day before you want to eat it! (You can reheat it, it doesn’t reverse the process). Apparently this also goes for potatoes and some other starches I can’t remember.

I started ozempic a week ago. No side effects at this dose. It really does switch off the food noise in your head. I have a terrible addiction to sweet drinks and I was really stressed about the process of quitting but I was immediately able to cut down to half a can of coke a day (that’s mostly for the headache I get every day from quitting the caffeine in coke).

Look for some sugar-free iced tea if you can:

https://assets.shop.loblaws.ca/products/20324399/b1/en/side/20324399_side_a06.png

That's Canadian, but you might be able to get something similar. No sugar, no carbohydrates, no calories.

That's great about the rice--will try that.

(Oops--the photo is of the regular, not the sugar-free.)

x-post

The cooling / reheating rice thing also works for dried pasta, fwiw. For both, you'll obvs get the best effects the more you rinse and drain the excess starches.

Usually stick to ILM and didn't realize there was a Diabetes thread on here.

Tried Ozempic not long after it hit the market-- I have a cousin who's pretty high-up at Novo Nordisk. Attempted to titrate up to the minimum therapeutic dose, but I ended up doing only 50% of that dose every other week-- so, essentially, 1/4 of what was the established clinical minimum effective dose-- and it made me so violently ill and nauseous that I contacted my Endo to discontinue after 8 weeks. Dropped 14 lbs, and my blood sugar was never over 110.

So, it *worked*, but the cost to quality of life and overall health did not make it worth it for me. Godspeed to folks who can tolerate it well, though.

I drink SO MUCH unsweetened iced tea. Pure Leaf is my favorite but Gold Peak is pretty good too.

I’m not American so the cold tea thing is unpalatable to me. I love sweet and milky English breakfast in winter but I use Lakanto for that because it tastes exactly like real sugar - I absolutely hate the taste of artificial sweeteners and stevia.

many x-posts

I didn't really like brown rice either, but I found that cooking it in an instapot pressure cooker (rather than my regular rice cooker) significantly improved the taste. YMMV obv.