Newly diagnosed with questions
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| Fri, 03-19-2004 - 2:00pm |
Serum Insulin 50 (s/b less than 17)
Cholesterol 214 (HDL 40)
Triglycerides 338
Glucose 143
A1C 6%
I was told that I was NOT diabetic, but I was put on 500 mg. of Glucophage per day to get my glucose level down.
I started reading up on metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes and I started to question the diagnosis. I also started testing my own blood sugars once or twice a day. The numbers kept going up...into the 180's. I called the office again and was told that I didn't need to check my blood sugar, that it was metabolic syndrome and 500 mg of Glucophage a day was plenty to be taking.
Still not sure what all this meant, I called and got a referral to an endocrinologist. The doctor I saw was caring, compassionate, and answered all of my questions. She said indeed I was diabetic and increased my Glucophage to 2,000 mg. per day, put me on an ACE inhibitor, and also put me on Zocor. She wanted to put me on Prevacid for GERD, but the last prescription I took for that caused me to break out in hives, so I just take Pepcid Complete now.
This has me taking 6 pills in addition to my calcium and vitamin supplement, and now I am feeling depressed and overwhelmed. Maybe I should have just gone along with my internist and things would have been fine! I had heard that this endocrinologist was one of the best, and treated aggressively. She even signed me up for diabetes education classes.
Does my treatment seem excessive for my test result numbers? Just curious if maybe this treatment is overly aggressive and I don't really need all of this. Is there any chance of me eventually going off of medications????
Alison

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I have high cholesterol and take Zetia and Zocor. Don't know what my current levels are. Have to get bloodwork done sometime. I also take Prevacid for reflux although I don't seem to have symptoms anymore.
It's really important that you watch your carbs. I'd sure suggest taking some diabetes education classes. I found them really helpful.
We're all here for you. No question is stupid...so ask away. One of us may have been through it or are at this time.
:-)
Hi Alison,
Welcome to the board. My name is Mary Frances and I am one of the community leaders for this board. I am a type 2 diabetic and a registered nurse. Any advise I may give is not a subsititue for seeking medical advise from a health care practitioner of your choice.
To answer your last question first, probably you won't be able to go off meds because of your lab results. You have significant insulin resistance based upon your lipid readings and that is why you were put on the maximum doseage of glucophage. Hopefully as your blood sugar comes under better control you may be able to decrease the amount of medication that you are on. If you are able to lose ten percent of your weight you may be able to decrease it even further.
I know the goal is always to manage your diabetes without medication. But you goal also has to be to protect your heart and your brain as well as your eyes, kidneys and feet. If that is your goal then the issue of taking medication isn't as onerous. It does take up to eight weeks to see the total effects of the medication so you can expect improvement of your numbers for that long.
Do go to the diabetic education classes. They will help answer a lot of your questions, especially what you are supposed to be eating and, even more important, how much of everything.
You are with the correct medical practitioner at this point. I am shocked that your internist didn't take your numbers more seriously last year. You were being under treated and you absolutely needed to be testing your blood sugar. There are standards for care for someone like you and your internist needed to be following them. You can find these standards at the ADA website or as you stay around here longer you will see them posted here.
So pull up a chair and join our conversation. You will find we are a nice group of people who are here to help explain things as best we can.
Mary Frances
cl-maryfrances40
Co-Cl Diabetes Board
Today I went to have my Zocor filled only to find out that it is considered non-formulary by my insurance so they will only pay 50%. The out-of-pocket cost for me would be $61 for 30 days! So, total a month I'm paying $100 on meds. Maybe that doesn't seem to high, but to go from paying nothing and thinking I was healthy to $100 and diabetic is a big change in just a couple of months time. I'm going to see if my doctor will put me on Lipitor instead, so my copay would only be $15. I guess it probably takes everyone a little bit of time to get things organized and on a set schedule with the proper meds....*sigh*
Hope your numbers are back down now, and things have settle down for you.
I'm sure I'll be back with more questions :)
Alison
I guess I don't really understand the insulin resistance part. I do know that diabetes is a result of insulin resistance, but I didn't know that there was a "degree" of it. Does that mean that my pancreas is putting out more insulin that my body can't use and as a result it's just ciculating in my blood?
Since December I have lost 20 pounds. Another 10 and I'll be at the high end of my healthy range. I'm hoping to get there by summer. Not sure what the overall effect will be on my diabetes if that happens, but you are right...the goal should be to protect my heart and health, and if I am doing that then other things will fall into place.
Do you know if I am sick, sinus infection, etc. if I would call my endocrinologist for treatment or go to my internist? I guess at this point I'm just leary of the care my internist will give me. I've been with him for almost 20 years, so I'd hate to switch doctors now, but I want one that's going to treat me with consideration of my diabetes, not one that's going to blow off the fact that I am diabetic. Or maybe he will be accepting of the fact that I am since the doctor he referred me to says I am. It seems that he was going by some old standards of diagnosing, instead of the current standards. And I've heard that they are lowering them to 110 fasting as the diagnosing point now too.
Anyway, thanks for the welcome and I'm SURE I will be posting regularly!
Alison
Hi Alison,
Along with the great information already posted, here are a couple of links to more information:
Overviews:
http://www.ivillagehealth.com/conditions/endocrine/articles/0,,166353_126263,00.html
http://www.ivillagehealth.com/library/nwh/content/0,,215912_227056,00.html
IVHealth Ruth Ann
Assistant Community Moderator/Health Librarian
rjohnson@mail.ivillage.com
IVHealth Ruth Ann
Community Leader/Ask the Health Librarian
I have really been struggling this week, with the realization that I do in fact have diabetes. Maybe I had been in denial, but it's finally hitting me and I keep having to give myself pep talks. I come here and read the posts and realize I'm not alone in this.
Thanks!
Alison
Hi Alison! I know what you mean about the realization hitting you hard. I was fine when I was given the diagnosis and fine for the first week or so afterwards too. Then one night as my husband and I were watching tv, I started thinking too much about all the "what if's" and my heart started pounding really hard and I was hyperventilating, finding it hard to catch my breath. I told my husband "If I don't wake up in the morning, know that I love you." Well, to him that was the most absurd comment I had ever made because he just didn't understand all that was going thru my mind. The next morning when I woke up, I resolved to start an entirely new lifestyle and that's when my exercise routine began. I was already eating properly, but knew that I needed to exercise to. Waking up after thinking I wouldn't was the culmination of me getting everything together.
Take your time..don't read too much because it can scare you. I really like the book "Type 2 Diabetes, the first year" by Gretchen Becker. It's written in a way that won't overwhelm you if you read it when it says to..a chapter a week for the 1st month and then a chapter a month for the rest of the year. This way all the information sinks in slowly so you retain it and don't become overwhelmed with too much all at once.
You'll make it thru this and we're all here to help you as we continue to live with our own disease. Pull up a chair....
Heck...insurance gets you coming and going, huh? I still have to file for a reimbursement for my first Zocor of the year. Darn Express Scripts charged me $80 instead of $50. I think that amount is terrible, too. That's for 3 months on my mail-in drug plan. You pay for two months, but get 3 months' prescription. I also take Zetia which is supposed to jump start the Zocor. Pretty soon, they're supposed to release a drug that combines both meds together. I can trust that my drug plan will put a kibosh on it and charge back up to an unreasonable amount again. My problem is that I can't take Lipitor or a couple other cholesterol-lowering meds. I get really nauseated.
I'm against paying any amount of money for drugs!!! I just plain don't like taking all those pills. Anything over $6 is too much as far as I'm concerned!
Hang in there. I'm right with you. Have good numbers and then am thrown a curve. Can't figure it out. Am battling away.
(((hugs)))
I ordered several cookbooks for diabetics and several low carb cookbooks. They are currently sitting on my card table in the shipping boxes. I have collected lots of materials; they're on top of my entertainment center awaiting the master's touch to organize and put in a binder.
So, now I have yet another book to get! This one sounds like where I should start, huh?
Maybe it'll slow me down so I can digest all the info I've collected.
Don't give up on me you guys.
Hi Kathi! I found all of my books on eBay. They also have them on Half.com, but I was able to get a better price on eBay! No need to pay full price!
You'll get it all organized..just take it one book at a time!
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