Feet
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Feet
| Sat, 05-03-2008 - 8:35am |
I have been a diabetic for about ten years now but only diagnosed eight years ago. I have noticed lately that my feet are always cold and have a bluish\gray cast to them and that when I stand on them for long periods of time they get little red blood spots on them. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem. I am going to talk to my doctor about it soon.

Hi and welcome to the board.
Right now my Dr is trying to adjust my insulin. My sugars are staying around 297 with the insulin, when I was taking
Yes!
Hi,
Another message from me!! Are you taking anything to breakdown your insulin resistance? IMHO, it sure looks like you need something and you used to be on one medication for that. In diabetes now, we don't stop meds we just add in more until the patient is under control and you aren't under good control right now. 90 units is double the usual amount of insulin that a type 2 diabetic is on. So that would mean that you have significant insulin resistance. The easiest way to breakdown insulin resistance is weight loss and exercise. I am sure with your diabetic neuropathy you aren't able to exercise much right now as it would be too painful.
Insulin is a wonderful drug and for some diabetics it is a lifesaver. More than 50% of type 2 diabetics are on insulin. Diabetes is a progressive disease and eventually most diabetics wear out their beta cells and either can't produce enough insulin or can't produce any insulin. Unfortunately insulin also can cause a huge amount of weight gain. So the idea is to balance the amount of food you need with the amount of insulin. If you are eating too much food you will need more insulin to get your blood sugar down. The newer insulins like Lantus seem to do a better job for some people but they are more expensive so many doctors still use the cheap NPH and regular insulin.
If you can't exercise Metformin is a good oral agent for breaking down insulin resistance. The Avandia that you were taking had the same effect. The jury is till out on Avandia and Actos and there aren't any definitive answers yet.
There are newer classes of drugs which can be used with insulin such as byetta and januvia. The first is injectable and the second is oral. They help take the place of one of the hormones that the body produced before you became diabetics. They also encourage weight loss.
I am on insulin and have been for the past four years. But I am also on Metformin and januvia and I haven't gained any weight and in fact have lost weight in that time.
I suggest that you start writing a food diary and look at what you are eating and how much insulin you need to control your blood sugar. You need also to exercise as much as you can. If you can only walk for 5 minutes that is what you do. Maybe you can do it more than once per day. Your back will improve as you are able to exercise and loose weight. But you didn't gain the weight overnight and you won't get it off overnight either. Just take small steps to control what is happening with you and you will be surprised but your depression will get better also. At this point you just don't feel well.
I hope this is helpful and please ask me any questions that you have. Of course it is up to your doctor to tailor your program to meet your special needs.
I think the reason for this is that I eat a special meal plan that was developed for me by a dietitian and I count carbs. It was liberating to count carbs and I am in control of what I eat and when I eat it. I eat a very interesting diet consisting of most thing that I really like plus lots of fresh veggies and fruits. It has become like second nature to me. I go out to lunch or dinner as I like and I manage to keep it under control. I also test 3-5 times per day and sometimes more if I am having problems. But believe me when I say I am no saint and I can mess it up as well as the next person!