Worried about diabetic husband

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-08-2008
Worried about diabetic husband
11
Tue, 07-08-2008 - 11:35am

Hi all,


I am new to this board, but I really need some advice. My husband was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 5 years ago but I suspect he had it longer than that. It runs in his family--his mother and grandmother had it, and his younger brother was diagnosed with it at 15! Anyways, I am worried about him because he does not do what he is supposed to. He eats and drinks whatever he wants, never checks his blood sugar and takes his medicine irregularly. He also has high blood pressure.


At first I guess it was not really "real" to us. But now, I am noticing things that are worrying me more, and they don't seem to concern him. He has no energy, he is often irritable and has mood swings, and we are having sexual problems. He sleeps all the time--he has no energy for anything, barely even going to work, but he goes. He is tired all the time there. He doesn't sleep at night because he ends up sleeping all day. And I am not exaggerating. He will not get up until about 2:30 or 3:00pm, and that is because he has to go to work for 4:00pm. When he comes home around 12:30, he will stay up for a while, but usually ends up going to sleep around 2 or 3. Then, when he is up, he is so irritable and grouchy, I sometimes wish he would just go back to sleep. 


Lately, with sex, his erection hasn't been getting as hard. It does get hard, but not as firm as it used to be. I noticed and I know he does, too. I tried to use that as an opening, because I thought that would be the one thing that would get him to change, but he just got all offended and refused to talk about it. I didn't bring it up while we were in the moment, I didn't accuse or anything, I said it in a loving and concerned way, but still, he didn't want to hear it.


I know that these are early warning signs of bigger problems, and I need help getting him to heed those signs. We have 3 sons, and I know he wants to be here with us, I just need help getting him to see this as a real problem. I know what I a have to do, I am going to do what I can to help the situation--trying to structure his meals and snacks (as much as I can), refuse to buy him cold drinks and snacks (he LOVES his Sprites), encourage more excercise and activity. I am willing make all these changes with him. I am just no longer going to help him kill himself.


I was hoping that I could get some help and advice from you all out there, if you are have diabetes or live with a diabetic as stubborn as my husband is. What worked for you or your loved one to make them take control of their health? At the very least, I want him to start checking his blood sugar. He thinks that he can tell when it is high or low. I am sure he can get an idea of it from the way he feels, but I think that he would have better control if he could see the numbers and the patterns. I just know that we are headed for a stroke or heart attack if he doesn't change. Please help!


Thanks!   

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-03-2003
Mon, 07-14-2008 - 9:53am

"Dirty rice is one of his favorite sides-how did you know?" LOL I know a few people from down that-a-way and that's a biggie (plus all those Zatarain's commercials LOL).

Yes, you are correct, rule of thumb number one is If it's white don't bite (a bit simplistic but accurate). The thing is, there is no fiber, little protein, few nutrients in "white"/processed foods like white bread and pasta and rice. The fiber, fat, protein in whole grains helps to slow how it the carbs get absorbed. You want slow gentle ripples not Katrina sized waves in the blood sugar - super highs generally lead to bigtime lows which yo yo back up - yo-yoing is really bad for blood sugar.

Spices are your friend, generally speaking. They have no carbs, no calories, no fat and they add beaucoups flavor. Just watch out for any pre-mixed stuff (like some commercial chili powders) because they can have a lot of sodium. Look for things like garlic powder rather than garlic salt (I realize that's pretty obvious) or just use fresh garlic (get an inexpensive garlic press if you use a lot of garlic but don't like dealing with it by hand).

It's not necessary to eat 6 to 7 times per day BUT that is often helpful if someone is used to eating huge helpings 3 times per day. Read labels (you'd be surprised at the portion sizes on some foods compared to how much we actually eat of them as a 'serving'). If there is a sugar (and that means ANY sugar - sucrose, fructose, glucose, anything with 'syrup' in the name, etc) look for it to not be in the top 3 or 4 ingredients (ingredients are listed in order of proportion, the first ingredient is the most and so on). The less processed foods you can manage the better - making something from scratch as much as possible means YOU control the ingredients more and that's a good thing. If time is an issue, cook once and eat multiple times - that is, make a big batch of dirty rice (with real brown rice) that you can grab out of for several meals. Make lasagna with whole wheat pasta and use that for several meals (a dinner and some lunches perhaps). When you cook chicken, it takes mostly the same amount of time to cook 4 chicken breasts as it does 2 - put the other 2 in a container in the fridge for a quick fix dinner later in the week .

--Deb

Pages