Metforim, Januvia, something else?
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| Wed, 10-08-2008 - 12:34am |
I think I am about to the point of needing to do more than diet. I want an idea when I go in what route I would like to go.
Doesn't metforim cause lows? Januvia doesn't though does it? Can you take it be itself? I suppose byetta would be a possibility but I don't know if I could do shots. I know some of you do now...........
My numbers scare me. I can't get them back down. The last few days they have been higher than I like. REALLY higher than I like! This morning, It was 130. Before lunch it was 140. Think before supper it was 159 and about 3 hours later 189. And that is without eating any carbs inbetween! And eating pretty darn healthy! Breakfast... 1 scrambled egg on a ww muffin and a slice of cheese. I did later have an atkins drink with 2 net carbs. For lunch I had a crab cake, no filler, a lettuce salad with blue cheese dressing, left over steamed cauliflower and a sugar free jello. Only thing in between was swiss cheese. For supper, a prepared chicken kiev, I can't remember but it think 11 grams of carbs. I bit over a serving of brussel sprouts (9 grams) and a slice of tomato and about a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (5 grams of carbs. And sliced peaches for 5 grams too.
I have noticed before that if I don't eat enough carbs my glucose is up. Could I have done that?
I hurt my leg about a month ago and have not been able to be on it.. broke a bloodvessel and not pretty!
Thoughts, ideas?

Remember....you are NOT alone!!!!!






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It was a very scary few days. He had a TIA apparently - mini stroke. Geez - he's only 40! He lost sensation on his right side but no muscle weakness or loss of control/movement. Speech, thinking, etc all fine. They ran scads of tests and found no damage and no sign that anything had happened (no narrowed blood vessels or decreased blood flow anywhere). So, now he's on Zocor and baby aspirin. Fortunately, we've already been eating a low sodium, low fat/cholesterol plan for the last several years (no red meat, occasional lean chicken or nice fish, almost but not quite vegetarian) so it's not a big dietary change. Probably the biggest thing is that caffeine is going to have to be pretty much out (no more cappucinos at Starbuck's) because we think (our non-medical take on it) that caffeine caused a blood vessel that had some cholesterol build up to constrict just enough to reduce blood flow to a trickle. Thus, he got a mini stroke, a warning shot, instead of a full on functionality loss stroke.
He went in Sunday and came home Tuesday - the longest two days of my life.
--Deb
The only 'good' thing about it being a mini is the 'wake up' call...
The Zocor is probably the biggest thing right now - neither of us are crazy about statins in general (my dad is recovering from a really bad, debilitating muscle pain, reaction to Zocor) but that is the one thing that was missing in his overall plan (low fat/low sodium eating, exercise, blood pressure medication to control that, weight loss - somewhere in the range of 50-60 lbs in the last 3 years). His HDL was chronically low even though he had gotten his LDL way down compared to where it used to be (last check on Sunday it was somewhere in the 115 range). I told him that when I look deep into his eyes, I'm not being romantic, I'm checking for signs of jaundice.
--Deb
Deb,
I am so glad he is doing better. Does he exercise? IF not, that probably needs to be added into the mix.
Since my husband's heart surgery he has been refusing to drink tea because he says he doesn't want to stimulate his heart. He won't even drink decaf tea. I meant to ask the doctor today but I forgot. He wants my husband, who is also almost a vegetarian, to gain some weight and he is going to be going to cardiac rehab 3 days a week. He probably won't be going back to work until after the first of the year.
When I was having all the tests earlier this year I couldn't have any caffeine. I got withdrawal symptoms!
I hope he continues to do well. It is scary when our family members are so ill and there is nothing we can do about it.
He usually does - he treadmills during the day and I use it in the evening. His difficulty with exercising is a severely osteo-arthritic hip due to an injury when he was 11 that resulted in his one leg being almost 2 inches shorter (from hip to knee) than the other. A shoe lift is only marginally helpful since that's not where he needs the added length (he needs the extra above the knee). But he does walk and tries to get the same 150 minutes per week that I do (mowing the lawn during the summer counts).
But, his grandfather died from strokes (plural) and his dad just passed away in March from congestive heart failure. There's a definite genetic component to his blood pressure and cholesterol situation. Eating better and exercising over the last few years (no red meat, lots of fruit, veggies, whole grains) is very likely something that kept this from being much worse.
If y'all like warm beverages, you might want to look into some of the herbal teas. Check ingredients (of course, which you already do, I know) and make sure there's no licorice in it - not only can that raise blood sugar but it also can raise blood pressure. One of our favorites is bengal spice tea - it's a nice strong flavor with a bit of a kick but totally herbal, no caffeine at all.
With my mom's heart condition (rheumatic enlarged heart), I grew up in a low sodium, decaf/caffeine free household.
DS mentioned last night that between my diabetes and Daddy's cholesterol, he's going to have to keep an eye on things when he turns 40. We reminded him that he's *already* learning to keep an eye on things now so that when he turns 40, he might be able to avoid all this. He said "Good point" - he already knows to check labels for sodium, sugars/carbs, fats, HFCS, protein, fiber, etc. and has a definite preference for fresh, whole foods as opposed to commercial products. When I told him that the hospital fed Daddy a turkey sandwich on white bread for dinner (while he was still in the ER, he hadn't eaten since breakfast so I asked them, if there was no contraindication, to bring him something to eat), DS got a totally horrified look and said "White bread??!!" DH was so glad to get home - the food not only tastes a heck of a lot better but it's actually healthier than what they were serving him (although the intake nurse did note down not to serve him beef and they respected that). Which got me to thinking - what do they do for people who are adamantly vegetarian or vegan? I've never yet seen an in-patient menu that accounts for that (all the proteins they offer are meat, eggs, etc).
Enough of my morning ramblings...lol
--Deb
Deb,
Out here in California, where we are used to these alternative eating patterns, it didn't seem to be a problem when my husband was in the hospital. They offered "eggbeaters" omlets for example. I thought my husband's meals were good and one night his nurse found out that I had had a bad hypoglycemic episode the night before and she fed me an extra dinner that they had and it was good. (How's that for a run on sentence!) But hospital food gets really tiring quickly because it never tastes like home food. Interestingly enough, they only served decaf tea and coffee to the patients
Actually, that's the first thing I did when he said he felt 'weird' - I pulled out my meter and checked his blood sugar. It was a nice normal pre-meal number, not too high or too low, so we ruled that out right off. But, he eats the same low carb meals and snacks that I do - he's the cook in our house so he just makes all our meals such that they are low carb, low fat, low sodium, decent fiber - since I needed to be watching cardio health anyhow as a diabetic. The bonus is that DS is growing up eating that way and reading labels - it's not that he and DH eat one thing and I eat something else. He's not going to have to 'adjust' to low sodium as an adult (potentially) since he's already eating low sodium foods/meals. He does eat more carbs than either DH or I since he expends them more readily as an active, growing boy. But, he also knows what a carb is, what fiber is, and so on and what they do - for instance, he knows that sodium needs a proper balance with potassium to be healthy (alas most foods don't indicate potassium levels on the labels along with sodium).
--Deb
I will admit where I was in the hospital with broken leg in 92, they have pretty good food usually.
Yeah, DH got to pick from a menu and I've seen what my FIL and my mom have been served in hospitals and what I got when DS was born. Not a one of them had a non-animal-based protein option for the entree - there was chicken, fish, beef mostly, for two meals per day (and breakfast usually had sausage or bacon or ham as side options). Even those Egg beater type things are egg white, animal based (not vegan but they'd qualify as ovo-lacto vegetarian). We're by no means strictly vegetarian, much less vegan, but DH had to specifically request (noted by the admitting nurse) not to be served beef - we haven't eaten that in so long, it really messes up digestion phew! And, since he picked from the menus, he could get the chicken or fish instead. But my guess is that it would take some work to get an actual non-animal entree, they rarely do anything with beans or legumes or real whole grains (DH said the 'wheat bread' toast he had was basically spray painted white bread).
--Deb
Hi Cheryl..not met doesn't cause lows.
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