Full of questions

[lizabetic]

Lately i'm full of questions that I keep thinking of posting here, I guess i'm just going to go ahead and add them all to the same post!

1. Why do my blood sugars never make much sense? 90% of the time i'll have a meal and my blood sugar will go to 10 no matter WHAT my blood sugar was before. This occurs with most meals containing some but any amount of carbs. I could be verging hypo and eat and end up 10 or i could be 7 and eat the same thing ending up at the same place!

2. What are your experiences with drinking with diabetes? I know most of the time people say how dangerous it is. Note: I am NOT on insulin/medication of any sort so I don't have to watch what I drink more so than a non-diabetic.
My experiences have shown me: When i'm high and start drinking it gets to me quicker; when i'm low i stay okay; if i go low during the night then i have black outs but often it doesn't take much alcohol so i'm putting this down to the diabetes. I also get really emotional with this but have no recolition of it.

Also i've concluded that normally I am still drunk the next day, which maybe could be because of having low blood sugar and so theres nothing to 'take away' that alcohol i.e. glucose for it to process. Does that make sense?

3. Why have my numbers never changed in the three years since i've been diabetic. Of course they were higher than they ought to have been when it got diagnosed but since i'm now eating healthier it helps.

But I only ever spiked after meals in the beginning (18-20) and when I was on insulin I was eating twice as much as I needed to be because thats basically what they told us to do. If ever I went out they would shoot right down and i'd have to go without insulin. That was in a period of 2 weeks, after 2 weeks of high readings and some active lows they then went down to 11 highest (as they are now) and then down again until 2 months later I wasn't on any insulin.
Had to go back a week later as some highs but not a lot of insulin and then was on and off for a couple of months - some days I took it others I didn't. Then that was it no more insulin and readings between 4 - 10 as I am now...

4. this is for the women; why should diabetics not use wax strips? It says on the back of them not too..

Also I took up epilating my legs a year ago and have gotten to a point where I just can't anymore because I get a lot of ingrown hairs (I exfoliate EVERYDAY) and spots where I did and as a result have a lot of ugly scars on my legs. Now i've switched to hair removal cream but its still a little problematic though better.
I also occasionally get spots randomly on my legs, is there any reason for this that is diabetes related?


This may look like a long lengthy post but its not! Honestly Just wanted to make sure everything was spread out evenly for easy reading.
Thanks guys!!

 

[Northerner]

Hi Liz! Phew! 🙂

1 - I am only guessing, but because you are a bit weird (in the nicest possible way!) your pancreas is able to release sufficient insulin for prevent your levels increasing above 10, so this is a 'cap' on your levels. It also sounds as though your 'first phase' insulin response is slow, since your levels go up above 'normal' non-diabetic levels in the first place. I believe this is something normally associated with Type 2, but the more I have read about diabetes, the more I have realised that there are no clear cut divisions between types.

2 - I don't personally have much of a problem with alcohol. Some types will send my levels much higher than others - I can drink cider or lager and levels will mostly stay below double figures, but real ale will usually spike me above 12. I know you are supposed to eat in order to keep your levels up, but I've often over0indulged and not eaten and been fine - but I'm a bit weird too as I only need a very small amount of background insulin.

When you say 'if i go low during the night then i have black outs' do you mean going low in your sleep or going low when you are out and about? The best approach is to experiment and test frequently so you can keep an eye on things and if you think you are dropping a bit low have something carby to eat.

3 - It sounds to me like your pancreas was failing when you were originally diagnosed, but I have heard that with some people giving them insulin can 'rest' a damaged pancreas so that it can recover its insulin producing ability. It sounds like this may have happened to you, and when you stopped and then had to go back on it you needed less, then none at all, although you still don't have a fully-functioning pancreas as described in (1).

4- Pass! 😉

Hope this helps a bit, I'm not a doctor and am only speculating of course, based on what I have read or learned from the experiences of others here and on other forums. What is the current situation for you? Do you have any further tests in the near future, or have they just left you to get on with it?

 

[Vicsetter]

4. I suspect this is the same reason your are not supposed to used the hard skin removal tools for your feet, it's a legal thing that if you suffer from lack of sensation due to your diabetes you might cause damage without realising and sue them.
I sometimes get itchy patches on my legs and my GP says it's dry skin (probably caused by circulation problems and not diabetes), she has prescribed my Epaderm cream (like a tub of lard) to rub on when I get troubled. I get hard skin on my heels due to poor circulation, the good thing is my feet no longer sweat.