Your biggest diabetes hurdles?

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kellie01 said:
I am struggling with lack of sleep, only a couple of hours a night if i am lucky, i have very dry sore skin at the moment too and lack of appetite. The problem os knowing if these are due to the diabetes or something else. Skin is sore in certain places but doesn't look red or anything but is so bad some days that it makes me cry x
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Your sleeplessness seems to have been going on for sometime, perhaps you could ask your GP for referral to a sleep clinic, I know some hospitals do have them.
Your GP should be able to prescribe something for your dry skin or speak to your pharmacist as they may be able to recommend something.
 
kellie01 said:
I am struggling with lack of sleep, only a couple of hours a night if i am lucky, i have very dry sore skin at the moment too and lack of appetite. The problem os knowing if these are due to the diabetes or something else. Skin is sore in certain places but doesn't look red or anything but is so bad some days that it makes me cry x
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Do you know what is preventing you from sleeping? ie. Is it stress or anxiety about your diabetes? Trips to the loo? Hot sweats? Just not being able to get to sleep or waking up with bad dreams?
When you say, your skin is sore in "certain places".... do you mean just small patches here and there on your body or do you mean your genital area. If so could it be thrush?
What are your BG levels like? I find I am very restless when my levels are above 8. High levels also make me anxious and emotional.
 
freesia said:
What is a TBR?
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A Temporary Basal Rate on my pump. It means I can choose to reduce the amount of basal insulin I receive by a certain % for a certain amount of time. For my morning walk, eg, I have a 50% reduction for 1 hour. It’s a really handy feature.

Have you ever asked for a pump @freesia?
 
There's a couple things that come back round tests ones being specific to this moment it's being I'll while being diabetic as it can be a lot of work especially if you follow proper sick days when just want to lie in bed on the sofa and not think about anything. And blood sugar can not decided how to behave when ill . I've come down with something which doesn't seem to want to blood to want to badge. It's also been a bit hard to work out when ill what's the illness and what's your body working body warning you about and impeding drop or rise.
 
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rebrascora said:
Do you know what is preventing you from sleeping? ie. Is it stress or anxiety about your diabetes? Trips to the loo? Hot sweats? Just not being able to get to sleep or waking up with bad dreams?
When you say, your skin is sore in "certain places".... do you mean just small patches here and there on your body or do you mean your genital area. If so could it be thrush?
What are your BG levels like? I find I am very restless when my levels are above 8. High levels also make me anxious and emotional.
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I struggle to fall asleep even though i am tired, i don't think i am worrying about anything as dont have too many worries. My skin is sore on my back, under my arms, my legs and a couple of other patches. Had the thrush type stuff for ages before i was diagnosed but that has all gone now sonce being on meds. Bg levels are quite stable at the moment, so no worries with that. Appetite has dropped off at moment and lost a bit of weight that i can ill afford to lose x
 
You said you had some sleeping tablets @kellie01 - have they helped at all? I know doctors don’t like to prescribe ‘proper’ sleeping tablets now, but I had to have them before and they really worked. I then tapered them off over two or three weeks and have been fine since.
 
I find listening to an audiobook helps me get (back) to sleep, preferably a book I have read or listened to previously. I have a Sonos speaker on my bedside cabinet and set the sleep timer on the iPhone app. Works a treat and really the only option for me as I don’t like taking sleeping tablets.
 
My biggest hurdle is that whenever I see my doc or nurse about something its always "oh its down to your D (t2) do better at what you eat exercise more" etc etc. Even though I have other chronic and ongoing conditions/ ailments its always the first response from Them. As a general gripe its food based going out and having a drink or butty worrying over how much it will spike me.
 
Sore skin could be an allergic reaction, @kellie01 and nothing to do with diabetes - some people get it from laundry detergents and conditioners - might be worth trying a detergent suitable for sensitive skin (like Surcare or Faith in Nature or just Liquid Soap Flakes)? Otherwise I should talk to your doctor about that, and about the sleep too.

If you don't want to get sleeping pills on prescription, Passiflora or Valerian ones might help, they don't knock you out but help you relax so it's easier to get to sleep. But consult your doctor before trying anything like that, to make sure they are safe for you in conjunction with anything else you're taking. There are sleep programmes available on the NHS now too, which can help people who struggle to get to sleep.
 
kellie01 said:
I am struggling with lack of sleep, only a couple of hours a night if i am lucky, i have very dry sore skin at the moment too and lack of appetite. The problem os knowing if these are due to the diabetes or something else. Skin is sore in certain places but doesn't look red or anything but is so bad some days that it makes me cry x
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So sorry you are experiencing this Kellie, if you can chat with your doctor and the Diabetes UK helpline. You need a special soothing nutrient cream that you can both wash with and moisturize with daily, perhaps you already have this. You need help with your sleeping pattern too please do discuss your symptoms with your doctor.

Try to eat a healthy diet, fresh veg, salmon or other fish and chicken. Apologies if I am repeating what you are already doing.

I am wishing you a good consultation with your doctor, nurse or specialist so that you are able to enjoy more quality sleep and happier skin.

Sending you loads of feeling better thoughts.
 
My main issue with diabetes is the same as @Lucyr and @freesia and various others - the unpredictability, and especially the pummeting hypos - eating the same meal and sometimes having my bgl go up fast afterwards, and sometimes nice flat levels, and sometimes a hypo.

And when I have a hypo my bgl nearly always plummets so fast I don't have enough warning to do anything to prevent it.

I don't know whether my pancreas is still working a bit from time to time, or whether I've got years-old stored insulin somewhere in my system, or what (consultants always want to test me for Addisons, but my Cortisol levels are fine, usually on the higher end of normal and I don't have the symptoms; I sometimes wonder about Pancreatitis, which would match most of my other symptoms rather better, but I have no pain in my pancreas area). It may just be that my diabetes clashes with my ME, and I have crazily unpredictable dysmotility.
 
Bloden said:
Have you ever asked for a pump
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I haven't. Although i am only under GP care and have never been seen by a Consultant/hospital, only a DSN and they referred me back to GP care during Covid. I can ask to be re referred but have to give a reason why. Is a pump so much easier than MDI?
 
My diabetes gripe is that as I am recently diagnosed that I spend a lot of time talking about it, I know this is a good thing on the whole but, I do feel at the moment I have lost a little of me. I feel I need to explain to friends why I have lost so much weight so quickly (a drag I know 😛), it is great that most of them really want to know about it. Once I get into a norm I'll be right as rain and be back to myself boring my wife with sport she doesn't care about, rather than prick tests and what I am going to eat for the day.
This gripe is just to ignore my the one about my diabetic nurse haha.
Again this forum helps to be able to write this to you peeps that understand rather than boring the wife! :D
 
GooseyGander said:
My diabetes gripe is that as I am recently diagnosed that I spend a lot of time talking about it, I know this is a good thing on the whole but, I do feel at the moment I have lost a little of me. I feel I need to explain to friends why I have lost so much weight so quickly (a drag I know 😛), it is great that most of them really want to know about it. Once I get into a norm I'll be right as rain and be back to myself boring my wife with sport she doesn't care about, rather than prick tests and what I am going to eat for the day.
This gripe is just to ignore my the one about my diabetic nurse haha.
Again this forum helps to be able to write this to you peeps that understand rather than boring the wife! :D
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Same here, fed up of talking and the planning, not in my nature and a year ago I wouldn't have thought of eating until half way through the day! Please keep boring us as it's so good to know others are also feeling the same damned frustrations and it's not me being useless if I spike after a great meal.
 
Wonky said:
Same here, fed up of talking and the planning, not in my nature and a year ago I wouldn't have thought of eating until half way through the day! Please keep boring us as it's so good to know others are also feeling the same damned frustrations and it's not me being useless if I spike after a great meal.
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Not sure if I am reading that right, but you don't have to have breakfast if you don't want to your know? The whole point of a basal/bolus system, assuming you are on such an insulin regime ie. slow release insulin to mop up the glucose your liver trickles out day and night and "fast" acting meal time insulin, you can skip meals whenever you like.
Personally I rather like breakfast, but often skip lunch.
 
By comparison my T2 is minor compared to what others have to manage but ...... I'm really struggling with the "foreverness" of this.

I worked really hard to work out what to do when I was told I was T2 and no information, advice or support was offered by GP. I found a regime that worked, finger pricking down to 5s and yippee HbA1C went down from 54 to 39 in 6 months. So I carried on and now it's back to 44 ... fingerpricking is mostly 6s now :(

Now I'm feeling flat.

I can live with a boring/restrictive dietry regime to get a brilliant HbA1C, that was the payback. But I'm struggling to be motivated now it's not working as well.

It's just there's no reprieve and I feel terrible for feeling like this as so many other people have to deal with so much more each day.
 
rebrascora said:
Not sure if I am reading that right, but you don't have to have breakfast if you don't want to your know? The whole point of a basal/bolus system, assuming you are on such an insulin regime ie. slow release insulin to mop up the glucose your liver trickles out day and night and "fast" acting meal time insulin, you can skip meals whenever you like.
Personally I rather like breakfast, but often skip lunch.
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Thought I'd read something that it's best to eat regularly for best management! Saying that I've read so much in the last 12 months could be I took it too literally? Always read reliable sources though, I think Thanks rebrascora
 
Wonky said:
Thought I'd read something that it's best to eat regularly for best management! Saying that I've read so much in the last 12 months could be I took it too literally? Always read reliable sources though, I think Thanks rebrascora
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You need to be careful not to confuse advice that might be appropriate for people with Type 2 but may not be so for Type 1 or people on different medication regimes.
As everybody is different what works for one person may not for somebody else. It really is trial and hopefully not too much error.
 
For me it’s side effects of long term diabetes, sight in my left eye is poor, it’s had laser treatment and 16 of those awful injections which had no impact, then there’s nerve damage in my feet leading to loss of feeling and intermittent sharp pains, diabetes is probably the cause of a myriad of other minor health problems, this disease can affect every part of your physiology.
 
I just dislike never being able to control what happens. Blood sugars are as contrary as my mind . I am even trying to see if my mood swings affect my blood sugars.
I can eat the same breakfast three days and have different blood sugar readings. Yes could be the monitor. However i can eat more and have a lower reading than when I i eat less and have a high reading.
The scales do not make sense either.
The weather is changing and I hurt so much its like my blood is glue and my bones dont move with my skin easily.
So for me I would love to be able to control . It maybe when BS and weight are normal this happens but no evidence yet. Long way to go.
 
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