Do you or someone you know have it? If you do, how do you keep it under control?

 

I bring up this topic because my dad was admitted to the hospital this morning. After extensive testing was done, it was confirmed that he's now a diabetic. Apparently, at one point, his sugar levels were around 700. For those of you who don't know, that's really bad. Don't worry; he's doing better and will probably be out of the hospital within a couple of days.

 

Anyway, I guess I just want to vent my frustration and, at the same time, learn more about it, particularly from other people who do have it. I know, I can look stuff up all I want, but it only tells you so much, you know?

 

I can tell you guys that apparently, it runs in my family, and if I'm not careful, I could end up like my dad. Honestly, that scares me.

My grandfather, two uncles and cousins on my mother's side of the family have it. They've had it for a while too. I'm not really sure how they keep it under control, but even so they put themselves at high risk by eating unhealthy and also drinking too

Thankfully, my dad doesn't believe in alcohol, so I don't have to worry about that bit.

 

On the other hand, he's really going to have to watch what he eats now. He'd felt funny through the entirety of Spring Break, and he figured it had something to do with his sugar levels. However, he thought they were too low instead of too high, so this whole time, he'd been eating things that were chockful of sugar, not finding out until today that he was completely wrong. My dad honestly could've killed himself.

I'm sorry violet :hug:

 

My aunt is a diabetic and well, sometimes she doesn't feel that good but if your dad eats healthy and according to the doctor's advice everything should be fine. Maybe he'll need insulin shots but he'll get used to it I guess :s.

wow... well at least it's good that he's okay.

 

I hear it can be really bad from what my grandfather used to say (before he died). He really hated it because he had to really watch what he was eating a lot, and he used to love eating things that were unhealthy.

Really sorry to hear about that. That's really frightening.

 

Diabetes runs in my family as well and I've never really thought about it much until a few months ago when we spoke about it in nutrition and it really scared me. Scared me enough to actually take action because I do not want to become diabetic. Now I'm exercising regularly and eating healthier. I decided I needed a healthy lifestyle change and start while I'm young and hopefully will continue with it.

oh and he must be careful with any kind of wounds, and if he gets one he'd need a very special treatment

I'm sorry violet :hug:

 

My aunt is a diabetic and well, sometimes she doesn't feel that good but if your dad eats healthy and according to the doctor's advice everything should be fine. Maybe he'll need insulin shots but he'll get used to it I guess :s.

 

It's OK, Lore. :hug:

 

See, that's what I'm worried about. My dad is one of those "manly men" who never think anything is wrong with them and never goes to the doctor. Once, during a job he was working at, he cut his head open. He put some padding on it, put duct tape over it, and went back to work. I'm hoping that I'm wrong and he'll actually do what he should, especially seeing how incredibly worried he made my mom. My mom and I will make sure to remind him constantly so he'll do it, and maybe it'll become habit to him.

 

wow... well at least it's good that he's okay.

 

I hear it can be really bad from what my grandfather used to say (before he died). He really hated it because he had to really watch what he was eating a lot, and he used to love eating things that were unhealthy.

 

Yeah, it is. I can't remember the last time I was incredibly glad to hug my dad like I did before I left the hospital after my visit tonight.

 

See, I'd hope that my dad would've thought about that, given that my uncle (his older brother) had it. My uncle had all sorts of problems; he was pretty overweight (even more so than my dad is now), and he used to smoke pretty heavily. He ended up dying of a heart attack in...2004, I think. (I was in the 8th grade.) My dad always kept saying about how he needed to lose weight. My dad has tried countless times to diet, only to forget about it after two weeks at the most.

 

Gahhhhh. I'm sorry. I'm just...I don't know.

Well, I know.

 

I'm newly diagnosed as well. spent 9 days in the ICU with blood sugars over 900. Nearly killed me, and I just turned 21. I'm not fat. I don't eat that unhealthy, can't or I'd never work.

 

It sucks. In a thousand ways. Neuropathy came with it, blinding pain in legs and feet that I am now being dosed narcotics for every day. I don't think I will ever adjust to all this crap/nor do I want to!

 

Prayers for your father though. I relate.

My friend has diabetes but we worry about her because she eats way too much sugar than she should do, the food teacher has to take bags of sweets of her sometimes.

my doctor says it's really not so much about eating sugar....,

it's more about the carbs. I live now on diet 7-up, I can tolerate some sugar free foods, but some things I do "cheat" on and eat with sugar. Taste buds change with this, especially if the sugar levels are off or it's time for a shot. ( I have to inject insulin 5 times a day, test blood sugar levels 3-4 times a day, plus take many other meds)

Your father will learn quickly his own ways of accepting this-please, do not bombard him with reminders or nag him to eat right. He will learn what habits make him feel best. Depression is common in early days.

Try to access the diabetic home health teams , they send nurses to the home and help him monitor himself in the first few weeks. Look for local support groups too. I'm still new in all this, and I am failing miserably with it. Acceptance is in the future, he won't adjust for some time. Just learn as much info as possible, there are even certain diets and ways to "reverse" diabetes, and be insulin free. ask his Dr. about this as well.:hug:

I tend to consume a lot of sugar when I'm depressed or in the exam week. I'm worried that if I am a potential diabetic. Touch wood!

As I said/ it's more about the carbs than actual sugar. And lack of exercise, even stress raises blood sugar levels !

I tend to consume a lot of sugar when I'm depressed or in the exam week. I'm worried that if I am a potential diabetic. Touch wood!

mee too :sad: but some say it helps you on memorizing things *when you read and much chocolates at the same time. haha

 

 

 

700? that's high! My dad and my aunt(mother's side) have it, they maintain it by proper diet (l have never seen my dad inject himself for insulin tho :thinking: ) but another hard thing to deal with people who have diabetes is their temper. Like my aunt is a nice person but when she gets mad she would throw things :wtf: but l don't know, my aunt has a strong personality so l can't tell whether its from having diabetes.

^Yes, irritability is a symptom of low blood sugar.

I just found out last month that my cousin has diabetes, she's the same age as me. And she's always been really skinny, I think she usually eats okay, so it's a bit hard to comprehend. I guess she's probably always had it to some degree and didn't know it, and then she developed gestational diabetes, but it stayed there even after she gave birth. That would suck.

 

oh and he must be careful with any kind of wounds, and if he gets one he'd need a very special treatment

I'm not very knowledgable about the effects of diabetes, so... why would someone with diabetes need special treatment for any kind of wounds?

My cousin has had diabetes since she was 2. She's much older than me and now has two kids, and rather than watching what she eats it doesn't seem to affect her life TOO much. I've heard a few stories of when she got too low and passed out though, it's quite scary :(

I'm not very knowledgable about the effects of diabetes, so... why would someone with diabetes need special treatment for any kind of wounds?

I don't know how it works, but once you have a diabetes and you get an infection from your wounds, it could get worse and it'll spread and might have that part of your body amputated (or the infection will slowly eat it up :thinking: )

This thread is too depressing.

 

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Well, I know.

 

I'm newly diagnosed as well. spent 9 days in the ICU with blood sugars over 900. Nearly killed me, and I just turned 21. I'm not fat. I don't eat that unhealthy, can't or I'd never work.

 

It sucks. In a thousand ways. Neuropathy came with it, blinding pain in legs and feet that I am now being dosed narcotics for every day. I don't think I will ever adjust to all this crap/nor do I want to!

 

Prayers for your father though. I relate.

 

I'm sorry, Kelsey. :sad: :hug:

 

my doctor says it's really not so much about eating sugar....,

it's more about the carbs. I live now on diet 7-up, I can tolerate some sugar free foods, but some things I do "cheat" on and eat with sugar. Taste buds change with this, especially if the sugar levels are off or it's time for a shot. ( I have to inject insulin 5 times a day, test blood sugar levels 3-4 times a day, plus take many other meds)

Your father will learn quickly his own ways of accepting this-please, do not bombard him with reminders or nag him to eat right. He will learn what habits make him feel best. Depression is common in early days.

Try to access the diabetic home health teams , they send nurses to the home and help him monitor himself in the first few weeks. Look for local support groups too. I'm still new in all this, and I am failing miserably with it. Acceptance is in the future, he won't adjust for some time. Just learn as much info as possible, there are even certain diets and ways to "reverse" diabetes, and be insulin free. ask his Dr. about this as well.:hug:

 

Thank you so much for all the info. This has been extremely helpful. :hug:

 

This thread is too depressing.

 

 

BAHAHA. Thanks, Emma. :smiley:

 

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with my mom, who's back at the hospital with my dad. She said he's doing much better, and the doctor said he'd be out some time tomorrow. :D

One of my best friends has it, he found out last week that he could die at any time unless he gets some level of something under control soon. D:

I keep juice in my locker for him at all times. :blush:

 

Also, I was on a medication that was starting to make me diabetic, but thankfully I got off of it in time, the withdrawal was fun. :|

Oh no! I'm sorry about your friend, Tammi. :sad: It's nice that you keep juice for him, though. :hug:

May I ask, will your Dad be doing shots, or pills ? The hardest thing for me has been remembering to take shots or meds at the same time every day.

You'd think something so important would come easy to remember, but I fail at that !Then wonder why I feel lousy.:thinking:

If he wears a watch usually, make sure he sets a reminder on that. If not, an alarm clock, and maybe timing his meds to like his favourite tv show or something. It really is easy to forget until his habits become ingrained in his schedule and mind. Also, if he takes shots, make sure everyone in the house learns to do those to. Not really for emergencies, but because he will have to rotate injection sites, and giving yourself a shot in the hip aints the easiest trick in the world !

I'm not sure yet, honestly. As far as that goes, I haven't been told much of anything.

hate to keep going on here, but this was the most important thing for me, as mistakes do happen with shots. My sister once overdosed me when giving me shots in the hip- (I take two kinds together) The Poisen Control Centre in your state is a LIFESAVER. They are highly trained in giving advice on how to adjust insulin levels when you make a mistake in taking too much, or not enough. Sometimes you can't reach your own doctor for this, and the Emergency Rooms don't want to give medical advice on the phone. As long as sugar levels have not soared to high, or even more dangerous- too LOW, then calling the Poisen Control Centre is invaluable, they will monitor him for how ever long is needed until he tests in a safe range again. It will be a 1-800 number, look it up and post it in every room ! And get him a medical alert bracelet too, as soon as you can. My dietician gave me a form to mail off for a free one even. Good luck and prayers, and pm me anytime you need to talk :kiss: