BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Diabetes Bringing High BS down quickly

Yes Jeanette you should be getting more personal attention I think. Start with your insurance--most have a Diabetes Education Program with a Nurse who can call and set up a home appt. If not, then try the local hospital. Our Church even has a home nurse who visits for diabetes care. My insurance is just Medicaid--and they provide my Nurse. She visits once every 3 months and calls every month for about an hour--goes over everything with me, even all the labs the doctor does. Asks me about skin and foot care. (Incidentally make sure your doctor checks your feet regularly--between the toes should not be lotioned or moist!)And my Nurse is available if I need her by phone. It is all Medicaid provided. If you need to get a Primary Care referral for one of the local programs for this then you will have to call your doctor's office and ask for one. I have even seen flyers on the bulletin boards like at Social Services and some Food Banks where I volunteer for Diabetes information. There might even be something listed in the phone book.

RavynG

Just FYI---this is what I take:

I add 2 tablespoons cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of honey to 8 oz of water before each meal. (The tablets do not work because they o not contain active ascetic acid.) Sometimes I add it to 4 oz fresh apple juice/4oz water too. I also take cinnamon--Rexall Naturals brand, Cinn-max--1000mg with 100mcg of Chromium added--2 caps a day. I also take 1200 calcium a day, 2000 vitamin D,1200 magnesium, 100 zinc, and 200 CO-Q-10. and I use Emergen-C which is 1000mgs of C with some of the minerals in it too--once or twice a day. and I take fiber (sugar-free) every night.

Right now that is all the supplements I take because it is all I can afford. I prefer to take them all separately, that way if I develope a problem with one of them I can just stop it without affecting the others--but I am sure you can find combinations(especially with calcium/vitamin D/magnesium/zinc.) The vinegar has
B vitamins in it. I can't take iron supplements because of another health problem.

RavynG

Yes, Jeanette, you should be getting more guidance. With BlueCrossBlueShield I get an starter course of 4 - 2 hours sessions (8 hours total) and additional classes as my condition changes. Also, the educators are available for phone consulations whenever needed.

But I also think the numbers you have been given may not be right. A BG reading of 190 is way too high. A pre-meal reading should be 90-110. A reading 2 hours after a meal should return to what it was before the meal. Most of us wake up with a higher reading - my average morning reading is about 125. If you didn't have diabetes, you A1C would be about 4.5. That's where you would like yours to be. It won't be - but the recommendation was to keep it lower than 6.5. Just lately mine has climbed to 6.5 and my doctor said that the range has recently been changed. I actually feel better when it is 6.2.

Good Luck to you and keep us informed of your progress. GrannyH

Maybe I should get a different doctor. She has never checked my feet. I can check them myself, no big deal but still. My BS is around 130 in the mornings. ANd that is about where it stays all day unless i exercise a lot. Today it got to 169 after lunch. I think the dressing that was on the Taco Salad I had may have had sugars in it. I drank the 2 glasses of water as suggested here and checked it an hour later and it was down to 137. I was impressed LOL

To get a daily amount of vinegar without feeling like it might be a medication or supplement issue, find a really good recipe for an oil and vinegar salad dressing. Make it with all the healthiest choices - sugar subs, cholestrol free oils, etc. Then have a good-greens tossed salad once each day. You'll get the vinegar and you'll be eating better at the same time. You can even take a small container of this dressing with you when you go out to eat. Ask for a salad without dressing, then use your own.

Jeanette: I was rereading this thread today and realized you had a concern we did not answer. It was about your doctor not looking at your BG log or your meter.

The meter is for you: Those daily readings are the way you know, at any given time, the condition of your body. If you take a reading before a meal and it's a little too high, you will know not to overeat. Your after-meal readings give you a handle on which foods and which amounts you body can manage. You'll learn which you'll have to eat less of. (I, for instance, know that I'll have to take a walk after having mac and cheese cause I just can't cut back.) So, your meter readings are the way you develop control over your diabetes, and are for your use.

The blood test is for your doctor: The A1c tells your doctor how well you are controlling your disease in general. If it's too high, he/she'll ask you for greater control and might ask you to take more meter readings per day.

I really hope I have been of some help to you will all this. GrannyH

I really do appreciate all the advice you have given. I FINALLY got a call from the hospital to visit a diabetic educator on May 4th then again on June 4th. I am really looking forward to meeting with them.

I started cutting meat out of my diet. Not completely, just less red meats although steak is my downfall. We eat steak about once a week. But we have been eating less hamburger and I have been eating little to none for breakfast and lunch. I eat chicken a few times a week for lunch. i really wish my husand would eat more chicken breast, He doesn't really like white meat, loves the dark meat but it is so fatty and some days i really don't feel like cooking 2 types of meat for dinner although I think it is going to have to come to that. i have been feeling a lot better since doing this. I have even lost a few pounds since dropping the meat, eating more vegies or meat substitutes.

So Jeanette, how did your time with the educator go? Did you find that you got good or bad advice here?

I'm not going to comment very much about the meat. I will say there are new studies that say diabetics should have a low carb/high protein diet. I have added cottage cheese to my breakfast. A protein at each meal should be fine, just no more than 4 ounces of a meat. The amount of cholestrol difference in white or dark meat chicken is next to nothing as compared to chicken verus some other kinds of meat so I don't think it's worth the discussion.

However, there are no carbohydrates in meat, so it should not be affecting your glucose. What will are the things you do to meat. Breading has carbs, as does the things you add to meat loaf, so those do count. And don't forget that condiments like Barbeque sauce and catsup add a lot.

If you have high cholestrol and diabetes, there are day when you wonder just exactly you are allowed to eat. Good luck. GrannyH