Diabetes: Discussion thread.

[Trendseeker]

Could have been this one?
https://www.theguardian.com/australi...el-beer-garden

[b0son]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

This time, he was much more insistent about turning the alerts on. Recent news of a diabetic killing 5 people while driving with low glucose and not having the alerts turned on

He had alerts turned on, but chose to ignore them. One way or another someone was going to provide him with a table so he could have lunch.

Sorry, but he was a stubborn old fool and I hope they throw the book at him. Diabetics lived for years without apps and real-time monitoring. Hell, even us non-diabetics know what low BG feels like, my diabetic dad went for years without a monitor just by feel.

Hasnt stopped his lawyers from trying to get him off describing this as nothing more than a medical episode. But at what point do you hold him responsible? He ignored *nine* alerts.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by b0son

. Hell, even us non-diabetics know what low BG feels

Sorry to be blunt, but no you don't.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by prydey

Sorry to be blunt, but no you don't.

Plenty of people get reactive hypoglycemia these days since plenty of people are obese and/or have T2D.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by b0son

He had alerts turned on, but chose to ignore them. One way or another someone was going to provide him with a table so he could have lunch.

Sorry, but he was a stubborn old fool and I hope they throw the book at him. Diabetics lived for years without apps and real-time monitoring. Hell, even us non-diabetics know what low BG feels like, my diabetic dad went for years without a monitor just by feel.

Hasnt stopped his lawyers from trying to get him off describing this as nothing more than a medical episode. But at what point do you hold him responsible? He ignored *nine* alerts.

From what I was told yesterday, yes he ignored the warnings from the sensor. And in that regard, he has no argument to make.

I guess my intent with the post was to say the sensor can be used against you in a case like this. In this case, he is quite rightfully screwed.

I've had Diabetes since 1992. The stuff that I had to use to manage my diabetes is a world away from what is used today. My parents had to pin me to the bed to give me injections from nasty syringes, no pretty pens with tiny little needle tips, huge lances to draw blood from, glucose meters that were the size of a brick and took ages to deliver a result.

It's now 2024 and I have only been on a glucose sensor for two years now, and I still refuse to have a pump. So, I know what it takes to manage the condition with or without modern tech.

Originally Posted by b0son

Plenty of people get reactive hypoglycemia these days since plenty of people are obese and/or have T2D.

Not to discredit or argue with you, more out of curiosity, can I ask what symptoms you get when presented with hypoglycemia? It can be different for every person, so I'm interested to hear what someone without a full diabetic diagnosis experiences.

Personally, I decent level hypo for me can be quite a nasty feeling -

- Elevated heartbeat
- Lethargy
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Pins and needles in my extremities
- Blurring vision (black lines in extreme cases)
- Loss of coherence (extreme cases)

I've been close to lights out a couple of times as well. Quite often, all of the above then leads to fatigue, headaches and exhaustion later on.

[b0son]

Racing pulse, cold sweats/clammy hands, pale skin, tremors in hands. I used to get these episodes when I was younger and underweight after major physical activity. Then when I got older and overweight, it would happen after having a softdrink on an empty stomach - 5-10min later, hands get clammy, hands shake, heartrate goes up. Stops happening altogether when I lose weight.

My dad refuses to go on a pump, but he manages his sugar pretty poorly. Wildly overestimates how much sugar he needs to get himself back to a healthy range. So his BGL is chronically high, and he has eye issues now :/

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

This has been a long time in coming, so I'm not surprised, but I was officially diagnosed with Celiac disease today.

Celiac Disease and Diabetes go hand in hand, they are both autoimmune conditions with 6% of diabetics living with both diseases.

I'm not going to go into the symptoms other than to say I had been experiencing these for many years now, it all sort of makes sense now.
The result of Celiac disease can lead to malabsorption of key nutrients, which in turn leads to a variety of other issues including iron deficiency, bone density problems, fatigue, weight loss and poor liver function.

Ten years ago, there was limited options for gluten-free food. However, with more awareness of the condition, finding suitable substitutes and changing my diet has been relatively easy. And I'm slowing feeling better too...........although a bout of Covid put a spanner in the works. At least now I have some answers.

For anyone with a Diabetic in the family, it's good practice to be tested for Celiac as well. There are three main tests for Celiac disease, two being simple blood tests. The first blood test only detects if you have Celiac disease in your system, the second test is actually a gene test. If you come back with positive results for the gene test, you are more than likely going to develop Celiac at some stage. For this reason, it's important to ask for both blood tests so that you can be aware of it popping up in the future. Once you have positive results from both blood tests, you then require a gastroscopy to confirm your condition and then go on a gluten free diet.

Nearly two years on, I'm finding the gluten-free food thing to be an exercise in frustration. The section in bold above still applies, finding gluten-free food is relatively simple. However, what I find most frustrating is the lack of consistency in how these products are offered.

It's safe to say that most gluten-free food is tasteless cardboard. To get flavor into the mix, they then lace these foods with sugar and salt and therefore end up having a high glycemic index. Ironically, that is not ideal for a diabetic. As a carbohydrate lover, finding nice bread is a challenge, I would kill for a lovely chunk of handmade artisan sourdough smothered in butter and vegemite! Gluten free pasta on the other hand is very palatable.

The lack of consistency though comes down to availability. On countless occasions, after finding a product that I actually like, it ends up being discontinued shortly after. So, I then have to do the whole trial and error thing again, over and over as products come and go. It's exhausting.

I have to say, over the last couple of months, I've gone off food. It's become a necessary evil to me.

[prydey]

Sorry to hear.

If it helps, let me know (via pm if you prefer) what products you are having trouble finding, or finding edible versions of in GF form, and I'll let you know what my wife buys. My wife is coeliac, as are most of her family.

I know it is difficult to find decent bread products. She always asks subway what wraps they use but the people serving generally don't know. Like you say, GF pasta is pretty good. I have that as well to save cooking 2 different meals, and it's fine.

I agree it would be frustrating if you find something you like and it gets discontinued.

[DFB FGXR6]

It's amazing how much power stress can have on blood glucose levels. Wednesday was not a good day. Despite being active and not eating all day, my BGL's were above 15.0 for most of it.

[prydey]

My daughter came in to us in tears on Thursday night... She doesn't know how it happened but her insulin pump had the screen smashed. She was genuinely upset so we believed her. She did golf at school that day but I think she'd remember being hit in the midriff with a golf ball.
Thankfully these devices are covered by a no questions asked warranty. Being a medical device new ones are sent out urgently.
Unfortunately being a Friday it's still at the mercy of the courier services so won't get the new one until Monday.



Had to get out the pens to get through the night Thursday night.


We have a spare pump as a back up but they aren't plug and play due to the settings being constantly fine tuned as the person grows. So Friday we updated the settings and then had to wait for the insulin on board from the pens to run out and then connected the spare pump Friday night.

Highlights the importance of having some sort of back up or emergency plan when you have an autoimmune disease.

Thankfully we've been dealing with it for around 20yrs and it wasn't our first case of pump failure.