Any diabetics out there?

[wwfstyle]

How many of you actually have diabetes?
How long have you had diabetes?
How many of you use insulin?
Any of you on an insulin pump?
Had any surgeries due to the diabetes?
I have been through ALOT and I'm just wondering if there are many others out there in the same situation as I. Here is a quick run down for me and I would like to hear some of the other people with their past experence and what they think of it.
I turn insulin dependant 1 week after my 3rd B-day back in 1978. I have been useing insulin now for almost 27 years now, and I'm currently using an insulin pump from mini-med. I have been on the pump now for 5 years and I LOVE IT. I had a few ups and down through my childhood and over protective parents. Seven years ago I met my future wife and I love her to death. She has helped my though alot of things and it brought us closer together. With in the 1st year of us going out I started to have vision problems. I went to see a specialist and found out that my eye was bleeding form the inside of my eye makeing me go blind. After this notice the very next day I went into surgery. Then I had some more surgery done. In a 2 year period I had 23 eye surgeries. Thats close to 1 a month and I continued to work in the process. I worked at a retirment center and my boss's there would also work with me. We didn't have the greatest health coverage but still had the surgery done. After 5 yrs of paying the hospital for all my sergeries I am finally done with the payment. Do to my vision problem my wife and I had to jump our wedding up alot. We dated for 5 months been ingaged for 6 months and now been married for 6yrs this april. If it wasn't for my wife I would have committed suicide while I was going through all that surgery. My wife now an RN is a very careing nurse and loves her job and help others in need. I am current legally blind (100% in left eye and tunnel vision in the other eye), I have nuropathy from my knees down to my feet, gastro pericous. I'm 6'3" 160# and it is kinda hard to find a good spot to place my insulin pump site. Now that you have heard a few things about me I would like to see how you are living with this disease and how you copp with it. Thanks Rick

 

[robchuck]

Rick,
I'm also a type 1 diabetic. I've had it since 1999 and was diagnosed just before my 21st birthday. It happened in late July when I was working as a camp counselor. The temperature was hovering right around 100 during one week of camp and by the end of that week, I found myself drinking lots of water (I figured 4-5 gallons throughout the day) and peeing every 5-10 minutes. My clothes were also fitting very loose. I went home the weekend after the camp and decided to weigh myself; I was 37 lbs. lighter than I had been just 2 weeks earlier; and I'm a scrawny person to begin with. My mom took one look at me and said "something doesn't look right, you need to go to the ER." I got to the ER and my BG registered at 985!!! And the rest is history.
The only major problems I have had with the disease have all been hypoglycemic issues, with two of them resulting in ambulance rides. The most recent one happened one night this past October at 2am. I woke up feeling "low" and went downstairs to our kitchen to eat something. Next thing I know, I'm covered in blood and paramedics are putting an IV in me. Apparently, I passed out before I could get any food in me and cracked my forehead open on the way down. My dog saw me fall and started a very panic'd barking episode that prompted my wife to call 911; he had hero status in our house for several days after that!
My endochronologist put me on the Minimed pump only 6 months after being diagnosed. What model Minimed pump are you on? I'm on the 508 and have had some minor problems with it over the years; especially software issues. Currently, my problem is that the pump eats up batteries every 2 weeks, when they used to last 6-8 weeks (and I have all of the RF and other battery sucking features turned off). I was just about your size when I first started wearing the pump (6'3" 160 lbs.), but am about 20 lbs. heavier now. Allowing myself to retain a little pudge around the midsection has really increased the amount of places I can insert the infusion set, though I still have to use the shorter 6mm canula.
I get sooooooo frustrated with diabetes sometimes, but my wife always slaps me around and lifts my spirits enough to help me get by.

 

[wwfstyle]

I have the 512, but be carefull with the bloodsugar machine it comes with. I was at a party at my brother in laws house and 1 night no one could find me and noticed that I was lying down in the back yard in a sand box. One of his friends is a firefighter and said this doesn't look right so he took my bloodsugar and it said 536. He had the pump in his hands getting ready to put in my blood sugar so that the 512 could calibrate it and give the right amount of insulin. At that time the parametics came and said that they wanted to use there machine. Theres read 31 !!!!! My machine was over 500 points off. When I switched to this machine I thro my old one away so I had no back up. Because of that big of a difference I had 0 sleep in 5 days, and thats even after I got a new and different machine the next day. I dont remember the name cause it was like 2 yrs ago, but they work with mini-med. Just be carefull of the machine that comes with the 512 if you upgrade. That company ended up paying for my hospital trip, ambulance and pain and suffering. I got alittle over 5k for it. Kinda nice but scarey tho too.
I also use the 6mm but it's hard to find a decent sight. My wife is a RN so she helps me out alot when I'm feeling down. She kinda knows what I'm going thro.
You have any other medical problems because of you being a diabetic? Like vision, nuropathy? It's kinda hard to talk to people that aren't diabetics cause they dont relize how stressful it is. And being on a pump but being sooooo skinny. Thx for your reply. Rick

 

[blueberryboomer]

My hubby is Type 2, we found out a year ago. He was very healthy and active until almost 5 yeas ago, a drunk driver hit him head on, my hubby was in a semi and it was totaled. As a result of the accident, he has 9 herniated disks in his back and neck, they fused 5 in lower back, but he can only walk short distances. As a result of the much much lower activity he has put some weight on. Diabeties runs in his family so I guess the combination of that and his weight gain is what brought it on. He was on oral meds(advantment) and Lanits inj. and we we're getting his levels to where they should be when he had blood work done and found liver or kidney levels we're up, so they changed him over to Advana and Novolog twice a day, it SUCKS! We almost have his levels back to where they should be, Thank God. No surgerys, another Thank God.
He has a major problem with dry skin, I found a great cream that seems to help, finally.

 

[wwfstyle]

When I got some blood work down before I got the pump my hebaglobin (spelling?) was 21.3 and normal is 6.5. My tryclycirydes (spelling?) fat content in blood was 1200 and normal people are like 125. I have never had a doctor and a nurse cuss at me at his office. Him and I got into it BIG time and that was my last visit. That doctor wanted me to change my whole life like right then and there. I found another doctor that was able to compromise with my life style and we where able to work things out in the long run with my blood work.

 

[blueberryboomer]

wwfstyle, My hubbys tryclycirydes are also high, his choelstrole(sp) has always been on the low side, but this time when they did they blood work they said it was high, when I questioned it they told me when the sugar levels are high, then it will be too. So now he is on two more meds. Lipitor for the choelstrole(sp) and Zocor for the high tryclycirdes. They said once we get his sugar levels to stay where they need to be, they should come back down to normal. The big crapper is the doctor told us Thursday that everything besides the foods you eat can cause your levels to go higher, including stress and pain. My hubby is in pain all the time so I don't know if we will ever get his levels to stay where they need to be. Lisa

 

[wwfstyle]

BLUEBERRY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD WHO IS YOUR DOCTOR!!!!!!!
It sounds like you need to go see someone else. STRESS makes your bloodsugars go down! Not up. Stress is like you running a marathon but not doing anything out side of your body. The best thing for you to do is get a excerise bike and ride like 5 miles a day then kick it up to 7 after 3 weeks. Dont eat carbs, cheese, and low protein stuff. If I where you I would see if you can get a different doctor or get a second opinon. When all my test where high I just had to cut back on my junck food and drinking a couple beers a week. By the next 3 month test I was coming down on those test results by more than half. So if those

[hr]
are to help lower those lvls I think that they might just be trying to squeeze a few bucks from ya. You can lower those lvls just by your diet.
PLEASE go get a second opinon. Does this doctor work with only diabetics or is he a regular physician?