A Newbie Diabetic

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Clarissa

July 5, 2013

Does anybody know why testing strips and testing needles for blood sugar monitors are prescription only? What will people do if they get an unlimited supply, eat them? Prick their fingers all day long? The latter can be done with a regular needle anyway.

As a new and temporary (I hope) diabetic, I can say that learning to manage this thing is a full-time occupation. It is a mystery how my grandfather managed his Type 2 diabetes for 60 years without medication and in the Soviet Union where there wasn’t much choice as to what food was available.

I’m now getting into that stage of the pregnancy where I invent pretexts to drag myself to the office. Formal clothes, briefcase, agenda, and makeup get rid of pregnancy-related symptoms a lot better than all of the doctor’s suggestions to stay in bed and take pills. The funny thing is that I never showed my face on campus in summer before getting pregnant and now I’m here all the time.

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32 responses to “A Newbie Diabetic”

Roberto Severino

July 5, 2013

My dad was recently diagnosed as being close to having type 2 diabetes too. Since then, he’s changed his diet and hasn’t had any blood or heart problems. He’s exercising much more too.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  July 5, 2013
  
  This requires a way of eating that is so bizarre and counter-intuitive to me that it will take forever to get used to it. 😦
  
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  1. Evelina Anville
    
    July 5, 2013
    
    Out of curiosity, what is the suggested diet?
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      July 5, 2013
      
      Well, for instance, it turns out that steel-cut oatmeal with blueberries is not a good breakfast, as I always thought. It’s the worst breakfast there is. And the perfect breakfast is: egg + bread + margarine.
      
      Basically, it’s like the Atkins diet where you eat a lot of meat and substitute fruit and many of the vegetables (carrots, beets, potatoes, etc.) with crap like popcorn, peanut butter, etc. The nurse gave me a sample menu, and about 80% of items on it are heavily processed. I’ve never in my life eaten so much stuff from cans and boxes.
      
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  2. Ol.
    
    July 5, 2013
    
    I am sure that she was well meant but the diet that the nurse suggested does not make sense. It is not my business, but I would stick to your oatmeal + blueberry breakfast.
    
    Margarine? Brrrr….
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      July 5, 2013
      
      I would never follow this stupid diet if it were just me. But they scared me so much with stories about macrosomia, premature birth, undeveloped lungs, etc that I’m now terrified and do what they tell me. Except eating all that fat they want me to eat.
      
      It’s just 2 more months anyway.
      
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  3. Stille (@aperfectbalance)
    
    July 6, 2013
    
    Presumably the diet they suggested is full of processed stuff because it’s recommended for Americans, who’ll go spare unless stuff comes out of cans&boxes. Maybe replace the more egregiously processed stuff with their non-processed components or equivalents? Like switch the margarine for olive oil. I remember those delicious breakfasts I used to have in Sevilla – little hand-sized breads cut in two, toasted to goldenness and drizzled with the tastiest olive oil. They were great in the heat, as well.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      July 6, 2013
      
      This is what I’m doing! And it’s working except in the mornings when the surge of hormones undoes all the effort I invest during the day. Stupid hormones.
      
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  4. Stille (@aperfectbalance)
    
    July 6, 2013
    
    If it’s working for most of the day, congratulations! I highly doubt one stupid hormone spike in the morning is going to do harm. Macrosomia just means a large baby, and the downside for that is that gasp woe you’ll have to have a C-section, the undeveloped lungs thing only happens if your blood sugar levels are uncontrolled, which they aren’t (controlled for most of the day means controlled), and as for premature labour, aren’t you in the third trimester already? Even if the kid was born tomorrow, he’d still easily survive and thrive with modern medical treatment available. Really, this is something 10% of pregnant women get, many of them in the late first/early second trimester, and you got it in the third trimester when the risky stuff is already over.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      July 6, 2013
      
      Thank you, dear friend. You always say the most helpful things.
      
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Stringer Bell

July 5, 2013

Not prescription-only. You can buy them everywhere.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  July 5, 2013
  
  You are absolutely right!!! Why then, did the diabetician insist that they are prescription only??
  
  And how can I trust her on anything else she said after this?
  
  This is complete bizarredom.
  
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  1. Stringer Bell
    
    July 5, 2013
    
    If your doctor prescribed them, they could be covered by your insurance (I’m guessing). Presumably because the insurance would think they’re needed. If you buy them on your own it comes out of your pocket.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      July 5, 2013
      
      Yes, I think this must be the reason. Nurses never manage to explain anything clearly.
      
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2. Steve
  
  July 5, 2013
  
  I sometimes eat bread an margarine and eggs for breakfast, and oatmeal too. You’re supposed to eat lots of green leafy vegetables but they tend not to come in tins, Popeye notwithstaning.
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    July 5, 2013
    
    Yes, spinach is my friend. 🙂
    
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Stringer Bell

July 5, 2013

And they are quite expensive, especially in the beginning stages of diabetes when you need to monitor your sugar a few times a day in order to get an idea of how your body responds to different food, etc. Assuming $0.60 – $1.00 per strip, that can add up to easily more than $100 a month on strips alone. That’s not cheap. I’d try to get my doctor to prescribe them to me.

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cliff arroyo

July 5, 2013

“Nurses never manage to explain anything clearly”

Dumping on nurses (who are faced with hostility from all sides) is not cool.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  July 5, 2013
  
  My experience with nurses throughout this entire process has been very frustrating. They tend to handle people like bodies, with little consideration for human beings inhabiting the bodies.
  
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  1. cliff arroyo
    
    July 5, 2013
    
    Look at the bigger picture (maybe not so easy in your position) nurses are the structural scapegoats of the medical family.
    
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Ol.

July 5, 2013

“They tend to handle people like bodies, with little consideration for human beings inhabiting the bodies.”

I can say the same thing about the vast majority of the doctors I met.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  July 5, 2013
  
  Doctors have been significantly nicer. They actually do talk to me and don’t just bark orders.
  
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musteryou

July 5, 2013

You can gain your energy from meat and fat — it doesn’t have to be processed stuff. Enjoy a pork roast with crackling. I eat a lot of meat and fat and the animal fat does not seem to cause me to put on weight. As I have become older, I simply have less of a need for carbs.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  July 5, 2013
  
  The thing is, it’s +39C here today. Meat and fat look very unattractive in this heat.
  
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  1. musteryou
    
    July 5, 2013
    
    fatty tuna on sushi then.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      July 5, 2013
      
      No, these are totally prohibited to pregnant people. Seriously, thus sucks. 🙂
      
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      1. musteryou
        
        July 5, 2013
        
        I have no solutions, then. …..;)
        
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        bloggerclarissa
        
        July 5, 2013
        
        I just hit 114 which is even better than the target of 120. I’m very proud of myself!
        
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        musteryou
        
        July 5, 2013
        
        Oh, is that how they measure blood sugar? Keep it up.
        
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        bloggerclarissa
        
        July 6, 2013
        
        Yes, I now have a little machine with a needle that takes a drop of blood and measures it. I feel like a right invalid. 🙂
        
        Pregnancy is a highly abnormal state.
        
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        musteryou
        
        July 6, 2013
        
        shamanism revels in abnormal states, because of what can be learned from them.
        
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  2. Stille (@aperfectbalance)
    
    July 6, 2013
    
    Try eating like the Spanish do, then. Light breakfast, a tapa or two for lunch and dinner at 11 pm to midnight when the heat goes down. While meat and fat are good for you, you don’t *have* to eat them at heatwave’o’clock.
    
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