Sort by: Relevance | Most Recent | Most Active | Highest Rated

We found 10 result(s) that match your search "tight control":

"What's the best diabetes advice you've ever been given," Kerri asked the other day.

 

As a health writer, one of the perks of my job is that I get to talk to experts. One of the questions I often ask is, "What is the best advice you'd give someone with diabetes?"

 

And of all the interviews I have done, I think the best response came from Linda Dale, RN, CDE, Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Outpatient Diabetes Eduction Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Diabetes Center. The article was about testing your blood sugar.

 

(READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (6)

---

Before you read any further, I want you to know that this is not a terribly uplifting post. And I won't fault you if you decide to stop reading now.
One of the worst parts of having diabetes, for me, is how vulnerable it makes me feel. In the past, I've expressed my fears related to this disease on this blog and my personal blog. I am not a person that lets fear deter me. I push on, I make my way in spite of the fact that I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the possibility of disaster that life presents.
But, you know, life with diabetes presents a whole other set of disastrous possibilities. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (24)

---

Each year, thousands of healthy babies are born to women with diabetes. This wasn't always the case. In the dark days before insulin, women with diabetes usually didn't live long enough to think about starting a family. Even in the 1980s, childbirth was risky for diabetic women and their children, with birth defects and stillbirths commonplace.
Thank God things are better today. Years of research shows that it's not only possible to have a healthy baby with diabetes, it's actually probable. Today we know that good prenatal care combined with tight blood sugar control lowers the risk for diabetic pregnancies. In fact, if you can maintain normal or close to normal blood sugar control, the odds of having a healthy baby and pregnancy match that of a non-diabetic woman. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (0)

---

My view of diabetes changes with the tides it seems. Sometimes I look at it as a lifestyle that I must adopt to stay healthy. Sometimes I look at it as a challenge in which I can take on and beat. Other times I look at it as a curse.
Right now, I look at my diabetes as a battle. A battle that I don't want to fight. Not now.
The problem is all of the fighting will never stop. We just fight and fight and there is no winning. No matter how much I stay in control or how much exercise I do, I will still have diabetes. My a1c can be the same as someone without diabetes but my battle will continue. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (4)

---

I was 17 years old when I was diagnosed with diabetes. My breakfast at the time consisted of a donut and a soda. I usually skipped lunch or just grabbed some chips and another soda. Dinner was whatever fast food my friends and I could afford which pretty much meant anywhere with a dollar menu of some sort.
Diabetes threw a major wrench in my teenage life. It was my senior year and I was drum major of our marching band and now this! My life was crazy enough. How could I handle this?
I did what so many people do, I ignored it. I should say that I did not completely ignore my diabetes. The "D" does not really let us type 1's do that for too long. I always took my insulin and stayed away from sugar but that was about it. I rarely checked my blood glucose level. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (2)

---

Diabetes management is really getting under my skin lately. I'm just so exhausted with it all. I never can seem to find a balance. I take one step forward then seem to take three hundred steps backwards. I know that it's all perspective and my control isn't bad, but it just feels like all the work I do has no payoff. But do I need to keep in mind that the pay-off may be 40 or 50 years from now?

 

If that's the case, I'm not so sure I want to make it. It isn't that I'm burnt out (and gee, don't think I'm suicidal). I'm just stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Sadly, it seems like I've been stuck there for quite some time.

 

(READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (7)

---

I called an emergency meeting with my endo last week. For the first time in my pregnancy, my blood sugar was out of my control. My fasting numbers, which I prided myself in keeping at the low end of the healthy range, suddenly shot above range and my post-meal readings were so erratic I actually threw out an insulin pen, convinced it was defective.
On MDI for the duration of my pregnancy, I did what I was told to do-upped my insulin-carb ratio, cut back on carbs, reviewed my food journal. I even checked to see if I'd consumed a bag of chocolate truffles in my sleep.
Clearly, I encountered the dreaded insulin resistance that plagues most type 2s and hits hard during the second half of pregnancy. I'd never had this problem before. Frantic, I posted on all my diabetes sites, begging for advice. The answer: Exercise more. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (0)

---

"Your baby is going to be so fat," a friend told me with a smile last spring. To some people, there is nothing cuter than a chubby baby, so calling a baby fat is somewhat of a compliment. But for someone with type 2 diabetes, who has struggled with her weight for a good part of her life, the fat baby comment stings.
"You have diabetes, so of course your baby's going to be chubby," she continued. "They call them sugar babies."
It's a label that left me steamed for months. My child wasn't even born yet and already he's being called fat. I could envision a plump future laid out before him. Shopping in the husky section. Getting picked last in gym class. Being called Jupiter during lessons on the solar system. All this before the cruel middle school years. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (0)

---

Some days I'm fed up with this whole diabetes thing-testing, tracking, meal planning. I know, being pregnant and all, tight control more important than ever, but frankly, I'm just tired of it! So, please pardon my little pity party while I rattle off a few things I hate about being a pregnant diabetic.
Constantly testing. I know it's important. I've learned not freak out if the numbers aren't where I want, but to simply take the information and make adjustments as needed. It's the act of watching the clock for the two-hour mark, never leaving the house without my meter, notebook and insulin pen, and pricking my damn finger close to 10 times a day, although most of the time, I just use my arm. I know it's not as accurate, but it's less pain and less mess. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (0)

---

As a type 2 diabetic woman, I was shocked to discover how little information is available about pregnancy and diabetes. At first glance, it looks as if there's a ton on the topic. Google "pregnancy and diabetes" and several million pages come up. But dig a little closer and you'll see the majority of those pages are about diabetes of pregnancy, or gestational diabetes. (READ MORE)

Rating (0) 0

Email this Comments (2)

---