09 July 2011

Fighting Diabetes Type II

I can't believe it is July already! Where has the time gone? I want to journal to keep a history of how I am doing with fighing/controlling this disease. I need to lose some weight and this will help with controlling diabetes, but since this runs in my family (strongly rides my paternal line) I may not be able to reverse it completely.

Current diabetes meds: metformin 1000mg x2, glipizide 10mg

Goal: lose weight and get off meds (or at least reduce them) by 31 December 2011.

Pounds lost since 17 June 2011 - 7lbs

So, my doc put me on metformin and glipizide and I have to test my blood sugar twice a day (since 15 June 2011). I also am eating low carb (for the most part) and my doc gave me a referral for diabetes education classes (which, hopefully my insurance will cover because its $450 for four classes). Will find out next week what insurance will cover (supposedly should cover the cost since my insurance is BCBS out of Maryland and Maryland law requires insurance companies to pay for such classes).

So I have definitely noticed a drop in my fasting blood sugar, as it was 200-232 and has dropped to around 150-165. This is still rather high, as my doc wants it under 140. But since I can't quite control that "Dawn Phenomenon" I am not too concerned. From what I have read, it is the hardest to control and will probably work itself out once my non-fasting blood sugar comes down to normal range. Which was actually really good yesterday before dinner @ 126.  I always thought it would really be awful to have to stick myself every day to check blood sugar, but actually its not all that bad. Its also kind of cool to see how food affects my blood sugar - like a lab experiment, which is how I am working this thing. I created a spreadsheet so I can log blood sugar, meals eaten, and exercise for each day. I can then take the numbers and find the average, which I can loosely associate with the A1C chart to see how my A1C is doing. Its dropped from a 9.5 to approx 7.5 in a month.  My doc wants it under 7, and i want to try to get it in the 5-5.5 range (which is considered normal).

1 comment:

Amber said...

Cindi I am praying for you has you are going through this. How encouraging that you are not just giving up and you have a plan and will not let this defeat you. love you!!!