Lessons for People New to Type 2 Diabetes, Part 4

If you are new to diabetes, have you demolished the panic panel yet? Many people new to type 2 diabetes have panicked and delayed their acceptance for a longer period. In this blog, I will focus on food plans and try to suggest something that will help you in finding a food plan that will work for you.

An important lesson you need to learn is – just because another person with type 2 diabetes can do something and have good results – does not mean that it will work for you. This does not mean that you give up. This tells you that your diabetes is further or less advanced than it is for the other person and your body reacts differently than their body does. Do not forget this! There is not a one-size-fits-all solution for you! Yes, many doctors, dietitians, and even some nutritionists operate in this mode. This happens because they don't know how to properly assess patients and adapt something for them on an individual basis.

Something that was published recently on Health Central by Gretchen Becker might help in getting started. Her book is an excellent read and I refer to it more than I thought. Information - The First Year - Type 2 Diabetes, New York, Marlow & Company, 312 pages, by Gretchen Becker. I discovered this book within a month of diagnosis. It gave me information that I was not receiving from my doctor. Gretchen has type 2 diabetes and she gives the best definitions and reasons for controlling diabetes in non-technical language. Look for the Second Edition.

The other information that should be absorbed is on this site. Then down the page to the horizontal bar that has the following – Home, Diabetes Basics, Food, etc. in the bar. Select Food, explore, and read all you can as David writes a lot about diabetes. The only item that I have reservations about is the Glycemic Index. It was developed using healthy individuals and not people with diabetes. I use it as a guide and then let my meter tell me if a food item is one that I can eat, if I need to limit it, or eliminate it from my food plan. I encourage you to read as much of David Mendosa's website as you can.

I do encourage you to consider a food plan that is low carbohydrate, medium to high fat, and medium protein. All the experts are still pushing low carbohydrate, low fat, and more protein. Many are still concerned about saturated fat, but it can be consumed and the prior study by Ancel Keys has been shown to be false and more doctors are starting to see this.

Another problem for dietary advice is our own U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The congressional mandate that created the Dietary Guidelines Advisory has been over stepping the boundaries and created the climate of obesity and increase in other diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. The chart below displays this rather well.

 

The Healthy Nation Coalition has some great points on nutrition and is attempting to obtain information on whom and how policy decisions are made.

Please be careful of many food plans that government agencies and many registered dietitians promote. In general they will tell you that you need the carbohydrates and whole grains for your brain and that you will miss too many nutrients if you don't follow their advice. I have found that most of the nutrients are available in other foods without the added carbohydrates. Learn what works for you and not the mandates of others. If you can adapt their high carbohydrate meals to a level that your meter says fits you and your goals, then you have accomplished your needs and goals.

Lessons for People New to Type 2 Diabetes, Part 3

When friends say they will help pull information together for something, I did not realize how thorough they would be. I was intending to make this blog about food plans, but they changed my mind. They feel that testing should be first and before that, care of testing supplies and washing and care of hands prior to testing. On this, I will agree.

Hand care is often overlooked for people new to diabetes. Some of this is because many doctors will not tell newly diagnosed patients about testing and therefore say nothing about hand care. Why do doctors go this far to do harm to patients. It has been said and I have read some articles that the doctors honestly say they say nothing about testing because they are concerned about the patients being frightened by the results and that they will not understand what the readings mean. Some even say they don't have the programs to read the meters and just feel that there is no need. This sounds like they were educated by Dr. RobertRatner, chief scientific and medical officer for the ADA that says, “Many people with type 2 diabetes who are on medications don't need to do home glucose monitoring at all." This means that their patients are operating in the blind and have no means to manage their diabetes.

This is one reason that I encourage patients that tell me this to find a doctor that will see to it they have testing supplies and attempt to teach them a few reasons for testing. This brings up another topic that I admit should not happen, but I see this all too often. The patient says they are testing for the doctor at the doctor's request. When you ask if the doctor looks at their meter, pulls the readings from the meter, or reads the log they maintain, I get blank looks and maybe a question about firewood needs. Blood glucose logs, food logs, and health logs mean nothing to them.  Yes, I become very frustrated, but I try to educate them if they will listen, many won't.

I know the people in our community diabetes support groups read the instructions that come with their testing supplies and medications. This is a topic that a few of them are getting tired of hearing, but every time someone gets caught not paying attention, they hear about it from every member. Should we be this aggressive? We think so and are conscious of the money we may save our friend. When we see people testing in full sun and not protecting their test strips, we have to wonder if they really care about their health. For many of the common errors please read thisabout user errors in blood glucose testing.

Another blog that anyone interested in managing diabetes may find helpful is this on what ignorance does for you. And then this blog could give you some pointers to learn about obtaining testing supplies and what to expect when you are newly diagnosed. Always consider checking out the colored links is each of the blogs for more information that may lead to better understanding of why I and my support group friends feel these blogs are important.

I will attempt to provide links that will help and I do review to make sure they are applicable for newly diagnosed people with type 2 diabetes. To be honest, I knew I had written quite a few blogs, but did not realize that so many were applicable for the newly diagnosed. Since they are helping me, I send them a copy of the completed blog and they are reviewing them. They are suggesting more links, but finally admitted that too many are not productive.

Lessons for People New to Type 2 Diabetes, Part 2

Moving from the shock and anger on the day or days following learning from the doctor that you have diabetes, you will also possible experience denial and maybe some depression or sadness, grief, or sorrow. When you accept your diagnosis, then progress happens in managing your diabetes. Just because this is the list of what most people can have, does not mean that everyone has them in the same order. I have known people that have acceptance first and later have denial. Some people do not have anger or shock because they know that diabetes runs in the family. Just remember that everyone may react differently.

Another point that many people with type 2 diabetes learn quickly is not telling people they have type 2 diabetes. Secrecy can be a good thing when out in public, but when you are around other people with type 2 diabetes or attending a support group meeting, secrecy can be bad and you need to open up and ask questions to take full advantage of the experiences of others and learn as much as possible. In our community, we presently have three diabetes support groups for type 2 diabetes. Two of the groups have mainly people on oral medications and the group I belong to has most of its members on insulin. All three groups have a few members that have been able to get off of all medications.

One thing you should do after diagnosis is ask the doctor if there are support groups available, as these can be a safe place to ask questions and receive help. This does not mean that you have to become a life-long member, but you should consider this if you live alone. Several members of our group check-in on other members that live alone. We have not had any problems, but I know from talking to these members that they are more relaxed knowing that if they don't check in with their friends, someone will be checking on them. Some of our members work and their employers know if they don't show up for work without calling in, they have telephone numbers to call so that people can check on them. There can be many other advantages associated with support groups. And though I don't like to admit it, there can be disadvantages to some support groups.

Before getting into food plans, I would like to use a few blogs to introduce some ideas for newbie's to diabetes. The first is my blog on diabetes may simplify life's choices. This is from January 2011 and shows how some opinions do change. I would now suggest ignoring the last two paragraphs as I have changed my opinion on these and have found that salt is necessary. The 2300 milligrams seems to satisfy my need for salt. 

There are two links to David Mendosa's website that should be helpful to begin with for people new to diabetes. The first one is this link which will take you to the directory for his site and also this link for newbie's. The link is a good read and gives you plenty to think about in addition to what I may write about in the blogs coming in the next few days.

Lessons for People New to Type 2 Diabetes, Part 1

On November 14, I initiated a discussion with Scott Johnson after he posted on Google + about mySugr Academy (click on the PRO link for finding the most videos). For visual learners, this may be of some help, but they are a little thin in providing actual help for people with type 2 diabetes. While it is still a work in progress, I think there is a lot of room for improvement. Three other members of the support group that I belong to were here with me when Scott posted his information on the site. Two of them had their laptops with them and I quickly forwarded a copy to them.

After some discussion amongst us, even they were less than enthusiastic about the site, especially after they made it through most of the videos that are in English. We agreed that we are not visual learners apparently and the short (very short) videos seemed not to tell us much about managing our diabetes. I said as much to Scott in an email and he said we were probably more advanced than the audience this was intended to reach. We agreed, but felt that even with this, the information was too thin.

It did not answer questions we might have had after diagnosis about food we could eat and exercise that could be safe for us. Two of the group are regular at exercise and two of us are more sedentary than active. The one factor we did not discuss with Scott was we all eat low carb, high fat. Three of us are using insulin and one is no longer on medications. The person on no medications started on insulin to obtain rapid management of his diabetes and once he lost the pounds he and the doctor agreed he needed to lose, he decided to get off medications with the approval of his doctor.

We agreed that for most people with type 2 diabetes, this would not serve as a link between the diagnosis and a class with an educator, as very few exist in our area and the few that do, do not really educate, but give out with mandates and mantras that they expect us to follow blindly. We agreed that this was not an education on managing our type 2 diabetes. After a few emails between Scott and myself, I was asked by the three why I don't pull together some of my blogs as an introduction to education and then expand into a written series on education for those people who are not visual learners, but learn by reading and having something to refer to when they have additional questions.

So while they are looking up some of my blogs and pulling together ideas to help me, I will start and work to provide some education for the newly diagnosed people with type 2 diabetes. Then I will expand this to more education and provide ideas that may assist you in your continued diabetes education.

Shortly after my diagnosis, I had to learn and accept - it was not my fault. There are too many that blame us for having diabetes and make snide remarks that if we had taken better care of ourselves, by not eating sugar, we wouldn't have diabetes. The second lesson took a lot longer - I cannot change the past - it is the past and I have to learn to live in the present. Painful, yes, and at times harder than a real job. Diabetes requires my attention 24/7 days a week and does not allow for a vacation.

Many of us have learned that there are no rules in diabetes, but I have found a few that are reliable rules.

1. What works for me, may not work for you. That is the first rule. Some have another version – Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV)!
2. Always discuss things with your doctor(s). That is the second rule.
3. Always discuss changes with your doctor(s). That is the third rule.
4. In diabetes, there are no quick fixes. That is the fourth rule.
5. If you refuse to manage your diabetes, complications will develop. That is the fifth rule.

Another lesson that many need to learn is what type of learner they are and this will determine how they best learn about diabetes. Visual learners may benefit from the site that Scott is promoting or from the many videos that appear on youtube or other websites. Other people learn from reading and having the reading material available to reread when they need help. Another group will learn from experience and never remember something unless they go through the experience. For some this is termed the 'College of hard knocks.'

Diabetes is not a disease that can be learned easily as the information constantly changes and as we age, our bodies react differently, creating new factors to learn and remember. So, even if you are a visual learner or reading learner, in a way we all have our own 'college of hard knocks' teaching us.

A Meeting with Our Consultant

Tim sent several of us an email on Monday saying Dr. Tom wanted to meet with us that afternoon after office hours. Jason, A.J, Tim, Jerry, and I attended. Dr. Tom said several of you are aware of the request to have the same program we had on Saturday for a group about three hours northeast of us. Jason said yes, and he and his family are well known to me. His parents are now deceased, but he is still known to many of us. Dr. Tom said he had invited himself and wanted permission even though he had it from the doctor.

Tim said they had talked about March or April depending on the weather. Jason agreed that this should be okay. Tim said some of the older members our group are not happy when we have to change our meeting date to accommodate other groups for presenting programs to them. I said I thought that was why we wanted some informality in our group. I follow this up by saying I can understand when we put out the schedule, that we should follow it, as people make plans and then having to remake them can cause problems.

A.J said that we should then find out when a group for our program plans to meet and they reschedule or we not present a program. Jason said this group already has to reschedule as they normally meet on a Monday and they will move to a Saturday for us. Tim said that could be a problem with some of us still working unless we could leave work at 4:00 PM and be ready to leave then. With the three hours minimum travel time, we would need things to go almost perfectly to make it by 7:00 PM. Jason said it really takes about three hours and 15 minutes so Saturday would be better for us and certainly for Dr. Tom.

Dr. Tom handed each of us a copy of the paper he had given to the two doctors so we could all be informed in case of questions. He said he should have given this to us before our meeting and realized this when Tim called and he needed to come to the meeting. He was glad it was as late as it was, but an interruption still the same. Then Dr. Tom told us why he wanted to go with us and that was to network with different doctors and to learn what was available.

Dr. Tom also informed us that we would not be invited back to the last group. Tim said after he arrived, the doctor with his group has happy with the presentation, but the rest voted not to invite you back. That was the reason he had come here as several of his group want to break from the rest and have their own group even if it was smaller. They felt that the college group was not for them and too many showed disrespect for others. They would like to come for a few times when the weather is good, but would need to miss in bad weather. Tim said he did not see a problem with that, but did hope that they could have their own group and pick up others that were interested and have their own programs.

Dr. Tom then said he would remain as a consultant for our group, but he would be attending fewer meetings. He said that our group was well established and capable of handling most problems and even taught others a few things. He felt that we needed to spend more time with our new members and less doing programs for others. Tim said that was a goal for us and we would continue to invite his group when they felt they could benefit, but we wanted to make our new members feel welcome and a part of the group. Tim commented that we have two others that want to join at our next meeting. He then surprised us when he said one of them was a person with LADA. He is still in the phase of not needing insulin, but knows it is coming. He knows that there is not a support group for type 1 people, but knows two of our new members and feels that we might be a good fit for him.

Dr. Tom asked if we still have the honorary type 1. Tim said yes and her parents want her to stay with us until she attends college and can find a group there. Dr. Tom then said that two members of his group want to join your group and he said he told them to ask first. A.J asked if it was because they were now on insulin and Dr. Tom said that it was because of the research you do and the programs your group does. One does need to go on insulin, but does not want to do it. The other is doing very well, but feels she needs more interaction that your groups tends to provide.

Tim commented this is a goal of our group and we also have to thank Jerry and James for being very open about what they went through and discuss this with others. Presently one of the female members is working hard to help another person with type 2 diabetes, but is meeting resistance and an intervention may be necessary. The person's husband is not making life easy and keeps blaming her for getting diabetes even though it is in her family. Jerry asked where he could help. Dr. Tom said that it might be best to sit back until needed, but to Tim he asked that our member come and talk to him, as he might be able to get needed information for her.

Tim agreed and asked if there was anything else. Dr. Tom said not that I can talk about at this time, but you should know within a month or two and he would tell him when he knew that it might happen. With than we ended our conversation and Tim said on the way out that he would call me later.

Our November Meeting

When we gathered for our November meeting on the fifteenth, we were pleasantly surprised. The doctor that Jason and several others had met during the summer was present and had four members of the support group that he and his wife led with him. Another bonus was a doctor and five of the group that we had presented the program for the week before. After introductions, Tim said that one of the programs had been omitted the previous week because the audience did not seem receptive after the third presentation and this was A.J and his presentation on interventions.

Since we have guests and some of our members were not present during the three meetings on interventions, we felt this would be good for A.J to do his presentation and if time allows we will have Barry redo his presentation on Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose.

A.J started his presentation by introducing James and Jerry and explained that James had an intervention by a another doctor as part of his presentation to several groups. A.J asked James if he would explain why the intervention became necessary. James stood and explained that he was in denial and thought he had everyone fooled. However, the doctor knew something was not right and had me come to the meeting where he was doing a presentation on interventions. He said that was probably the most intense time he had in his life, as he had not wanted to admit he had diabetes.

James concluded that he was not prepared for the questions that the intervention specialist and Dr. Tom had asked him and when they could see that the questions were getting to me they took me to another room where they could really counsel me and prepare me for the session when we came back to the larger group. He said that between his wife and a few members of the support group, they had prevented him from going back into denial and now he had accepted his diabetes and was happy for the support in learning how to manage his diabetes.

Next A.J introduced Jerry and said that he had been able to help him out of a situation. Jerry said he knew that his A1c was heading in the wrong direction, and because Barry and Allen had been working on him about carbohydrates, he knew when A.J had asked him to go for a ride that it was time to do just that. He had been taken to Barry's and Allen was soon there. They then called Dr. Tom, he was taken there, and after an hour of talking with Dr. Tom, he knew what needed to be done. Back to Barry's and a discussion of where he could live for a temporary period. A.J had room available and that is where he now lived.

Jerry said his A1c had increased after diagnosis and it was going in the right direction now that he is separated from his wife. He concluded that being separated from his wife was not what he had wanted, but in order to manage his diabetes, it had become necessary and the rest of his family and children were in agreement which made him feel better. He said being on insulin was a big help and having A.J available for assistance was a big plus.

A.J then said that several others that many of our group had been working on to help them adjust their carbohydrate consumption downward had been helped by Jerry and with his encouragement, most were now members of our support group and he hoped were feeling better about their diabetes management. One of the new members asked why my cousin was not at the meeting. A.J called on me and I said she is helping another person across the state to work on her food plan to bring down her cholesterol and maybe get off statins. I said she was taking time to visit another cousin while working with this person. I said she would be back on Tuesday and available to answer questions after that.

At than point, A.J opened the meeting for questions. The doctor that Jason knew asked why we did not work with the dietitian that is Jerry's wife. A.J said because she was operating on Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) which means that she was determined to make Jerry unable to manage his diabetes. The doctor said he had never heard of this and Tim said he would see if Dr. Tom could stop by and explain this to them. Allen said this often in a parent of a child that does this, but after research by several of us and Dr. Tom, we felt this was what Jerry's wife was doing to him. Tim said Dr. Tom would be there shortly.

The Doctor from the group we had met with the prior week asked if we could invite more of the group we had done presentations for to a regular meeting of ours in the future. He said he had heard of MSP, but had not seen it in his practice. He said he also wanted to talk with Dr. Tom about having the intervention specialist make a presentation to the support group.

Then Dr. Tom arrived and had two handouts for the two doctors and answered several questions from the group. Tim asked if there were other questions and he said the meeting was done and the doctors would be talking and to let them talk and he, Allen, Barry, and the others would be available to answer individual questions.

Individual questions were heavy and even I had a few. I had several questions about my blog and if I had an email address available. A.J had his laptop, brought up my blog, and then showed them my email address. I asked everyone to please give their email address to A.J, and Tim, and they would be sent a summary of the meeting, and then they would have access to the rest of us as well. A.J went to Tim and asked him to announce that if they wanted a summary of the meeting to give him email addresses.

The doctors were ready to talk to the rest of us and the doctor that Jason knew wanted to talk to Jason and me. He commented that the few that had come with him were very impressed with our program and more enthused to build the support group they were in. He said the travel was too far for many to want to come, but would we consider doing a presentation program for his group next year. He had permission to duplicate the handout from Dr. Tom and that could be the topic even if four had heard it. Jason said we would discuss this and the doctor said that the driver would be given some money for gas. Dr. Tom then approached and asked if he could attend when we agreed to do a presentation. The doctor said yes and Dr. Tom said he would have Jason send him his email address and he would be in contact.

Dr. Tom said the other doctor had apologized for the problems at the meeting the prior week and everyone felt that more than two topics per meeting should not happen. He said this was a lesson for all of us.

If You Have Type 2 Diabetes, Avoid Most Potatoes

This is a little off topic, but when I read this in Diabetes Health, I had to think about what I had just read. Did I believe this? No, I do not believe this. Why do I not believe this? In the way the study was done, I have to believe that it may work for some people and the study in essence is too small and too short a time frame. Twelve weeks and 90 people assigned to three groups do not make sense.

And for this to be in a diabetes magazine make me wonder why it did not include people with type 2 diabetes. For a person with diabetes, most types of potatoes will bust a diet and destroy good management of blood glucose. Those on no medications or on oral medications will develop problems with diabetes management. A few on insulin can manage blood glucose, but even then, they must be careful.

I can understand why the blog is very short, as the author has no intention of getting into detail of any significance because the study itself was lacking detail often seen as part of the better studies. And being from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, this is easy to understand that the study would be small and short to avoid problems that could be experienced from an longer study.

In viewing the full report, this seems very typical of nutrition studies - “Exclusions for study participation were the following: food allergies or intolerances to potatoes, cigarette smoker, currently modifying diet or exercise patterns to gain or lose weight, excessive exercisers or trained athletes, taking any medications that would affect glucose metabolism, or the presence of other health problems requiring ongoing intervention by their personal physician. Eligible men and women were overweight based on their body mass index (BMI = 25–37 kg/m²), over 18 years old, light to moderate exercisers and had normal fasting plasma glucose and were able to meet the time and effort requirements required for study participation.”

Some of the above are reasonable exclusions, but selection was apparently looking for participants that fit very limited criteria and help the people doing the study arrive at the desired results. Probably why the study was only 24 weeks,