queenofthe1ring's Journal: Problem Solved and POTD

If you haven't done so already, please check out my most recent art posting: http://slashdot.org/~queenofthe1ring/journal/181191.

Anyways, I don't think my health problem is solved, but I know what the answer is now. Hypoglycemia. Which would explain why I am very crabby if I don't get to eat on time, and will become dizzy.

Last weekend, husband mentioned it to his family. Apparently his older sister's (ex?) husband is also hypoglycemic, and he mentioned some of his symptoms to me, which match with things I've been noticing that are not mentioned in the book I've read or on any of the websites. His mom (who is diabetic) gave me her extra blood glucose meter, and I've taken some readings. When I feel bad, my blood sugar readings are in the hypoglycemic level. So I feel like I've made a correct diagnosis. I tried to get an appointment with a doctor here in G-town, but the one that specializes in blood sugar disorders is on "permanent hiatus".

This seems to be something that can be completely managed by diet change. According to what I've read thus far, I need to follow a diet similar to the one that I think Samthebutcher recommended. Lots of raw veggies and fruits. Lots of snacks during the day. No sugar. No bread/pasta/other white refined wheat products. I'm an Italian with a chocolate addiction. This is going to be hard. I'm going to try to ease into it, mostly so that we don't have to throw away all the food we just bought the other day.

The worst part is that the book I read says that most people develope food allergies after eating on this diet. It says that people "don't even realize they have a food sensitivity" until they've made so many changes. One person who wrote in it says that there are only 12 foods that they can eat. Scary.

Anyways, I guess that's enough blathering from me. It is time for my first snack of the day. I'm feeling kind of tired.

Other people's art to make sure it doesn't get confused with the above link, which is my art.

Cowtrail Waystation by =CrazyMonkey-Ben. I like the softness.

Shimmery nymphaea by ~Swaroop. I like the colors.

Pikes Peak from the other side by *crazymonkey-christy. I like the composition.

I have a diabetic wife...

[FortKnox]

What is your blood glucose levels? Are you normally around 100 but only dip around meals? What readings are you getting? Start when you wake up and take areading every 1 or 2 until you go to sleep. Track it. Look for patterns...

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[queenofthe1ring]

One time it was 108, and one time it was 118, and these were both pretty close after eating lots of carbs and sugar. Usually my glucose levels seem to be in the 70's and low 80's. One time I felt incredibly sick about 1.5 hours after eating (my mom was talking to me, I was totally stressed) and my glucose was 43. After having a little juice I started feeling better.

In the mornings my glucose is 40's to very low 50's, unless I ate something just before bed, which will push the level to almost 70. Unf

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[FortKnox]

You can get pretty much any meter for dirt cheap or free. Its the testing strips that cost the money. If you can't get blood, adjust the 'sticker' to poke further into your skin.

Keep in mind that 80-110 is normal bloodsugar for non-diabetics. The wife actually kept it between 60-80 during pregnancy. 40s and 50s isn't good though. Talk with a normal doctor about it, and try to get to an endocrinologist. You can usually get a lot of free stuff to check your blood sugar, and they may want you to take a

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[queenofthe1ring]

According to my research, hypoglycemia is the precursor to type 2, so it is a concern. I'm not having very much luck figuring out which doctors in my network are actually still working. The online information is very out of date, and we never got a booklet about it.

I hadn't thought of an endocrinologist. I will try to find if there even is one around these backwater parts. I should probably see one anyways considering wonky hormones kind of run in the family.

I did end up buying a new blood mete

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[FortKnox]

I still have to use the deepest lance setting

Are you hitting yourself at the right spot? Just to the side of the 'point' of the pad of your finger? And rotate fingers, or you'll develop calluses.

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[account_deleted]

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[queenofthe1ring]

Now that I know what signs to look for, I'm starting to figure out which foods are going to cause me to feel sick. I guess that "balanced meal" presentation from kindergarten was onto something.... ;-)

I'm checking out the art, too. :)

Yay! Any suggestions?

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[account_deleted]

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[queenofthe1ring]

if you start writing or playing music, I can critique that

I dabble. I've tried relearning guitar a couple of times, but not so much good at the writing of music. I used to be pretty big into writing poetry and I wrote a couple of things I would call lyrics, but I never tried to play anything for it. I keep starting stories and never finish them. Not so much good at the finishing.

I'm to shy about it though. One idea I've had that I'll probably chicken out of is to print some of my poetry with a

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Diet...

[johndiii]

The thing that seemed to make the biggest difference to me was cutting out heavily processed foods. And high-fructose corn syrup. Cutting out chips as snack food (and substituting fruit (fresh or dried) and nuts) meant that my intake of starches went way down. About the only breads that I eat are bagels in the morning, and the occasional loaf from the bakery at the grocery store, when I have something in the house that makes good sandwiches. Smaller meals and planned snacks evens things out, so that I n

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[queenofthe1ring]

Smaller meals and planned snacks evens things out, so that I never get extremely hungry. ... It seems to me that evening out your food intake would help.

Over the past few months I've gradually started eating more snacks, although they were usually sugary ones (crackers with icing, tasty!). So I'm shifting to fruits and veggies for my snacks, and I'm noticing that I get less hungry between snacks now, so that's one change I'm going to try to keep regardless. I also try not to over eat at lunch and din

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[johndiii]

Good luck with it. The most important thing is finding the right doctor - one who is knowledgeable and will take you seriously. I've had issues with web sites not being up to date on doctors, so I ended up on the phone, which wasted a lot of time. I've been putting off finding a new PCP, but I need to do that soon. I'm overdue for a physical.