Diabetes Update
It’s been a little over a month since that ER visit and Jason’s T2 Diabetes diagnosis. Read about what I’m talking about HERE Thought I’d give you bit of of an update on how things were going! Now I will preface this by saying we are NOT experts on diabetes and only sharing the story of what we did to help Jason. Please consult with your physician and do your own research before stopping any medications or making changes to your care!
So here’s our story…
When Jason left the hospital he was sent home on 45 units of long acting insulin twice a day as well as 15 units of short acting before each meal. Thats 135 units and 5 shots of insulin a day! (which from the information we gathered was A LOT) No other information was given to him other than to check his blood sugar regularly, use the booklet they gave him in the hospital as a guide for where his blood sugar should be and follow up with his primary care physician as soon as possible. (Well that “as soon as possible” turned into an appointment 3 1/2 weeks later…the earliest he could get in.) He wasn’t really given a specific meal plan or told to do any one thing. My thought is they were leaving that up to the PCP.
While he was in the hospital, he had some really great nurses that told him of their experience with Type 2 diabetes. One in particular (I don’t remember her name) shared how she got off all her medication by eating healthy (getting rid of all white bread, pasta, sugar and other unhealthy carbs) and exercising. I also joined several diabetes groups on Facebook and bought a book called The Diabetes Code where I read similar stories. So he decided thats the route he wanted to go!
So what happened between the hospital discharge and his PCP appointment…
From the time he got home…he’s taken this diagnosis seriously!
Food wise….
He completely cut out bread carbs, pasta and sugar. He’s mainly been eating eggs, veggies, protein, some dairy, and nuts. I mean, we had our holiday PJ party and he didn’t even have so much as a cookie.
Then on Christmas Eve…we have a tradition to go to In N Out and get burgers, fries and soft drinks then drive around and look at lights. Jason got a lettuce wrapped burger and a diet coke. No fries! I can probably count on one hand the times that he’s eaten anything unhealthy…and we’re talking maybe a fry or bite of a cookie or something. On New Years Eve, he didn’t even have the sparkling cider because of the high sugar content and toasted with some diet coke! And even on his birthday (January 1st) he didn’t want a birthday cake!
I’m super impressed with his dedication.
Exercise wise..
Jason and I have started walking a few times week for usually about 45 minutes. I believe this has definitely helped his numbers. He’s tested his blood sugar before and after a walk and its gone down as much as 50-60 points!! I got him a Fit Bit for Christmas so now he has a visual of how much he’s moving each day! When you work from home, its easy to not get very many steps in each so its important to get in that walk…or a daily workout! You know I’m your girl if you’re ever in need of some awesome home workouts!!
Medication wise…
This is where all you peeps in the medical industry are probably going to give us grief but I’m ok with that! I will say this though…his primary care physician wasn’t mad about what he did with regards to his insulin dosage between hospital discharge and his PCP appointment because he kept such good track of his numbers. So there’s that!
So…from the time he left the hospital he has been taking his blood sugar multiple times per day and keeping a log. Thats a bunch of needles sticks in his fingers every day. For the first couple days he did all the dosages of insulin as directed. But slowly over the days and weeks, he’s been cutting back on the amount he was giving himself while carefully monitoring how his blood sugar reacted. Mind you, this whole time he is doing the food and exercise things above. Never once has his blood sugar been over 200. (When he was in the hospital his blood sugar was 470 (or possibly higher) He’s been able to keep it the normal range with lower dosages of insulin. He started by just taking down the 45 units long acting to 40 and short acting from 15 to 10. The every day or so he’d reduce the amount by a little bit to see how it affected his blood sugar. Mind you…the whole time he was checking his blood sugar multiple times per day so there was never a chance that his blood sugar was going to race up to the DKA level. By the time he had his doctor appointment, he was no longer taking any insulin!
Last dose of insulin
On January 2nd…Jason took his last dose of long acting insulin. (He had already stopped taking the short acting) Thank goodness he hasn’t needed it! His blood sugar has never gotten above 150 at any point during the day since he’s been off of it. We are keeping some insulin on hand just in case and he’s continuing to monitor is blood sugar a couple times a day but we can officially say he is OFF insulin!! He will be starting on a diabetic drug called Metformin soon which I guess is supposed to help control your bodies blood sugar. I’m just not sure how long he’ll need to be on that. When he went to to see his PCP last week, the Dr. did mention that he was the “healthiest diabetic” that he’s seen! So I think his prognosis is good!!
The next phase of his journey will be to get his A1C number down. When he was in the hospital, they said it was a 12 point something I think…so there’s some work to be done there. Normal range is below 5.7% To learn about what A1C is click HERE He goes in for blood work this week and has a follow up appt with his Dr next week! So stay tuned!
Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and prayers during this past month! Its been a bit of a whirl wind but things are finally starting to calm down!! I might actually get some Happy New Year cards made and mailed this month!! We’ll see! If you’ve moved in the last year…please email me your new address: [email protected]
xo
