It wasn’t bad enough that I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last month. Noooooooooooo. Now I find out that I am fucking DIABETIC!!!
In the midst of all the tragedy, in thinking about the victims and helping two friends in NYC stay sane, the focus has to come back to me. I don’t like thinking about me. I like focusing on others because it stops me from feeling bad and allows me to keep my disease in perspective.
Now, my doctor(who is wonderful, quite wonderful really) puts the focus back on me. Now I have to think about my diet, what I can have and what I cannot.
Since Tuesday, I’ve had to start daily shots of an MS medication. I’ve been able to do it and not think about it too much because I’ve had to be emotional support and it has allowed me to hear what someone else is going through.
Damn my genetics that this has happened, and damn it that I now have to think about me again.
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!
P.S. If anyone has any URLs for websites for coming up with cooking good diabetic dinners and breakfasts, that would be appreciated.
That sucks, Hastur. I’m sorry you have this additional thing to put up with. I’m bad at sympathy, and as I recall, you aren’t particularly keen on receiving it, so I’ll just reiterate: that sucks.
Hastur, I’ll get some links from my dad, who is diabetic and send them on.
In the interim, I recommend http://www.recipesource.com for starters – they’ve got a diabetic section and Dad’s tried enough of them to vouch for what they’re presenting.
Are you able to control the diabetes by diet alone? If so, that is one small ray of hope.
Hastur, more thoughts and sympathy coming your way.
One of my closest friends is diabetic (of course, she’s a Type I, she’s on an insulin pump, not diet-controlled, but she still has to watch what she eats), so when I’ve had her to my house I’ve looked up diabetic-friendly recipes. Some of them can be found at diabetic-recipes.com and a nice directory to others can be found at kitchenlink.
Thanks to Rasa, rainchikki, tisiphone(my favorite Fury), Arden Ranger, and Lionors. I know I gave Guin special attention, but she just pulls that out in me.
And an apology of sorts to those on the board, except for a couple. I know I’ve had some emotional outbursts, and at times I’ve seemed very mercurial in my moods. Now I know that a great deal of that was caused by my MS and most recently the diabetes.
It has really screwed with the tone I desired versus the tone which came out via my posts. Hopefully, now I can be better understood and can post more clearly.
You might try changing to Suzanne Somer’s way of eating plan. One of the doctors she has worked with have made claims that her way of eating has helped reverse the effects of diabetes.
My brother, who was in the Olympic Trials in the 80’s for swimming said that his coach also said to eat this way and her “plan” came out many, many years after his coach said this.
Basically, you don’t eat sugar. If you eat fruit you eat it at least a half hour before anything else. You do not eat any fat with carbs, all carbs are good carbs (no processed flours or rice – only whole grains) you can eat protein with fats but not in combination with carbs. What happens is your body will better process the carbs if taken separately from fats and proteins.
You may want to check it out. It’s a different way of eating but many feel more healthy on it. She has a website if you are interested in reading more about it. http://www.suzannesomers.com/
Sorry to hear about your diabetes but it’s not the end of the world. I have seen my father and my grandmother deal with it and my grandmother lived to be 84 years old, my father is doing well after years of dealing with it. Changing your diet will help, try being as active as you can givin your MS…of which I have 4 people in my life that have MS but they haven’t let them close them off from the world.
My sympathies, Hastur. Diabetes is a terrible illness, especially when you already have another long term disease you are trying to cope with. Best of luck with treatment.
Try to get into a diabetes education program, and take your husband with you if he can get the time off. Many insurance companies will pay for these programs completely, even HMOs, as the education helps the patient manage diabetes much more efficiently, and a diabetic who takes good care of himself will cost the insurance company much less in the long run. It’s comforting to see other diabetics, and helps you learn to cope.
In most cases, you can eat a regular healthy diet, you just have to learn which foods to choose and how much of them to choose. For instance, you can have a small square of angel food cake, you just can’t have HALF of the ENTIRE CAKE. Not in one day, anyway. Another example…tonight the Bodoni family had stew and biscuits for dinner. My husband and daughter scarfed down the biscuits along with the stew, and I could have had one biscuit (if I liked biscuits, which I don’t, so I didn’t). Tomorrow, we will have oven “fried” chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad & dressing, and another vegetable to be named later. I will eat one piece of chicken, a small amount of mashed potatoes and gravy, and load up on the salad and other veggie.
I don’t know how much exercise you can do with MS, but you do need to exercise on a regular basis. It will help lower your blood sugar, and will decrease your need for diabetic medicine. In some cases, you can manage diabetes with just diet and exercise. I know that I certainly feel better when I exercise regularly, even though I just do water aerobics (I’ve got arthritis and other problems). If your husband joins you, so much the better.
Good luck.
And thanks, racinchikki, I’ll look at that link later.
Let me tell ya, if you accept it, and do what you’re supposed to do, it just a minor annoyance.
1)Test blood sugar at least 3 times a day.
2)Get a little more exercise.
3)Get plenty of sleep.
4)Watch your diet. You’ll soon notice cetain foods have more impact on blood sugar than others.(for me, potatoes, popcorn, mangoes and breakfast cereals,even sugar-free ones, really make mine go up).