Photo by Trent, taken while hiking
at Emerald Lake in
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
03/14/2009



March 25, 2011

Unrestricted Diet




Unrestricted = unlimited, free of restrictions

Diet = what I eat


I've typed "unrestricted diet" more times than I care to remember, as in "He is eating a totally unrestricted diet, I'm afraid!" (What the doctor says about patients who aren't listening to his warnings!) And up until about a month ago, that would have described me, too!

After all these years of typing medical reports, I know the good blood sugar numbers and the bad, what the HDL and LDL cholesterol should be, hundreds of meds and dosages. I know the serious symptoms and the ones the doctors call "of no concern."

Tuesday, February 15 -- I went to my doctor's office to get blood drawn for routine tests.
Thursday, February 17 -- I went in for a little checkup, years and years overdue, glad to know that all the blood work results would be waiting for us to discuss.

After a comfortable chat with the nurse who checked my blood pressure (perfect numbers) and took a little history, I sat on the cold table in my flimsy paper robe and even flimsier paper sheet with my legs dangling over the edge like a preschooler.

In bustled my no-nonsense doctor (whom I like very much) with a few pages in her hand. "Well," she said, "I have all your lab tests here with me. Let's take a look. Hmmm... your cholesterol numbers are great, thyroid function is normal, renal function is right where we want it... In fact, your numbers look pretty good, except for one thing. It looks like you have diabetes!" Wait! Numbers! I want exact numbers! But as soon as I heard what they were, I knew I had to get very serious about this. "Your blood sugar was 308. You were fasting that day, right?" Yes, I had been. "Your A1c is like an average of your blood sugars over the last 3 months, and that is quite high at 10.4." Wow! (I knew the doctors I type for want that to be below 6 if at all possible.) This was not borderline anything. This was full-blown diabetes.

Finally, an explanation for how terribly fatigued I had been feeling, the REAL reason (not snoring!) why I had been waking up with a very dry mouth. This also explained my recent tendency toward yeast infections and the little spots on my skin that responded to antifungal cream...

I left the office clutching a glucometer and chem strips, a sheaf of papers with info about diabetes, and a prescription for metformin. And a return appointment for the end of April. I asked about trying diet and exercise first before starting a medication, but my doc said she wanted me to take the med, and then later if I don't need it any more, I can stop it... "Our goal," she told me, "is to have fasting blood sugars in the morning of less than 120, and 2 hours after a meal they should be below 140." And she told me to check my blood sugars fasting in the morning and 2 hours after both lunch and supper.

On the way home, I decided to give myself one week. No metformin for a week. One week of a total change. No more unrestricted diet. Check blood sugars, keep a log of them, and see what a week could do.

I went into the kitchen and was afraid to eat anything! But slowly I was able to get my feet on the ground, and my one-week test began. I started checking blood sugars that Sunday. The first one, taken fasting first thing in the morning, was 260. 140 points above the goal. (Blah! I'm not sure what I had been hoping for.) One week went by, and on the last day, my 3 blood sugars were 144, 147, and 140. That last one was at the doctor's goal! Woo hoo! So my one week test was over, and I decided NOT to fill the metformin prescription.

Now it is the end of the 5th week. I have been brutal with my "unrestricted diet." It is gone. I have been walking briskly several days a week as a start in the exercise department. I am almost 10 pounds lighter.

Today my blood sugars were 118 and 113 and 117 -- without any medication! The doc would consider this success. But I am harder to please!





And there are definitely some things I would like to avoid!





(Next post: I will tell more about my current "restricted diet" and the other helpful things I have been doing.)


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4 comments:

Amrita said...

I am glad your numbers are down.

I am scared to diabetes too. runs in the family.

Sonia recently discovered she has it, she is taking medication.

What did you do to bring yoiur down without medication?

Jeanette said...

Hi Amrita -- I went to see what my chiropractor would suggest, and he gave me a plan. It includes thus far a very strict diet and 4 supplements. I will post about it in detail real soon.

Did Sonia try doing any diet/exercise control first, or did she start with the med right away? I know that is what the doctors say to do, but I wanted to try other things first (within reason, of course).

Amrita said...

Sonia is taking medication - and of diet control

Jeanette said...

Amrita, I hope to post more about my diet and what the chiropractor has me doing within the next day or two. Everyone is different, but I figured I had had diabetes for some time and didn't know it, so one more week of no med in order to try a drastic change was going to be okay.