I'm Just Sharing

Sugar Alcohol Problems

Posted by Mitch on Apr 20, 2009

Here’s a short story for you. As you know by an earlier tale, I’m diabetic, coming up on 12 years in September. It’s not always easy to know what to do if you’re a diabetic, and I have to admit that I’m not the best diabetic in the world.

I have a sweet tooth, and these cravings are hard to overcome. There are times when I don’t even know I’ve left the house to get something sweet until I’ve started eating it. That may sound crazy to some, but it’s the truth. Every once in awhile I get my mind just before I leave the house, and look to call someone to talk to, which usually helps me get past the craving. That’s the thing about a craving; if you can get past the time period when it’s really strong, then you won’t succumb to it.

However, sometimes you try to do something that’s not going to supposedly hurt you as much; I say it that way because things like pasta and bread are actually worse for diabetics that pure sugar, contrary to the beliefs of people who aren’t diabetic. With sugar, I get a big bounce, then it goes away relatively fast. With pasta, bread and the like, it’s considered a complex carbohydrate, and it stays with you for a much longer time. I can eat some dessert every single day and have it not affect me all that much, but one serving of paste every day for even three days drastically shoots my glucose numbers.

Anyway, here’s the story. About seven years ago, I was at the casino playing something (this was in the days before I was playing poker), and before leaving, I decided to stop by the dessert counter. They have some of the best desserts in the world there, and my eyes happened upon these giant peanut butter cups. Lo and behold they were also sugar free; I was in my glory! So, I bought 3 of them, as my wife wasn’t with me, and I knew I would be just fine because there was no sugar in them. I felt so confident that I ate all three of them on the drive home; just under 40 minutes.

Pretty much within the first ten minutes of being home, I was in the bathroom, and let me just say that it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I kept visiting the bathroom for the rest of the night and into the next day; it was painful to say the least. Thing is, as I thought about it, I realized that there were other times when I’d had something that said sugar free on it, and my stomach didn’t react quite properly with it, and I had no idea why.

As serendipity happens, my wife and I were going to a diabetic nutrition class that Monday, two days away, and I resolved to ask them about it. I did, and they told me that most people who make sugar free items add what’s known as “sugar alcohols” to them.

Sugar alcohols are carbohydrates themselves, and they come from plants, which manufacture them naturally. They’re supposed to be like sugar in taste, although they have different degrees of sweetness, and they’re not completely absorbed by the body. This means the blood sugar impact is less and they provide fewer calories per gram. Sugar alcohols also don’t promote tooth decay.

Sounds good, right? Well, the problem is that they aren’t totally absorbed in the body, and for some people, actually many people, they can ferment in the intestines and cause bloating, gas, or diarrhea. Some people aren’t affected at all; folks like me,… well, you get the drift.

How do you know if something has a sugar alcohol in it? Check the ingredients, and if you see anything ending in “ol”, it’s a sugar alcohol. The strange thing to me is that they put this stuff in a lot of things specifically for diabetics, almost like someone didn’t read this information beforehand. By the way, it’s not only diabetics who are affected by this, so if you’ve eaten something you know is supposed to be sugar free and have problems, you probably can’t handle sugar alcohols. And, if you’re lactose intolerant, you probably will have problems with sugar alcohols, and vice versa.

And there you go; a non-marketing post for once, but still part of my mission of diabetes education. I hope you stuck around for the teaching part.

World Diabetes Day – My Story

Posted by Mitch on Nov 14, 2008

Today, November 14th, 2008, is World Diabetes Day, something I initially mentioned when talking about National Diabetes Month. Each year, millions of adults and children learn that they’re diabetic; some don’t learn it until they’ve done serious damage to themselves in some fashion. Being aware of changes in your body that you can’t explain and not being afraid to find out what might be going on could help you avert major problems later in life. I am a diabetic, and I’ve been diagnosed for 11 years. I’d like to tell you my story.

Eleven years ago, I was having the best and the worst year of my life. I got married in May of 1997, my first and only marriage, and I’ve had nothing but a great time ever since. In 1997, I took the very first vacation of my life, which was the week after I got married; man, that was a long time before taking a vacation, but my dad never took a vacation until he was in his 50′s; guess I’m a slacker.

Eleven years ago I also had breast surgery to remove a lump that was causing me pain. It wasn’t cancerous, and I have no idea where it came from, and I’d never even thought about the possibility of it being cancerous, but it was my first surgery ever. And I got it approved and paid for by the insurance company; talk about how knowledge will help you achieve things that others might not know about.

Eleven years ago, a few days after my 38th birthday, I was driving back to work from lunch in another town about 10 minutes from the hospital I was working in at the time. I had a co-worker with me, and we were going through a construction zone. In a couple of minutes, I was pulled over by a police car. The officer came to the car and said I was speeding through a work zone. I said that I knew what the speed limit was and wasn’t speeding, but he said the speed limit was reduced in that area. I said I never saw a sign, and my co-worker said there was a sign that I must have missed. I took the ticket and continued driving back to work, but I did notice that I could barely read any of the signs.

That wasn’t the first day, however. I’d noticed it most of the time for a few weeks while driving home from work. I lived over an hour away from where I worked, and it wasn’t a major highway that I drove on, so there weren’t a bunch of signs, and rarely much traffic. Yet, I noticed that I was having vision problems. I’d mentioned it to my wife, and said that it was only when driving home in the evenings; I never had the problem in the morning. So, on the day I drove home after getting the ticket and mentioning it to her again, she said we should head over to the ophthalmologist to have him take a look.

Talk about serendipity. I had gone to the same place, Sterling Optical, for about 18 or 19 years, and I’d had this same guy looking at my eyes for at least 13 of those years. My prescription hadn’t changed in at least 10 years, and I’d just had an eye exam a month before I got married. So, it was easy for me to walk in and have him take a quick look. He didn’t like what he saw, and said my vision had changed drastically from the last time I was there, and his conclusion immediately was that I might be diabetic.

The breath caught in my throat at his words. Not that I was overly surprised, because it ran in my family, but because out of all my relatives who’d gotten it, I possibly was now the youngest to get it. I figured I had at least six or seven more years before I had to think about it; now it didn’t look that way.

He recommended that I see my primary care physician, which was slightly problematic. I had never selected one because I hadn’t been to the doctors in many years. The last time I’d seen a doctor was 11 years earlier; typical American male in that regard, even though I’d had some issues that I probably should have seen a doctor for. But I was raised in a different time; you only went to doctors when your mother took you, when you broke something, or when you were on death’s bed; that was the rule at the time. My wife wanted me to go to a doctor, but I took a detour step first. Since I worked in a hospital and the emergency room was right behind my office, I went in there the next morning and talked with the physician assistant about it. He took a quick glucose test, saw that my number was just under 300, and told me I had to see a doctor; if it had been 50 points higher he’d have had to admit me.

That was that. I called this one doctor with whom I had a cordial relationship with, he took me in, diagnosed me, and started me on the first round of what would become regular check ups and visits with someone about diabetes, including education. Though I’m not the best patient in the world, I do know how to take care of myself and how I’m supposed to eat, and I follow it more often than I don’t follow it, which is a good thing. But within a week my glucose came down, which was a good thing otherwise I couldn’t have had my surgery, and over the course of the last eleven years I’ve been pretty good for the most part. If they hadn’t changed the high limit from what it was when I was diagnosed I’d be considered as almost perfect for nine of of the eleven years.

As time has progressed, I have had to go on medication, and presently take two different pills a day and two shots of insulin, which I started a year ago on November 2nd. I’m not considered dependent, as it turns out there are different variations of insulin, but it’s helped me boost what the pills can’t do on their own. If I can drop some weight, I could probably get off insulin; but, as some of you know, that’s not quite as easy as I wish it was.

Anyway, the main point of this story is that everyone needs to pay attention to symptoms that may not necessarily be what you might think are diabetic symptoms. My mother noticed my dad’s diabetes because he started losing a lot of weight, which he himself didn’t notice. I’ve met people who noticed it because they were having numbness in their limbs, and many people notice something wrong when they’re going to the bathroom all the time, or constantly thirsty. Here’s a link to many of the symptoms of diabetes, things you should be looking at if you notice any of them occurring with you or your friends and family members. Caught early, at least you have some kind of fighting chance.

There, my contribution to World Diabetes Day. If you get a chance, check out this interesting post on the day, with videos no less.

National Diabetes Month

Posted by Mitch on Nov 7, 2008

November is National Diabetes Month, and it’s something I care about wholeheartedly. If you’ve gone back into my blog, you know that I’m diabetic, and I’ve written on diabetes a couple of times, including my battles every once in awhile. Luckily, since I’ve been home, I’ve gotten my glucose numbers back under control.

Unfortunately, though I’m not considered an insulin dependent person, I am on insulin, and though it’s not as bad as I’d thought it would be, having to give myself injections twice a day isn’t much fun. I don’t have to start spouting numbers of new diabetics every day. It’s not always something you can easily control, as it runs in my family, but it’s something that we can keep from getting way out of control with knowledge, exercise, and communication.

To that end, I’d like to direct everyone in America to this link of activities taking place across the country this month highlighting this terrible disease. For everyone else, there’s this link talking about World Diabetes Day, which is November 14th.

Can diabetes be solved? Honestly, I don’t know. But I’ll never give up my fight, and I’m sure someone will eventually figure something out, with the help and funds of others.

HFCS Is Good For You,… Not!

Posted by Mitch on Sep 23, 2008

I did say it was video day, right? On Diabetesaliciousness blog, she wrote a post that I’m not going to link back to because, well, some of the initial language is pretty bad and I don’t roll that way. Anyway, it’s a rant that I approve of against a new series of commercials popping up on TV trying to convince the American public that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is actually good for us.

Trust me, nothing can be further from the truth. I can’t even believe I would have to begin telling a lot of people about this stuff, but it’s basically taking a lot of heat for many of the health issues most of us have, especially diabetes. I’m not going to start posting a lot of statistics here; instead, here’s some links you can check out if you’re really interested:

That should be enough for now. And, oddly enough, I didn’t copy the same link each time; all the articles have the same title, and there’s plenty more. So much for originality. Anyway, on the first blog I mentioned, along with her rant was this very sarcastic video, which I present to you now:

And there you go. The biggest problem we have is that it’s in almost everything processed, so you really have to check closely to see what the ingredients are in your foods. I’ve pretty much gotten most of it out of my diet at home, but who knows what I’m eating when I’m on the road. Do the best you can; I’m going to try.

Time To Get My Diabetes Under Control Again

Posted by Mitch on Sep 7, 2008

It’s been awhile since I’ve given an update on my diabetes control. When we last left, I was so under control that I was able to reduce my intake of insulin, and all was great with the world.

Well, I can’t say that now, and it’s mostly my fault, though I have my excuse for it. In June, I went on the road for 3 months on a consulting assignment for my main business. The problem with working a long term consulting assignment is that you can’t eat properly because, well, circumstances just get in the way. While I was still working from home, I was able to eat every 3 hours, the meals were measured and planned way in advance, and I felt great. When you’re working at someone else’s location, and they’re paying for the hotel, you suddenly don’t have the same kind of control over yourself that you do at home.

Mornings were a quick sandwich of some kind from McDonalds. Lunch was almost always Subway, every once in awhile KFC, but lunch sometimes was within 3 hours, sometimes 5. Dinner was wherever and whatever I was in the mood for, easily not measured, and sometimes ordered and delivered to my hotel room. Since I was in a smaller town, if I ordered it was usually Chinese or pizza; that’s not great, is it? I was able to keep away from pasta while I was on the road, but rice was another matter. If I’d been in something like a suite with a kitchen then I might have been able to take better care of my meals, but in a hotel with only a microwave,… nope.

If I’d been able to go in the Sunday before every single week I might have been able to take a few meals with me that I could microwave, but hotel refrigerators are small, so it would have only held a couple of meals; that wasn’t going to get it done. One week I tried taking lunch meat, bread and Miracle Whip with me to make my own sandwiches, and I tried to keep to my 3 hour schedule, and it was my best week, though nothing close to the numbers I really need to maintain.

Most of the 3 months I was there I just didn’t feel well. It’s not that I ate too much every night, though it happened, but I wasn’t as good as I should have been. I did have dessert every night, though I kept away from it during the day as much as possible. I forgot what it could be like in an office where people are bringing snacks and desserts into the office all the time; it’s hard to stay totally away from it all when you’re like me, who craves sweets and finds it difficult to stay away from on my own. I didn’t sleep well on the road, even worse than I sleep at home, but I’ve slept better in the past, so I believe. I had some pretty bad morning numbers, averaging in the 220′s, and one morning I actually awoke with my worst number ever, 331, and I just felt like I could barely get out of bed on that day, and it was a day I was driving home; that’s not good at all.

So, now the assignment is over, and I’ve had a little bit of a relaxation week, highlighted by a birthday where my wife had someone make me a special cake, but at this point it’s all gone, and as far as I know, all the other desserts are gone also. Starting tomorrow, I go back on the full plan, which will include working out on the trampoline. Of all things, though, since my consulting assignment ended, I have lost 2 pounds by pretty much doing nothing except letting my wife help keep me under control. Oh yeah, I gained 10 pounds while I was on the road also, so I now have to get that, and more, back off my body, as my back has started hurting again.

I’m ready to get it on, to do the right thing; anyone here want to join me on the journey, even if it’s only to try to lose some weight?

Bowflex 5-Series Treadmill

I Found My Diabetes Solution,… Unfortunately :-)

Posted by Mitch on Mar 15, 2008

You might find this interesting. I just did a six day eating experiment, as it relates to my diabetes, and it seems that it’s all tied in with my diet, unfortunately for me because I was ready to talk some serious smack with my wife.

I had been averaging around 205; not good. I’ve owned up to having kind of a sugar addiction; it’s more chocolate than anything else, but it’s all sweet stuff. I decided to give up sweets for six days, which also included eliminating a bunch of carbs for that time period because carbs promote the cravings, as I’d been on a bad roll, and wasn’t feeling all that well physically because of it. I decided to do Sunday through Friday, so I’d be starting the first day while my wife was still home with me.

Sunday through Tuesday my numbers started coming down slightly. By Wednesday afternoon, I was in the 130′s, and Thursday morning I was at 117; I’d never had a morning number that low in all the years I’d been diagnosed. Friday morning it was 107; stunned! Meanwhile, Tuesday was the only day where I had some serious cravings, and I barely made it through that day. Seems many folks who talk about other addictions say the third day is the worst; well, it was for me.

This was all through diet. We purchased some chicken breasts, some alfredo sauce, and vegetables. I ate that for most of my meals after breakfast (breakfast was eggs with ham or Spam; yeah, I like Spam), with my treats, so to speak, either being popcorn, carrots and dip, or oatmeal. The decrease in my glucose level was amazing, so amazing I had to decrease the amount of insulin I was using.

This morning it was back up to 168. That’s because last night, for dinner, we went to a fish fry place, where I had fried shrimp and french fries, and the meal was much more in one sitting than I’d been eating lately, not to mention the fried part; lots of carbs (and I forgot to take last night’s pill; oops). And that’s before having any dessert today, as today is my free day; heck!

So, it proves that it really is all about diet; that’s depressing, but enlightening, because now I know what to do and how to act. I didn’t lose any weight this week, mainly because I hurt my back so I didn’t work out. But I’ll get back to that next week. Anyway, I say depressing because I thought my glucose wouldn’t come down much at all, and I’d be able to say “see, it’s not me, it’s the diabetes taking over”. Now I know I’ll really have to watch the diet, which means my wife wins, Mom wins, and, well, I guess I win in the end also; heck!

Some Diabetes Information

Posted by Mitch on Dec 20, 2007

Unfortunately, I have to put diabetes at the top of my illness list. Actually, it’s the only thing on my illness list, so I guess I can be happy about that. However, I’m also now on insulin, and I’m nowhere close to happy about that.

Often, we get these diseases, and we get some information, but it’s never all the information we’re looking for, or need. So, I’m going to share a couple of things here, just in case you happen to have the same malady.

First, your glucose numbers can be affected by not getting enough sleep. Over my ten years, I’ve noticed that if I get little or no sleep, which happens often for me, my morning fasting number is going to be high. I learned that those with sleep apnea will have high numbers, and I have a little bit of that.

Second, there’s more than one type of insulin. I’ll admit that I’m not really sure why, but I do know that my first insulin, Levemir, had additives in it that gave me a rash. It also had this scent of bandages, of all the odd things, and I was told that was so you knew whether you’d injected yourself properly or not. I’m unsure of that one also, as I seemed to have that scent whether I did it right or not.

That’s number three. You can inject yourself incorrectly. I’ve made two mistakes to warn you of. One, you have to try to make sure you push straight in, not at an angle. The second, if you even slightly touch yourself with the needle, either change the needle or get ready for some pain. I don’t know why I do it, but every once in awhile it’s like I’m doing a test puncture, will pull it out, then push it back in. The needles are very fine so they don’t hurt, per se, but that also means they’re delicate, so if you push a second time, they’ve already been damaged.

Number four, there are many places one can inject themselves. Some of them my mind is trying to think of how you could still do it and inject yourself, which of course means you’d have to have help, and that’s just not happening with me. Others may be fine, but it turns out there’s a reason for knowing this. I developed a rash from the Levemir, so I was changed to something called Lantus. No additives, no scent. However, my rash never went away, so I first talked to my nurse educator, who recommended I try another area. Then I did some research online, especially on the Lantus, and there I learned that they recommend that you not inject in specifically the same area for a couple of days. For instance, one recommendation as it concerns the stomach is to view it as a clock and rotate around it, so that it gives the injected areas time to heal. Same with the legs and arms if you go that route. I know now that’s where I made my mistake, as I picked pretty much two areas and kept injecting only in those places. Now I’m going to set up a routine where I move it around to at least six different spots, to help me overcome some of the swelling and lumps I’ve got now.

So, there you go. I may drop more hints as to what’s going on with me as time goes, or just general information as I learn it. After all, we need to try to make sure we share information as possible, right?