Diabetes Community

Welcome to the community! You may find some help here by looking at the Tips and Resources listed under Michael Dansinger at the right column here. He covers quite well considerations for type 2's dealing with diet, exercises, and consequences of type 2. Keep in touch, and best of luck to you and you family.

Welcome, Brenda! Sorry your family is having such a difficult time. I hope that the disability comes through, as that will be a tremendous help for you. Meanwhile, be sure to take care of yourself so that you have the energy for your son and your husband along with that heavy workload.

What is your husband doing to help himself with his Type 2?

Welcome to the forums, Brenda.
If your husband has had diabetes for five years and his health has continued to degrade (based on the complications you listed), it's not too late to attempt to reverse some of those conditions. Is your husband on insulin yet? If not, he should seriously discuss this option with his physician for one simple reason: insulin works! Oral meds may be sufficient for many but are too interdependent on other factors (such as diet and exercise) that may not be within your husband's ability to control adequately under present conditions.

If he is already on insulin, then he needs to get an in-depth education on how to balance his carb intake with the number of units injected. Too many uncontrolled patients using insulin often just inject a fixed amount of insulin without regard to their meter readings or the types/amounts of food consumed. However, to gain control over this potentially deadly disease, patients need to keep carb intake and insulin dosage in delicate balance in order to avoid hypoglycemic episodes while at the same time maintaining their blood glucose levels under 100.

In this day and age, there is no reason why anyone afflicted with diabetes can't achieve better control over this disease. In many cases, there are only three things that prevent that from happening: limited financial resources, ignorance and the fear of the needle (insulin). In the first case, tight finances can often be offset by making liberal use of online resources, public clinics, food banks, and other options available in most communities at reduced cost or for free. Ignorance can easily be overcome by educating oneself via online resources, public libraries, support forums, and purchased and/or borrowed books that are not available at the library. Self-education should automatically overcome the third and last obstacle with regard to fear of the needle because insulin use should be viewed as a life-saving option and not as something to fear or dread. However, it is something that is best discussed with his doctor because his complications indicate that he is among those diabetics who are considered as uncontrolled.

Hello and welcome. I am sorry your husband and your family are going through all this but fully understand.

After many decades of struggling with high levels of chronic pain due to serious spine problems, I applied for SSDI in June 2008 with the aid of an attorney. I was thrilled and very pleasantly surprised when the Social Security Administration called me in August 2008 to tell me I was approved. The normally application process can last for two years and can be a nightmare.

You say the process has already been strenuous and that is so true for anyone going through this. Our lives totally changed but we have remained very blessed. You are so right - God is so good and will carry us through our trials.

Please come here often and share with us. I pray your husband is approved soon and things can settle down for your family.

Nutrijoy, I am a Type 2 D and I use insulin. I do not, however, match my level of insulin to the specific carbs I have just eaten or will eat.

I am on long acting insulin HumalinN which I take in the morning and at night. I am on an organ transplant wait list and I must maintain very tight control of my diabetes.

The endocrinologist on my transplant team prefers that transplant patients use long acting insulin as much as possible. He wants us to keep using diet and exercise as first line of defense and he says that is best done in coordination with long acting insulin.

So, not all insulin users match their insulin level with their food intake.

Hi Michelle,
Thanks....I pray everything works out also. When you look back on all the worries we have in life, it is amazing to see that God had it all under control and everything worked out. Currently, he takes 2 different kinds of insulin injections both in the morning before I go to work. 72 units, yes, I said 72 units, that is a ton uf insulin. The other insulin he takes 10 units. This insulin has to be administered right before he eats so i give him this right before supper. His sugars usually have a wide range sometimes as low 138 and then as high as 290. He is not overweight, he is 6ft 2 in, 205ils. His dad and his brother has diabetes and his mom died from major complications of the disease. I really try to cook nutritious meals but i know sometimes he has a sweet tooth. We have a number of Dr. appts set up. So we will go from there. I really just want to make sure that we can find a way to make feel better. He gets so frustrated because he can't play with our son the way he wants. Well...talk soon!