r/diabetes

So gonna be switching from needle to pump after 20 some years. Gotta give the belly a break hah. Which pumps do you all suggest? Not a big fan of the tubed ones.

Last week I had my annual physical and lab work. When the results came back my fasting glucose level was 172 and doc ordered an A1C test. Well I had the test today and it was 9.1. My dr hasn’t reviewed results yet, but I started reading online about what the results meant and worked myself into a panic. I’m going to setup appointment for one day next week to discuss what I need to do going forward. What ideas/recommendations do you all have to ease my mind so I’m not stressing out to bad until I can see my doc? Thanks in advance!

I don’t have diabetes but I have PCOS and was put on metformin (diabetes medication) to help my insulin resistance

TMI

When does the constant need to go to the bathroom stop?, and if it doesn’t, how do you cope with it?, I started taking Metformin two days ago and it’s already horrible

TIA

My dad has had diabetes for around 10 years. He has probably gone to the hospital hardly 10 times. He doesn’t get regular checkups. He bought a glucose machine once and his sugar level showed around 360. He doesn’t eat outside food, but at home he eats whatever is made. If he reduces rice it would help, but old-generation people are obsessed with rice and he just doesn’t listen. Im from India and Indian dads are can't live without eating rice

Meanwhile, if I even get a small cold, he tells lets to go to the hospital immediately. But for himself, he says if he goes to the hospital for one thing, they’ll start pointing out many other problems. Now I don’t know what to do. I’m overthinking a lot. He also has BP.

His age is 45

😭

Due to my diabetes my hair has been thinning and begun falling out, I have mid length hair and it's starting to get noticeable, and I'm getting tired of people commenting on it. Is there anything I can do to get my hair to grow back or make it thicker again? Even if it means cutting my hair to have a start over stage, I'm a 25 male if that matters to this. I guess what I'm really asking is how do other diabetics navigate with hairloss or is it something I just have to accept.

Hi there. I have a unique medical situation where my nephrologist, custom pharmacist, and I are leaning towards using an insulin pump for the experimental use of infusing subcutaneous magnesium.

I have a port in my chest and get magnesium IV infusions daily for my rare condition.

We have determined that I need to have magnesium infused constantly all day, and that the rapidness of IV distribution actually isn't an ideal fit for this. Although it is better than oral supplementation.

I'd like to ask the diabetic community for their advice on insulin pump models and if you can even imagine what you currently use being used for something other than insulin; in terms of the settings, user interface guided towards diabetes, and how the vials are reloaded/filled into the machine.

Essentially, I'm wondering if there are agnostic options out there that may be a better fit to be used with an alternative medication.

Since these devices are specifically built for diabetics, it's difficult for me to even begin my research without speaking to a diabetic or seeing a machine in person.

This post is recognizably nuanced, and I hope it doesn't get removed, since I'm trying to reach the opinions of people specifically with diabetes (insulin pump users).

Any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions would be appreciated as a first step of me beginning my research into pump options.

Looking for advice. I would say 1 out of every 3 shots really hurt (the poke part) the ones that hurt always leave red dots, the ones that don't, don't leave marks on my skin. I'm pretty scared of needles so I'm really struggling with the injections particularly after i have a painful poke. Looking for advice. Why do some hurt? I have a lot of stretch marks/loose skin which I am doing mt best to avoid. Any alternative spots to try? Is it something else I am doing? Feeling pretty discouraged. I had a run of about 6 that didn't hurt but the last few have really stung.

Hey why are you always late from your breaks?

*me*

*goes to the bathroom to wash hands after handling groceries for 2 hours, including bloody meat*

*washes hands*

*uses urinal*

*washes hands again*

*goes into stall*

*unhook bag from waist*

*puts bag on ledge*

*take out tiny strips dropping 12 dollars of them onto the floor*

*finger prick*

*tries to get the right amount on tab*

*misses*

*pricks finger again*

*get right amount*

*does the dance to push it into the machine while finger hurts*

*uses toilet paper on finger*

*checks reading*

*does mental math in head*

*take out glass bottle and almost drops it*

*takes out syringe*

*measures tapping it to take out air bubbles*

*injects it*

*puts everything away*

*toss trash*

*bag back on belt loops*

*washes hands again because if someone sees me coming out of the stall without washing my hands they think I pooped and didn't wash my hands*

Now I have 3 minutes left on my 15 minute break... sigh

Now, not going to go into too many specifics because he doesn't know that I know. So keeping it as vague and anonymous as possible without trying to identify him. He is sort of keeping it a secret and acting like business is usual around everybody, so I want to respect that until he feels comfortable revealing his diagnosis to the world. But I know this secret from his Dad who told me this week, and....you see.... I'm really close with this guy. He is family yes, but he legit could be my younger blood sibling, and I feel just awful for him. He is one of the closest people in my life and a good friend despite being blood related. Wanted to get these emotions off my chest as I cannot do it in person and real life as of writing this post. Because like I said, it's a secret.... and... I can't hold it in, I'm sorry. Have to vent these emotions somewhere.

He is a gym guy, (big into soccer/football) so not overweight and he is very conscious about his diet and overall health. Only thing I can think of that might be the cause is mental health and stress because he went through a lot during his short life sadly. And his current boss is also a bitch which has also not been great for him in this regard. But again.... someone like him, at 21??? Prime of his life and he is health conscious??? I'll openly admit it shocked me. Never heard of it being diagnosed this young before. It also just seems so unfair to me, and it makes me incredibly sad on his behalf. He still has so much life to give ahead of him. Apologies if this sounds disparaging to any diabetics reading this, I know this is not cancer, but in a way, I still feel bad for him as if it were if that makes sense....

I guess something else I am trying to say with this post outside of emotional venting. How do I help him as a non-diabetic person? Is there anything I can do outside of emotionally supporting him down the line? I want to do everything I can to help this guy in any way shape or form. Like I said, we are already close and see each other very often. I want to deal with this delicately without making him feel bad about his situation. How can I help make his life comfortable? I don't know if it's type 1 or 2 because his Dad didn't tell me, but he is going to be taking insulin shots in the near future, that's been confirmed if that helps.

Apologies for rambling.... this weighed heavily on my heart the last couple of days....

Edit: Also, I'm using a burner account to remain anonymous. Hence why it's got low karma in case anyone is wondering.

How accurate is this test when it's done once per year? I see many of you posting about fluctuations in readings and it makes me wonder that, even though I'm fasting for the test, is it really a true value?

I'm a 69YO male in otherwise good health. Am I at a point where I start compromising my quality of life by significantly changing my diet (I love to cook and eat) or at this point, with zero symptoms, can I keep on keepin' on until some actual symptoms of the disease start to show up....short of having foot/toe amputations?

Are there any relatively easy/cheap ways of measuring my own status in between annual testing?

My problem is, that I've lost faith in the medical community and Pharma. I spent 30 years as a hospital exec, and am of the belief that Pharma manipulated the research that causes the AMA to accept 'studies' that continually lowered various testing parameters in order to increase pharmaceutical solutions to bring a patients values within tighter and tighter ranges.

Additionally, COVID illustrated how blindly the AMA accepted bad data, and instead of pushing back, they just went along. Again, Pharma made billions of dollars selling vaccines of questionable value, and still do to this day.

The above are strictly my opinions, and I don't want to debate them, I just post them to understand why I'm questioning how to deal with my newly defined status as Type 2 diabetes.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Ever since my 11-year-old brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, everything seemed to go downhill. Our family does not have any previous experience taking care of someone medically in the long run, so it has been and still is extremely draining with all the procedures we have to follow.

The worst part is not even the diabetes itself. It is my father’s reaction to the whole situation. I come from an immigrant family, so of course there are some superstitions, but the level my father took this to is insane. He started finding “natural remedies” from local self-proclaimed experts from our home country on Facebook and became absolutely convinced that my brother was “healable” and that his diabetes was caused by the evil eye.

He started feeding him fenugreek and random potions with a nasty, strong smell every day as a way of “healing” him. He also developed a very unhealthy obsession with my brother’s diabetes. I checked his screen time, and he spent around seven hours in one day just on the Dexcom G7 app. It was not even running in the background, he was actively viewing the screen the entire time, which is insane.

The worst part is that this coincides with my brother being in his honeymoon phase because of his recently administered new insulin. On days when his blood sugar is more level, my father gets excited and starts thinking he cured him or something. Even worse, he started cutting down my brother’s carbs to a daily minimum, giving him around 20 grams a day because he thinks that will cure him.

He has also become very invasive in my brother’s life. He gave him a phone and calls him 24/7, even at school and at night. He keeps strict control over his carbs, making my little brother’s life unbearable. You can actively see the eye bags under his eyes because he is exhausted and has low energy from the lack of carbs. A recent lab report also indicated that he has high LDL levels because of all the meat they have been feeding him.

I am not saying that my father’s concern for his son is invalid, but the extent of what he is doing is uneducated and uninformed, and it can have serious consequences for my younger brother. I even tried to sit down with him and talk to him. I brought scientific evidence and explained all the phenomena he had been seeing, but he is adamant. I am telling you, he believes whatever he thinks is the word of God. He even sat down with a medical professional, and still, to no avail, he does not listen. Worst part about it is that my mom also thinks his words are from god so there is no use convincing her there.

Overall, I am scared for my brother. I am worried that he may not grow and develop to his full potential because of the severe carb cutting, including possible effects on his mental development and physical growth. How can I do something to fix this when, from how I see it, my hands are tied?

If you're like me, you try to stock up as best you can in case of emergencies, as well as just to be on the safe side when things fail (and we know they do). That leaves me with a lot of diabetes supplies, especially because of all the medical waste (which is obviously necessary for the most part for safety and cleanliness).

With that said, where do you guys store your supplies?

For me, my backups are stored in my closet, and my daily use items are stored in my kitchen near my cupboard (first floor, easy access for when I'm running in and out of the house).

I’m flying for work soon for the first time since my diagnosis and feeling a bit frustrated. I wear a CGM and finger test regularly as I’m actively engaged in monitoring my sugar and working on making changes and my doctor denied my request for a letter to take with me since I wear the CGM and want to bring my sugar tester with my incase I had any issues with tsa and was denied because I’m type 2 and not type 1 and was told I don’t need to be monitoring my sugar long term if I’m on medication.

Feeling incredibly frustrated, any advice?

Even my doctor has now pointed out the weight loss during a recent visit. Overall I keep my numbers in check.

How do I combat weight loss while on a GLP1 drug?

I was so thrilled when my NO saying insurance company finally approved a CGM last year after fighting them forever. Man, I got the sensors in the mail. I downloaded the app and was roaring to go I was so happy. No more constant finger sticks. My blood sugar was just even all day and into the evening. Just an almost straight line. Every time I used fast acting insulin it never really registered my sugar going low like a finger stick does. So first night I'm sitting at 2:30 am watching a movie and that thing starts screeching my sugar is dangerously lower at 53 and heading down. Oh, Libre and the Reddit crew says its was user doing wrong not the product. So I run to the kitchen and start pounding my emergency OJ. Coming back to the reset machine it still says at 53. Take a finger stick. I'm closing in on 300 because of all the OJ. So have to bolus. I call the number the next fay and they tell me to remove and put on a new one and they will send me a new one. So did that and the same thing happens. The longest I got one last was 10 days before going to the dreaded 53 at 230 am. Abbott still hasn't replaced several sensors that broke during their massive recall. So I personally do not think the products to measure blood sugar are there yet. Shouldn't have passed the FDA. But big money so what a few people died. I went online to my insurance companies website and it shows what they pay. They were paying Abbott 237 bucks a month for the sensors that didn't work. Too expensive for a hit and miss product. Please do not get too reliant on them and hurt yourself. Everyone of the Libre 3 plus sensors I got last year didn't't do the 15 days. Most lasted a few days at most before heading to 53 and saying I was dying. I used them for 8 months. Still have sensors in the cabinet.

Hi everyone, I was just diagnosed with type two yesterday and I went to an endocrinologist today and they prescribed me Ozempic and metformin together. Just wanna know if anyone's had this combination or what can I expect? Also, was it helpful for you key point I am living in Vietnam so my access to both of these drugs is much cheaper than living in the US.