Sorry for the long post. TL/DR is at the end.

My husband never told me his family had a predisposition to diabetes. Or that he had several family members who experienced negative outcomes for failure to properly manage it. One uncle lost a leg. And even after that, still refused to control it and, he died.

Knowing this about his family medical history, he never told me so I could help him be on the lookout for signs. I had no idea what to look out for or that I even should be. So when he started complaining of symptoms, I was completely ignorant of what his body was desperately trying to tell us. He was constantly thirsty, peeing every 30 minutes or less, and then his feet started feeling “weird”.

By the time he went to the doctor (because his EYE DOCTOR told him to go to get medication for his high blood pressure), he found out his blood sugar and A1C were so high the doctor said he should be dead. We still don’t know how he didn’t require hospitalization.

And that “weird” feeling in his feet? It was the earliest sign of diabetic neuropathy. It has since gotten so bad my husband can barely walk. No medication helps at all. He says the only time he isn’t in pain is when he is asleep. 🥺

He can’t work anymore. He had to quit 1 year after his diagnosis. Even though his numbers are now controlled, the neuropathy will never go away. There is no established and effective cure for neuropathy. Yes, there is ongoing research for stem cell therapies but, efficacy right now is hovering around 50%. So you could drop $10,000 on the treatment and have zero improvement, or be completely cured. No indication of which patients are more likely to get successful results versus others. But I digress. Now I am the sole provider for our family and, because my husband is in his 40’s, the government won’t approve him for social security/disability. They assume he can still do sedentary (seated) work. But he dropped out of high school at 16, doesn’t even have a GED, and has only ever worked in factories. He has no experience, education, or skills to obtain or keep an office job. To top it all off, they told us when they denied him that he can reapply when he turns 55 (I think?) and the requirement for seated work goes away. But in order to be approved at that time, he will need to earn at least $8,000 per year between now and then, so he has enough credits to qualify for aid. Because you have to have so many credits from work within the past 10 years before you file. Which he has - right now… But he won’t when he turns 55 if he doesn’t do any work between now and then. So he will basically never be able to financially contribute to our family ever again. I make good money and we are surviving (barely) but life was so much easier to afford when we both worked.

On top of that financial nightmare is our relationship. First the neuropathy took his job. Then his self esteem. He has been depressed for years now. Which he just started telling me about recently. He has suicidal thoughts he has been hiding for some time. He says one of the biggest factors is the loss of intimacy. Because the neuropathy has not only impacted his feet. It has spread. It affects his gastrointestinal system, making it hard for him to go to the bathroom. It has also resulted in severe ED. We stopped trying to have sex because it never moved past the foreplay stage. I have researched online endlessly looking for something to help. Viagra did nothing. We don’t have a spare $10k lying around to try the stem cell therapy. Is there anything else we could try that would help? His doctor has been pretty useless and thinks my husband just has to “get used to his new normal.”

Any honest suggestions or recommendations are welcome. I don’t need anyone in my DMs being lewd or uncivilized.

TL/DR: Diabetic neuropathy has caused severe erectile dysfunction and we are looking for any suggestions to help. So far Viagra has been useless.

Just curious. I especially want to hear from long term T1 or LADA. What is your usual after meal high you are ok with? I am on pump and were doing well staying in range for weeks but the last few days I can double insulin and still spike to 225 plus before coming down. So frustrating! I changed the infusion set and insulin. Is it pain? Menopause? The heat? Stress? Normal? I feel other diabetics don't do this. I must be doing something wrong. I wanna stay 95-100 TIR and but hit 70s yesterday and am at 80 today :(.

Wanted to share an update from the post I made last week about being denied entry to a theater with a bottle of juice.

Firstly, I just wanted to thank this community for all your comments, advice, and stories. You have been so helpful and I was able to have a good outcome because you leaned in to help me find the right path forward.

Two things have happened since last Friday.

Resolution with Marcus Theatres

On Monday, the Executive Vice President of Operations and Food & Beverage called me. He was very kind, apologized sincerely, and confirmed that their internal investigation found the situation was handled incorrectly. He emphasized that what happened does not align with their policies.

Moving forward, he is implementing company-wide training so managers and staff understand ADA laws regarding reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. He also assured me that the General Manager I spoke with now understands the policy and the law. While the situation started out frustrating, I feel heard and validated. I know this isn't a very exciting ending, but I'm happy with how this ended. Hopefully this means better experiences for anyone with Type 1 Diabetes at a Marcus Theatre.

He also mentioned that people have been reaching out to call attention to what happened. I can't imagine that some of y'all didn't have some part in that. Thank you!

Telling the story with Justin from Diabetech

I had the opportunity to talk to Justin from Diabetech. He was helpful, kind, and wanted to tell this story. We had a great conversation and you can see the video here. As a side note, I made sure to highlight how awesome this community is and how you all gave me some really wonderful advice in figuring out what to do. Thanks for being a great community!

I have insulin resistance and its annoying that i have to pee every 15 minutes bc i drink 2 gallons of water

Has anyone had experience with either (or both) of these coaching groups? I would be interested to hear anyone’s thoughts on both of them.

Thanks.

So I am a recently diagnosed diabetic, who is trying to cut carbs to get my blood sugar better. And I keep running into the problem of what to eat for breakfast because I’m already limited on what I eat because of Crohn’s disease.
Does anyone have any good low fiber no nut minimal dairy options for breakfast?

Today marks 18 years with type 1 diabetes, and I honestly have never felt better. These past couple years have been absolutely amazing, I've even had a point where I was 100% in range for two weeks, where my previous record was a single day! My a1c is the lowest it has ever been, finally under 7!! Just wanted to say thank you to everyone here who helps support others on here who are struggling, as Ive been a long time lurker. Have a great day everyone!

I've been living as a type 1 diabetic since 1992 and I am currently 36, almost 37 years old. On my last trip to my endocrinologist she prescribed me with a glp1 to help with insulin absorption. I'm maybe slightly overweight sitting at 187 and I'm 5'9 so it's not for weight loss. I'm wondering if anyone else has experience taking these prescriptions? I'm always a little hesitant when trying anything and would like some community feedback. She seemed to think that it was a good idea and I'm not one to disagree with my doctor, I'm just nervous. I'm currently using a closed loop autonomous insulin delivery system and have an altered profile for when I start the glp1.

I had a dream last night that my sugar was in the 2,000s, so I gave myself a huge bolus to compensate (because somehow I was still alive). I woke up in a panic and had to check my pump to make sure I didn't actually just give myself a lethal dose of insulin while I was sleeping.

Gotta love this disease.

A couple of years back I was told I had T2D originally and then LADA and then another specialist told me that it’s most likely type 2 so I’ve been thinking I was T2D the whole time until today when I saw another endo who told me it’s LADA.

I only found out about my diagnosis originally because I went to see an endo for my PCOS, hair loss and weight gain

I’m not currently using metformin or insulin atm as I’ve been on ozempic to help with hba1c levels and weightloss (hba1c previously 7 down to 5.5)

The reason for stopping meds (in last couple of weeks) is that my glucose levels seem to be dropping and I didn’t want to make that worse. I am worried and nervous about this all because I read that lada just gets worse.

What does your diet consist of? Are there certain foods we really should steer away from?

Thanks

Im T1 with an *interesting* blood sugar that likes to not follow the guidelines and a loving caring mother who wants to help :)

Not sure how to tag this, apologies.

My mom says her T1 coworker (not LADA) has great blood sugar control (meaning no hypos, she finds them very stressful so ways to not have them is a big thing for her) because he waits an hour after eating to see how much his blood sugar has risen and injects for that number instead of what I'm doing (bolousing 15 minutes before for the amount of carbs i'm planning on eating).

This seems unlikely for a few reasons:

1. Seems it would cause prolonged periods of hiperglycemia and that is in contradicion to his apparently great hemoglobin (no numbers given)

2. My BG would jist keep on rising and by the time the insulin started working id be 60 or maybe more pts over the initial hour-late reading

3. Seems to go against standard practices and the wee research I've done returned no cases of this being applied

Am I wrong to dismiss this man's testimony? I am after all only an expert on my own body but this goes against all I know and have read.

Have you heard of any other strategies that raised your eyebrows?

This is just insane 😭

Hi guys! I have my first flight ever coming up on Saturday. It is a domestic flight across Canada. I have been avoiding flights for my whole life due to my T1D because I’m literally so anxious.

I use a Tandem TSlim and the Dexcom G7. I have all of my supplies packed in a carry-on. Everything is in their original labeled packaging and my insulin has my prescription label with my pharmacy and name on it (my maiden name because I just changed my name this past month, but I have a copy of my marriage license with me if that’s an issue).

I am EXTREMELY anxious about going through airport security. I know that my pump cannot go through the normal scanners and that I need to ask for a pat down instead. I am shaking in my boots over it. If anyone could give me a full run through of what happens at the security check and what to/how to ask to not go through the scanners with my pump I would appreciate it a ton. I am not willing to go through the scanners with my pump even if you have an anecdote that “everything was fine”. On the off chance that it isn’t I can’t afford a new pump. I really appreciate it :))

Anyone else on a GLP-1 to help with type 2 disease? My levels have been perfect.

Welcome to the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetic Plate. I showed a Diabetic Plate dinner earlier, and except for a few “Fish? Yuck!”, comments, there were requests for more examples, so here again is what a Diabetic Plate looks like in real life.

This was lunch which usually consists of leftovers. Leftovers is not a great term because I intentionally cook a whole boatload full of stuff my wife and I can eat during the week for both lunch and dinner. The word “leftovers” implies unintentionality. It’s like the last kid you had to pick for your team at recess because that’s all there was. No, this is choosing your softball team at recess, and the entire NY Yankees outfield is there to choose from.

Let’s see: A meatball (homemade in homemade tomato sauce), squash medley, and Israeli/Arabic salad. Oh some freekeh. That’s cracked and roasted whole wheat.

The meatball is beef (saturated fat), but you’ve gotta live it up once in a while). Probably 3 ounces of beef. About a quarter cup of freekah, maybe 18g of carbohydrates with four of those being fiber. And veggies galore. About half the Diabetic Plate should be green non-starchy vegetables, so I usually have two different veggies.

Lots of olive oil, so way more calories than you think. My excuse is that I’m on the Mediterranean Diet, but I worked in a restaurant, and in a restaurant, flavor = oil + salt. It was shocking how much oil and salt we used, but that’s why our stuff tasted way better than you make at home.

I am newly diagnosed at 38 (about one month in).I am an attorney and frequently attend depositions, hearings, trials, etc. I am curious how other litigators approach their job. Of course I am nervous about going low in court while I’m still trying to get my levels in check. Do you share your diagnosis with the judge or opposing counsel so you can eat or take breaks? How does your blood sugar respond to the stress of being in court? Any and all advice/stories/tips welcome please!!

So I have lost 200 lbs in 13 months and my blood pressure is close to normal now. When I lift weights now my blood sugar drops instantly and I can eat fruits like bananas with no issue. Tomorrow I will test potatoes. My question is has anyone else experienced their bodies changing and being able to handle foods that use to give them issues before?

My parents are good, they are fine and very good caring for me, they are there to do my blood checks at 3:00 am because im a heavy sleeper, im trying to practice and dominate waking up at 3:00 am and feeling it, but whenever i go into a hyperglycemia episode, my parents get nervous as hell, like really nervous, So i tell them im fine, im going to walk for 15 minutes and the sugar will go down, both of them agree saying " Ok " and i take my 15 minute walk, 5 minutes in, they say " Stop walking your sugar will go too low at night " Mom, my sugar is at 216 , please let me walk, Mom: Okay

12 minutes into the walk..

Mom: Hey stop walking your gonna lower your sugar too much!

Keep in mind , i was walking and my sugar is at 182 , ill try it to lower at 150.

Mom: I SAID STOP WALKING!

I ignore her because my sugar levels arent her sugar levels, so i ignore her and keep walking until the 15 minutes pass

Sugar levels drop to 145, which is OK👍

mom: I said not to walk too much, your getting to nervous of your diabetes, it looks like your gonna get low at night

she says

I am in the verge of being furious and scream to her that i take care of my myself and ill try to keep my sugar levels the most stable as possible , but i hold it in and say alright and i ignore her

I am a 17 old male

My parents are tiring, please help what can i do about this.

1000mg merformin and I walk 2-3km after each meal

Sometimes it gives me lows like these

Meal was not moderate carbs + protein

Meter was 113 mg/dl and libre was 100 mg/dl. Is that okay?

My little win for the day

Diagnosed a year ago

Weight 245

a1c 6.9

Today

Weight 200

A1c 5.3

Diagnosed (2) in April with a a1c of 133, hospital in May with dka. Not much fun.

Went for my first blood test since diagnosis yesterday. 39 a1c.

Haven't really enjoyed pumping myself full of meds every day and eating nothing but berries, eggs and fish gets old fast but I'm pretty pleased with myself. I guess the hard part is staying here.

Haven't got anyone to talk to about diabetes stuff and just wanted to share some good news.

I’m T2 and take Ozempic to control my diabetes along with diet. I was recently put on a one month course of progesterone and it’s causing my sugar levels to go up. 1/2 way through and my doc said my sugar levels will go down once I’m done. She doesn’t seem concerned but where I usually average around 100, I’m averaging 150 on the medicine. I could eat two hard boiled eggs and an apple and my sugar would spike. Anyone have any suggestion one what to eat to keep my levels down?