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Welcome to Diabetes Buddies
The Forum where Diabetics Help Diabetics!

Introductions: Wife of a diabetic needs help with Insulin Therapy!!

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    :cry: Hi!! I found a great site to help my diabetic cat but my husband will not eat the high protein low carb I get or make for her!!! I have her off insulin. I am no where with Roger. I will see if I can get him to join this group. Roger was diagnosed about 6 years ago and has type 2 diabetes. I was a nurse for 23 years but never worked in diabetic care so I know nothing. I am American and Roger is Swedish and we live in Sweden.
    I don't know if anyone will even have heard of the insulins and meds he is on but it sure seems like after this many years he should be on a different insulin or sliding scale etc as he is getting a lot of insulin.
    Humalog 10 Units with each meal. Then he takes a 24 hour shot of insulin called Inslatard 384 and pills - Gluchophag otherwise known as metformine at each meal and Novonorm AM and PM meals.
    Normal reading for BG is 5 and he runs 9 to 13 all the time and sometimes 20 to 23. It goes down when he has exercised alot and he does heart gym in water 2 times a week and takes long walks 4 days a week. But it doesn't keep it down. He had a heart attack in Oct of 2001 and the diabetes was discovered I think after the first of the year after that. He has only 65% capicity in his lungs and they don't know what is wrong except that there are white spots all over them. No tests were done as the hospital ran out of funds. :sad: That is Swedish medical care. He does also have asthma. He has never smoked or worked in an area where smoking was allowed. He suffers from Chronic fatigue and always says he doesn't feel well. The farther into the day he goes the less memory retention he has.
    I wanted to see what help I can get here and what others do. If I could help my cat I should be able to help him. But then the cat can't get into sweets etc and he does. :shamed: Does anyone know what these meds are and are you taking the insulin and can it be sliding scale? Bonnie Angel

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      CommentAuthorBestBuddy
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2007
     

    Hi Bonnie - welcome the forum.

    Hope this helps:

    I am on insulin and use a similar strategy to your husband - one daily slow acting insulin and one shot of fast acting insulin before each meal.

    In my case I use Levemir (slow acting) and NovoRapid (fast acting) - not sure about the differences between these and the ones your husband uses.

    There is a 'sliding scale' - the process for deciding on the exact amounts required is referred to as 'titration'.

    When I first went onto insulin I started at small doses of both and gradually increased the amount until I found the level that kept my blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible. You really need to do this with the assistance of your medical team - hitting 20-23 is NOT good at all.

    Once you have the right dosage, the important thing is to make sure your that your husbands diet is consistant - if you eat too little you can end up with a Hypo, if you eat too much you end up going high again.

    You want to maintain a 'tight control' and to do that you really need to know the food you are eating and how your body is reacting.
    Obviously, any food that is laden with sugar is a problem, and must not form a major part of your husbands diet - but that does not mean that he cannot ever eat sweet foods. When eating out, I will sometimes have a dessert - if I know that I will be doing this before the meal, I will increase my insulin injection slightly to compensate - not recommending this, just pointing out that it is possible. Please do not ecnourage him to emulate this until you have consulted your diabetes support team.

    Exercise definitely results in lower blood sugar - if exercise is on the agenda, less insulin may be required. The only way you can know exactly how much is by careful trial and error - with plenty of testing.

    Feeling tired is also one of the symptoms of having too high blood sugar - it was the main symptom that I had before diagnosis, I'd eat a meal and then fall asleep. Of course, there could be other reasons as well - I'd suggest checking the blood sugar when he is tired to see if there is a match.

    Does your husband have acces to a diabetes support team of any sort?

    There are dangers involved in injecting too much insulin, and you really need to plan your strategy with qualified medical support.

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      CommentAuthorLankyman
    • CommentTimeFeb 17th 2007
     

    Hi Bonnie Angel

    I am not on insulin myself, but what BestBuddy says is right.

    Medical support is important. I had a mate who got the insulin/food intake wrong and ended up having a Hypo - ended up in hospital with a fractured cheekbone after collapsing.

    You need to do tight control, which, if Roger's memory retention problem is bad, is best left in your hands - its not something you want to get confused about.

    • CommentAuthorDray
    • CommentTimeApr 30th 2007
     

    I've read this post a few times. Something niggled me.

    I discovered I was diabetic as a stroke survivor. I was 43 at the time - part of the routine tests. Which means, indeed, I have a carer. The missus :)
    But I don't expect her to 'care' for me 24/7. Partly it's personal pride, but mostly because it's good for me to grab as much independence as possible.

    Diabetes/Strokes & stuff can put a tremendous and unexpected strain on Spouses/Partners. It isn't something they asked for, and I perfectly understand that they feel duty bound to do what they can. But surely, it's down to the diabetic to take majority care of themselves. In the end, no-one can help him in the end but him. Y'gotta get off y'bum and do it. It isn't right that a partner should be under such a burden. In my humble opinion.

    Care, by all means. Be controlled by worry about a partners ermm. Condition? Heck no.

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