Blue Monday

[chrishansenhome]

Had one piece of good news and three pieces of bad news today.

First, the good news. The ulcer on my left foot seems to be healing. Whether this is due to the ultrasound treatment or to the extra attention it's getting (debridement 2-3 times a week, lots of dressing materials, the boot) I don't care. I see them again on Friday. A plus is that I get to see the cute (straight) Filipino male nurse because he gives me the treatments.

Now, the bad news. There was a blister on my right foot. Last time around I told the podiatrist to leave it alone, but this time we conferred and he seemed to think that it needed to be cut out. The only good part of this is that there wasn't anything leaking over there so he put a dressing on it and we'll keep an eye on it, but it's OK at the moment.

When I got home I looked at my post, and there was a report from one of the pension plans I have put money into in the past. Last year my pension lost around £2.5K of value. I suppose it's only to be expected, but it's a bummer nonetheless.

The last piece of bad news was at the Diabetic Clinic at St. Thomas's. Other than the cute male nurse who took my blood pressure and milked me of some precious bodily fluids, there was nothing good about it. The diabetic nurse and I agreed that I need to start on insulin. My long-term hemoglobin test was 11 last week, and this is quite high. I shall be starting with 10ml of long-lasting insulin before I go to bed. Take my blood sugar in the morning before eating. If it's over 7 more days than not, increase by 20ml. Do this until my morning blood sugar gets to between 4-6.

The problem with insulin is that it helps you put on weight. At the present moment I can't go to the gym until this ulcer closes (even if I felt like it, I'm certain they wouldn't be happy with someone walking around with an open wound). Since the insulin converts the sugar in your blood into something you can use, you will use more of it when on insulin. So I will have to radically cut down on my intake. This will be difficult and painful. Then when I'm able, back to the gym for lots of cardio.

The diabetic nurse must be used to talking to people sad about their health situation. She was very helpful—although she was not convinced that my intestinal reaction to the lizard spit was autonomic neuropathy and seemed to think I was, perhaps, a bit wussy about it. I've learned how to inject the insulin and that it actually doesn't have to be refrigerated all the time, just up to the time you start using it. The injection instrument is a pen, kind of like the lizard spit pen but with variable dosage.

So now I'm home feeling sorry for myself. I hope I'll snap out of it.

Comments

High Sugar

[am0.livejournal.com]

Your liver produces sugar that it also stores. Perhaps you should consider trying the fat-burning diet, not to burn fat (it isn't even a diet; it's an exercise plan) but to reduce blood sugar. Before I started having my back problems, I was able to get off of insulin by following the plan, riding a stationary bicycle.

You are probably doing aerobic exercises, another misnomer. Those exercises burn off the oxygen in your blood just enough that your metabolism shifts into a borderline anaerobic state. You can tell because the metabolic byproducts burn or hurt. You probably sustain that state for between five and thirty minutes. That's too much concentrated effort for too short a duration.

You should ease off when (or before) it starts to hurt, when you still have adequate oxygen in your blood to supply your muscles, and you should continue at that low level of effort for about ninety minutes at a time for only two or three days a week (your body needs a day of rest after any day of exercise). That is because the point is to burn off your glycogen reserves, to make the liver stop producing sugar. When that happens, you'll have a feeling of euphoria. It took me seven months to reach that level although most people get there in four to six months.

What happens is that your metabolism gradually shifts from the Krebs cycle of carbohydrate metabolism to a form of metabolism that burns fat without depleting your blood of oxygen.

There are some side effects: for one thing, the amount of fat stored in your body will diminish. The problem is that for each unit of fat burned, your body will destroy a unit of protein. If you lose a pound of fat, you will also lose a pound of protein. To protect yourself, you have to eat more protein and less carbohydrate. If you don't add protein to your diet, your body will burn protein from your muscles, including your heart.

This, of course, goes exactly contrary to the recommendations made by the health industry. But consider: does the health industry want you to do anything that will reduce their revenues by making you healthier?

Re: High Sugar

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

This, of course, goes exactly contrary to the recommendations made by the health industry. But consider: does the health industry want you to do anything that will reduce their revenues by making you healthier?

I'm not sure that the National Health Service in the United Kingdom is revenue-driven. My perception is that they want their patients to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

Re: High Sugar

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Exactly my point below. They want to keep you out of the GPs surgery. The drug companies are cheesed off with the NHS because it controls medication prices. There is no profit motive for domestic patients of the NHS. (They charge foreigners who come here for treatment and make some money off that...)

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Would it at all help to get a stationary bike to keep in the t.v. room? That way maybe you could get some cardio even when you can't get to the gym. Or are you not able to pedal at all with the blister/wound?

I hope your feet heal up soon!

Stationary Bike

[am0.livejournal.com]

Television is an excellent activity to keep bicycling from becoming too boring, assuming you can find something worth watching. Reading a book has also been recommended to me but I move too much to make it easy to read while exercising.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

as you know I hardly ever watch TV any more. Perhaps if we could get a stationary bike in my study with a PC on the handlebars...

[misc-negro.livejournal.com]

haha, there was a guy who put a laptop on his stationary bike and played WoW while he excercised.... its doable i guess.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

I actually don't have room in here for a stationary bike, which is OK. I think that pedalling would make my ulcer worse. Once the ulcers are gone, I'll go back to the gym.

I tested at 8.8 this morning (4-6 is normal) so will probably increase the insulin level in a couple of days (following instructions) until it gets there.

I had gotten into the habit (innocently encouraged by HWMBO) of having a small snack after dinner before bed. Have cut that out now. I suspect that will help my overnight sugar levels. HWMBO will have to eat his evening snack alone...

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I hadn't given any thought to what you might do while riding the bike, besides riding the bike. I'd just be surprised if a stationary bike fit in your study. ;)

Insulin Evil

[am0.livejournal.com]

Your body produces two substances, adrenaline and insulin, that destroy each other. Adrenaline, if not destroyed by exercise, causes tensions that can destroy the body. Insulin, on the other hand, converts excess sugar into fat.

Our modern civilization causes sustained high levels of tensions. Ancient civilizations were even worse. The build-up of adrenaline causes problems like high blood pressure and ... wait for it ... diabetes.

Insulin promotes the metabolism of glucose in the muscles, forming fat if you don't exercise enough to actually use that glucose. If you exercise, the insulin will reduce tension by destroying the adrenaline. The adrenaline also blocks the action of insulin, if you don't get enough exercise, causing the body to produce increasing amounts of insulin to get the same sugar-reducing effect.

Adrenaline isn't evil: it helps us by providing energy when we need it. Insulin isn't evil: it helps us to extract energy from sugar. Lack of the right kind of exercise is what is evil.

Re: Insulin Evil

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all your information. The health industry here is a bit different from that in the US. They want you to stop coming around because you're healthy, thereby leaving room for the truly ill. They don't normally get more money if you are ill and hang around their offices a lot. The drug companies don't like the NHS because their profits (the drug companies' profits, that is) are limited by law.

I need to get back to the gym as soon as my feet are healthy again. I will do some research on cardio exercise and diabetes along the lines you mention.

Thanks again for all your assistance.

[misc-negro.livejournal.com]

I currently take lantus, a long lasting insulin and apidra, a short term "meal time" insulin.
The lantus is great, its your "liquid pancreas" and really does its job. I know for me the biggest issue I had with it was "im such a dumb ass and crappy at this because i have to take sooo much of it" but then i saw other people taking WAAAY more than me and realized that you dont have to take huge amounts for ever if you treat yourself right and cut back in certain areas. I am not even talking big or huge cutbacks at first, just small ones across the board make big changes happen elsewhere. But taking an interest in it and starting to do something is the one of the best things you can do.

[dangtri.livejournal.com]

::Hugs::, Chris. It looks like it's the right thing for your health, but still, bummer. Maybe do something nice for yourself and HWMBO to compensate?