Diabetic and Need Experience Help
Hi - I had RNY on April 17th, 2012. I am diabetic and it did not go into remission. It did however get better for a while. My A1c was 12.2 before I started this journey and got down to 8. It is now back to 11.1, which means my blood sugars are out of control again.
I will contribute some of this to me getting back in to bad eating habits. I have not gained back weight. I went from 285 to 175 and still maintaining.
I swear that sometimes my blood sugars goes up if I drink water, probably a little exaggerated (lol). I know that I have allowed some bad carbs into my diet. So I will start tracking and get off the bad carbs.
The reason for the post is I wanted to see if anyone else has had any experience after WLS with blood sugars being high. How did you fix it? Is exercise the answer to lower blood sugars? Is it just your diet? Is it the medication? I am on a insulin pump and don't want to get back into just pumping insulin to lower blood sugars which makes you gain weight. I need another alternative and would very much like some feedback.
I know that this forum doesn't get a lot of traffic but please if you read this post and have any advice please don't hesitate to post a answer. Thanks - debbie
I did not have your procedure but am participating in a clinical trial that uses a device that blocks absorption in the small intestine. It's double blind so I have no idea if I received it or not. That being said, as a diabetic, I decided to behave as if I never received the device. I changed my diet to a low carb, high fat diet. In 2 months, I lost 15 pounds and went from an a1c of 8.1 to 6.9 and I was able to cut one of meds in half.
If your sugars are that high (11.1), your average daily glucose reading is 318 ! That warrants going to the hospital ! Who is monitoring your diabetes ? Why doesn't your insulin pump compensate ? You cannot simply rely on the procedure to fix your diabetes. The best thing you can do for yourself is lower your carb intake and take your meds. The weight loss will come. You don't want to cause further damage to your organs. I understand your concern about insulin causing weight but you're not doing yourself any favors by eating what you want. If you eat less carbs, you will need less insulin and the you can reap the benefits of your surgery.
on 3/28/14 5:18 pm
Hi:
I have been reading your message and I am a brittle diabetic, and currently on 6 injections daily and I currently, have a lap band that is leaking and considering a RNY or Mini gastric bypass and wondering which procedure would be best to put my diabetes into remission? Can anyone give some advice and suggest the best clinics and doctors in Canada or US for surgery?
Hi,
I had a RNY on Jan 29/14 to treat severe diabetes only, not for weight loss. I weighed 188 lbs before my surgery with a BMI of 30. Anyways the surgery has had good results for my diabetes, I am still diabetic on low doses of insulin and have blood sugars that range from 9-12 mostly but do get a few lower values and higher values. I have stabilized much lower than prior to my surgery though (was always in the 20-30 range). I have to say this surgery has its pros and cons. I now have a really hard time eating solids and drinking fluids. I also get these weird symptoms that seem like a hypoglycemic episode/dumping syndrome combination- the docs don't know what they are for sure because my blood sugars are not low for the normal population (less than 4). These episodes are aweful and I often get sick with them. If you choose to get this surgery, try to get as much info about what will happen afterwards as you can, so you are well prepared. I went to Dr. Birch in Edmonton, he works at the Royal Alex Hospital.
Hi,
This has been a rough journey for me, saying that, would I do it again, I would relunctantly say... YES. I have been diagnosed with Dysautonomia with postural hypotentsion since having the surgery in Jan 2014- it was brought on by the surgery they think. I have had a bit of a trade off. My diabetes continues to improve- I am no longer on insulin/just on Metformin still and my sugars fluctuate more than before but overall are much better. I have lows now (3-4's) and some high bg still (up to 15 once in awhile and the odd spike into the 20's) but overall I am much more stabilized- my HgA1C was 7.4- down from 16.6 a year ago! My diet has slowly improved too- can eat some small amounts of solids now BUT be prepared to have a totally different way of eating after the RNY. I eat 10-12 times a day- a grazer now, never eat an actual meal at one setting! If I eat too much or something that doesn't agree with me- I am in the can vomiting and it triggers my dysautonomia symptoms, which are NO fun! You life revolves around food, I have to be constantly trying to eat or drink something- which is the opposite almost of what I used to do before the surgery. My diabetes was so bad before that I hardly ate or drank anything! I have lost weight- now weigh around 130lbs. Life is good though, as I still am alive. I likely wouldn't be if I hadn't had the RNY, no easy answers for me though. Best of luck to you!
Thanks so much for your honest reply. My A1c is going up every 3-4 months. It was at 6 but has elevated to 9.5 and I'm getting worried. I think I'm hesitating on this surgery because of all the negative talk that I hear about it. I know a lot has changed w/complications, but I still worry about which ones I my have. I also worry about losing too much and body image. I am much smaller in the leg and thigh area and know that plastics will be needed for my tummy. I am now 60 and wonder if it's worth it. My daughter told my husband "why don't I just go ahead and live my life as is". fortunately for me, I AM doing this so that I can continue to live my life. You know, since writing out these words, I never realized that by having the surgery could actually do that for me. Even though I've heard it many times before.
