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Crohns and Diabetes

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 10/4/2009 1:13 AM (GMT 0)
I recieved a call from my Dr. after some lab work and had to go in for glucose test. She said I'm in the diabetic stage. It was 126 fasting. When I went the following morning to be tested fasting it was 134. Test made me feel really nauseated.  Kinda used to that feeling and survived. I don't know if I can handle another disease! I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights. How am I gonna figure out a diet plan? It took me a year to just get out of the denial stage of Crohns!!! Does anybody have any experience with both of these diseases. Crohns and Diabetes? Does the med's we take for Crohns eventually cause Diabetes? Thanks

 

Posted 10/4/2009 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
how flowery,

Sounds like you have had it rough. I don't know about any correlation between crohn's and diabetes but I can recommend going to see your doctor about getting you on some melatonin supplements for your sleeping. I also have trouble sleeping sometimes and really recommend it. It is just a natural hormone produced in the body at night to help us sleep so it won't have any side effects or mix with your other medications.
Posted 10/4/2009 3:46 AM (GMT 0)
I'm not sure what to do for diet either. What is good for crohn's is bad for diabetes and vice versa. I was dx'd with Crohn's 14 years ago and had bowel resection 6 years ago and dx'd with diabetes this past week. My son has been type 1 for 13 years (dx'd at 4) so I know what needs to be done. I always said being type 2 would be a nightmare, I'd never be able to do a diabetic diet. Our insurance covers a dietician for him through his endo but won't cover one for me. If I could find a dietician that actually understands Crohn's would be great!

Has for connection between the 2, Steriods and other meds can cause damage to cause diabetes. I took 6mp like an idiot before researching it. It DOES cause liver damage which I believe led me to this place.
Posted 10/4/2009 2:05 PM (GMT 0)
Ohhhhh, the fun. I have crohns and diabetes. I'm yet to work up a diet that works for both. In fact they are opposites. I'm on the last try of oral meds before I have to go on insulin too. If your doc comes up with a answer, PLEASE,,let me know. Waking up at 3 AM with a blood sugar of less than 55 is a real drag. First you have to drag yourself out of bed, drag yourself down the stairs, drag out the test kit and then get some sugar intake enough to drag yourself out of the slump. I really rather sit on the toilet for hours.
Posted 10/4/2009 5:12 PM (GMT 0)
Oh man!
Sniper...when were you diagnosed with diabetes? Was it along with or after Crohns? I think your right maybe being on the toilet all night would be better. Either way it's sooo much work isn't it? I saposse what choice do I have. I wonder if it's from being on steriods for over a year before my re-section. Or just plain Immuran daily.
I used to only eat complex carbs, salads galore, light meat, nuts, fuits, raw veges.... OH the Life! and teach an exercise class...back in my healthy days! My diet in the past 4 years has been things I can digest like carbs and sugars and some fats! My M.D. and Gastro...are like your cholestrol levels are so bad...what's going on! I'm like CROHNS! is going on.....
I went to a nutritionists told me with Crohns it's tricky. Wait till I throw this one at her. I see my regular M.D. tues. nervous. overwhelmed.
Posted 10/5/2009 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
Flowery, my blood sugar started going up while I was on steroids but after I was off of them I could not get them back down. This all happened about the same time as the crohns dx. Its been a fight ever sense. Trouble is that carbs are mostly what helps get me through the bad crohns days, but potatoes and rice are high in starch and vegies dont agree with me. I saw a dietician and she all but threw up her hands . I'm trying to eat less carbs and I'm not using sugar but then the blood sugar drops too low and thats worse . Makes me feel like crap.
Posted 10/5/2009 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
Snip, what type of meds are you on for Crohns? What do you feel like when it get to high vs. low? I guess some of my symptoms I just assumed were from Crohns. It's hard to read your body constantly. Do you work? Thanks for the info!
Posted 10/7/2009 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, I got type 2 :(..found out yesterday. Here we go! Cried for awhile and now I guess I need to move on. My body just doesn't like me!
Posted 10/8/2009 3:57 AM (GMT 0)
I am type two but borderline type 1. I take remicade infusions and methotrexate for crohns. I'm on Actosplus , Januvia and Amaryl trying to not go on insulin . I really cant tell when my blood glucose is high unless it goes above 250, then I get sparkles in front of my eyes and a headache. Best way to describe the feeling when it is low is to say, I feel all the symptoms like I am going to throw up but am not nauseous . I feel very weak, hot and I break into a sweat. Below 55 I can hardly move . I sometimes wake at 3 AM like that and end up draging myself down stairs to eat something and then I spend the rest of the night in my chair because I cant get back upstairs.
Posted 10/8/2009 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the reply. I see sparklers sometime too! I'll have to notice if it's when my blood sugar is high. When your bloodsugar goes low at night do you just wake up?...I seem to notice that I wake with a high level. Wondering if I eat something in the middle of the night if it would make a difference.

Maybe you should keep some food in your bedroom if it gets really low like 55. What about a mini fridge. Whatever it takes. My kids when they left for college a few years ago put  crackers and gatorade under my bed...just incase my Crohns went nuts and I get to weak to move. Lot of good that would do me now with diabetes!

What do you take when you Crohns goes crazy? How do you replace your electrolytes?

Also, how many years were you type 1 going into type 2... 

Posted 10/9/2009 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
I would be curiuos if your diabetes is considered type 1 or t ype 2. The reason that I ask this, is because crohn's along with a host of other disorders, are autoimmune in nature.
Type 1 diabetes is also. So, it goes to know, that if you have one autoimmune disorder, you actually are open to get others. The immune system doesn't knw not to attack itself.
Posted 10/9/2009 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
Christinakm,
I have type 2. But Sniper said his has turned into type 1. I'm not sure over what amount of time. My regular M.D.and G.I. Dr. told me that auto-immunes usually come in two's. sigh! I just wonder if you can get 3...I shouldn't say that I'll just jinx myself. It is all really frustrating. Trying to watch my carbs the past 3 days and my stomach is killing me trying to break things down. I see a nutritionists again in a couple of weeks. I've seen 6 different ones. They don't really know what to do with me.
Posted 10/9/2009 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
I have two boys who are type 1- and because type 1 is always autoimmune, they are prey to other autoimmune disorders- my one son also has psoriasis, and the other has vitiligo- both are also autimmune-

my father in law has psoriasis, grand father with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, aunt with hashimoto thyroiditis, husband with something autoimmune in his gut, but hte doctor j ust can't or won't tell us the answer yet.... so, we have very strong autoimmune tendencies... that is just on one side of one side of the family.
Posted 10/9/2009 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
flowery- there is so much you can do for diabetes- where it really doesn't become an issue anymore= i'm assuming you are on oral agents vs insulin. I think it is a bit harder to control with oral agents. If you were on insulin, I would so suggest you go on an insulin pump, it would be so much easier to take care of your crohn's that way, as well.. especially d uring flares.
Posted 10/9/2009 3:36 AM (GMT 0)
I've been fighting this for about 5 years now Flowery. It is still type 2 but not far away from 1. I do wake up at night when it drops low. Its like a bad dream. I drink cranberry juice and eat a glucerna bar. Takes about 30 min. to feel a little better but hours before I am OK.
Christinakm, how long have you been on insulin?
Posted 10/9/2009 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
Christinakm,

I'm sorry to hear that both your sons have type 1. Do they both have insulin pumps. I would deffinatley go on a pump if I had type 1. I used to teach 1st grade and really saw the advantage of a pump with children. The pump frees up there lives sooo much!

I have type 2 ...just dxs. Right now they just want me to for 6 weeks keep track of things with a monitor and try to control it with eating and exercising. Seems like I always run the highest when I get up in the morning. I'm wondering if there's something I can eat before I go to bed to stablize it more.??

I too have auto-immune disorders in my family. Both of my parents died young. I have a brother with Multiple Scerlosis. He turns 40 this year and has been wheelchair bound since 33.:( Psarosis runs in the family which I feel is a precurser because your skin tells so much about your health. My mother had laten Diabetes type 2. Was diagnosed only a week before she died. My father had a bad ticker! They both died at 58 only a year and half apart.

Death is very real to me in my family! I've seen alot of suffering. Therefore, I really want to try to get this undercontrol before it becomes worse. I have had thoughts of going off of all meds and doing things a little differently. I don't know. Seems like the meds I'm on for Crohns just causes all this to happen. I had a re-section in 05. I've had on and off flares...right now I'm in remission but have side effects of the re-section. It all seems so complicated!

My husband went to Mexico last year for his job and came back last spring during the beginning of H1N1. We both got extremely sick! Really bad! I feel now that it was something to do with H1N1. He never gets sick and was in the Dr. office within a few days. He recovered with antibiodicts in a week. Me, I was sick for over a month and half. Fever, lungs, puky, ended up on steroids again for a month. When I was done with steroids...gotta go through the withdraws which is like getting R.A. for a couple of months for me. Then, went straight into the summer with "Shingles" 10 weeks of antivirals... and pain! Now, it's fall...and diabetes UGH! Can I seriously get a break?

Sniper, you said you wake up in the middle of the night like a bad dream...are you sweaty, headachy, what are you symptoms? If you don't mind me asking...how old are you? and at what age were you diagnosed with Crohns? You said you have had type 2 for 5 years. Are you able to work? ...

Having this website is so great for communication! I appreciate any words of experience you both might have..thank-you thank-you!:)

Posted 10/9/2009 6:12 PM (GMT 0)
flowery, those are not horrible numbers. It sounds like type 2. What are you blood sugars 2 hours after eating a high carb meal? As long as you can keep your blood sugars under 180mg/dl ( as per ADA recommendations) you should be ok. Otherwise, you may have to take meds. I am borderline type 2 with some kind of colitis (positive test for crohns) My problem is that many of the meds for type 2 such as metformin cause gas and diarrhea even in normal folks. So, it is a real challenge to have IBD and diabetes. I am trying to keep my weight under control, get exercise and quit eating refined sugar. Eating smaller amounts of carbs (60) per meal should work for you. I would check out diabetes.org for more suggestions. Good luck!
Posted 10/9/2009 11:48 PM (GMT 0)
There is some report of low carb diets offering better blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes. For more, see: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/12341
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