That Old DP Keeps Rearing It's Ugly Head

I keep coming to these diabetes support groups complaining about the same old things. I am sorry but it is so discouraging.
My background is that I am a recently diagnosed (Mar 2009) Type 2. I am currently on Metformin-- 2X twice a day, and Diamicron MR--90 mg once a day. The Diamicron was prescribed after using Glyburide which was causing a lot of lows.
I have not been satisfied with the Diamicron at all. I feel there has not been a lot of control with it despite it being increased twice from 30 mg up to 90 mg. Plus it has been hard on my stomach. I had my lab work done recently and it came back with an A1C of 6.4 up from 5.9 at my last one. This is where the frustration comes in. My diabetic educator and I are not on the same page at all. In a nutshell she thinks my numbers are just great, and to top it off she belittles me and says I am too obsessive with my numbers and need to chill and just live with them as is. And she told me to test less. Maybe once or twice a day at random times and that is it. Now of course the obvious solution would be to part ways but I live in a small community and there are no other options available so I am stuck with her. I am just going to have to learn to ignore what she says and do what I think is best.

One of my biggest frustrations are my morning numbers. It doesn't matter what I do, they are just plain high. I have tried every kind of snack before bed.... carb and protein, just protein, nuts, no snack before bed, I have tried taking my Metformin before bed. Last night is a classic example. I had no snack before bed even though I was hungry. I was at 5.3 (95.4) before bed. Took 1 Metformin. I get up this morning, normal time and I am at 8.2 (147.6). If I were to share my concerns with the nurse she would tell me to just forget about and go about my business.
Since nothing I have done has worked anyway I guess I am going to have to take her advice on this one.

I am not looking for solutions because as I said nothing has worked. It is beginning to look like I am just going to have to accept things as they are. This is my problem and why I am so frustrated because after all my efforts and trying different things nothing is working. The worst part is when I was on the Glyburide I had gotten my numbers down to pretty reasonable in the morning and the rest of the day also and if it weren't for the lows I would still be on it.

I guess I just need to rant and have some kind words of support!

Thanks for listening.

Hi Lanie....
Thanks for responding.

Here is my day....

I get up at 7 am.

Breakfast immediately
Two strips of turkey bacon
2 scrambled eggs
1 slice of low carb toast with margarine

Before I could not get away with having any carbs so that is improving somewhat.

about two hours later I have a granny smith apple with either cheese or peanut butter for a snack which seems to help lower my sugars before lunch.

My numbers before lunch after doing this are the best of the day... average 4.7

Then it is downhill or should I say uphill from there.

I have lunch which is most of the time a sandwich using low carb bread. Two slices are 13 gm of carbs. I sometimes have grilled cheese, sometimes deli meat. If I decided to have fruit with the sandwich I would have only half a sandwich. I try to keep my meal very small.

I go out for an hour walk after lunch and come home and my numbers are sometimes very high. When they are so high I will have a handful of almonds for a snack because if I don't they stay high right up to supper and the nuts seem to bring them right down. Most often they are in between 5.3-6.8 even with the nuts.

At supper I try to watch my carbs and try to keep them at 30 gm or less because if I don't they go super high and stay high. Again certain snacks might bring them back down again. Usually protein and or fat.

If they are reasonable before bed like in the 4s 9very seldom) and 5s then they go up at least 2 points by morning. If they were high before bed like in the high 7s or 8s then they will come down by morning but no lower than low 7s.

And that is pretty much my day. I have totally cut out bad foods because I can no longer get away with the occasional treat as I could before with the glyburide.

When I first started on the new med-- diamicron I absolutely couldn't eat any kind of carb at breakfast as my numbers would soar before slowly coming back down. After a while I tried a slice of the bread back in and found it worked okay and my numbers were decreasing right after breakfast as they were before when I was on the glyburide. So I don't think the bread is the culprit although I do try not to eat too much bread in a day.
I will try switching to butter though. Love the taste so this won't be too difficult.

I don't understand the so called expert's philosophy of testing only twice a day and at random times. How is this going to tell me how what I am eating is affecting my numbers? They almost make it sound as if what I don't know won't hurt me. That is pretty much what she said after I attended an Easter buffet and ate stuff I shouldn't have then tested afterward and was horrified at my numbers. She told me I shouldn't have tested at all. How else would I know how bad it was and how I better not do it again?

I know my A1C could be worse and it was at diagnosis (10%) so this is a vast improvement but still not low enough. I have tried to get the test solution for my meter only to find they don't sell it at any pharmacy in town and they can't get it from the company supposedly... I have no idea why that is since there was a bottle in with my meter when I first got it.

Thanks so much for all your very good ideas. I will keep plugging away and trying new things and hope I can get this figured out.

Hey! I was a nurse, buster. They aren't always right. I was, but not all nurses are.

I personally have gotten used to the turkey bacon and kinda like it now. When I have eaten regular bacon I am shocked at the salt in it... it almost makes my hair stand up on end. As do most things that are processed. I am quite sensitive to salt now because I have been using No Salt for a couple of years. Turkey bacon tastes sort of salty too but not like bacon bacon.

I know it is not a crime to indulge occasionally but even when I do I am careful to not go too crazy but still my high numbers astound me. My husband agrees with "the nurse" and thinks I can afford to have a good time sometimes and it was for him that I went to the Easter buffet in the first place but I refused to have that waffle, even though I really wanted to! What control.... LOL

I'm on the True Track! Which is the right track! I never feel alone on these boards.

Thanks Chris :)

Can you taste all the salt in cheese too Lanie? I find anything with cheese in it is too salty, even if I don't salt for seasoning.

I think the answer here is to cut my carbs even more. I had a lower carb supper tonight and tested at 9 pm and was at 4.9! That was amazing to me. I haven't had such a good reading in a long time.
I guess if I have to eat really low carb then so be it. If that doesn't work then I guess I will have to get the doc involved and the next step will be insulin.