A Day Living with Chronic Pain

Maybe You are Like Me

I’m 63 years old, I’m in a wheelchair most of the day. I have Type II diabetes, fibromyalgia, a blood condition (essential thrombocythaemia) and I’m very overweight. I have degenerative discs in my back and have lost 2 inches of height and my left hip is deteriorating fast. I also live in chronic pain and disability.

I am retired and these are supposed to be my “golden years”. But they are not so “golden” after all. I spend most of my day in pain ranging from mild to severe.

5:30 am. I’ve been back and forth from my bed to my massage recliner in the living room more times than I can count. There is just no position that is comfortable enough to allow me to go to sleep. My bed has 5 pillows on it that I use to stuff around my body to try to get comfy but they don’t work much. I’m fat and it is difficult for me to move about in my bed anyway. Rolling over is a chore and getting up and into my wheelchair is painful. My left hip freezes up and every movement causes a sharp pain. I suck it in so I can sit up by the bedside and transfer to my wheelchair to move to my recliner and try it again. Actually, I use my transport chair in the house because the wheelchair doesn’t fit into my bathroom doors and tears up the walls and doors. The transport chair is smaller and fits, but I have to move it forward by shuffling my feet. Getting over the door sills is hard because I have to push fast and hard to pop over them and if I aim wrong, I still hit the door frame and sometimes cabinets hard and gouge into them.

Once I move into the living room and get close to my recliner, I dread the transfer because it brings on more pain as I stand and turn to sit in the recliner. Once there I can use the remote to lean back and start the massage. That feels nice and I can turn on the heat too. For a while, it feels good, but then I get too hot. I throw off my small lap blanket and get back in the transport chair to go turn the overhead fan on. Again, the move is painful, but I get settled back into the recliner and am a little more comfortable. I may fall asleep for a few minutes.

6:30 am. By now, my body is fixed in the somewhat sit/recline position and my left hip is beginning to lock up again. I move around – throw that leg over the arm and try to stretch those hip muscles. It really hurts a lot – a sharp pain, very sharp pain, as I start to stretch that hip. But I know I need to keep stretching it. I try several different moves, holding the leg out straight – or as straight as I can, flexing my buttocks, the pain moves down into the front of my knee. I rub that knee but it doesn’t help. I stuff my lap blanket under that hip to give support, at first that helps but then it begins to ache more and more. Now I’ve got to get up out of the recliner – which again causes pain during the transfer to the chair. I gingerly move the chair over to the kitchen table and drink some of the coffee my great husband has fixed for me. I need to check my blood glucose level (BGL) and take my morning pills. Hopefully, the Tramadol and the Cymbalta and 2 extra strength Tylenol will cut the pain in a little while. My left leg has pain running down it to the knee and I can’t lift it without a sharp pain deep in the hip. I prop my legs on the shelf under the table and start stretching that leg very slowly. I hurt but gradually that sharp pain goes away. I push my chair back from the table and stand up to stretch the buttock muscles and ligaments and while it hurts, it feels good too. I stand for a minute and my leg feels better. I can now sit and take my meds.

Afterwards, I go back to the bedroom and lay down on the bed flat (as I can get, on my back with my legs out as straight as I can – maybe with a pillow under my knees. I flex both legs and try to straighten them out more each time. I do this through the pain in my hips and at last, I feel I can turn on my side with a pillow between my knees and relax for awhile. Maybe I sleep a few more minutes. I’m on my left side and it works for a while. But eventually, the hip begins to ache from my body weight on that side and I turn over. The first movement makes me what to cry out – it hurts, but I keep going and after a few attempts I swing over to lay on my right hip. Darn, the pillow between my knees falls to the floor. I grab another of the 5 bed pillows and stuff it between my knees. Now I try to relax laying on my right side. This side is not as comfy as my left side was at first. and I’m so close to the edge of the bed I feel like I may fall off. I can’t relax. 10 minutes later, I decide to go back into the living room and get in the recliner again.

This is my routine much of the day and all of the night. I average only 1-2.5 hours sleep each night. I never feel rested in the morning and I’m tired all day long.

My Day

About 9:30 I decide to get into my step-in tub. I love this tub, my only issue is it takes lots of hot water and our tank doesn’t quite handle it. If Mel has showered recently or the dishwasher or clothes washer has run, my water will turn cold before the highest jets are covered. Most of the time I have to turn the jets on at the lower level and just use them. I stay in as long as I can and my hips begin to feel looser and the pain lessens. It takes a while to drain and it is chilly waiting on the water to all drain out. I get out and get dressed, although most days I just put on a loose gown to wear around the house.

I try to do some housework like folding clothes, unloading or loading the dishwasher, wiping the counters and running the dust mop over the floors. Thankfully they are all hardwood or tile. We replaced all the carpet so my wheelchair would move easier around the house. We also purchased a Roomba auto vacuum. I love my Rosie vacuum cleaner and she cleans our floors every other day. I gather up the folded clothes and deposit them in bedrooms and towels into the linen closets. I unload the dishwasher and put the items on the cleaned counters. Mel puts them on the shelves since its so hard for me to stand and reach the shelves without dropping dishes and breaking them. I cook but Mel helps with lifting heavy pots and pans and getting things in and out of the oven and pouring out hot grease. I also get him to do the heavy cutting, as I’m not too great handling knives. I dust furniture but Mel has to do the tops of things that are higher than I can reach. I also use the swifter to damp mop our floors but I must admit I often hurt after doing that. I can strip our bed and wash the bedding but Mel has to put it back on.

Speaking of dropping things, I HATE to drop things, then I have to bend over and try to pick them up. This is very painful to reach down so far and my hands have become less nimble because of the neuropathy from Diabetes. I can’t pick up small items like I used to. I dread seeing something on the floor that needs to be picked up.

My laundry is a hallway with the washer and dryer on one side and my pantry cabinet on the other. I roll my chair into the closet one way to move clothes from the dryer and clean out the lint filter. I have to back out and roll in backward to load the dirty clothes into the washer and move then into the dryer. Sometimes I drop clothes as I move them, especially socks and I dread picking those up.

I carry the clean and dry clothing in a basket to the living room and fold them on the couch. Then, I take the empty basket back into the laundry hallway to put on top of the dryer. Carrying things can be somewhat difficult. My big, loose gowns come in handy as I form a pouch and put things in and close the pouch with my teeth and roll around with my “bag”. In my walker, it is even more difficult to carry things around.

After I finish these daily chores, I either go to my PC and work on my blogging or my digital art or one of my online classes I take. I do tend to sit there too long and when my hip begins to hurt again, I start my recliner to bed ritual again. I read books, either from the library – hardbacks or on my large screen iPhone and the Kindle app. I read a lot, I can read two or more books a day.

Right now I have two chiropractic appts each week and 2 physical therapy appointments each week and I try to go the indoor pool 3-4 times each week at least.

Leaving the house requires me to get fully dressed and I use my cane to move from my transport chair inside my house to the car. Depending on my much pain I’m in, this is more or less difficult. I can usually drive with no problem unless my left hip is really hurting. It’s nice to be able to still drive and go places. When I get to the chiro or PT places, I had been getting my wheelchair out of the trunk (not easy because it is awkward moving it from the trunk and opening it from the folded position and it is not very light. It is harder getting it back into the trunk after my appointments or my swims.

The chiropractic adjustments do not hurt. The worst thing is getting up onto the table tummy down and then getting off the table and putting my wheelchair back in the trunk of the car.

Now the PT appointments are another matter. I like the Technicians that work with me, they are very nice, but they do push me (they are supposed to do that). Most of the exercises hurt, but I try as hard as I can and I sweat a lot from the effort. They starting working on straightening me out and stretching the hip and thigh muscles that had shortened from my 3 years in a wheelchair. At this point, we are working on my standing and balance and moving my legs and feet and walking. This is proving difficult and I usually am breathing very heavy very quickly during the exercises. They want me to begin using my walker more and coming to my appointments in it. Oh boy! After the first appointment where we did a lot of standing and walking, I hurt so much that I couldn’t get up on my feet or even go to the pool for two days straight and got no sleep at all for two nights. I believe this is my fibromyalgia acting up when I overdo. I’ve experienced this before when I felt good and did too much. I’m trying to not overdo like that again.

At my next PT appointment, I told the technician and she cut back some of the work and I didn’t have as bad a reaction that night.

Mel and I have purchased me a lighter walker that is easier to fold/unfold and it stays in the car now to make it easier for me to take to my appointments. I’m starting, very slowly to use the walker more, but I’m still in the wheelchair or transport chair a lot.

Each time I go to the indoor swimming pool, I use my wheelchair to get inside and back out – there is just too many steps and I have to carry my swim bag also. I change in the locker room and roll out to just beside the steps into the water. I can hold onto the bars and make it into the pool. Once in the pool, I feel so much freedom, it is WONDERFUL! I no longer feel the weight on my spine, hips and left knee. I can water walk and exercise with the noodle mostly without pain. I always do 10 laps on my back and 100 squats at the 3-foot level, then I walk back and forth across the pool many times and do pushups on the steps and some water aerobics. I try to really stretch all my muscles in my legs and arms. I recently participated in my first “water aerobics class” in months and I made it through without having to stop. I’m trying to increase my squats in the water to help strengthen my legs so I can walk better out of the water. But after about 1 hour and 15 minutes, I get out and go to the hot tub to soak and stretch for 15 minutes. But all good things come to an end and I finally must get out, shower, get dressed and go home. It hurts to lift the wheelchair into the trunk of the car. When I get home I use my cane to go from the car to the house and my transport chair again and that hurts once more. But hey, I felt so very free for about an hour and a half.

I’m usually tired and can take a short nap when I get home from the pool. Later I’ll read or go work on my pc again until I cook dinner. Mel and I eat and then we like to watch Netflix movies. Right now we are watching all 8 seasons of “Dexter” one episode after another – about 5 episodes each night. I try to do exercises in my recliner while watching TV. I have ankle weights and an exercise band now to use and some light hand weights. Mel goes to bed at 10 pm every night on the dot and falls to sleep instantly. I stay up and begin my recliner to bed ritual, over and over. I talk to God and Jesus evry night and when the pain is really bad I post on Facebook for my friends to pray for me. This does help. Sometimes I practice walking with my walker or standing at the back of a chair and getting up and down and stretching my legs and hips. I’m hoping to eventually regain enough strength and enough pain relief from the chiro and PT that I can use the walker a lot and even outside my house. Right now it’s slow going because the pain is mostly always with me and overdoing causes regular relapses. But maybe if I keep it up along with my diet, I will eventually reach my goal of getting out of this wheelchair and walking again on my own.

I must confess, I often watch other people, as they get up and walk about and bend and pick up and carry things with great envy. I remember that I once could do that myself and I pray that I’ll be able to do it again one day.

Nothing is easy right now. Mel and I went to the Library Wine Pull social last evening and it was held outside. My wheelchair did not do well over the rough ground, so Mel and I didn’t stay very long.

Hope

But each day is new and I’m hoping one day they will become much easier if I keep working at it. Meanwhile, I grin and bear it like many others who live in chronic pain and if you ask me how I’m doing, like them, I will say “fine”.

I’m not looking for sympathy, but I do want to help folks understand more about those who live each day dealing with pain and disability. I enjoy my life for the most part unless the pain is very severe. I enjoy my reading, my painting, my online classes. I have a great husband, a cool monster dog, friends, and I enjoy floating with my kayak buddies. I have a wonderful daughter who is on the mission field and I Facetime with her regularly, I have a sweet step-daughter and 5 wonderful grandkids. I’m hoping to see the girls in California next year and I’m planning a trip to see my daughter’s family in Papua New Guinea in about 3 years – one of the reasons I’m really working on my health starting right now. I talk with my God regularly and lean on Him. I am a “listener” each week for our church’s AWANA club and enjoy the kids.

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below. In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes. Please share your interests and questions in your comments. I also love to hear others stories about how they handle their own diabetes issues. I send out a monthly newsletter around the 1st of each month. If you would like to receive that email newsletter, you can sign up here.

– Shirley

The 31 Day Keto Challenge – Take it!

I Challenge You!

After a slow July, at least as far as my weight loss and health goals are concerned, I’m heading into August with a brand new initiative. Starting today I am beginning my 31-Day Keto Eating Challenge. From July 27th through August 26th, 2017 I will be living a “keto lifestyle”.

What do I Mean by a “Keto Lifestyle”?

Image of a breakfast of lean bacon, tomato slices, and a zip-lock omelet. — A breakfast of lean bacon, tomato slices, and a zip-lock omelet.

I read this today in the keto book I’m studying today.

“The Ketogenic diet consists of high amounts of fats, ample proteins and fewer carbohydrates. It forces the body to use fats instead of carbs for breaking down to convert them into energy. In our regular diets, we consume more carbohydrate and shun fats. Thus, our body is perfectly adapted throughout history to break down carbohydrates for energy. However, in the Ketogenic diet, we try to change the pattern of our body to break down the elements to be used for energy. We feed our body with more fats and less carbohydrates and thus force it to adapt in a new way to use fats for energy.

Normally, our body would convert food into glucose that would be transported to various body parts. This glucose is especially important in fueling functions of the brain. It is easiest for your body to convert carbs into glucose and use it as energy. Thus, it is obvious that your body will choose carbs over any other source of energy. Our body produces insulin to process glucose in the bloodstream and makes it travel around the body. Since glucose is there to provide energy to your body, fats are not required and hence, stored. However, if you do not feed your body with carbohydrates, the liver starts converting fats to ketone bodies and fatty acids. These ketone bodies enter the brain and pass through it to replace the old source of energy, which was glucose. Thus, all the fats you consume in the form of meats, oils, creams, etc. is broken down and it does not get accumulated in your body. When you lower down the carbs intake, the body is persuaded to enter into a state of ketosis. It is just a natural process, which is initiated by the body to help it survive when the food consumption is low. The Ketogenic diet is known by some other names as well- low carbs

However, if you do not feed your body with carbohydrates, the liver starts converting fats to ketone bodies and fatty acids. These ketone bodies enter the brain and pass through it to replace the old source of energy, which was glucose. Thus, all the fats you consume in the form of meats, oils, creams, etc. is broken down and it does not get accumulated in your body. When you lower down the carbs intake, the body is persuaded to enter into a state of ketosis.

It is just a natural process, which is initiated by the body to help it survive when the food consumption is low. The Ketogenic diet is known by some other names as well- low carbs high-fat diet (LCHF), low carb diet. The ultimate aim of a well maintained Ketogenic diet is to persuade the body into a metabolic state. But, this does not mean that you have to go hungry on calories. However, you just have to strictly control your consumption of carbohydrates. It is definitely easier than starving on fats.

Noll, Mathew. Ketogenic Diet: Do’s And Don’ts For Beginners: How to Lose Weight and Feel Amazing (Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss, Ketogenic Diet for Beginners, Anti-Inflammatory Diet) (Kindle Locations 129-140). UNKNOWN. Kindle Edition.

While in ketosis, your body effectively uses fat for fuel. In general, the daily intake of net carbs required to enter ketosis could vary from 20 to 100 grams per day (and very rarely over 100 grams per day). Most people, who have experienced ketosis, claim to have reached that state at about 20-50 grams of net carbs per day.

My goal will be to eat one/two meals each day after a fasting period and stay under 20 grams of carbohydrates total for the day to ensure I will reach a state of ketosis. Once I get my body into ketosis, continuing extremely low daily carbs should keep it there as long as I eat correctly.

What will I be eating?

My diet will consist of lots of good fats, a moderate about of proteins and low glycemic vegetables. The more natural the food, the better. So I’ll try to get organic vegetables if I can; and meat, poutry and fish that are free-range or wild caught. I will avoid sugars, starches, alcohol, wheat, legunes, dairy and soy (to keep inflammation down). This will include cutting back on my cheese, which I love. I will be able to have some heavy cream and almond and coconut milk. Good fats are full fat cream, real butter, olive oil, meat, bacon, fatty fish, coconut oil, eggs. I will avoid peanuts but can eat almonds, walnuts sparingly as well as low glycemic fruit.

I need to be careful eating dairy-especially cheeses and nuts as they can contain too many carbs.

I need to eat to satiety when I’m hungry with low-glycemic, carbs, good fats and adequate protein.

Ketogenic diets are high in fat, adequate in protein and low in carbohydrates. Generally, the macronutrient ratio varies within the following ranges:

60-75% of calories from fat (or even more),
15-30% of calories from protein, and
5-10% of calories from carbs.

The exact amount of fat and protein is a matter of individual body responses and activity levels. However, most people on ketogenic diets don’t consume over 5% of calories from carbohydrates.

Additional Goals for the Challenge

I’m not abandoning my Intermittent Fasting during this time, but plan on staying on a schedule of 18:6 with 2 meals or 23:4 with one meal a day. I will not plan on doing fasts of 24 hours or more, since that is problematic for me – as I’ve found out the last month of my plateau due to “cheating” on my part. (because I don’t handle hunger well).

The most important thing, in the end, is for me to stick to the Ketogenic diet. The process of ketosis will happen in my body as it starts to depend on fats for my energy instead of carbohydrates and sugars; I cannot just “cheat once” on my plan without consequences. If I do, it will ruin my efforts of the past one week with just one cheat meal! It would take another one week to get my body back to ketosis and function in a fat-burning mode again. So I’m giving myself an emotional break in sticking to the shorter fasts during this challenge and trying to keep my hunger under control

During the period of this Challenge, I’m planning on doing a lot of reading and research on the keto lifestyle and meal plans. I have downloaded several e-books to read and look over during the period. Here’s a snapshot of the different books I have in my Kindle Library. Most of these were free to purchase or free to borrow through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

I’m also reading on this blogsite: http://2ketodudes.com/ (2 Keto Dudes)

Physical Lifestyle modifications

It so happens that I just started with a new Chiropractor today. So I will be keeping track of how the chiropractic treatments are working on me the next 4 weeks.

Also, I will be starting some physical therapy next week. So I will also be reporting what I’m doing and how that PT is working for my pain and flexibility.

I will not really be doing any extra exercising other than my weekly kayak float and occasional time in the indoor pool. When I do go to the pool I will try to do so in a fasted state which will help me create more growth hormone so I lose weight and build muscle better.

I WILL be trying to increase the amount of water I drink each day.

It will be very interesting to see how the diet, PT, and Chiropractic adjustments will affect my weight, inflammation and pain levels, as well as my flexibility and mobility after this month.

Recordkeeping

I will be logging the following measures daily:

Weight
Morning Fasting BGL, insulin doses
BGL before and after 1st meal, insulin dose if given
Macros for 1st meal
BGL before and after 2nd meal, insulin dose given
Macros for 2nd meal
Total Carbs for the day
Total Calories
Fasting hours each day

Comments

– Shirley

Let’s Check Out the Whole30 Plan

When I Decided to Eat the Whole30 Way During 2016

An image of a plate of green beans wrapped with bacon.

Recently, I’ve been reading more posts in the various groups I frequent about those who have decided to change to the whole30 way of eating. This is certainly a change I can agree with and I must say that I decided to eat this way during 2016 and I lost 30 pounds that year which I attribute to the Whole30 way of eating.

What is Whole30?

Whole30 is a clean-eating plan created by Dallas and Melisssa Hartwig which is based on an initial 30-day nutrition plan that emphasizes healthy, whole foods and getting rid of foods that tend to cause negative health issues in people.

Continue reading “Let’s Check Out the Whole30 Plan”

More of the “Sunshine” Vitamin

Get your Daily Dsssss

Several of my docs have said I’m low on Vitamin D and I need to take a supplement. My bloodwork showed I was low. So I’ve been researching this vitamin we all know as the ‘Sunshine Vitamin” because we get it from the sun.

Vitamin D is produced in our bodies in response to exposure to the sun, eating certain foods and by taking supplements.

There are several forms, including two that are important to humans: D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is synthesized by plants, and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is synthesized by humans when skin is exposed to ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays from sunlight. The active form of the vitamin is calcitriol, synthesized from either D2 or D3 in the kidneys. Vitamin D helps to maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus.

There are real benefits to making sure you have adequate vitamin D.

It fights disease (like MS, heart disease and the flu)
It helps with weight loss
It helps with depression

I take one or two vitamin D3 supplements each day. (2000 IUs/each pill) Continue reading “More of the “Sunshine” Vitamin”

Why do I have Food Binges?

Fail and Binge – Yes I Do

I have been doing so well with my LCHF eating and Intermittent Fasting, and I love all the benefits and the way I feel when I’m doing things right. But I do occasionally have some issues. I have the occasional binge eating fail. This is so disturbing to me when I do that and I feel awful afterward, both emotionally and physically. My fibromyalgia pain returns, my hunger is out of control and my blood sugar tends to go way up because of what I eat.

This time, I had a real binge day yesterday. I was really hungry the last couple of days and I cooked a hamburger meal with sweet potato fries, coleslaw, onions, tomatoes, baby spinach leaves and for dessert (this was so wrong!) I cut up strawberries and mixed them with blueberries, and served them with Cool Whip topping. I ate my hamburgers with buns too – I usually don’t but couldn’t resist yesterday. And last night I cut up the rest of the fruit and then ate several “sugar-free” cookies which still have carbs in them and are not good for me. I ate some salmon dip with almond crackers too. So I totally blew it yesterday. Today, I’m getting back on track and fasting with water and coffee only. Continue reading “Why do I have Food Binges?”

The Body is Simply Amazing!

Our Bodies are Amazing

That was my thought as I got on the scale and weighed this morning. The scale displayed the number 228.4. I was amazed because yesterday was a day I ate a lot. I had two meals (my Break Fast meeting with the support group and then two servings of crockpot pork tenderloin and veggies which included Irish potatoes and carrots) and then I binged on chocolate. I rarely do that, but I was feeling low, had a stuffy nose and my hip was hurting and I was alone most of the day. I found my husband’s stash of little chocolates and succumbed to the temptation – twice actually. I probably had 20 of his mini Hershey dark chocolate bars. Then I threw the wrappers deep into the trash bin.

Needless to say, my fasting BGL was 361 this morning, so I definitely dosed myself with Novalog. But I am still amazed at the 228 pounds since I’ve been pretty stalled at over 230 pounds for a while. Maybe my body needed a binge day. I had set my next weight goal at 220 and it had looked very bleak at reaching that number for a month and a half now. But today is a full fasting day for me and I’m assuming tomorrow’s number on the scale will be less that 228.4. Maybe I’m going to reach 220 after all. I’m going to drink lots of water to help my body purge toxins today. Continue reading “The Body is Simply Amazing!”

A Keto Asian Salad Recipe – Guest Post

Keto Asian Salad

My name is Shirley Dawson, and I’m writing this guest post for Jasmine, the author/creator of the AsianFruitWorld.com blog site.

I have been a type 2 diabetic for years, beginning my treatment with metformin tablets and then eventually requiring insulin injections. I have learned that I can control my blood glucose levels to a great extent with my diet. As part of my changing WOE (way of eating), I’ve turned to whole, less processed foods. I shop around the edges of the supermarket in the produce and meat areas. I enjoy using healthy, even organic produce in my meal preparation. I tend to eat and love great salads. In addition, I try to eat low-carb to reduce the carb effect on my body’s blood glucose levels.

During 2016 I ate a “whole30” style diet and lost 30 pounds. I’m continuing eating low-carb during 2017 and I’m losing even more weight. I can happily eat a salad every day and I’m even creating my own salad cookbook “Salads to Live For” which I hope to publish some day. Continue reading “A Keto Asian Salad Recipe – Guest Post”

Learning How to Eat Ketogenically to Lose Weight

Ketogenic Eating

For the past two weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of research on practicing a ketogenic lifestyle. I’ve found out a lot about keto eating, its benefits and how to incorporate it into my intermittent fasting (IF) life. This week I began preparing keto meals in a serious fashion. I’ve been trying to eat more keto for while now but only recently figured out what I was doing wrong.

What Is Keto Eating?

image of fresh, gluten-free sald — A fresh, gluten-free salad

Keto is a really low-carb, high-fat diet. It is similar to the Atkins, South Beach, and Paleo diets. But it is even fewer carbs and more good fats. This extreme reduction in carbohydrate intake will put your body into ketosis metabolically. When ketosis is happening, your body burns fat for its energy instead of carbs or glycogen from the liver. Instead, of storing energy in the form of glycogen, the liver turns the fat into keytones, which supplies energy; your brain especially loves ketones.

There are several keto methods of eating. I’m using what is called the Standard ketogenic diet (SKD) – a very low carb, moderate protein and high-fat diet. My diet contains 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs. At least that’s my goal. The first day of eating true keto for my only 2 meals that day, I dropped 3 pounds overnight. Boy, do I love those Whooshes! I can handle many more days of those. In my research on keto, I realized that I have not been eating enough good fat. I’m finding out that one of the reasons I’ve been having trouble with fasting for more than 20 hours, is that I get too hungry to hold out. I’m finding out that when I eat enough fat and the appropriate kind of fats; now I do not have the hunger I was battling with and losing to. I feel this is going to make all the difference in my fasting and my weight loss. Continue reading “Learning How to Eat Ketogenically to Lose Weight”

My insulin injections made me fatter!

Why my insulin injections and insulin resistance make me gain weight

Another part of the curse of being a Type 2 diabetic is that the treatment for my diabetes made me gain weight and gaining weight was hurting me. It’s a vicious cycle. My blood glucose levels go up, my doc prescribes more insulin to be injected, I gain weight and my blood glucose goes up more, so I need more and more insulin to force my blood glucose levels down. As a diabetic, we find out that much of the standard treatment for our disease actually makes it worse instead of better.

In my research on insulin resistance and insulin and studying Dr. Jason Fung’s articles and videos, I’ve learned that insulin injections are not what my body needs to get better. I was taking 182 units of insulin daily to keep my blood glucose numbers within a decent range. But then I began intermittent fasting to lose weight and improve my health, I gradually reduced my insulin injections and within 2 weeks, I was off all my insulin injections and my average blood glucose level was 145. My Intermittent fasting was like doing bariatric surgery to my body. But it was bariatric surgery without a knife. Bariatric Surgery is surgery enforced fasting according to Dr. Fung. Continue reading “My insulin injections made me fatter!”

New Pictures taken Today

Took New Pictures Today

This is after 112 days practicing Intermittent Fasting.

Down almost 30 pounds.

Lost 15 inches overall.

Insulins reduced by over 2/3 most of the time.

Went from size 4X to size 2X clothing.

Before beginning IF - front view — Me after 112 days on IF

Comments

Thanks for looking at my site and coming to this page. I would love for you to leave any questions or comments below. In addition, I’m open to new topics to research and comment on as they pertain to my own health and experience living with diabetes. Please share your interests and questions in your comments. I also love to hear others stories about how they handle their own diabetes issues. I will be sending out a monthly newsletter starting in May 2017. If you would like to receive that email newsletter, you can sign up here.

– Shirley