Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[BadExample]

Well, I got up at about 9, got coffee, drinking that and felt nauseated, then feverish, then vertigo and really dizzy like when us GOFs stand up too fast. Went for the floor before I fell to the floor. Next thing I remember was my wife rubbing sugar in my mouth. Feel OK now, just tired and weak. I thought I had got to the floor ok, but when I got up again around noon, I found a nice sore lump above my right temple, so I guess my head broke the fall. No dents in the floor. I guess I didn't eat enough last night. I cooked shrimp and pasta and ate a small bowl, but that was pretty early. Back to lie down now.

 

[Stumbo]

Well, I got up at about 9, got coffee, drinking that and felt nauseated, then feverish, then vertigo and really dizzy like when us GOFs stand up too fast. Went for the floor before I fell to the floor. Next thing I remember was my wife rubbing sugar in my mouth. Feel OK now, just tired and weak. I thought I had got to the floor ok, but when I got up again around noon, I found a nice sore lump above my right temple, so I guess my head broke the fall. No dents in the floor. I guess I didn't eat enough last night. I cooked shrimp and pasta and ate a small bowl, but that was pretty early. Back to lie down now.

Do you test your sugar before bed? How about before driving?

 

[BadExample]

Not yet, because this is the first time I had that kind of reaction. I usually get low blood sugar during the late morning and eat something right away. I just feel jittery and get that feverish feeling. I usually avoid it by eating on time. Always have some snacks with me. I'm not on any meds or insulin yet, but it's probably coming. My triglycerides are always sky high.

I won't be going to bed without a full meal anymore.

 

[Al Kraft]

Not yet, because this is the first time I had that kind of reaction. I usually get low blood sugar during the late morning and eat something right away. I just feel jittery and get that feverish feeling. I usually avoid it by eating on time. Always have some snacks with me. I'm not on any meds or insulin yet, but it's probably coming. My triglycerides are always sky high.

I won't be going to bed without a full meal anymore.

Take care of yourself shipmate!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Take care of yourself. We only have one @BadExample !

 

[G-Dog]

Well, I got up at about 9, got coffee, drinking that and felt nauseated, then feverish, then vertigo and really dizzy like when us GOFs stand up too fast. Went for the floor before I fell to the floor. Next thing I remember was my wife rubbing sugar in my mouth. Feel OK now, just tired and weak. I thought I had got to the floor ok, but when I got up again around noon, I found a nice sore lump above my right temple, so I guess my head broke the fall. No dents in the floor. I guess I didn't eat enough last night. I cooked shrimp and pasta and ate a small bowl, but that was pretty early. Back to lie down now.

. Wowser! Be very careful, sir! Please!

As you'e finding out, low blood sugar can be much more dangerous than when it is high! Fortunately, it is much easier to treat. The morning fasting BGL test may be the most important of the day. There's precious few points between normal and deadly low! While highs are usually much more easily tolerated as you drink water and exercise to bring it down, in the absence of insulin.

A bit of juice before coffee may be needed, and maybe even some cream and sugar in the coffee. (Black coffee is not your friend.) A glass of milk, perhaps. Then some normal breakfast carbs, like biscuits, danish, coffee cake, etc. Yes, for diabetics, breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day. But it's important to know "how much of what you need" for breakfast.

You sound quite prepared for the late morning crash, alright. But, please, don't trust only to your feelings for the dreaded early morning coma prelude.

 

[BadExample]

Thank you fellas. I get the fasting blood test every 3 months from the bloodwork the doc orders. Always normal, except a bit high once, a few years ago. I eat a good breakfast, then usually have my big meal at lunch. Friday I think I just didn't eat enough during the day, then I had a pretty small meal that night. Now I have a lump on my head to remind me! I only get the symptoms of low sugar maybe once a year (now that I have a controlled diet). That's usually when I get sucked into long meetings or something. It's a balance, between the high triglycerides and keeping the sugar up, because I'm supposed to lay off the carbs. Both of those beat on your pancreas too and can lead to type 2.

 

[agedhorse]

Take care of yourself. We only have one @BadExample !

and it's a good bad example at that

 

[ric426]

Well, I got up at about 9, got coffee, drinking that and felt nauseated, then feverish, then vertigo and really dizzy like when us GOFs stand up too fast. Went for the floor before I fell to the floor. Next thing I remember was my wife rubbing sugar in my mouth. Feel OK now, just tired and weak. I thought I had got to the floor ok, but when I got up again around noon, I found a nice sore lump above my right temple, so I guess my head broke the fall. No dents in the floor. I guess I didn't eat enough last night. I cooked shrimp and pasta and ate a small bowl, but that was pretty early. Back to lie down now.

Geez, glad you didn't have any more damage than a lump on your head! Is your neck ok after getting whacked in the head? Sometimes it's one thing after another, ain't it? Want me to send you my spare bike helmet? My wife swears that she's gonna start making me wear one all the time. I think she just wants to keep all the younger women away from me. As if that's a problem.

 

[ric426]

For the past couple days I've been asking myself if I really need teeth. Went to the dentist 'cuz I bit down on something while eating dinner, got a sharp pain and the tooth stayed really sensitive. I figured I'd cracked a filling, but it turned out that a tooth under an existing gold crown went bad and needed a root canal and a replacement crown. That'll be $2800 dollars please, and by the way, on the xrays we notice that your two lower front teeth have a problem with the roots and you need to see an endodontist to see if he can save the teeth. Saw the endodontist, he did an exam (only $315) and said that I've got external resorption on the roots of those teeth (my body is dissolving the roots for some unknown reason) and they'll have to come out and by the way, there's not enough bone left for implants, so I'll need a bridge. He'll send a report to my dentist. This is getting worse with every step. Go back to the dentist, he says he can do the extractions, but I'll also need bone grafts to make the jaw strong enough to support the bridge, then they'll put a temporary device in to maintain the space while it heals. After 8 weeks, once the permanent bridge is made, he'll grind down 1 or 2 teeth on each side of the gap to support the bridge and glue the sucker in and it'll cost at most $10,000, but possibly $2400 less if he only has to do a 4 tooth bridge. ***!?!?!?! In the space of 2 weeks I went from thinking I cracked a filling to owing between $10,000 and $13,000?!?!?!



Anybody know which dog foods are the most palatable? I may have to change my nutritional sources.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Take care of yourself. We only have one @BadExample !

Oh I don’t know - I admit to being naughty at times.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Gig went well. Great audience who appreciated every thing we did. Lots of applause. PA worked well, IEM system had a crackle and was unusable. Finally picked up my bass and we started. I didn’t get time to tune. I compensated, I was using my fretless, but it was hard work. Had fun the rest of the night.

 

[BadExample]

Geez, glad you didn't have any more damage than a lump on your head! Is your neck ok after getting whacked in the head? Sometimes it's one thing after another, ain't it? Want me to send you my spare bike helmet? My wife swears that she's gonna start making me wear one all the time. I think she just wants to keep all the younger women away from me. As if that's a problem.

Neck is getting really sore, but not any worst than before the head whack. Thanks for the offer, but I've already got a couple of full face MX helmets (for work), an open face Bell 500 (for eating) and a couple of full face street helmets (for church) I can wear. 4 bad disks in my neck. I put it in 13 Lbs of traction last night, but feels worse today. I think I'll back off that to 10#.

 

[BadExample]

Gig went well. Great audience who appreciated every thing we did. Lots of applause. Pa worked well, IEM system had a crackle and was unusable. Finally picked up my bass and we started. I didn’t get time to tune. I compensated, I was using my fretless, but it was hard work. Had fun the rest of the night.

Good to hear you had a great evening, Sir Paul, The Occasionally Bad Example!

 

[ric426]

4 bad disks in my neck. I put it in 13 Lbs of traction last night, but feels worse today. I think I'll back off that to 10#.

I found the same thing when I was doing home traction. Sometimes more isn't better.
I found some really good heat pads that have given me a lot of (temporary) relief. They're basically a plastic bag in a soft cover with some kind of malleable clay in them that you pop in the microwave and they stay warm for at least a couple hours. Wonderful stuff. I've only seen them at Walmart, but if you go looking for them, don't bother with the ones that look the same but have some kind of gel in them. I like 'em because you don't have to deal with power cords or worry about turning them off. I've gone to bed with one on my neck, woken up a few hours later and it was still kinda warm.

 

[G-Dog]

Thank you fellas. I get the fasting blood test every 3 months from the bloodwork the doc orders. Always normal, except a bit high once, a few years ago. . . .

Sounds like you're talking about the A1C test that gives you an average blood glucose level over the last 3 months on a scale from usually 5 to 15. And averages, as you know, can contain some high highs and some low lows, which can be dangerous but aren't reflected in the average.

I'm talking about the instantaneous, stick-your-finger-and-put-the-blood-on-a-stick-in-a-meter test that gves a BGL number between (hopefully) 90 to 200. Higher can make you thirsty, dizzy, jittery, lethargic, maybe even blur your vision. Lower brings jitters, nausea, dizziness maybe even loss of consciousness (sound familiar?). These highs and lows don't show on the A1C, but have a very detrimental cumulative effect. If you take this test at least first thing in the morning, but before every meal is better, you'll get more relevant indications of what's happening.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Just watch out for them “No Sugar Added” chocolates. Eating them can become a moving experience!

 

[biguglyman]

Did a gig a couple years ago at a local club. Never had a sugar issue before. I work nights so when I woke up the afternoon/evening of the gig, I had a quick "breakfast" of leftover pasta around 5pm, loaded up, headed for the gig. Did my usual can of Monster pre-performance and some gatorade during the show. At my age (60+) I find that drinking alcohol during a performance is counter-productive. After the show (3 full sets over 4 hours) we pack it up and load up the vehicles. So it's now about 1:30am or so. I take the last load out to the truck and meet the drummer out in the parking lot where he offers me a hit of some "really good sh!^". Shows done, I've been a toker since before I started drinking so I said sure, just one. Went back in to the bar to sit and have a beer. Sat on a bar stool and immediately started sweating, feeling dizzy. Next thing I know I'm on the floor with people asking if I'm ok, knuckling my breastbone, etc. I'm assuming it was a sudden drop in my blood sugar precipitated by my lack of proper nutrition and that one hit. Hasn't happened since and my latest physical exam blood-work came back fine. Kinda scary. Took me about 15 minutes or so and a glass of oj before I could get back up off the floor. It's hell getting old, but it beats the alternative...

 

[G-Dog]

. . . . It's hell getting old, but it beats the alternative...

One of my favorite quotes that I learned from my dad decades ago. I pull it out every time my friends and I seem to get into a downward spiral. It usually brings a chuckle that helps the mood.

This weekend I had another reminder of the benefits of old age: seeing my children grown in to responsible, caring adults and grandchildren turning into loving human beings.

Have a Merry Christmas season, everyone! Let's all try to do whatever it takes to keep on keeping on.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

...I'm talking about the instantaneous, stick-your-finger-and-put-the-blood-on-a-stick-in-a-meter test...

These highs and lows don't show on the A1C, but have a very detrimental cumulative effect. If you take this test at least first thing in the morning, but before every meal is better, you'll get more relevant indications of what's happening.

This, +1,000!

My youngest has pancreatic scarring asa side effect of Cystic Fibrosis. The CF also screws up his digestion, which further complicates the management of his diabetic symptoms.

As we recently discovered, repeated marginal lows over a number of weeks can mess up your blood chemistry and set you up for catastrophic seizures.

He’s only had the one, but it was touch and go. Definitely the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced.

We’re MUCH more liberal/careful with the glucose testing now.