Diabetes and travel!

ricgabriel

Hello cyberhippie

I'm replying to your post as a medical doctor and not as a india traveler because i'm going there for the first time next month. as you probably already now there are two main types of medication used on diabetes. the antidiabetic oral pills and insulin. I guess that if mrs cyberhippie fond out recently she will be taking the oral pills and not insulin. Would be interesting to know which... Still, i would suggest you to take the test from yourcountry since parameters and sometimes the way of working with the device might be different and it would be too much of a time waste to work with a new one!!!
As far as dietary concerns i wouldn't be very concerned about indian food. Diabetics should have an healthy dietary program, still not any different from the one wealthy people should have. Rapid glucose should be avoided (sugar, sweets, cakes, chocolate, etc) but rice, pasta or bread are nothing to worry about when not taken in excess. another concern is that your wife should always do 5/6 meals during the day. Breakfeast, small morning lunch (fruit, small bread, milk), lunch, small afternoon meal, dinner and something light before going to bed. Always consider that quantity should never br the motto!!!

If you have any more question please ask!

Ricardo

cyberhippie

Thanks for your time Ricardo

As you rightly guessed, she has started on oral medications, and been given a barrage of tips on diet and weight loss. She meets with a dietician next week to get some more practical advice on eating properly!
Thanks for the info on test kits I think I'll just buy one here as we're probably going to need it here for the next couple of months! Apparently the test strips are covered by out medical insurence!!

One thing I would like to ask : is the 6 times a day eating regime, something that should be followed religiously, that could cause a few minor problems, so say she missed one meal, if forced, is that a big problem!!
Or is the 6 times a day eating regime fundemental to controling your sugar levels??

Again, thanks so much for your time!!!!

ricgabriel

No, it is nothing as religious as that!!
The 6 meals are a way of helping the blood glucose levels to be on a balanced level instead of having big ups and downs. That is also why big meals are most unrecommended. So if a meal is passed by there isn't that a big problem but she should do it whenever possible. also note that one of the biggest acute danger of diabetes (note: very very rare if caution is taken) is low glucose levels due to not eating when taking medication (also more frequent when taking insulin) so be sure to always have something to eat in case you need to. But still you'll find out and i hope she does too, that diabetes is very easy do deal with once she has the right mental availability to accept some life changes... She will do just fine. Still blood glucose levels should always be checked!

Best of luck
Ricardo

cyberhippie

Thanks a lot Ricardo

If you ever need help with you upcoming India trip just let me know!

vandy

hi there,I also have type 2 diabetes,I would suggest taking your own test kit
type 2 can be controlled by weightcontrol,exercise and diet,also tablets are
prescribed to help keep sugar levels stable,someone mentioned earlier that
their mum has reached levels of 300, WOW that is extremely high, I try and
keep my sugar level under 10 most of the time,it should be half that,
eventhough I live in australia I still love my indian sweets which I have had
to reduce as they are full of sugar,

anyway have a wonderfull and safe trip, rgds,paul - perth australia

ricgabriel

Dear vandy and other IM's

The difference in question is that some countries use the glucose levels in g/l, while others use in mg/dl. So what you mean when having 10, in others countries that some value would be 100 mg/dl. So when the 300 is referred it means, by your country values, 30 g/l, which is still very high.

Ricardo

rangss

What...you forgot the jilebi, rasgulley, ras malai, rabdi etc? How about tons and tons of alu, ghee, sharbat, dal bati churma, puri bhaji, gulab jamoon, gajar ka halwa, etc.

Man! Indian 'rajsik' diet has a red carpet laid out to diabetes.

Must stick to the 'saatwik aahar'

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ricgabriel

Are those sweets??? Don't have clue...

wonderwomanusa

>What...you forgot the jilebi, rasgulley, ras malai, rabdi etc? How about tons and tons of alu, ghee, sharbat, dal bati churma, puri bhaji, gulab jamoon, gajar ka halwa, etc.<

Not to mention the curd that's so sweet they've sugared it before serving it to us...

machadinha

A friend of mine has it (don't ask me what type, I know next to nothing of the disease) and I know she's usually fine but will sometimes just suddenly be unwell and has to eat something then and there. So being on the move maybe pay a little extra attention to carrying whatever appropriate nutrients on you (sugary or the contrary? see what do I know), that is leave it less open to luck than you normally might -- you know those trainrides where the million platform vendors have suddenly gone on pilgrimage or something. RicGabriel's advice there sounds just sound.

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maddog

Mrs Cyberhippie here.
I want to thank everybody for their time and their advice. I really appriciate it!
I got a personal glucose testkit for my birthday and tried it out just now and got 7.1, which is way down from what it was. I hope I learn to get it under control soon.
Again THANKS !

kiranlal

i think you can use wheat rather than rise because of the time taken or releasing energy is longer , it also works in the way as small diets in short durations, so dry chapathy is better than steamed rise . avid doash and Iddaly , vadai etc, the black gram is contraindicated .
you can get some Ayurvedic herbal drinks which have proven hypoglycemic effects.
in ayurveda we use the Turmeric (Curcuma longa)as one of the anti diabetic medicine in many combinations.
Gymnema sylvestera, Stricnus pottatorum, accasia cattechu are some others .

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A big world and small people

wonderwomanusa

Happy to hear you are doing so well!

cyberhippie

First up thanks to all who contributed their experience, to what was initially a worrying situation.
Mrs cyberhippie is doing great after shedding 20 Kgs and making the changes in her diet!!

Her last monthly average was around 6.7 which is just great!!

In return for all the support I got here on IM I thought I'd just write few lines on our travels in India as a diabetic!!

First up we found there to be a real understanding of the needs of diabetes in restaurants. India has a lot of diabetics, so it seemed alsmot everyone we met knew someone from their family or peer group with diabetes, this made things a lot easier as at least thay knew what we were talking about when requesting special needs in restaurants even the humblest chai wallah was able to accomodate our request for Chai with no sugar!!
So your dietary needs can be easily met in India

The sugar substitutes were very good (better than in Europe actually none of that bitterness you find in saccerins) and at 128 rupees for 360 tabs very affordabl, ask for Sugar Free at the chemists. Contains aspartame!!

We also came across a bitter gourd extract called Karela which is said to help Diabetes (thanks to the above poster who told us about the benefitial proprties of Bitter Gourd) don't know effective this is but a natural product can't be doing you too much harm!!

The brand we bought was from Sunova and cost 55 rupees for 60 capsules!!

In summing up India was really very easy to travel even with our new concerns, with a little care all your diatery needs can be met whilst eating some dang fine food!!

greenchutney

hey CH...a really close relative is type 2 as well~..have to regularly monitor glucose levels and every six months of blood tests to check your iron, calcium, kidneys and liver indicators...better get used to the lingo...creatinine, globulins, haemocritites... exercise is a big big component~

this is going to be a huge huge problem in india in the coming years...along with divorces lot of potentials for dieticians (eek spelling) and divorce lawyers... lot of business opportunities if anybody is reading my post

jokes aside...i would suggest looking up homeopathy and some yogic exercises...

on a more very general note; if you also want to read about alternative therapies like ayurveda..just look up about siddha and unani as welll...

oh yes..karela is excellent and in juice form the best....but its so so bitter....if you making a vegetable stirfry for lunch say..add a bit of jaggery to lessen the bitterness...