Hi ethansmommy3. Welcome to the DIS and a special welcome to WISH. I'm glad to see you here.
My husband is type II diabetic diagnosed in 1988. He never controlled his diabetes and he ended up with two heart attacks (one he didn't know about and a serious one). The second heart attack resulted in a quadruple heart bypass in 1998. This threw a scare into him for about 6 months. While he followed the diabetic diet he just couldn't get his blood sugar under control. His glycolated hemoglobin stayed right up around 9.2 which is a dangerous number to have
After about 6 months he just gave up trying. He never tested his blood sugar although he had several different glucometers at home. He put off his appointments with his cardiologist and internist and just asked for medication refills as long as they would allow it and when they would finally say no more refills he would go in and have his blood work and examinations. He went from the diabetic diet (which back then was quite high in carbohydrates) to eating what he wanted and that happened to be just about anything high in carbs and lots of those foods. I would find empty packages of Hostess cupcakes, all kind of fast food bags and the healthy lunches I had made for him would be in the trunk, molded. About the only thing about his diet that wasn't bad for him was that he drank only sugar free soft drinks.
So, then I gave up too. Why make him a lunch that fit his diabetic eating plan if he was just not going to eat it? I just had to live with the knowledge that he was going to die fairly young. It hurt and made me sad but I did my best and it wasn't good enough. So, I gave up and watched his health decline
The doctors had told both of us that it wasn't a question of <i>if</i> he would have another, likely fatal, heart attack, it was simply a matter of <i>when</i> unless he could get his blood sugar under control, because diabetes damages the heart even <i>more</i> than cigarette smoking.
Even taking both glucophage and avandia, his glycolated hemoglobins stayed over 9. He always felt bad. He was fatigued and could never get enough sleep, sometimes he would have sham rages when his blood sugar got over 300 and he had a grey face with huge charcoal gray circles aroud his eyes. Even after he slept 12 hours he had a hard time getting up because he felt exhausted. His eyes began showing diabetic retinopathy and he had several laser surgeries to stop the bleeding in his eyes. He stopped being able to heal like he once did. The slightest bump on his legs left "scars" where the bruise had been. Once when had worn new shoes to the office, when he took his shoe off I saw that it was full of blood. He had developed a blister on his heal but didn't realize it because of the peripheral neuropathy. He had no idea he had a blister so he just kept walking and the blister eventually broke and he kept walking and it just got worse.
I got fairly resigned to the fact that he would likely die several years before me, the genetics were already in place and he was helping them along by not controlling his diabetes.
I'm not going to go into how we got started on Atkins or this post will be just too long--it probably is already. If you are interested in that send me and email and I'll tell you
So, we started Atkins together on 1/9/03. I had no problems. My husband had carbohydrate withdrawal. Slightly queasy, headachey, and grumpy beyond belief.
At the end of the 4th day of induction, however, he came home from walking on the treadmill at the gym and said, "I just feel <b>good</b>". I said, "Praise God" and asked him to check his blood sugar. It was still high but low for him. Instead of 250+ it was 170. At the end of his first week his blood sugar was 120 when he tested it before bedtime. At the end of two weeks it was <100. He was elated. He felt good, his sugar was getting under better control, he no longer had trouble finishing his 3 mile treadmill walk and he lost 13.5 pounds the first week. He was hooked on Atkins and a very happy man.
<i>But wait...there's more</i>
His last physical before starting Atkins was on November 13, 2002. He had his blood work checked again on 2/1/03 three weeks after beginning his controlled carbohydrate way of eating.
I'm going to give you some numbers so you can see how he did:
First his glycolated hemoglobin:
11/13/02=9.2 3/4/03=7.1 4/8/03=6.1 [normal=4.1-6.4]
Fasting blood sugar:
11/13/02=204 3/4/03=not tested 4/8/03=143 [normal=65-110]
His fasting morning glucose is usually a little high because of his bedtime meds. It's called a dawn phenomenon. But even that has improved by 61 points.
HDL cholesterol:
11/13/02=47 4/8/03=56 [normal=30-60]
Total cholesterol:
11/13/02=195 4/8/03=156 [normal=125-200]
Cholesterol/HDL ratio:
11/13/02=4.1 4/8/03=3.3
LDL Cholesterol:
11.13.03=104 4/8/03=85 [normal=60-130]
Triglycerides:
11/13/03=219 4/8/03=123 [normal=10-190]
Sorry this is so long. I just think that in this instance the numbers themselves speak louder than words.
My husband now has a normal skin color, no more circles around his eyes, no more grey tinge to his skin. He has lost 30 pounds, has lots of energy. No longer comes home and goes straight to sleep. He laughs a lot more and he is happy.
He loves the foods allowed by Atkins. Doesn't miss any of the refined carbohydrates except sugar but he is happy with Splenda instead.
He told me after his first March blood work that he intended to continue following the Atkins nutritional approach even if he never lost another pound because he just feels better.
He loves to check his blood sugar now because it just tickles him to see it be 74 or 85 or 100 instead of 275, 400 or 150. He is happy and content.
Both his cardiologist and his internist are very happy and they have both told him to never stop eating the Atkins way. They tell him he is saving his own life by eating this way.
Good luck with this. I'll be glad to send you the rules for induction if you like. The Atkins book, however, is an excellent resource and well worth the $7.99 cost of the paperback.
If I can offer you any more help or answer any more questions send me a private message or email. I'll do my best to answer your questions and help all that I can.
Katholyn
). It's back in control now and I've lost 8 pounds. 
I love her but I could just bop her sometimes. At any rate....
