I am a diabetic

[kitten645]

EVERYONE in my family has it except my siblings and a few cousins.. It is cureable in alot cases. I was diagnosed boarderline about seven years ago and that was enough of a kick in the keister to get me on the right path. It was either eat right or medicate. I lost the weight and have been good about watching it.
The one thing I would say, that even diet soda triggers a "not full" response in your metabolism so watch that.
I finally got tired of being sick and tired and that's what worked for me. Good luck and know you have support at PT.

[Grace]

It is cureable in alot cases.

Diabetes is not curable. Type 1 is an auto-immune disease in which the pancreas does not produce insulin. The only cure for this would be a pancreas transplant.

Type 2 is preventable. Once you get it, it is chronic - unless of course you have one of those gastric by-pass procedures.

Gestational only occurs during pregnancy.

[smokey the elder]

I know a lot of diabetics. One thing that you should do, until you get adjusted to your meds, is to have hard candies for hypo attacks. My former boss almost passed out but had the presence of mind to suck on a hard candy.

Also, you do get used to the artificial sweeteners with time. Good luck!

[momcat]

A better bet than hard candy might be glucose tablets. You can get them in just about any pharmacy. I keep them here at home, in my desk at the office, in my back pack. They're very effective treating low blood sugar but are NOT a substitute for eating. Ask your endocrinologist about them.

Also, the American Diabetes Association website is an excellent resource. That's how I found the endocrinologist I'm currently seeing. There's a lot of valuable information to be had.