Breast cancer and diabetes

Call your Endo. To me, the se from high glucose are scarier than cancer. You don’t say what D meds you are on, there’s a lot out there, including adding insulin.

Your Endo can help.

Prairietwin- do you take a set dose of each insulin or do you change up the dose based on your blood glucose numbers and the amount of carbs you’re getting ready to eat/what your bedtime and fasting numbers are? If you don’t change the doses yourself, you need to go see your doc as soon as you can get in or at least call and talk to the nurse/diabetes educator so they can help you get them back under control. If you do change your doses according to your sugar, then go ahead and get the sugars under control by changing the dose accordingly-just don’t change both insulins at once. Starting with mealtime is usually the best bet that’s when you're putting additional sugar in. You can also ask your doc if a glp-1 or a SGLT-2 would help (he will know what those letters and numbers mean).

Hi, My mom has diabetes too. She's also taking Letrozole, but it doesn't cause her blood sugar to spike. For her diabetic medication, she takes metformin only. In fact, she has controlled her diet very well so much that the doctor has reduced her dosage of metformin to only 1 pill after each meal. Before that, she was taking 2 pills after each meal.

Do you try to consume Low GI food? For my mom, what had really worked for her is changing her diet completely.

Hi Prairietwin2,

This is a breakdown of what my mom typically eats. Hopefully it gives you an idea what kind of food she eats to maintain her strength and weight, yet it doesn't spike up her blood sugar readings.

Breakfast: 5 scoops of Nutren Diabetes Milk Powder, 1 slice of Low GI bread with Peanut Butter (no sugar), 1 slice of wholewheat cracker with Peanut Butter (no sugar). Then she chews on 1 remaining green apple. I cut into 4 slices and use the apple pieces for juicing, and give the rest of the green apple for her to eat. Go google Peanut Butter brands for diabetics. The one my mom takes has no sugar, they only use a bit of sea salt to give it flavour.

You can also try Avocado Toast if you want to feel full longer. Tuna on Toast is also good. The key is choosing Low GI bread - Whole Grain Bread.

Mid morning Juice - Half a red cabbage, 1 carrot, green apple without skin and seed, Ginger, Lime, Spinach Stems. You can also add Kale if you want.

Mid morning Snack (if she's hungry) - A few bites of the ProtiLife Diabetic Chocolate Peanut Bar OR Gullon Sugar Free Wafer Chocolate Crackers. Google those brands, they make snacks and biscuits for diabetics.

Lunch Concept: 2-3 types of vegetables, 1 carbohydrate serving (1/4 cup), 1 serving protein, and if there is clear soup. 1 serving of fruit.

Example of Lunch - Boiled Red Spinach Leaves and drizzle with Olive Oil, Boiled Bell Peppers, OR Boiled Sweet Potato (IF she is eating Boiled Sweet Potato, I would not give her any other carbohydrates anymore). If she's not having Boiled Sweet Potato, then I do the following:

Sometimes I stir fry fish slices with a whole grain noodles and egg. You can also replace it with Brown Rice Pasta. OR Stir fry chicken breast with whole grain noodles and egg.

OR Tuna Egg Mayo (Go light on the Mayo) on some bread or Croissant.

OR Wraps (Choose whole meal wrap). Inside the wrap I'll always put 2-3 veggies (example lettuce, boiled tomato, boiled cauliflower), scramble egg and some chicken.

SOUP of the day: depending on what I cook. Sometimes I make Onion clear broth soup, OR Watercress soup, OR Lotus Root Soup, OR Pumpkin clear soup which is our favorite! You can eat the pumpkin slice and treat it as a veggie serving.

Fruit: HALF an orange OR Half a dragon fruit, OR 1 slice of watermelon, OR 8-10 grapes. (Grapes are typically sweeter, during earlier days, we had to test her blood sugars everyday after 2 hrs after dinner, and for my mom, 8-10 grapes are OK for her and it won't make her blood sugars go up too much, so test it for yourself how many grapes you can safely eat) OR 1 kiwi, OR some strawberries.

Actually for fruits, typically you can eat almost every fruit, you just need to find the RIGHT amount that you can eat that doesn't cause your blood sugar to spike up.

Afternoon Snack - 5 scoops of Nutren Diabetes Milk Powder, and again if she's a little hungry, she will take a few bites of diabetic biscuits.

Dinner Concept is the same as Lunch Concept.

But I'll cook Low GI rice if she already had noodles for lunch. For protein, I usually steam fish for Mom. Steam salmon or cod with olive oil and ginger slices, and then do a light soya sauce (reduced sodium) and put some sauce over the top and serve. If it's not fish, I'll cook some chicken which I marinate over night, with rosemary, pepper, sesame oil and light soya sauce to give it flavor.

Veggies: Boiled Cauliflowers OR Broccoli OR Asparagus, OR Spinach. These are the ones my mom would eat as they are soft if I boil them correctly. Sometimes salad. Go light on the sauce. My mom likes Roasted Sesame Sauce.

SOUP :Same as above. I usually cook a pot, so there is enough soup for lunch and dinner.

Fruit : Same as above.

AMOUNT OF Carbs per meal : Mom eats 1/4 cup per meal. That amount works for her. It keeps her full and doesn't cause her blood sugars to spike. Again, everyone is different, you may need to monitor and see what amount of carbs works for you and tailor it to suit you.

Hopefully that helps!

Hi Prairietwin2,

No worries, I hope it was helpful! Please post your updates, would love to hear from you what worked. Wishing you all the best in getting the blood sugar levels in control!

AliceB... hi 8) I was diagnosed by fasting blood sugar after I presented my PCP with my symptoms. These days they don't do the 3 hour fasting sugar test much anymore. BUT I'd certainly demand a fasting sugar test. You're A1c is normal and could not mean diabetic condition. Personally I think its irresponsible of your Dr to not have tested you and just given you Metformin... he could given you something worse. Good luck with finding another Dr and I hope you find one who listens to their patients!