Diagnosed last Friday with T2 Diabetes

[Dave from Weeton]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum. Oh dear, you didn't stand a chance!
Well done so far, keep it up and don't be too hard on yourself; it's a long road.

Thank you. I am not expecting an immediate improvement in my HbA1c at my next test in about 4 weeks given the nature of this marker and that it reflects my BS over the last 6 - 8. Hopefully by that stage I will have seen a good reduction in my weight and I will have a good idea of the kind of LCHF diet that will work for me so I can start to test to establish what does and does not affect my BS. Given that I still have little idea what my diet will in a month I am not sure whether it will be worth testing yet as I am mainly cutting the carbs rather than putting fat back in. What do others think about testing in the first month?

 

[4ratbags]

To be honest I didnt own a meter in the first month but then again I was too sick to eat as well so my initial weight loss and reduction in BS was pretty good. You have already made some great changes to your diet and a meter will help you fine tune your food choices over the coming months no doubt. It took me a year to sort myself out so it is definately a marathon and not a race. It is very much a personal decision only you can make as to when to get a meter and what structure to follow in your testing regime, just remember there is a reason to test and that is to determine what foods affect your BS and to see if your BS is reducing. Its no good to simply get a meter and to just test whenever, thats just a waste of time and money. My diet is pretty much sorted now so I rarely test during the day at all now but it is always great to have it on hand.

 

[seadragon]

Thank you. Maybe I should have emphasised that my primary means of weight loss was cutting back drastically on the carbs and replacing the small remainder with low GI in bold and capitals . My reluctance to cut them out completely is due to the fact that I am reasonably active and would not like to do vigorous exercise without any in my diet. As to testing well no doubt this will tell me whether I should cut out further or even completely. What do others think about testing in the first month?

Don't worry about doing lots of exercise on a low carb diet. Have a look at the dietdoctor.com website as there is a lot of free and very good info on there about low carb diets (and not calorie restricted ones either which would seem a harder ask to me). There are also videos about exercise and being fuelled by fat. When I ate a normal diet with plenty of 'good' carbs e.g. porridge and wholewheat bread and pasta I could barely run 50 yards with out being out of breath. Since adopting the low carb high fat diet i have taken up weight training and HIITs exercise and am currently training for a 10 k run in the summer - can happily get up in the morning and run 3 - 4k before breakfast! and still not feel hungry!
Also I would definitely get a meter and start testing after foods to see what foods spike your blood sugar. People can be spiked by different things so you need to test to see what affects your blood sugar and the you can find alternatives or cut those out of your diet. The sooner you can get blood sugar under control through diet the sooner you are likely to lose any excess weight. Be aware that losing weight does not 'reverse' diabetes for everyone. For some of us it makes no difference (except for the other general health benefits being lighter brings).

 

[Daibell]

If you follow a LowCarb diet you should start losing weight and Lowering your BG in weeks not months,and like many T2D,s on this forum reverse your diabetes,when you start looking at the food you can eat there a lots things that are surprising, bacon and eggs fried in butter,nice fatty pork chops,Mayo, full day Greek yogurt ,the opposite to what you have been told and it works

Agreed

 

[Dave from Weeton]

Don't worry about doing lots of exercise on a low carb diet. Have a look at the dietdoctor.com website as there is a lot of free and very good info on there about low carb diets (and not calorie restricted ones either which would seem a harder ask to me). There are also videos about exercise and being fuelled by fat. When I ate a normal diet with plenty of 'good' carbs e.g. porridge and wholewheat bread and pasta I could barely run 50 yards with out being out of breath. Since adopting the low carb high fat diet i have taken up weight training and HIITs exercise and am currently training for a 10 k run in the summer - can happily get up in the morning and run 3 - 4k before breakfast! and still not feel hungry!
Also I would definitely get a meter and start testing after foods to see what foods spike your blood sugar. People can be spiked by different things so you need to test to see what affects your blood sugar and the you can find alternatives or cut those out of your diet. The sooner you can get blood sugar under control through diet the sooner you are likely to lose any excess weight. Be aware that losing weight does not 'reverse' diabetes for everyone. For some of us it makes no difference (except for the other general health benefits being lighter brings).

Thank you for pointing me towards dietdoctor.com as it is an excellent site. I am going to give fat a try this weekend when I am off work for three days and intend to do some serious exercise. I have already seen that by reducing most of my carbs and eating more meat/ fats I am not feeling as hungry as expected even though my weight is dropping. I am actually looking forward to breakfasts of bacon and eggs, a breakfast I used to enjoy before I was convinced by NHS to give up saturated fats to control my blood pressure and cholesterol. I have another HbA1c in less than a month followed by another GP appointment when I will discuss testing. I would like them to be supportive given what they have done so far to get to the bottom of my raised blood pressure and anxiety. The fact that even before my diagnosis they told me to cut back on carbs and eat more veg must be a good sign. Furthermore the receptionist at the practice, who is themselves diabetic, did not seem to think my GP would be against me testing. If not, I will buy the Codefree as it has been recommended by many on this forum.

 

[Dave from Weeton]

To be honest I didnt own a meter in the first month but then again I was too sick to eat as well so my initial weight loss and reduction in BS was pretty good. You have already made some great changes to your diet and a meter will help you fine tune your food choices over the coming months no doubt. It took me a year to sort myself out so it is definately a marathon and not a race. It is very much a personal decision only you can make as to when to get a meter and what structure to follow in your testing regime, just remember there is a reason to test and that is to determine what foods affect your BS and to see if your BS is reducing. Its no good to simply get a meter and to just test whenever, thats just a waste of time and money. My diet is pretty much sorted now so I rarely test during the day at all now but it is always great to have it on hand.

Thank you for the advice about testing and that it should be focused on identifying food that does not affect my BS so as to create a diet that will in time bring down my HbA1c. I am not expecting an immediate improvement given the 6 - 8 week period that determines this marker. Hopefully my diabetes is a type that responds well to a LCHF diet to achieve a significant weight loss and bring my HbA1c down.

 

[Prem51]

Hi @Dave from Weeton and welcome to the forum! I went against the general advice on this forum and didn't test for the first 3 months after diagnosis, until after I had my 3 month HbA1c blood retest. But I have since started testing as otherwise I won't know how I am progressing until my next HbA1c retest after 12 months.

 

[Dave from Weeton]

Hi @Dave from Weeton and welcome to the forum! I went against the general advice on this forum and didn't test for the first 3 months after diagnosis, until after I had my 3 month HbA1c blood retest. But I have since started testing as otherwise I won't know how I am progressing until my next HbA1c retest after 12 months.

Hi and thank you. I have another HbA1c in three weeks though I am not expecting a significant improvement as this will only be a little over 4 weeks since my last test (49). Given that have already dropped more than 2kg since diagnosis last Friday I am hoping that my GP will agree to testing, though before I tell her how much I have slashed my carbs and switched to a LCHF, I will gauge her response. Just been for some vigorous exercise for an hour and come back to bacon and eggs! Surprised not to feel hungry given that I've cut out carbs.

 

[Dave from Weeton]

Hi @Dave from Weeton and welcome to the forum! I went against the general advice on this forum and didn't test for the first 3 months after diagnosis, until after I had my 3 month HbA1c blood retest. But I have since started testing as otherwise I won't know how I am progressing until my next HbA1c retest after 12 months.

I have decided to go with what appears to be the consensus route and test before I have another HbA1c in about a months time. Over the weekend I have got my weight down by a total of 3 1/2 kg since 22nd of January but I have no idea whether I have cut everything that raises my blood sugars. Of particular concern is that many responses and posts elsewhere point out that even so-called 'good' carbs cause problems for many. Rather than risking disappointment and possible demoralization if my next HBA1C result is little different despite losing a lot of weight, I have ordered the Codefree and it should be delivered in a few days.

 

[4ratbags]

It will turn out to be your best purchase ever. The.month before my Hb test I stock up on strips and I test my FBG and before and after each meal to gauge a really good picture on what my BS is doing and it seems to work well for me. Last year through doing this I predicted my Hb result would be 35 and it was actually 34 so it gives you a good indication of your progress.

 

[Dave from Weeton]

It will turn out to be your best purchase ever. The.month before my Hb test I stock up on strips and I test my FBG and before and after each meal to gauge a really good picture on what my BS is doing and it seems to work well for me. Last year through doing this I predicted my Hb result would be 35 and it was actually 34 so it gives you a good indication of your progress.

Yes after 4 days of testing with my new meter it certainly is essential to me managing my diabetes. So far it has confirmed that my LCHF diet is working well. Not only is my weight now down by around 6 - 7kg but my low carb choices have had a big impact on reducing blood sugars back to a healthy range. Apart from one try of biscuits when I went up to 9 I have not gone above 7.5 at all. Even this figure was a high spike due to porridge this morning.

This morning I went from a waking 5.4 to 7.5 (tea and V8 veg juice already confirmed as having little effect). I find this spike incredible given that the sachet of a well known instant porridge oats that only weighs 27g with a claim of 15.9g of carbohydrates raised my blood sugars by 2.1 in 2 hours. No doubt these 'healthy' oats maintained a reading of 6.5 5 hours later!

 

[Klangley]

Yes after 4 days of testing with my new meter it certainly is essential to me managing my diabetes. So far it has confirmed that my LCHF diet is working well. Not only is my weight now down by around 6 - 7kg but my low carb choices have had a big impact on reducing blood sugars back to a healthy range. Apart from one try of biscuits when I went up to 9 I have not gone above 7.5 at all. Even this figure was a high spike due to porridge this morning.

This morning I went from a waking 5.4 to 7.5 (tea and V8 veg juice already confirmed as having little effect). I find this spike incredible given that the sachet of a well known instant porridge oats that only weighs 27g with a claim of 15.9g of carbohydrates raised my blood sugars by 2.1 in 2 hours. No doubt these 'healthy' oats maintained a reading of 6.5 5 hours later!

I found in the early stages of my 'eat and test' porridge spiked my blood sugar also. I just avoided it thereafter. I never really enjoyed it anyway, apart from feeling self-righteous that I was 'eating healthily' Of course now I understand what eating healthily really means.

Congratulations on your early weight loss. As you are probably aware some of that is fluid so things will be a little less dramatic (but constant if you keep the faith) thereafter.

 

[paula.nolan42]

@Dave from Weeton

I have just read through yours posts with interest - I am diagnosed since end of November 2015 - I had just tipped over into 16 stone - so technically obese - I found this forum and it has been a blessing really - lots of great people with brilliant personal experience who are happy to share and encourage - the Porridge is an interesting one, Dr Michael Mosley says that instant oats (porridge) is not good but proper regular oats are better.

When I got the T2 diagnosis I was (hba1c)73, 6 weeks later I was down to 63, I did blood tests yesterday and am waiting for the results - Having read the advice of many here, I have reduced 'bad' carbs and have stated exercising and I want to test my BG - I am waiting for my testing kit to arrive, but I am delighted to read that monitoring has helped you control things - I hope its the same for me

Good luck

 

[Dave from Weeton]

I hope your results have/ will turn out well. I have another HbA1c myself in just over a week so hopefully these will reflect the changes already made. Having lost over a stone in the last 3 week I have just gone from obese to 'over weight', more importantly the weight is coming off from my waist and stomach area. Even had to reduce my blood pressure medicine (ARB) by half yesterday to the lowest dose following discussion with a GP due to low blood pressure at work!

 

[amgrundy]

I found in the early stages of my 'eat and test' porridge spiked my blood sugar also. I just avoided it thereafter. I never really enjoyed it anyway, apart from feeling self-righteous that I was 'eating healthily' Of course now I understand what eating healthily really means.

Congratulations on your early weight loss. As you are probably aware some of that is fluid so things will be a little less dramatic (but constant if you keep the faith) thereafter.

Hi I had trouble with porridge now through someone telling me to try the Raw Oats from Aldi 89p a bag. I have no trouble eat them soaked in Alpro almond yogurt with raspberries delicious!!! you can only but try.

 

[paula.nolan42]

I hope your results have/ will turn out well. I have another HbA1c myself in just over a week so hopefully these will reflect the changes already made. Having lost over a stone in the last 3 week I have just gone from obese to 'over weight', more importantly the weight is coming off from my waist and stomach area. Even had to reduce my blood pressure medicine (ARB) by half yesterday to the lowest dose following discussion with a GP due to low blood pressure at work!

My HbA1c was down again to 53. Onwards & Downwards eh !?!

 

[Dave from Weeton]

Had my Second HbA1c test last Monday and got my results today. Four weeks after diagnosis when my HbA1c result was 49 I am now 44!

Thank you to all those that pointed me in the right direction with my LCHF diet and persuaded me to get my meter so I could Eat to my Meter sooner rather than later. Looking forward to my GP appointment next week when I will be discussing the benefits of a LCHF diet and testing.

 

[Dave from Weeton]

Even better news, I just received my letter from NHS regarding my first Diabetic Eye Screening Test and it has come back normal. My weight is still dropping off, 2 - 3 pounds a week and my blood pressure continues to drop . At this rate it looks like I will be off the medication in a month or so as I have already reduced to the lowest dose a month ago.

7 weeks after diagnosis I haves still not heard from the DESMOND course, not that I will be wasting my time going given the success of LCHF diet and testing. Without this site and similar I would no doubt be worse and medicated by now!

 

[Prem51]

Well done @Dave from Weeton! You are doing great. What did your GP say about you doing LCHF?

 

[Dave from Weeton]

Well done @Dave from Weeton! You are doing great. What did your GP say about you doing LCHF?

Funny enough the Doctor made no comment at all when I mentioned I was on a LCHF diet and again it was the same when I mentioned I was using a meter to test. The good news was that I was down for a further HbA1c test in three months and this has now been put back to six months. In all a rather strange appointment given I had had such a significant improvement in my diabetes and blood pressure within 5 weeks of my diabetes diagnosis yet there was no discussion about what I had done or potential hazards beyond a discussion about my blood pressure medication.