Progress?

janeyred

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Diagnosed with diabetes on 18th January this year with an hb1ac result at 79 (9.4% or 12.3mmol). Just starting third week on lchf diet (thanks to this website)! Thank you!! Never has food been so delicious and no hunger pangs!!

Purchased a blood glucose meter and taken first reading this morning - a fasting test before breakfast which shows a drop to 8.3mmol (6.8% or 51 using the conversion table on here).

Is this reasonable progress? GP wants me to go back for a second hb1ac test immediately to check the first one was accurate.

Have to say I feel 1000% better since eating this way! No bloating and far more energy already!

I'd prefer to stay drug free if possible.

Thanks

Janey
 
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November1115

Well-Known Member
Messages
732
Type of diabetes
Type 2
@janeyred hi welcome to the forum.... well done on your blood number! Glad you are feeling great. Sure @daisy1 will come along wt a welcoming msg for you...

Good luck in your diabetic journey x
 
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janeyred

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
@janeyred hi welcome to the forum.... well done on your blood number! Glad you are feeling great. Sure @daisy1 will come along wt a welcoming msg for you...

Good luck in your diabetic journey x
Thanks November! Was hoping for a lower reading but I guess any sign of downwards has to be good and as they say Rone wasn't built in a day!! I'm just being impatient lol!!
 
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Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Well done on taking the advice about a low carb diet and on getting to grips with this condition, and well done on your first test result..

Just a little piece of advice. Converting your single fasting test to an HbA1c figure is pointless. It was just one test of your BS level at that moment in time. You need many, many more tests over a long period of time taken at different times of the day, particularly after meals before you could anticipate any sort of HbA1c figure.
 
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daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@janeyred

Hello Janey and welcome to the forum :) Here is the basic information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 

Liam1955

Master
Messages
10,964
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Anti-Gay People, Self Centre People, Two Faced People and Bad Language.
@janeyred - Hello and Welcome to the Forum:) Test before you eat and then 2 hours after eating, this allows you to see if? any foods give you a "spike". Exercise is also good at lowering blood sugars.
 

Redsnapper

Well-Known Member
Messages
257
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hey Janey.A great start well done so far.My initial diagnosis was 75 and it took me about three months to get a noticeable improvement.It does take some time, my personal theory is that it takes a while to get stored glycogen in the liver to reduce.
As previously advised keep testing and keep a food diary to see which foods you can tolerate.
Above all stick around here and check out other people's experiences.Don't expect your doctor or other HCP's to be on board with LCHF.Be prepared to stand your ground tho,it works for many.
Check out the what have you eaten today thread and success stories for inspiration.
Good luck.
 
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janeyred

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thanks guys!! Such wonderful support am so grateful to you all. It seemed a very lonely place when I first got diagnosed .... Whoever breaks the news goes home at the end of their day and carries on as before whereas the diagnosee has to reconsider their whole life .... But now I feel resolve and strength to get to grips with this condition and maybe once I am with experience I can help others too ultimately.

Many many thanks again X
 
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Redsnapper

Well-Known Member
Messages
257
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
You are most welcome.It really does get easier as you get to grips with it.It can become a bit all consuming at first.I did become a bit of a "diabetes" bore with friends and family I am sure.But now a lot of things are second nature.
You will get on top of it. Stick with us here and you will soon know at least as much,and in my experience more than some of your HCP's.You could argue that is the way it should be.After all it's our condition.
We have all been on the journey too.
 
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Prem51

Expert
Messages
7,393
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
*
Thanks November! Was hoping for a lower reading but I guess any sign of downwards has to be good and as they say Rone wasn't built in a day!! I'm just being impatient lol!!
Hi @janeyred and welcome to the forum! It does take time to get your BS levels down. I only went down from HbA1c 49 on diagnosis, to 44 at my 3 month retest despite a pretty rigid diet and walking around 10 miles on most days.
I hope to be below 42 at my next HbA1c test in August.