Peony50 - Learning to live with Type 2

[peony50]

Hello All,

I hope you don't mind me starting a new thread but I didn't wish to derail others' threads with my ramblings.

A very little background information about me, I am 50, about 3 stone overweight and have had fibromyalgia for many years and diagnosed type 2 in August 2014. My levels are not bad, so the idea is for me to manage it through diet and exercise. Sadly, I have not got a handle on this, the nurse thinks I am in denial, I don't know about this?

My concerns are with the fact that my mother suffered a severe stroke in 2012 which has left her disabled, and my grandfather also had a stroke and he too had type 2 diabetes. My mum was very fit and healthy prior to her stroke, not overweight like me. I feel like I need to get control now, especially as the years pass I am likely to become the carer for my parents.

I am on a number of different medications, three for high blood pressure that I have had for 21 years, Atorvastatin, Vit D and calcium, Amitryptyline for the fibromyalgia.

So, to help me understand more what is going on I invested in a meter and I have been taking readings:

Today's are as follows:
Waking: 8.7
Breakfast: Before 8.3 After 8.7
Two slices Vogel toasted

Lunch: Before 7.4 After 7.2
200g Chana dhal

These numbers don't seem bad to me, but should I be aiming for 5's to 6's?

Any tips will be appreciated.

 

[DeejayR]

Hello again! Those numbers are not bad at all and well done for your commitment. Have patience. Perhaps you feel hemmed in by your meds and fearful to do anything that will make things worse. So please take it easy and remember that you are not your dear mum or anyone else in your family, and you can start on your road to wellbeing straight away.
If you want to try a low-carb diet, do it gently. Exercise in whatever way you can. Test first thing in the morning, before every meal and two hours after the first bite. You will get a pattern, plus some hiccups which we all get and we can set your mind at ease about those.
If you have a sympathetic GP or nurse who will support you with this regime, terrific. Probably you won't, but don't worry, we can help.
You can find the kind of food we eat in the various postings here and I promise it doesn't have to be repetitive or boring. My imagination is kept at full stretch when making my shopping list and my dear missis kindly eats it all. She seems pretty healthy and so do I.

 

[peony50]

Hello again! Those numbers are not bad at all and well done for your commitment. Have patience. Perhaps you feel hemmed in by your meds and fearful to do anything that will make things worse. So please take it easy and remember that you are not your dear mum or anyone else in your family, and you can start on your road to wellbeing straight away.
If you want to try a low-carb diet, do it gently. Exercise in whatever way you can. Test first thing in the morning, before every meal and two hours after the first bite. You will get a pattern, plus some hiccups which we all get and we can set your mind at ease about those.
If you have a sympathetic GP or nurse who will support you with this regime, terrific. Probably you won't, but don't worry, we can help.
You can find the kind of food we eat in the various postings here and I promise it doesn't have to be repetitive or boring. My imagination is kept at full stretch when making my shopping list and my dear missis kindly eats it all. She seems pretty healthy and so do I.

Many thanks for your kind words. It certainly does help having this forum and all the experiences of people on the same path.

I am certainly finding it interesting to see the effects that different foods have. My readings for today have been:

Waking 8.7
Breakfast Before 8.3 After 8.7
Lunch Before 7.4 After 7.2
Dinner Before 6.0 After 7.8

One thing, my hubby has noticed that my hands are trembling, which they can do, sometimes it is difficult to get the fork safely to my mouth without dropping all the food everywhere! Any ideas if linked?

Off to explore some nice LCHF recipes

 

[DeejayR]

Your BS numbers continue to be good & steady. Trembling hands is out of my ken. Someone else here may be able to suggest a cause. Keep up the good work.
I'm just testing after eating a piece of toasted granary bread with cheese. It doesn't look too good but I'll know for certain not to do it again!

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I agree those numbers are quite good. Also I can't comment on the trembling. To help reduce the weight you need to reduce the carbs in your diet which will also help keep the blood sugar down

 

[Ruth B]

I agree the number are pretty good, a bit higher than ideal, but as the post meal spike is fairly small the overall readings should come down in time.

I am not an expert on trembling hands, but if you have recently changed your diet to one that is lower carbs it could be that your body is used to higher BS levels and is giving you a false hypo. If it is only just before and during a meal then this is a possible cause which will sort out as your body gets used to having 'normal' BS levels. Occasionally if my BS gets into the low 4s I get trembling hands, normally just as I am trying to prepare the meal, my OH has occasionally taken a knife off me and chopped the veg himself worried that I might cut more than just veg.

Should the trembling be something you suffer from generally I would mention it to your doctor, just to rule out anything else, or if necessary start medication early should you need it to stop its progression. (Hope I am not scaring you, but having a father who suffers from Parkinsons, I firmly believe that it is best to have the right medication as soon as possible)

 

[peony50]

Thank you all for your helpful posts.

DeejayR, how did your body react to the cheese on toast? I haven't had cheese on toast for a while, trying not to think about it too much

Daibel, I went low carb in June 2012 when first diagnosed with pre diabetes and did well, losing 18 pounds within 2 months. Then with mum's stroke and me comfort eating it all went by the by. Now is the time I knuckle down and get on with it.

Ruth, many thanks for your advice. I think the trembling tends to occur before, during and just after eating, but I will keep an eye out for it to see if occurring more frequently.

One thing I am noticing is that my numbers often seem to be better after eating at the 2 hour stage than before eating. Does this mean that my body is processing the carbs/sugar efficiently?

My breakfast was not low carb, it was 41g All Bran with 111g not too ripe banana with full fat milk. Before I was 8.4, After 8.0.

Just had a low carb lunch of bacon and egg and before was 7.6, after was 6.0 which I am happy about.

Finding testing fascinating! One question, do you find it easy to arrange disposal of the lancets and test strips? At the moment all mine are in an old coffee mate tin! Not sure whom to contact to arrange disposal, and also do they need to be disposed off within a certain time frame?

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hello, please make an appointment to see your GP about the trembling hands, it really does need investigating.

Take care

RRB

 

[dingdong]

Finding testing fascinating! One question, do you find it easy to arrange disposal of the lancets and test strips? At the moment all mine are in an old coffee mate tin! Not sure whom to contact to arrange disposal, and also do they need to be disposed off within a certain time frame?

GP should supply yellow Lancet box if on script or you can buy them. You can also take coffee tin to surgery or some pharmacies will dispose of for you. No time limit.

 

[peony50]

Morning all,

Here is to a new month!

Thanks RRB, I need to see my doctor soon for a HBA1C test so will mention it. Also, must mention that my one foot has been feeling strange, numb heel. I don't think my blood levels are bad enough to have affected my foot though, so perhaps it is the fibromyalgia ?

Thanks dingdong for the advice, silly I know but it was the disposal of the items that was making me anxious, now I feel ok about it.

Today we should be receiving a pair of bathroom scales so it will be 'interesting' to see what I weigh, it will not be pretty. Today is also the day I will start adhering to LCHF principles. For breakfast it will be bacon and egg. Lunch will be ? Dinner will be fish pie that is already in the house but I will scrape off the mashed potato.

I will need to go food shopping very soon and buy in more friendly food.

BBL

 

[Brunneria]

Hi,

@Mike D had trembling hands, and I think they improved when he stopped with statin, but maybe he will pop in and explain.

- no idea if you are on statins, but it could easily be some other drug or similar. I get the shakes and hand trembling from 2 things, too much cofee, and when I hypo. But a doc visit is always advisable.

 

[peony50]

Hi,

@Mike D had trembling hands, and I think they improved when he stopped with statin, but maybe he will pop in and explain.

- no idea if you are on statins, but it could easily be some other drug or similar. I get the shakes and hand trembling from 2 things, too much cofee, and when I hypo. But a doc visit is always advisable.

Thank you for this. Interesting as I am on Atorvastatin 20mg for high cholesterol. Had high cholesterol for many years but I did not go on a statin until after mum's stroke, so been on them since August 2012.

Not wishing to appear like a hypochondriac but do any of you get extremely itchy lower legs since being diagnosed with type 2? Sometimes my skin is so itchy It drives me to distraction, thing is it can disappear and I forget all about it.

 

[Brunneria]

Thank you for this. Interesting as I am on Atorvastatin 20mg for high cholesterol. Had high cholesterol for many years but I did not go on a statin until after mum's stroke, so been on them since August 2012.

Not wishing to appear like a hypochondriac but do any of you get extremely itchy lower legs since being diagnosed with type 2? Sometimes my skin is so itchy It drives me to distraction, thing is it can disappear and I forget all about it.

Again, this is purely anecdotal, but Mr B finds that an excess of dairy (particularly cheese) will make his legs itch. If he eats enough, he will scratch himself to blood in his sleep. Even more, and he will get itchiing elsewhere on the body.

But I think (and hopefully someone else can give more info) there are other itchy things connected to T2.

Maybe worth a Google?

 

[jack412]

I would go to a specialist and be fully assessed for the shake, parkinson's also travels with T2, my x has just been diagnosed with it.

have you moved to a low carb diet yet?
From the Southport gp who posts here
http://www.practicaldiabetes.com/Sp.../March 2014/PP Unwin final proofs revised.pdf

it’s a long page and a few good video’s
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
For me, the more carbs we eat the more carbs we want. they don’t give up easy
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/firstweek.htm