- Messages
- 5,972
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hi, I'm Jo, from the Netherlands. I've been reading threads here and there, but it wasn't until yesterday that I replied to someone for the first time. So I thought I'd better introduce myself and do things properly (for once. 
). I was diagnosed T2 last year, at the ripe old age of 37, juuust when my (wonderful and supportive) GP was going on holiday. So I got a prescription from the replacement who hadn't even seen me, and that's basically when I decided, right.... So I'll do this by myself then! Technically speaking I did the diagnosis myself too... My liver was/is shot, and I wanted to know why. I didn't drink, so that wasn't it, cancer got ruled out after ultrasounds, an MRI and CT scan... And google was kind enough to provide me with a long list of other probable causes. One of them was diabetes, and since I was crossing off the list, and our cat is a T1, I thought, what the heck... I'll check with his meter. After which I was basically floored. The next day I stuck myself every hour to see what happened when I ate like I always did, and by noon I was crying my eyes out. I was too scared to eat anything at that point, everything seemed to be poison. While everyone, from the nurse to the dieticians and specialist seemed to be on holiday, and my doc's replacement put me on metformin (never left the loo for two weeks, so got gliclazide after that), I started reading. The US approach was "If you don't follow my diet, you'll die!", the Austrian approach was "You'll be fine, here's a diet. And by the way, you are now a bird", and the Dutch approach, well... "You can have a long happy life, see, there's happy people pictures in this book, you'll be fiiiine. Here's a few ideas on what you can do in the kitchen". Everything kept coming down to food! Okay...! That I can work with! I took what I could from every book and started putting together something that worked for me, because anything with milk will get my joints inflamed, and then there's a bunch of migraine triggers I need to steer clear from, and soy messes with my thyroid meds... You get the idea. I don't know the HbA1c numbers you guys use, but at last check mine were 38, which was thrilling, as I started out at 70... (My cholesterol's a lot better too, and my liver's slowly but surely recovering) Naturally, my thyroid is messed up right now so screwing up my happy little numbers, and this heat, oh... I'm all over the place; up, down, backwards... But I've been without medication since January, which was my initial goal. And I'm hoping I can keep that up. I eat six times a day now, every three hours, and aside from a mild hypo there and there and a slight hyper on occasion, I'm relatively stable. Low carb, I love it. (I eat about 100 grams of carbs a day, max... Mostly I hover around 80 grams. I see people doing 30 here and I wonder how they don't spend their life in a coma. It really, really is different for everyone, isn't it?) After things evened out a little and there wasn't much fighting left to do, just get used to a new rythm, depression hit. I already have a clinical depression which I had more or less under control, but just when all seems fine, or at least, relatively fine, Diabetes pops up and knocks you over the head, you know? So I've made it a point to do things that make me feel happy, if only for a moment. So lots of visits to zoo's and the like. (I'm a catlover. And the Netherlands just recently got panda's. I'm in love, they're so fluffy!). Antidepressants aren't an option, as the side effects are too severe. (Tried them all, and those that don't give me 24/7 migraines make me go blind, so, yeah... Not an option.). Right now I'm just trying to keep going, all in all... Hopefully, when my thyroid gets back in lin eand the weather eases up, I'll be able to enjoy the summer some. I poured our calendar full with things to see and do, and while we'll probably scratch a whole bunch of them, it's good to have options, and there's a bird of prey workshop I'm really excited about coming up, stuff like that... So, you know... Just hanging in there, for the most part. I guess this is also the bit where it becomes noticable that I'm still at the "Hi, I'm my disease" point. When someone asks how I am I give them my numbers instead of the polite "Fine, and you" response, haha. But yeah, uh... Like I said, I'm Jo from the Netherlands, I'm 38 years old, married to Kornelis, my wonderful red-headed husband. We've got two cats, Night and Mouse, and we live in a little flat in Baarn. I adore animals, photography's a big hobby, as is reading and writing. I've blown through two eReaders already and am on my third, and our place is filled with books. I'm a nerd, I go to Comic Cons when possible. I don't have a job, as i'm not the healthiest person (Issues, I've got 'em!), so the journalism degree is going to waste, but somehow I manage to fill my days. People freak me out more often than not, so I don't leave the house unless someone I'm comfortable with is with me (Husband, mom, in-laws...), but all in all... I do believe life is worth living. And now I'm here. No idea how much I'll be around and how often I'll say something, but I thought it was high time I said hello. So. Hello.
). I was diagnosed T2 last year, at the ripe old age of 37, juuust when my (wonderful and supportive) GP was going on holiday. So I got a prescription from the replacement who hadn't even seen me, and that's basically when I decided, right.... So I'll do this by myself then! Technically speaking I did the diagnosis myself too... My liver was/is shot, and I wanted to know why. I didn't drink, so that wasn't it, cancer got ruled out after ultrasounds, an MRI and CT scan... And google was kind enough to provide me with a long list of other probable causes. One of them was diabetes, and since I was crossing off the list, and our cat is a T1, I thought, what the heck... I'll check with his meter. After which I was basically floored. The next day I stuck myself every hour to see what happened when I ate like I always did, and by noon I was crying my eyes out. I was too scared to eat anything at that point, everything seemed to be poison. While everyone, from the nurse to the dieticians and specialist seemed to be on holiday, and my doc's replacement put me on metformin (never left the loo for two weeks, so got gliclazide after that), I started reading. The US approach was "If you don't follow my diet, you'll die!", the Austrian approach was "You'll be fine, here's a diet. And by the way, you are now a bird", and the Dutch approach, well... "You can have a long happy life, see, there's happy people pictures in this book, you'll be fiiiine. Here's a few ideas on what you can do in the kitchen". Everything kept coming down to food! Okay...! That I can work with! I took what I could from every book and started putting together something that worked for me, because anything with milk will get my joints inflamed, and then there's a bunch of migraine triggers I need to steer clear from, and soy messes with my thyroid meds... You get the idea. I don't know the HbA1c numbers you guys use, but at last check mine were 38, which was thrilling, as I started out at 70... (My cholesterol's a lot better too, and my liver's slowly but surely recovering) Naturally, my thyroid is messed up right now so screwing up my happy little numbers, and this heat, oh... I'm all over the place; up, down, backwards... But I've been without medication since January, which was my initial goal. And I'm hoping I can keep that up. I eat six times a day now, every three hours, and aside from a mild hypo there and there and a slight hyper on occasion, I'm relatively stable. Low carb, I love it. (I eat about 100 grams of carbs a day, max... Mostly I hover around 80 grams. I see people doing 30 here and I wonder how they don't spend their life in a coma. It really, really is different for everyone, isn't it?) After things evened out a little and there wasn't much fighting left to do, just get used to a new rythm, depression hit. I already have a clinical depression which I had more or less under control, but just when all seems fine, or at least, relatively fine, Diabetes pops up and knocks you over the head, you know? So I've made it a point to do things that make me feel happy, if only for a moment. So lots of visits to zoo's and the like. (I'm a catlover. And the Netherlands just recently got panda's. I'm in love, they're so fluffy!). Antidepressants aren't an option, as the side effects are too severe. (Tried them all, and those that don't give me 24/7 migraines make me go blind, so, yeah... Not an option.). Right now I'm just trying to keep going, all in all... Hopefully, when my thyroid gets back in lin eand the weather eases up, I'll be able to enjoy the summer some. I poured our calendar full with things to see and do, and while we'll probably scratch a whole bunch of them, it's good to have options, and there's a bird of prey workshop I'm really excited about coming up, stuff like that... So, you know... Just hanging in there, for the most part. I guess this is also the bit where it becomes noticable that I'm still at the "Hi, I'm my disease" point. When someone asks how I am I give them my numbers instead of the polite "Fine, and you" response, haha. But yeah, uh... Like I said, I'm Jo from the Netherlands, I'm 38 years old, married to Kornelis, my wonderful red-headed husband. We've got two cats, Night and Mouse, and we live in a little flat in Baarn. I adore animals, photography's a big hobby, as is reading and writing. I've blown through two eReaders already and am on my third, and our place is filled with books. I'm a nerd, I go to Comic Cons when possible. I don't have a job, as i'm not the healthiest person (Issues, I've got 'em!), so the journalism degree is going to waste, but somehow I manage to fill my days. People freak me out more often than not, so I don't leave the house unless someone I'm comfortable with is with me (Husband, mom, in-laws...), but all in all... I do believe life is worth living. And now I'm here. No idea how much I'll be around and how often I'll say something, but I thought it was high time I said hello. So. Hello. 
