Had diabetes education today

[woollygal]

Diagnosed in August and hosts of this class today said my Hba1c that I had of 87 was extremely high. That having said that she has had people up to 130.
The class was disappointing. Being a driving instructor I find it difficult to know what to eat at certain times. So I was hoping to get some advice on what are good snacks that don’t spike sugars.
Nothing like that, it was all about what the organs do, not really interested in that, and about the food groups. Good but again I need more specific personalised dietary advice. The host even said that she would refer me to dietitian as I sounded like I needed more direct.

At one point I asked if with hba1c at 87 it was possible to get to normal levels at 3 months. It was a definite no.
Then at the end she said to be you are so very symptomatic. That maybe my meds were working so well that I didn’t need them anymore.

So yet more confusion.

At one point she said that it seems odd not to test levels because how would I know what effect foods have then at the end she said she didn’t want yo contradict doctor.

I’m kind of at the end of my tether. I need to work long hours but energy wise I’m flagging which is not good. Trying to get consistent answers is impossible.

What I really needed was to be asked what I wanted from that class but no. There were questions but not what you wanted out of it.

Is it wrong that I’m getting symptoms? I seemed to be the only one who was exhibiting symptoms ( I had had headache and blurry eyes as sugars had been 13.8 a bit before).

I have been diagnosed for 6 weeks but I kind of feel like maybe I’m over reacting. Does no one else suffer symptoms? I often feel very tired and wee a lot and feel generally like I have a hangover. I thought this was normal with diabetes.

I am so sick and tired of this whole thing. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be feeling or thinking. Today everyone seemed to just be taking it in their stride and normal. (I think I was the only one with such bad hba1c and think they were just over the level- so don’t know if that makes a different).

Sorry for the rant and being moany but I just needed to say it.

 

[Diakat]

No, you aren't the only one that gets symptoms - and getting them is good as it warns you when high.
Tiredness an be due to highs.
So we need to find a solution that keeps you in a nice range for energy!
Do your meds cause hypos or are you ok with the driving at all levels?
What are you eating in general?

 

[archersuz]

@Cana I'm sorry that you didn't find your course helpful, but you have come to the right place for help! I've tagged in @daisy1 who will post her useful information. I would advise you to get a meter to check your levels before and 2 hours after food. Try to cut down on carbs. I was experiencing blurred vision, and infections, and needing to wee rather a lot! This disappeared fairly quickly after I reduced carbs and took control. I can also recommend David Cavan's book Reverse Your Diabetes https://www.diabetes.co.uk/shop/rev...-control-of-type-2-diabetes-by-dr-david-cavan as it is full of useful information and tips. I hope this helps as a starting point. Oh and for snacks, try cheese, eggs, tins of tuna, nuts,

 

[woollygal]

@Cana I'm sorry that you didn't find your course helpful, but you have come to the right place for help! I've tagged in @daisy1 who will post her useful information. I would advise you to get a meter to check your levels before and 2 hours after food. Try to cut down on carbs. I was experiencing blurred vision, and infections, and needing to wee rather a lot! This disappeared fairly quickly after I reduced carbs and took control. I can also recommend David Cavan's book Reverse Your Diabetes https://www.diabetes.co.uk/shop/rev...-control-of-type-2-diabetes-by-dr-david-cavan as it is full of useful information and tips. I hope this helps as a starting point. Oh and for snacks, try cheese, eggs, tins of tuna, nuts,

According to this class you shouldn’t have more than 1 portion of cheese each day. (I sometimes have 3 or 4).

It just felt like how am I having symptoms and everyone else is ok.

I’m just very fed up.

 

[woollygal]

@Cana I'm sorry that you didn't find your course helpful, but you have come to the right place for help! I've tagged in @daisy1 who will post her useful information. I would advise you to get a meter to check your levels before and 2 hours after food. Try to cut down on carbs. I was experiencing blurred vision, and infections, and needing to wee rather a lot! This disappeared fairly quickly after I reduced carbs and took control. I can also recommend David Cavan's book Reverse Your Diabetes https://www.diabetes.co.uk/shop/rev...-control-of-type-2-diabetes-by-dr-david-cavan as it is full of useful information and tips. I hope this helps as a starting point. Oh and for snacks, try cheese, eggs, tins of tuna, nuts,

Oh and apparently pistachios are bad

 

[xfieldok]

Hba1c that I had of 87 was extremely high.

Lots of us got our numbers down from very high to normal levels within a few months. I went from 122 to 35 in about 4 months.
LCHF rocks as far as I am concerned.

 

[Antje77]

According to this class you shouldn’t have more than 1 portion of cheese each day. (I sometimes have 3 or 4).

Oh and apparently pistachios are bad

Forget what they told you in that class. Cheese and pistachios are perfect food to eat on the road without spiking your blood sugars!

 

[xfieldok]

pistachios are perfect food to eat on the road

Take them out of the shells first! Walnuts are also good. Unfortunately cashews are not good for us. Honey roast cashews, how I miss them........

 

[HSSS]

Hi Cana,

I did my course a few weeks ago. It sounds very much like mine. It was full of out dated advice which included eating starchy lower gi carbs aka the eatwell plate. Mine too included some discrepancies. In a quiet chat with both the “host” and the dietian they both admitted, once I described my low carb diet, that they believed this was the way to go and evidence is increasingly proving this. They are not supposed to teach this because official NHS advice hasn’t caught up yet. Many many diabetic nurses do agree but are shackled by this outdated advice and even worse by outdated GPs.

Just today there was a report that the American diabetic association has said that low carb high fat is a safe management diet for type 2. It was a newsbot thread on here today.

In short you will continue to hear contradictory advice. The official traditional advice of eatwell, eating carbs and diabetes being a progressive disease needing medications regardless. And the science backed but new advice that most of us in here choose to follow of low carb and higher fat. And many in here have controlled their diabetes very well sometimes into totally normal numbers. You get to choose which approach, or some other one perhaps

It does take a fairly big change of mindset against the advice we’ve all heard for the last 40 years to go for what we in here know works. But the old fashioned advice just isn’t working and may well be fuelling the diabetes and obesity crisis.

Edit: Without wishing to be rude I can see you’ve had much of this advice already on previous posts and you seem to be struggling to go against your outdated gp and course hosts. It can be scary to do that. Ask questions do research and consider trusting those that live with this successfully over those who’ve had a few hours training years ago, at least long enough to see the results once for yourself. The current advice is what got most of us here’s in the first place.

 

[Antje77]

Take them out of the shells first!

Unfortunately cashews are not good for us.

Cashews are strange. They spike me less than they should, according to their carbs. But they're better than the average road fare for sure, so don't dismiss them right away!

 

[HSSS]

Actually it isn’t really new advice to low carb. I’ve seen references going back to early 20th century that refer to this way of eating as best practice. I’ve no idea where but it’s likely on this forum somewhere

 

[Smallbrit]

I have lots of cheese every day, so I’m hoping the cheese advice is wrong

Just wanted to say that I had a similar HBA1c of 89 and went with an exercise and eating “healthily” plan and ... 3 months later it was 76. The most bizarre thing of all? My diabetic nurse was thrilled I was “heading in the right direction”. I was devastated and knew it wasn’t thrilling so then changed my diet to a low carb high fat diet like many others on this forum (I’d had the advantage of being taught how to eat to my meter in the US 10 years earlier, which is outlined in the info that @daisy1 will post) and 3 months after my number was 48. On no meds throughout. There are lots of success stories posted somewhere in this forum of people who’ve had number drops a lot lower than mine, so take a look around and ask as many questions as you like. It’s an odd learning curve, navigating a lot of contradictory advice.

But yes - I had symptoms like yours too. Was really tired, slightly off balance, getting up at least once a night to go to the bathroom, had blurry eyes and more scarily, areas of seeing nothing in the dark. That was the one that got me panicked, as I’d put the others down to other things but I couldn’t explain that one. I have no symptoms now And oddly feel better now having less sleep than I did before!

I am lucky that my GP is really supportive of me choosing to go diet-only control and of low carb being a route to take and of me having a meter and testing blood glucose levels (as long as I self-fund) - but it did all come from me - he didn’t recommend it, and the diabetes nurse before him... her entire advice was to eat more healthily and exercise more. Her version of that was wholemeal bread, non-sugary cereals, whole-wheat pasta. All of those have a terrible effect on my blood sugars.

In the end, a lot it is about what foods work or don’t work for you. And a lot of that is trial and error testing with a meter. Good luck and it’s a really good thing that you are looking for options to help tackle your HBA1c numbers.

 

[Resurgam]

I did 91 to 47 pretty fast - eating low carb high fat.
I find that I can eat breakfast and then work all day before eating again in the evening. Lots of energy, even at the age of 67.
Dr Atkins was right - William Banting was right 100 years earlier.
Your eyesight will most likely alter - though getting new glasses might not be a good idea as once your blood glucose reduces it might go back to what it was - though that might be problematic in your job.

 

[Deleted member 308541]

Diagnosed in August and hosts of this class today said my Hba1c that I had of 87 was extremely high.

In the old measure that I still use, that is 10.1% which I have never attained that high a reading.

At one point I asked if with hba1c at 87 it was possible to get to normal levels at 3 months. It was a definite no.

That maybe my meds were working so well that I didn’t need them anymore.

Yeah right, time for you to find a new DE...

 

[woollygal]

It’s not that I’m not taking the advice.
I have reduced my carbs significantly.
My problem is I do t need general fits all advice.
I need advice that takes into account my lifestyle which is primarily my job.
I work potentially 13-14 hours a day so I need something that will help me manage diabetes and that.

My life doesn’t fit into a one style fits all. I doubt anyone’s does.

I cannot okay around with food and experiment because it might go wrong and if it does and I’m not near a shop that’s bad.

So yes I’m reading and taking advice. It’s just that advice doesn’t necessarily work or if it does I need help with how to make it work.

At the moment it’s just me on my own because I don’t know how to work everything out.

So before you say you have had loads of advice maybe you could ask why maybe I’m struggling to deal with it.

 

[woollygal]

Sorry didn’t mean to be rude

 

[xfieldok]

Your not being rude, you're frustrated. We have all been there. If you want to tell us what your struggling with the most, perhaps we might have some suggestions.

 

[woollygal]

Your not being rude, you're frustrated. We have all been there. If you want to tell us what your struggling with the most, perhaps we might have some suggestions.

It’s how to eat and do my job.

I eat a humongous breakfast which gets me through till about lunchtime. Sometimes need snack about 11. But usually have protein such as homemade turkey meatball etc.

Lunch is sandwich. Need to switch this sometimes as feel rough after but it fits if I need to drive and eat.

Major time is from 3pm ish.
Don’t get hypo symptoms but I do start to feel but empty. Find it harder to concentrate and talk.

Find im just flagging.

Around 4 or 5 body is telling me to eat a main meal I can feel it. But I generally can’t unless I’m finishing early.

So it’s then.

I can eat my turkey, baby bels and just eat and eat but it doesn’t feel enough. It might be, I tend to confuse how I’m feeling a lot.

But because I’m teaching I feel I need energy to keep going.

It’s that kind of time. If I’m home not an issue. It’s when I’m working. I just don’t know what to eat.

I’m thinking I need something carby to lift me a bit but then I have a few carbs at main meal so don’t want to add them but might need to.

This is what I was hoping class would be about but it wasn’t.

They sneered at my I have 4 eggs a day.

 

[Dixon1995]

What does your humongous breakfast consist of?

Do you eat you food really quickly?

 

[daisy1]

@Cana
Hello Cana 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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.