totally at a loss

[Phoenix55]

I am sad that lchf has not worked for you @frankbegbie, it must be disappointing to feel tired for so long and for the promised weight loss to not happen. I can only speak from my own experience of lchf where my work colleagues noticed my weight loss before I did, and I do not do 'hungry', much less do I starve myself. We are all different and we have to find our own way through diabetes. What I did notice was that the recommended portion size for some ready foods were surprisingly small so I bought raw foods to prepare and cook choosing those I knew were low carb. Some things will work for most people, some will work for some and some will find that nothing but increasing drug therapy will work for them. There is no way better than another, you just have to find what works for you at the moment while being aware that it may change with time.

 

[Guzzler]

I think 8 weeks is long enough.
I can't stand not having enough energy and the aching legs anymore.

Beginning to think it's a big con.
The only way you can lose weight is if you starve yourself which you shouldn't have to do on this diet.

It isn't a con. There are some for whom it just doesn't work. No one seems to know why but thousands of people have had good results doing it. If you feel that it hasn't benefitted you then my advice would be that you find a method that does work for you, it is not a matter of failure it is a matter of trying something new that fits your body and lifestyle. I wish you the very best of luck and good health.

 

[anteater2012]

Definitely not a con, as it brought my numbers down quite significantly when diagnosed. What did take me longer was fine tuning the lchf so that weight loss occured and to keep my mindset happy with the change in food types on offer via the diet. I kept battling with the carb flu - aches & pains etc., So would restart the fine tuning of the diet. Tiresome & frustrating as it has taken best part of two years, but have under control now.

I think generally lchf does work - but experience tells me that everyone reacts slightly differently to the diet and people have to work at making it work for them. Set backs will/do occur. I think how to deal with handling a setback is sometimes more important than acknowledging you have diabetes.

 

[Grace2059]

Hiya all
I have been type 2 for 14 years. I have tried all sorts of different medication to treat this and bring my blood sugar down but with everything I've tried I've been met with nasty side effects. My levels are now 26mmol in the morning, which I know are unacceptable. My GP and nurse want me to try insulin again but I fear that I will have the same side effect again. Last time I developed a rash and I ballooned with water retention. It was also swollen and painful around the injection site.

I really don't know what to do anymore. I am at an all time low and really do need some advice. Has anyone else been Unlucky too with nasty side effects? Can low carb really be the answer?

Hi Joey, have you tried various injecting sites on your body?
I can't inject in my legs, I haven't been able to for 19 years as it brings me up in a bumpy rash, it's itchy and painful, swells up etc.
Maybe research different injection sites and you may be surprised as to where you can actually Inject and find something/somewhere that suits you.
Keep us updated!! Xxx

 

[joeynomates1969]

Hey Grace. I can't tolerate anything!! With insulin I break out in to a rash and swell up. I put on half a stone in four days. It's not for me. I k ow my nurse wants me to get these bloods down ASAP but I've been taking it easy. They're still high... 19mmol this morning, but considering it was 27mmol on Thursday, I'd say there was some improvement. I've been lower carbing and I think it's beginning to help. When I have some energy I'll go for a walk, hopefully later on today.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[steveis36]

Yes try low carb diet
Try differant excersices like walking, cycling etc
I find cycling brings BG down quicker than running/walking
Try intermidate fasting which i have swith over too.
Drink plenty of water, i have at least 6pints
Have some Cinnimon
Try Apple cider vineger
Keep a food journal
Try the Newcastle diet
Eat high protien and veg,
I make a stew and i have that through out the day (no dumplins)
More sleep
Less stress
Vitamin B1
Patasium
You may need to learn new reciepes and do a bit of home work your self.
Get some trainers and a heart rate moniter and aim to get your
heart up to 60-75% of maximum heart rate (220 minus your age)
I started with a 30 min walk every day, i now run/walk to work every day and cycle about at week ends also get ear phones on block out the world
Work out a route and walk it (pluss u save petrol lol)
Also weights trainning or strenth traning

I dont take hardly anything just half of Gliclzide tablet and that keeps me in single figures.
I had bad side effects with metformin slow and normal release.

Dont give up
This Diabeties **** is a headache and can bring u to tears but the worse thing any of us can do is give up.


U have nothing to loose and soooo much to gain.


Sent from my SM-N9005 using DCUK Forum mobile app

 

[MikeTurin]

@frankbegbie we say "non tutti i gusti sono alla menta" (not all flavours are the mint one) meaning that what works for somebody doesn't mean it works for anybody. You could try DASH or Mediterranean diet and be followed by a NHS dietician, I don't know.A lot of people had a significan weight loss with LCHF but maybe going with another rote works better with you
As i had recently written try to cut the middleman and buy fresh vegetables , eggs, meat AND dairy products directly form farmers and tyr to get base foods, ie. a fresh pineapple is way better than a canned one, and making an hamburger from a piece of meat is way better tan buy them at Burger King
(You can also try the raw meat option:

 

[johnmrg]

Hiya all
I have been type 2 for 14 years. I have tried all sorts of different medication to treat this and bring my blood sugar down but with everything I've tried I've been met with nasty side effects. My levels are now 26mmol in the morning, which I know are unacceptable. My GP and nurse want me to try insulin again but I fear that I will have the same side effect again. Last time I developed a rash and I ballooned with water retention. It was also swollen and painful around the injection site.

I really don't know what to do anymore. I am at an all time low and really do need some advice. Has anyone else been Unlucky too with nasty side effects? Can low carb really be the answer?

 

[johnmrg]

Yes Yes Yes. LCHF has changed my outlook on T2D which has run in my family. I’m nearly 66. My grandparents on my dads side passed away in their early 60’s from untreated T2D, so did my dad. I have 7 siblings, 5 of us have T2D the youngest died last year from the effects and not eating well nor taking the meds. I started LCHF 2 years ago and saw rapid results after 20 years of 100mg metformin and 80mg gliclizide twice daily and BP meds to being able to keep BG below 6mmol without meds. I was strict on very low carbs and at first I experienced low BG of 2mmol on my meds with dizziness until I cut down on meds and eventually stopped taking them. I’m does not CURE T2D as if I go back onto
Carbs my BG goes up again (I’ve tried it a few times) but if you want to keep your health without side effects give it a determined try.

 

[letstalk1]

Low carb was the answer for me.

 

[joeynomates1969]

Thanks to everyone who has posted with advice. I went to seey GP this morning. Broke down into an emotional mess. She says that my low mood is because of my high blood sugars and that the only way to sort this out is to take medication. I am being nagged to take empagliflozin but after a nasty side effect to dappagliflozin, I am really reluctant to try. I am in a bit of a mess and cannot seem to make the right choices. All I know is that I want to improve this horrible thing without the use of meds, but with my readings being high... 25 this morning... I fear I've got no choice but to take tablets.. Is it really possible to do it without?

 

[Kentoldlady1]

Thanks to everyone who has posted with advice. I went to seey GP this morning. Broke down into an emotional mess. She says that my low mood is because of my high blood sugars and that the only way to sort this out is to take medication. I am being nagged to take empagliflozin but after a nasty side effect to dappagliflozin, I am really reluctant to try. I am in a bit of a mess and cannot seem to make the right choices. All I know is that I want to improve this horrible thing without the use of meds, but with my readings being high... 25 this morning... I fear I've got no choice but to take tablets.. Is it really possible to do it without?

Is it possible or you to do.both? With the help of your hcp work out a diet of lchf whilst on the medication, and closely monitor your bgl so that you know if you drop too low.
I know that many t1ds use lchf, so it can be done. Then have a review in 6 weeks or so?
I know its not ideal or what you want, but it could lead to no meds in the near future.

Good luck with it all.

 

[kokhongw]

Is it really possible to do it without?

Yes for some of us who tried. It worked...no medication, no exercise, no will power...just fats and fasting...

 

[joeynomates1969]

Yes for some of us who tried. It worked...no medication, no exercise, no will power...just fats and fasting...

Could you go in to a little more derail please.

 

[kokhongw]

Could you go in to a little more derail please.

My glucometer from eBay arrived on the 2nd of September 2015. My first test was 302mg/dl, that is 16.7 mmol. The next day was my nephew's birthday and the reading was 419mg/dl..23.2mmol

A week later on the 8th Sep. had my HbA1c taken. It was 11%. I was prescribed 2 tabs of Trajenta Duo per day as a starting dosage. I decided to asked Dr Google...and came across Dr Troy Stapleton, Dr Jason Fung, Dr Bernstein and Diet Doctor. I stopped my medication after taking 2 tabs.

Within 2 weeks of low carbs, eating roast pork belly, eggs, cheese, butter and nuts...I began to see numbers below the 10 mmol range...

Because my father was at the end stage of his 30 years type 2 diabetes journey...and was bed ridden after his toe amputation and multiple vascular surgery, I decided not to exercise. Just diet control. But exercise, would have been helpful too.

 

[bulkbiker]

T

Could you go in to a little more derail please.

Try a week of eating bacon and eggs for every meal. I'l put money on your blood sugar being significantly lower at the end of that. Radical but effective. By giving yourself no choice whatsoever you won't have to worry about what you are eating and its not expensive.

 

[joeynomates1969]

T

Try a week of eating bacon and eggs for every meal. I'l put money on your blood sugar being significantly lower at the end of that. Radical but effective. By giving yourself no choice whatsoever you won't have to worry about what you are eating and its not expensive.

Just bacon and eggs? No tomatoes or mushrooms? Not even a whiff of hash brown?

 

[JohnEGreen]

Tomatoes, mushrooms maybe but definitely not even a whiff of hash brown.

 

[Jo_the_boat]

I opted for housework lol

I opted to run away from housework - soon got fit!

Change your user name to Joeyplentyofmates, because you have on here. There are plenty of folk, including me, who really want to see you improve. One thing I will say is that you need to pretty disciplined, something I found very difficult in the past, but in my case, this change of regime is being driven by the fear of ending up in a messy heap. I've no idea where I will end up but by following people's advice on here I think I've made a positive start. I hope you can too. Best of luck.

 

[Grateful]

I went to seey GP this morning. Broke down into an emotional mess. She says that my low mood is because of my high blood sugars and that the only way to sort this out is to take medication.... I fear I've got no choice but to take tablets.. Is it really possible to do it without?

Some of us, perhaps most of us, have been there. When I first got the diagnosis it felt almost as if my life had ended. I consulted the available descriptions of diabetes on the Internet, including the global figure that it shortens average life expectancy by 10 years, that you can go blind, lose limbs, etc. For my first doctor's consultation post-diagnosis I brought my wife along because I wasn't sure I would be able to "keep it together" otherwise. Your feelings are normal, they make sense, and (with all due respect) I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with high blood sugars as your GP is saying.

I was fortunate that I (so far) never needed medication. But from my research, and from numerous posts on this forum, it is clear that if you do start on medication, you can combine that with a low-carb diet and possibly reduce or eliminate the medication later. Your doctor's advice is fairly different from mine, but they are the professionals and we are all individuals with our own needs.

But, with the caveat that I have no medical training, I would still encourage you to consider having one last try at the diet/exercise route with no meds. Here's how I did it. It differs a little bit from the usual LCHF (and is rather more extreme):

For the first two months:
--Extremely low carb (less than 20g/day). So far, so standard.
--Low fat.
--Low calorie (less than 1500/day) achieved through strict portion control.
--Copious hydration (2 liters of water a day in addition to the usual drinks with meals).
--No booze.
--Vigorous walking, about 6 miles per day at about 12 or 13 minutes per mile. (Not everyone will be able to manage this, it depends on your initial state of health and whether you have enough "free time" obviously.)

I did not do any self-testing, so I have no idea what was happening to my numbers on a daily basis during those two months. It is quite possible that I was in ketosis, considering the results. I lost 10 kilos (I was quite thin already) and brought the HbA1c fully under control (see signature at bottom of this post).

The downsides: For the first few weeks I was ravenously hungry. I coped with this, in part, by snacking on low-carb nuts (pecans, macadamias, small quantites of Brazil nuts). For a while, I was also fairly muddle-headed, but after about a month this went away. Another downside: because I was not self-testing, I was under extreme stress for those two months because I frankly did not expect my blood glucose levels to improve, having been brainwashed into thinking that the low-carb route only works for a very small number of people.

After the first two months:
--Relaxed the carbs a little bit (it is now 30g to 50g per day).
--Abandoned the portion control.
--Added some fats, for instance by snacking on olives and adding an avocado to my lunch (which usually consists of a salad, occasionally supplemented by an omelette). Increased consumption of yummy cheeses, eaten on home-made low-carb crackers.
--Abandoned the tee-total regime; I now average one to two glasses of dry red wine per day.
--Reduced the walking to 3 miles per day, at a moderate pace.

As they say here in America, "your mileage may vary" -- as is abundantly clear from this forum!

I now think it is likely that as a result of my diagnosis, my life expectancy (and general level of health) have *improved* because I really had not been looking after myself. I'm a lazy kind of person and, frankly, it took the shock of being diagnosed with a nasty, incurable, chronic disease to boot me into doing what I should have been doing anyway.

I know that it does not feel that way to you right now. It took me many months to get into a "better place" mentally. It's complicated, but I hope that with a combination of lifestyle changes, possibly medications as advised by your doctor, exercise, and the passage of time, you could get to that place too. Remember that it is largely in your hands, albeit with the expert support of your doctor.

Sorry this is so long but diabetes is not simple.