Hi,
Thanks to all of the help and advice given so freely by you friendly lot, I have managed to get my hb1ac down from 143 (last July) to 37 (last week). It might take a bit longer to prove I can keep control of my T2, but its a great start. It has felt like a lifetime, with so many minor and major life changes along the way (and a few missteps at the start), but this forum has been invaluable in helping me achieve such a great result.
The graph below shows how my fasting blood sugars have slowly come under control as I started to put different strategies into place. I will talk about the blue line, the results from my first finger prick tester. At first I wasn't controlling carbs at all, I was just eating less of my normal diet. The levels went down a little but not enough, and there were lots of big spikes because I was not controlling carbs at all. Then I had a weeks holiday, the yellow vertical bar, where I didn't take any recordings but didn't eat too badly.
After that, through to the middle of September it hovered around the 11 mark when I was eating "healthier" (chicken, salmon, brown bread, jacket potatoes, apples, pears, peaches, raw carrot and celery).
The nest step down, to around 8 on the blue line, was when I cut out all the bigger carbs (no bread or potatoes at all). I was still eating fruit, raw carrots and celery because their healthy, right?!?
The final step down to about 6 on the blue line was when I went very low carb. This was when I realised that the fruit and raw carrots were not a good option for me. So at this point I was now eating easily less than 20g of carbs a day, less than 10g most days. Typical items are cheese, bacon, quality sausage, cold cuts, blackberries, raspberries (extra thick cream with the berries), and tuna (and mayonnaise).
I've included all my data points, because who doesn't like lots of data, right? The blue line is the eBwell (eB-W01), the first tester I had. The results seemed so random and full of huge spikes that I began to wonder if the machine was at fault, so I bought a Nexus Rx (the red line).
My aim was to get control of my levels, and then treat myself to a Libre freestyle sensor to try and manage things better. I got the libre at the start of December, the black line is the official app's reading, the grey line the Glimp app's reading, both taken at the same time as all the other fasting tests. Once I got the Libre I allowed myself to experiment a little with carbs, but only a little and the constant libre readings really helped me not over do it (I think it is an invaluable tool in helping me manage my levels). For the first time since the summer, I did things like go for a curry with friends, had some chocolates over xmas, tried some white bread, I have lots of graphs if anyone wants to see.
The horizontal lines are the max, average and minimum goals I set myself. My CHD nurse (who is delighted with the results) thinks these are way too restrictive and is ok if I see levels of 10 or less while I now experiment with reducing my metformin dose to hopefully get it down from 4 a day to none (I am not on any other diabetic medication).
It has only been 6 months, but I still remember the stress, confusion, and uncertainty after the diagnosis. If it wasn't for this forum, the help and guidance given by you all, and most importantly the brave souls who ask the questions in the first place, the first few months of the graph show where I probably would be right now!
It might seem like this whole post is a self pat on the back, but I really want to share my experience so that it might help others know that small steps can help a huge amount in controlling diabetes.
Thank you all for getting me here, roll on the next 6 months!!
Thanks to all of the help and advice given so freely by you friendly lot, I have managed to get my hb1ac down from 143 (last July) to 37 (last week). It might take a bit longer to prove I can keep control of my T2, but its a great start. It has felt like a lifetime, with so many minor and major life changes along the way (and a few missteps at the start), but this forum has been invaluable in helping me achieve such a great result.
The graph below shows how my fasting blood sugars have slowly come under control as I started to put different strategies into place. I will talk about the blue line, the results from my first finger prick tester. At first I wasn't controlling carbs at all, I was just eating less of my normal diet. The levels went down a little but not enough, and there were lots of big spikes because I was not controlling carbs at all. Then I had a weeks holiday, the yellow vertical bar, where I didn't take any recordings but didn't eat too badly.
After that, through to the middle of September it hovered around the 11 mark when I was eating "healthier" (chicken, salmon, brown bread, jacket potatoes, apples, pears, peaches, raw carrot and celery).
The nest step down, to around 8 on the blue line, was when I cut out all the bigger carbs (no bread or potatoes at all). I was still eating fruit, raw carrots and celery because their healthy, right?!?
The final step down to about 6 on the blue line was when I went very low carb. This was when I realised that the fruit and raw carrots were not a good option for me. So at this point I was now eating easily less than 20g of carbs a day, less than 10g most days. Typical items are cheese, bacon, quality sausage, cold cuts, blackberries, raspberries (extra thick cream with the berries), and tuna (and mayonnaise).
I've included all my data points, because who doesn't like lots of data, right? The blue line is the eBwell (eB-W01), the first tester I had. The results seemed so random and full of huge spikes that I began to wonder if the machine was at fault, so I bought a Nexus Rx (the red line).
My aim was to get control of my levels, and then treat myself to a Libre freestyle sensor to try and manage things better. I got the libre at the start of December, the black line is the official app's reading, the grey line the Glimp app's reading, both taken at the same time as all the other fasting tests. Once I got the Libre I allowed myself to experiment a little with carbs, but only a little and the constant libre readings really helped me not over do it (I think it is an invaluable tool in helping me manage my levels). For the first time since the summer, I did things like go for a curry with friends, had some chocolates over xmas, tried some white bread, I have lots of graphs if anyone wants to see.
The horizontal lines are the max, average and minimum goals I set myself. My CHD nurse (who is delighted with the results) thinks these are way too restrictive and is ok if I see levels of 10 or less while I now experiment with reducing my metformin dose to hopefully get it down from 4 a day to none (I am not on any other diabetic medication).
It has only been 6 months, but I still remember the stress, confusion, and uncertainty after the diagnosis. If it wasn't for this forum, the help and guidance given by you all, and most importantly the brave souls who ask the questions in the first place, the first few months of the graph show where I probably would be right now!
It might seem like this whole post is a self pat on the back, but I really want to share my experience so that it might help others know that small steps can help a huge amount in controlling diabetes.
Thank you all for getting me here, roll on the next 6 months!!
