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- 16
Hello,
I got the biggest shock on the 13th March 2019 when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after I went to the doctors with ear ache and chesty, I told him I had a dry mouth and I also mentioned persistant thrush that the cream would not work so I asked what it could be and he said lets do some blood tests. I got my appointment for the following Monday and on the Wednesday 13th March I got a phone call at home that my wife answered and when she said it was the doctors I knew it was something bad, she handed me the phone and I said hello, the woman said hello and that I have diabetes, I said no, no way, no she said we have an appointment for this afternoon with the diabetes nurse and I said yes. I was in total shock trying to work out how I get out of this mess and I had no answers at that point.
Later that day I saw the diabetes nurse and she gave nothing away at first just numbers I didnt understand and the way she said seemed like it was wrong or not for me, and I said oh is it fine then and she said oh no you have diabetes, your HBA1C result was 111, and went on to weigh me checking in at 110kg she tickled the tops of my toes with a little plastic thing and said do you feel that and I said yes. She was filling out stuff on the computer and I was rattling off nervous energy stupid questions and she said you are going to have a massive learning curve and I can see you googling this and that you'll be an expert on it soon. I asked her could this be prediabetes and she Noooo.
Afterwards she brought out a blood glucose monitor and said you will be using this and I thought ok, and she picked up what looked like a pen and placed a blue plastic on it later now knowing it was a lancet and then exposing the needle, she said give me your finger and I wasnt comfortable looking at this blue lancet and a fairly long needle on it and I thought that looks nasty but I have to get used to so i gave her my right index finger and she jabbed the needle into my finger and as it was going in i said OUCH and she said aww hes scared and hell yes i was. She placed the kit on the table and proceeded to show me how this stuff works and I said does the top part not go on after the blue plastic piece (lancet) and she said oh yeah it does, I dont use these often.
On returning home with my new monitoring kit, diary and medication gliclazide that I have to take 3 times a day. I was quickly on the internet reading everything I could about type 2 and reading stories of reversing it, I was sure I will reverse this, some how some way. I found out about carbs, sugar, insulin, insulin resistance, pancreas, weight, body fat, diet, exercise, stories of reversal, horror stories everything from eating green bananas having less carbs to seeking out milk alternatives because milk has lots of carbs too, After trial and error I found Alpro Soya milk wholebean unsweetened perfect for coffee if you pour half into another milk container and shake it vigourously and you get nice frothy coffee, but horrible in tea, the best milk for cereal is diamond breeze almond milk only 25% of the calories of semi skim milk, I drink it all the time now even though I can drink dairy milk but i choose not to now, because I prefer the alternatives.
Day 3 after diagnosis: My head was geared up for a full on frontal assault of this massive problem, I was pumped and ready now, At the same time as stopping my medication, I dusted down our old wii fit console from the loft and hooked it up in our living room, I am going to weigh myself daily as it records my weight and BMI, I was going to stop drinking all that poisonous lager/beer out of Aldi, .
My very first use of my glucose monitor the night after getting it was a reading of 24.2 and I had special fried rice from the takeaway so after reading online how bad that was I was scared now, Luckily the day after it came down and my readings that day were 16 when i woke and 14.7 after my dinner. The first 4 days after my diagnosis my blood glucose levels averaged around 13 to 14 on waking and 2 hours after my main meal, those were the times I was told to do it.. My thought after getting those readings were yep I really do have this and nothing I do will make it reverse, but I continued on to keep trying to fix this the 2nd week saw glucose readings of 10 point something then some 9 point something and 8 point something reading and I though oh good its coming down, but after reading online I was more informed these readings wont cut it if im to get better these are still not normal.
All the while steadily losing weight. I started recording my weight plus or minus in my glucose diary. Week 3 saw the reading got to 8's 7's and even 6's so thought this is better and felt great this was without my gliclazide that I only took for 2 days, had I took my medication I would not know if it was my diet or the meds that was bring my blood glucose down so I was so glad to have made that decision and I knew it was diet! for me anyway I am not advising anyone to do as I done. I just wanted to tell my story about it in that someone else may read this and be in a similar position and help them maybe.
Around 4 weeks after diagnosis I was given another blood test that I was told was a liver function test and it turned out it was an HBA1c test and it took a bit of time getting to hear the result as the receptionist said she couldnt tell me because it said on her computer I had been told, luckily a friendly nurse asked whats the problem and wrote it on a piece of paper for me which said 102 and I said is that ok and she shook her head noooo. I thought at least its not 111 and im getting it down without meds so i carried on what i knew was a major lifestyle change but something that i am enjoying the more i do it and the bonus of seeing the weight loss and making foods that dont have a whole lot of carbs was a challenge but good to try.
Week 4 and 5 after diagnosis the readings were going down steadily that you can see when reading my diary to 7's 6's even 5's now albeit only the odd one here and there.and still the odd highs of 8 now and then but becoming rarer as time went along. 27th April when I started writing my weight in my diary was 15st 12 Pounds, I had lost 18 pounds in just 6 weeks and was starting to show especially big belly. I made recipes and mastered how to make the tastiest donner meat at home way better than the shops and would have this twice a week or so with salad and 150g of cooked pilau rice, was amazing my wifes weight loss was much the same as mine now too she just followed whatever I was making and it was and is still working. On the 27th May I weighed in at 15 stone 3 pounds my readings waking that day was 6.5 and 2 hours after my dinner 5.3. now all my readings are in the 6's 5's and the odd 4's, I got 2 of my highest reading were a shock and I realised I had eaten an apple and not washed my hands and redone them and they were false highs due to not washing before pricking and testing.!
I had another HBA1C blood test after 12 weeks on the 4 th June, I phoned the doctors for the result on the 10th June and I said Im calling about my blood test is it normal and she said its 41 yes its normal and I expressed my complete joy and excitement saying to my wife I knew I would do it, I had told the nurse who took my blood on the 4th June that it would be normal and she looked at me as if to say yeah right of course you will. But I did, I really did and without meds! When I think over this whole time when ever I was at the doctors for whatever, I would say im not taking my meds because I wanted to see what they would say im sure, I was always told you should not stop your meds, your hba1c was very high, you should be taking them. I am still a bit angry now at them trying to tell me to take medication without them even giving me the chance to try diet first or saying well done you and that one doctor saying to me when i told her my blood glucose reading were always low now she said that was different to HBA1C and I knew that was false and they are connected but I left saying ok I maybe will take it but I never did, and also that very first nurse said in a quite forceful way "YOU HAVE DIABETES" with a look as If i was stupid when I asked if there was the slightest chance it could be prediabetes. I have moved on in my head from that now but I wont forget how adamant they were and it can make me angry or upset maybe, maybe frustrated or something.
16 weeks after diagnosis on the 3rd July 2019 I awake with a reading of 5.5 this is my normal reading now even after food including rice, chips full sugar coke even that I only drank at a party to test myself and chocolate cake too. All my readings now are in the 5's the very odd 6's. over 14 days 2 readings a day, all of the readings are in the 5's bar 5 readings in the 6's and the highest being 6.7. On this day I now weigh 13 stone 12 pounds - 46 pound weight loss
Finally today 14th July 2019 I woke up with my usual reading of 5.3 and now weigh 13 stone 7 pounds a weight loss of 51 pounds in just over 17 weeks, in actual fact 2 weeks before I was diagnosed to the day I stopped drinking beer and weighed 17 stone 8 but I have always measured from the day after my diagnosis when I was 17 stone 2 pounds but I was 6 pounds on that 2 weeks earlier making it 57 pounds in just over 19 weeks, my calorie intake target is now 1000 - 1200.. My results are consistent now no matter what I eat and all without my gliclazide and I do feel proud and think I did win but who knows, no one from the doctors has contacted me since I called the reception for the last normal result. Thanks for reading my story, I have tried to put my experience of diagnosis and what I believe is my cure in writing over the last 17 weeks of my life. I would be interested to hear others peoples views of my story and theirs. x
I got the biggest shock on the 13th March 2019 when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after I went to the doctors with ear ache and chesty, I told him I had a dry mouth and I also mentioned persistant thrush that the cream would not work so I asked what it could be and he said lets do some blood tests. I got my appointment for the following Monday and on the Wednesday 13th March I got a phone call at home that my wife answered and when she said it was the doctors I knew it was something bad, she handed me the phone and I said hello, the woman said hello and that I have diabetes, I said no, no way, no she said we have an appointment for this afternoon with the diabetes nurse and I said yes. I was in total shock trying to work out how I get out of this mess and I had no answers at that point.
Later that day I saw the diabetes nurse and she gave nothing away at first just numbers I didnt understand and the way she said seemed like it was wrong or not for me, and I said oh is it fine then and she said oh no you have diabetes, your HBA1C result was 111, and went on to weigh me checking in at 110kg she tickled the tops of my toes with a little plastic thing and said do you feel that and I said yes. She was filling out stuff on the computer and I was rattling off nervous energy stupid questions and she said you are going to have a massive learning curve and I can see you googling this and that you'll be an expert on it soon. I asked her could this be prediabetes and she Noooo.
Afterwards she brought out a blood glucose monitor and said you will be using this and I thought ok, and she picked up what looked like a pen and placed a blue plastic on it later now knowing it was a lancet and then exposing the needle, she said give me your finger and I wasnt comfortable looking at this blue lancet and a fairly long needle on it and I thought that looks nasty but I have to get used to so i gave her my right index finger and she jabbed the needle into my finger and as it was going in i said OUCH and she said aww hes scared and hell yes i was. She placed the kit on the table and proceeded to show me how this stuff works and I said does the top part not go on after the blue plastic piece (lancet) and she said oh yeah it does, I dont use these often.
On returning home with my new monitoring kit, diary and medication gliclazide that I have to take 3 times a day. I was quickly on the internet reading everything I could about type 2 and reading stories of reversing it, I was sure I will reverse this, some how some way. I found out about carbs, sugar, insulin, insulin resistance, pancreas, weight, body fat, diet, exercise, stories of reversal, horror stories everything from eating green bananas having less carbs to seeking out milk alternatives because milk has lots of carbs too, After trial and error I found Alpro Soya milk wholebean unsweetened perfect for coffee if you pour half into another milk container and shake it vigourously and you get nice frothy coffee, but horrible in tea, the best milk for cereal is diamond breeze almond milk only 25% of the calories of semi skim milk, I drink it all the time now even though I can drink dairy milk but i choose not to now, because I prefer the alternatives.
Day 3 after diagnosis: My head was geared up for a full on frontal assault of this massive problem, I was pumped and ready now, At the same time as stopping my medication, I dusted down our old wii fit console from the loft and hooked it up in our living room, I am going to weigh myself daily as it records my weight and BMI, I was going to stop drinking all that poisonous lager/beer out of Aldi, .
My very first use of my glucose monitor the night after getting it was a reading of 24.2 and I had special fried rice from the takeaway so after reading online how bad that was I was scared now, Luckily the day after it came down and my readings that day were 16 when i woke and 14.7 after my dinner. The first 4 days after my diagnosis my blood glucose levels averaged around 13 to 14 on waking and 2 hours after my main meal, those were the times I was told to do it.. My thought after getting those readings were yep I really do have this and nothing I do will make it reverse, but I continued on to keep trying to fix this the 2nd week saw glucose readings of 10 point something then some 9 point something and 8 point something reading and I though oh good its coming down, but after reading online I was more informed these readings wont cut it if im to get better these are still not normal.
All the while steadily losing weight. I started recording my weight plus or minus in my glucose diary. Week 3 saw the reading got to 8's 7's and even 6's so thought this is better and felt great this was without my gliclazide that I only took for 2 days, had I took my medication I would not know if it was my diet or the meds that was bring my blood glucose down so I was so glad to have made that decision and I knew it was diet! for me anyway I am not advising anyone to do as I done. I just wanted to tell my story about it in that someone else may read this and be in a similar position and help them maybe.
Around 4 weeks after diagnosis I was given another blood test that I was told was a liver function test and it turned out it was an HBA1c test and it took a bit of time getting to hear the result as the receptionist said she couldnt tell me because it said on her computer I had been told, luckily a friendly nurse asked whats the problem and wrote it on a piece of paper for me which said 102 and I said is that ok and she shook her head noooo. I thought at least its not 111 and im getting it down without meds so i carried on what i knew was a major lifestyle change but something that i am enjoying the more i do it and the bonus of seeing the weight loss and making foods that dont have a whole lot of carbs was a challenge but good to try.
Week 4 and 5 after diagnosis the readings were going down steadily that you can see when reading my diary to 7's 6's even 5's now albeit only the odd one here and there.and still the odd highs of 8 now and then but becoming rarer as time went along. 27th April when I started writing my weight in my diary was 15st 12 Pounds, I had lost 18 pounds in just 6 weeks and was starting to show especially big belly. I made recipes and mastered how to make the tastiest donner meat at home way better than the shops and would have this twice a week or so with salad and 150g of cooked pilau rice, was amazing my wifes weight loss was much the same as mine now too she just followed whatever I was making and it was and is still working. On the 27th May I weighed in at 15 stone 3 pounds my readings waking that day was 6.5 and 2 hours after my dinner 5.3. now all my readings are in the 6's 5's and the odd 4's, I got 2 of my highest reading were a shock and I realised I had eaten an apple and not washed my hands and redone them and they were false highs due to not washing before pricking and testing.!
I had another HBA1C blood test after 12 weeks on the 4 th June, I phoned the doctors for the result on the 10th June and I said Im calling about my blood test is it normal and she said its 41 yes its normal and I expressed my complete joy and excitement saying to my wife I knew I would do it, I had told the nurse who took my blood on the 4th June that it would be normal and she looked at me as if to say yeah right of course you will. But I did, I really did and without meds! When I think over this whole time when ever I was at the doctors for whatever, I would say im not taking my meds because I wanted to see what they would say im sure, I was always told you should not stop your meds, your hba1c was very high, you should be taking them. I am still a bit angry now at them trying to tell me to take medication without them even giving me the chance to try diet first or saying well done you and that one doctor saying to me when i told her my blood glucose reading were always low now she said that was different to HBA1C and I knew that was false and they are connected but I left saying ok I maybe will take it but I never did, and also that very first nurse said in a quite forceful way "YOU HAVE DIABETES" with a look as If i was stupid when I asked if there was the slightest chance it could be prediabetes. I have moved on in my head from that now but I wont forget how adamant they were and it can make me angry or upset maybe, maybe frustrated or something.
16 weeks after diagnosis on the 3rd July 2019 I awake with a reading of 5.5 this is my normal reading now even after food including rice, chips full sugar coke even that I only drank at a party to test myself and chocolate cake too. All my readings now are in the 5's the very odd 6's. over 14 days 2 readings a day, all of the readings are in the 5's bar 5 readings in the 6's and the highest being 6.7. On this day I now weigh 13 stone 12 pounds - 46 pound weight loss
Finally today 14th July 2019 I woke up with my usual reading of 5.3 and now weigh 13 stone 7 pounds a weight loss of 51 pounds in just over 17 weeks, in actual fact 2 weeks before I was diagnosed to the day I stopped drinking beer and weighed 17 stone 8 but I have always measured from the day after my diagnosis when I was 17 stone 2 pounds but I was 6 pounds on that 2 weeks earlier making it 57 pounds in just over 19 weeks, my calorie intake target is now 1000 - 1200.. My results are consistent now no matter what I eat and all without my gliclazide and I do feel proud and think I did win but who knows, no one from the doctors has contacted me since I called the reception for the last normal result. Thanks for reading my story, I have tried to put my experience of diagnosis and what I believe is my cure in writing over the last 17 weeks of my life. I would be interested to hear others peoples views of my story and theirs. x