The Informed Patient

[bulkbiker]

I skip breakfast myself, out of choice because all I could eat at 5am would be cereal, but by 10am I am ravenous! By 3pm I think I would be eating my own body parts lol

That's where the coffee with nice fatty double cream steps in.. by 10 a.m. I'm on my second and by noon the third.

 

[SOTR]

Thankyou all.

 

[bulkbiker]

Thankyou all.

You now know more than about 80% of GP's...

 

[SOTR]

Another question - if Type 2 are resistant to insulin (I suspect that I am) why do the medics not test for the amount of insulin in your bloodstream? Why only test for the products of glucose metabolism?
If I could be told 'hey sunshine - you are producing insulin, you just are not making use of it because X Y Z' then I could maybe be motivated to do something. Simply offering me more pills is not very constructive.
As an aside, I resisted going onto Metformin about two years ago, for about six months. I really don;t know if Metformin has done anything good for me.

 

[bulkbiker]

Another question - if Type 2 are resistant to insulin (I suspect that I am) why do the medics not test for the amount of insulin in your bloodstream? Why only test for the products of glucose metabolism?
If I could be told 'hey sunshine - you are producing insulin, you just are not making use of it because X Y Z' then I could maybe be motivated to do something. Simply offering me more pills is not very constructive.
As an aside, I resisted going onto Metformin about two years ago, for about six months. I really don;t know if Metformin has done anything good for me.

Measuring insulin is a lot harder than blood glucose. You have to send a blood sample off to the lab.

Although insulin monitors have been rumoured for a long time they have as yet not appeared.

The reason of course is cost.. as most docs seem to think T2 is self inflicted then they won't even prescribe blood glucose meters let alone spend money on insulin tests even though it would be of major benefit.

 

[Freema]

Thankyou all.

eggs meat and cheese and nuts are foods that you usually can eat a lot of ... try to eat those kinds of foods instead of cereals

 

[KennyA]

Thankyou Bulbiker. Everyone keeps saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that you should never skip breakfast. I guess that should be revised for Type 2s!

They also say to base breakfast around "healthy starchy carbohydrates". More bad advice. I've not eaten since 7pm yesterday, and this is probably my pattern six days out of seven. Coffee yes, but no food. Not hungry, and will eat when I am, which might be in an hour or in six hours. It does take a little time to break the "eat carbs-feel hungry quickly-eat more carbs-feel even hungrier" cycle - but it was worth it.

 

[Dark Horse]

Wow your surgery sounds even more useless than mine.
The HbA1c units are mmol/l.
80 mmol/m is fairly high mine was 87mmol/m on diagnosis and was quickly lowered by reducing my eating window and trying to eliminate carbohydrate from my diet.
This turned out to be relatively successful.
THe HbA1c ranges used in the UK for diagnosis are
48 or over T2
42-47 "Pre-diabtetes"
Under 42 "normal"

Hope that helps a bit.

Sorry, the units of HbA1c are mmol/mol. (However, blood glucose is measured in mmol/l.)

 

[bulkbiker]

Sorry, the units of HbA1c are mmol/mol. (However, blood glucose is measured in mmol/l.)

Oops typo on the first one 'Ill edit. thanks for pointing out..

 

[HSSS]

Wow! By 5pm I’m getting ready for meal three lol

My point is or was, I would run a mile from someone telling me I shouldn’t eat until 3 or 5pm, I would assume this to be totally bananas so could potentially leave behind some other useful info, while running.

This is not to say I think it is bananas, I love that this works for you all, but I accept it in the same way I accept leaches might actually help cure depression, I just won’t be trying it

I am certain people would look at some of the stuff I do with surprise, but with that in mind, I wouldn’t reply to a new persons with type 2’s first post with, you should take insulin.

This is mostly tongue in cheek, I hope I haven’t offended whilst trying to make a point, forgive me please if so, no soft yellow fruits were harmed in the writing of this post.

You could of course have a different window. Perhaps eating all your meals between 5am and 11am for an 18/6 pattern? The advantage of this is the end of your fasting would be asleep and you wouldn’t notice the impending urge to eat your arms! And you have all day to use up the glucose you do have in your system. Perhaps an even better option really.

No need for it to be evening, it’s just what typically is most convenient particularly with families.

Also how easy or not it is might depend on what foods you eat in that window. Highly satiating long lasting fats and proteins or noticeable amounts of carbs. Most people find a lot less hunger and cravings between meals on low carb higher fats and proteins than they did when eating more carbs.

 

[Goonergal]

My point is or was, I would run a mile from someone telling me I shouldn’t eat until 3 or 5pm, I would assume this to be totally bananas

When I first joined this site, I felt exactly the same way. Thought all the people talking about fasting were crazy. Dismissed it completely. Now I’m one of them, and have been for quite a while, so I’m very glad that I knew about it as it gave me an option when I needed to try something else.

 

[MrsA2]

@SOTR
Be careful with the gliclazide and very low carbing. Keep monitoring your bg and dont go too low
https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/gliclazide/

 

[Resurgam]

I found - by testing, that eating every twelve hours was what kept my numbers in the normal zone, and I got to Hba1c of 42, just one above the normal range.
When I reduced my carb intake even further, nothing happened.
These are the sorts of things which are quite individual we are all different, so really it is just a case of try and test, adjust if that seems a good idea and test again.
As long as things are going well, there is no need to worry.
When I am going out for a day of music and dancing, I get everything ready the previous day, then eat a large and leisurely breakfast. I might take some pop or squash or a couple of flasks of coffee but I can then go all day having fun and then go home for dinner, or if we continue late into the night I have a large and delicious meal in the car.

 

[Fenn]

When I am going out for a day of music and dancing,.

yeah I do that too, no seriously I do! honest...

 

[SOTR]

Thanks all for advice. Yesterday I took Glicazide early with breakfast plus metformin and I felt really ropey later in the day.
Today I took no metformin and just took a Glycazide to have a late breakfast at 10:30. I am feeling a lot better.

From working at several companies I have got into the habit of having a 'second breaffast' around 10:30 which I enjoy. Maybe I should make it a habit to wait till seconf breakfast!

Intend to have cheesy beans on toast.

 

[HSSS]

Thanks all for advice. Yesterday I took Glicazide early with breakfast plus metformin and I felt really ropey later in the day.
Today I took no metformin and just took a Glycazide to have a late breakfast at 10:30. I am feeling a lot better.

From working at several companies I have got into the habit of having a 'second breaffast' around 10:30 which I enjoy. Maybe I should make it a habit to wait till seconf breakfast!

Intend to have cheesy beans on toast.

Beans and even more so toast will raise your levels significantly.

Have you changed your diet to avoid calories and fat or much more effectively for a type 2 to reduce carbohydrates? Have a read of https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ and diet doctor.com for explanation of why. It’s what most of us do to reduce/improve blood glucose, insulin resistance, weight, waist measurements, blood pressure and cholesterol ratios.

 

[SOTR]

Thanks again for advice. Over the last day I have paid more attention to what I am eating - got some carrot batons, hummus and found smashed avocado in Tesco. I did not take any Metformin. Feeling a good deal better than I was earlier in the week.
Still not 100% but better.

I also got the free trial of a Freeform Libre 2 sensor. Its in the post.