- Messages
- 8
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Dare not mention!
Having been diagnosed with DB2 some 15 years ago, the advice that I was given at the time was ‘regular exercise and sensible eating’. As an aside, since my cholesterol was also found to be high at the time, I was also prescribed with the ubiquitous statins and subsequently Ramipril, the latter primarily to protect my kidneys. A new life-style commenced and after 12 months the weight and waistline had reduced substantially. This continued for some 10-12 years at which point I noticed that my weight and waistline were beginning to creep back up, albeit not obese nor even technically overweight. There being no change in lifestyle, I had to look elsewhere. Now as we all know; diabetes takes no prisoners - from eyes to feet - and one of its targets has got to be the thyroid gland, which also has been shown elsewhere to affect HbA1c levels. I duly asked the doc to check my thyroid out and although initially he said that no action is required, some 12 months later, a letter arrived to say that another blood test is needed because your last thyroid results were high!! It would seem that the docs simply look at your test results and if they just happen to creep into the range that they have in front of them i.e., as provided by the local health authority, no action is deemed necessary. On checking the latest results for myself, I discovered that my thyroid was in fact underactive, at least according to the British and US Thyroid associations – as indeed it was 12 months previously. As a consequence, I was initially prescribed with 25mg Levothyroxine, which was subsequently increased to 50mg. Whilst this medication has pulled the thyroid TSH/T4 levels into range, I still feel that the gland is not working as well as it did say 10 years ago. Furthermore, as the values were still in the lower quartile of the statistical range and my blood pressure is OK, I asked the doc if the Levo dosage could be nudged up a bit. Answer came back NO; he did not wish to find himself in a coroner’s court. His words not mine. He also refused to refer me to an endocrinologist. Hence, if the doc, by his own admission can’t help me to get back to where I was, even though still following the regular exercise and sensible eating regime, where do I go from here? Is there anything out there that can give my metabolism a boost in addition to what I am already doing?