Dont Listen to your Doctor, COMPLETELY.

[toncra1]

When diagnosed with type 2 diabetes it is very hard to not feel angry, especially as you may have been careful with your diet...Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, wholemeal bread, reasonable amounts of potato on your plate.....The four main culprits.
Generally living your life in a modest way, maybe a stone or two+ overweight, average drinking, but when you look around, many people are living the same way and they are OK.

Immediately upon diagnosis, your doctor wants you to start on tablets......ugh!
No mention of diet control????? Tablets are that all they ever offer???? No alternative?... I wonder what course of action they would take if it were them???
The doctor will arrange diabetic clinic classes, which are very good but......they assume that you will continue with your diet of moderate amounts of everything, (Basically, low fat, average protein and a good amount of carbs) and the tablets you have been prescribed will take care of your high blood glucose levels.

SO WRONG !!!!!

"Nobody in the medical profession will tell you to cut down drastically on your intake of carbs"
In fact, they will tell you that you need ample carbs in your diet, or you will not have the energy for your daily life.....

The fact is......if you cut down on your carb intake drastically, to about 30 to 40 carbs a day (No bread, potato, pasta, rice, or the obvious white flour, cakes, biscuits, sweets, sodas etc there is a good chance that with exercise and weight loss (Which will almost be an automatic result with the low carb diet) you stand a very good chance of coping with your newly diagnosed condition without having to succumb to the endless prescription tablets and whatever side effects they may bring. not even considering the later possible progression to the use of insulin.

On the internet there are various treatments for controlling Diabetes with a low carb regime....and it works...well worth the $20 to $30 that it costs.

Remember all the time...This is a good way of eating, its good for your body......your previous diet was the BAD one.

I welcome your comments, on how valid this alternative treatment is...It works for so many...

 

[dawnmc]

Hear hear, I agree, however 'apparently' there are no long term studies of the efficacy of low carbing, TOSH. Therefore they won't advocate them.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Personally I think to say not to listen to your doctor is very foolish indeed, you may not like what your doctor tells you but they do have your best interests at heart and even if you dont carry out their advice to the letter you would be well advised to at least listen to what they have to say especially before making any rash decisions based on internet doctors and anecdotal evidence.

When diagnosed with type 2 diabetes it is very hard to not feel angry, especially as you may have been careful with your diet...Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, wholemeal bread, reasonable amounts of potato on your plate.....The four main culprits.
Generally living your life in a modest way, maybe a stone or two+ overweight, average drinking, but when you look around, many people are living the same way and they are OK.

Im sorry but if you were eating "reasonable" amounts of food you would not have been 2 stones overweight, that, despite how many others are overweight is not a healthy way to live your life and if you think otherwise you are deluding yourself.

Oh, and no doctor has ever told an overweight person to eat more have they?

The truth is that very few people are able to stick to a very low carb diet for any length of time, in fact any diet that is restrictive will never work for most people because of the fact that they are restrictive.

Low carb diets have been proven to be very effective for diabetics over the short term especially for a combination of lowering bg levels and helping with weight loss however theyre effectiveness for weight loss soon subsides and most low carbers actually report that their weight loss has stalled usually after between 6 to 12 months. This is seen again and again on this and other forums where low carb diets are discussed. Search the forum if you doubt me.

I have witnessed the good the bad and the down right ugly in terms of low carbers over the four years I have been a member here and very few are still living a very low carb lifestyle despite their initial enthusiasm, in fact one very vocal low carber that was posting here when I joined has recently posted on another forum that he had put back on almost all the weight he had lost and his bg levels had gone up a bit that but he was happy, that says quite a lot I think.

There are of course some who stick with it but I wouldnt like to put a number on it, and if I knew the actual number of those who have very low carbed for over a few years I would guess it would be very small.

Every year or so we get a new wave of low carbers, some (not all thankfully) become very vocal in their defence of low carbing and often at the same time they seem to blame their doctors for everything but fail to mention the one piece of advice that every doctor gives every overweight diabetic and that is to lose weight.

I listen to every word my doctor tells me, he is not a god and is not an expert in everything nor is he a consultant, but he is very knowledgeable and I generally take his advice, but importantly even when I dont I do listen to him before making a decision and I would advise everyone else to do the same.

 

[chris lowe]

I was diagnosed about 2 1/2 years ago and wnet of the DESMOND course and they must have changed the advise because we were told to include starchy foods (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc) with each meal and to have a carb snack mid afternoon! Needless to say I have totally ignored their advice and taken the low carb route.

My husband has just been started on meds for high blood pressure - nothing to do with being married to me I can assure you- and the leaflet he was given said the usual blurb of increasing excercise, reduce alcohol etc but also said to make at least one third of each meal carbs! Well unless he wants to cook his own meals, he will be low carbing along with me.

 

[annew]

Well I listened to my doctor(s). They prescribed me simvastatin 40 mg daily. Played havoc with my legs, realised eventually what was happening and stopped them. No leg problems since. What is one of the news headlines on the home page of this site today? Increased risk of triggering type 2 diabetes from some statins, including simvastatin 40 mg.

I was prescribed atenolol and benzoflumethiazide for blood pressure in 2004. In 2006 atenolol was reclassified as no longer a first line prescription for raised blood pressure only. Why? Because of "an unacceptably high risk of triggering type 2 diabetes". Particularly if prescribed in conjunction with a diuretic - e.g benzoflumethiazide a side effect of which is impaired glucose tolerance. I moved and changed GPs in 2007 - supposedly medication was reviewed - were any changes made? Of course not.

I was diagnosed as diabetic in August 2012 at 69 years of age. Slightly overweight, but no family history of diabetes. I discovered the effects of the medications post diagnosis. Of course I cannot prove anything but I am convinced that the medication has hadf at the very least a significant part to play in my developing the condition.

Fortunately, having (poorly controlled) diabetic in laws who follow the usual guidelines, and being aware of the low carb approach, I immediately went down that route and refused the prescription of metformin that was offered. My blood sugars were within normal levels within 2 weeks. I am now off ALL medication, I will take my chances thank you very much, I believe there is far more risk if blood sugars are not controlled.

Acting in my best interest? No, looking to their pockets. When I asked my DN - who did not disagree that my previous medication could have been responsible - why they had not made any changes she replied "if it ain't broke we don't fix it!" My blood pressure levels with no medication are within "safe" levels for diabetic.

All medications have side effects. We can make choices - what suits me will not suit most others on here I know. We all just want to keep as well as we can though.

 

[wellwell1212]

Good thread this imho. What worries me is recent figures/study that only 20% of us have tight control over this condition.

The wrong Quack can be central to issues. My Quack is a monster in my opinion, max drugs on lowish figures straight away. Drugs drugs drugs, I am bloody sick of them and their bloody side-effects :crazy: ... Rant over, that's better, please indulge me, I know many of you know where I am coming from.

Diet and exercise with sensible/moderate lifestyle and diet are key factors as we know and I have found this after over 10 years living with T2. I am open to new drug treatments but, all I know about is Metformin and Glicacide, apart from injections where I do not want to go given what fellow sufferers at work have told me roblem:

 

[hanadr]

I took my evidence and info along to my GP and he backed my thinking 10 years ago. That doctor has retired and my new one also backs me, as does my Nurse [a practice nurse with interest in diabetes care, not a DSN] They think my control is good. HbA1c always in the 5s;I still only use a minimal dose of Metformin. My retinopathy, which was present at diagnosis has improved. None of these people has tried to encourage me to eat more carbs.
I'm still eating very little carb, without actually weighing or measuring And SID I've been doing it for years not months. I have Not regained my lost weight and, even if very slowly, I'm still losing.
I know that some low carbers do revert. I suspect that they allow their carb intake to get higher, which will put the weight back.
It can be hard to resist treats sometimes. My strategy is to have a TINY bit of things that I like. I've never lost my sweet tooth completely, although I find milk chocolate almost inedible nowadays[ I did taste somw to see], but I like my dark square most evenings.
I'm still convinced that those of us who live with a chronic condition know more about it than the doctors.Especially if we have the brains and education to learn about our own situation.
there may come a time sid when the GI diet no longer works for you Sid, I hope not, but if it happens, you may have to rethink quite a lot.
Hana