Newlyish diagnosed and still very high hba1c :(

[Jenraven]

Hi...

I was diagnosed about 4 years ago..... I think i would have taken the news better if the doctor had told me i had to have a limb chopped off ! The scary thing is that if i dont get this under control thats exactly what could happen ! I was a massive sugar fan... chocolate, cakes etc... I have diabetes because i allowed myself to get up to 26.5 stone and lived that heavy for a few years... the ironic thing is that i lost 10 stone and then got diagnosed !
I am slimmer and healthier that I have been in the last decade and have reduced my sugar intake by at least 50% but have still not been as strict as I should be ... my bloods still sit at 9- 13 ( they were in the 20's when i was diagnosed,)

I dont know about you but i really struggle to find foods that 1. fill me up, 2.take away those sugar cravings and 3. knowing healthier substitutes, or receipes that i can cook for all the family ..

I have an overweight teenager at home and i really want to get mydiet sorted this year to improve my health but also if i cook these foods for the family , by reducing carb intakes he will loose weight too ! Can anyone help us chocholics to stay on track ????


Thanks Liz

When I was pregnant (I had gestational diabetes) I made cakes with splenda! haha - an artificial sweetner...they weren't great, a bit brick like, but it helped with cravings. I think how focused I was back then with what I ate, I need to get back to that. now its just me and not me and my unborn baby, ive let myself slip more. which is ironic, cos I still need to stay healthy for him now! hes 5 now anda real skinny thing, but im bearing in mind that his family history risk factor is massive and that he needs to learn good eating habits to minimize his risk of t2. My nurse said to me try do 80/20 - try be good 80% of the time and allow your self to be bad 20% of the time. I guess treating yourself is ok as long as you deserve the treat!. meat is a good food that will fill you up and not raise your glucose levels, and if you go for lean meat, white meat, especially turkey, then there wont be much fat either. I used to eat meat in sause with pasta all the the time, now I just have more meat and less pasta - meats the best bit anyways
I cant help with how to deal with life without chocolate. is till eat it, just not as much. I went mental over Christmas with it tho
x

 

[Jenraven]

Could you but the darker richer choc and melt and dip strawberrys in it or roll a few blueberrys then cool in fridge to give you tiny taste of choc..for me I didn't mind leaving choclate as I love fruit but I do miss steak pie and mushy peas sob

just wanted to say hi

hi x

 

[Jenraven]

hi, welcome, i was 116 (as i remember but that night is a bit blurry) but was 106 a week later so i go with that, im t2

hi
your bmi and hba1c has come down loads! hopefully hat will be m e this yr!
x

 

[Jenraven]

I buy the Atkins bars to help with my chocolate cravings. You can get them at Asda but I buy them from Amazon. Not cheap but fairly low carb.

Anything with cheese or eggs is long lasting. And I have a new found love of cauliflower - more versatile then you could imagine! You can also try making oven baked chips with swede. Again low carb!

ooh I check them out, thanks
x

 

[Andy12345]

hi
your bmi and hba1c has come down loads! hopefully hat will be m e this yr!
x

yes i hope so too for me its just accepting the need for change.... oh and the fear of god put into me lol

 

[FatGenes999]

Hello and welcome!
I'm finding that my blood glucose fluctuates tremendously depending on types of carbs I eat. Judging from the test results over a period of 3+ years, my numbers have always wildly fluctuated and that is what probably alerted my GP. Numbers have also been consistently high for the past year.

I use the glucometer and am seeing that because the sugar content in grapes and bananas, for instance, is higher than of berries, it is this sugar that is affecting my numbers. I am totally off starchy foods for the time being, whether grain or veggie based.
Hydrogenated, poly-unsaturated and processed oils, like sunflower and safflower, are disastrous for me. My eye-sight is less blurry after having had stopped these types of oils a few days ago.

For chocolate cravings, I might go back to creating my own chocolate drinks by using the sugar-free hot chocolate mix, and using spices, and/or sugar substitute to sweeten, and high or low fat milk. I am still experimenting.

As for feeling "full", I'm going to try more eggs and cheese, like suggested here. I do well with Avocados, mixed with some mayo or olive oil, seasoned with salt and garlic/onion power.

Based on what I've read, as well as what I am observing about myself, this carb-Abh1-BG etc. numbers-game is an individual thing. No two people are alike.
Emotional stressors also seem to greatly affect my body's ability to properly assimilate what I eat. In fact, just before my official T2 label was given to me a few weeks ago, I had had a few weeks of dealing with a very negatively stressful situation. In fact, when I look back over my entire health history this kind of emotional overstress seems to precede every medical problem, whether digestion/insulin is involved, or not. Negative stress is a killer.

 

[FatGenes999]

As I am new at all of this, I'm still "playing" with my BG levels, testing with the glucometer every few hours, before, after meals, etc. I can't believe how much the number decreased at one point, almost the target level. It shows me that my diet determines the BG levels, as well as the timing of sugar rise and fall during food assimilation. I will be not be regularly eating the starchy food I had today as an experiment, but, I did learn something.
I am also stopping the "natural" diet supplements I had been taking for the past month because i think they have really been contributing to BG spikes, as well as dizziness. Lots of caffeine-based ingredients, as well as the industrial products that add to feelings of being "full". Wood shavings, basically, highly dangerous to proper digestion. I also read about poly-saccharides, which is what these digestive "fillers" are, contributing to the diabetes set-up, as well as to other diseases.

 

[FatGenes999]

thanks
I asked for a meter and the nurse said no! her exact words were...'we don't give meters to people on metformin, what you gonna do if you test and its really high?' - I jut wanted one so I knew how what I ate affected me.
The type 1 thing...my hba1c was 89, now its 85. ive not been put on any meds that contain insulin, metformin helps with insulin resistance, it doesn't actually put more insulin into my body...so am I right in thinking that type 1's have no insulin at all? and that if I was type 1 metformin would not of helped at all and my blood sugar would of bee much higher?
x

You are absolutely correct.about being able to check your own BG levels.

Maybe finding another way to get a meter might be a good idea for you. You might have to persuade your GP that it would greatly work to your advantage to do so.

At this point, for me, having the BG meter and being able to know what is happening with my blood glucose has been very empowering. The ups and downs of the BG correlate with time of day, fasting, and what I've eaten, so it all makes sense to me.
Also, after experimenting I've seen that my higher BG levels tends to "accumulate; starchy carbs can stay in my system for at least a day, so having two days in a row of eating such is much worse than leaving a day in between.
I also get the worse neuropathy in my foot sometimes as a delayed reaction only after two consistent days of eating starchy carbs, esp. white processed kind.

My meter is also set for 7, 14 and 30 day averages, so I'll know after the first week where I am in general.

I also have thought about whether I have ever experienced "hypos". and the answer is "yes". The worse one I ever had was actually 15 years ago, way before any kind of DB warning, or ,diagnosis. I instinctively knew that I needed "sugar" so grabbed some sweet junk food to stop the shaking and sweats. The episode stayed in my mind all of these years, so I guess I surmised it was a warning that my BG was badly fluctuating..

I was warned of hypoglycemia about 30 years ago, but never diabetes. However, I did know they were related so I wasn't surprised that my body did strange things with sugar, or, the lack of it., hence, getting a Dx of Type2 DB a few weeks ago wasn't that shocking.

Having been on weight-loss diets since adolescence, and having had three blood-related aunts who were clinically obese, I have always been aware of my issues with eating and weight. I just think that I have been in denial despite the many times I've lost and gained weight, and the way I need to work out like an athlete to maintain proper weight. I have never been like other "normal" people when it comes to this subject, I just have never wanted to really admit it. I am set-up for issues with weight and blood-sugar problems. That is why I chose "Fat Genes", as my avatar, referring to the gene for obesity.

I recently had a "hypo" the other night, after having had shopped and walked around for a few hours without having had eaten. Now that I know that I have diabetes I have to be extra careful about not going out without some food to raise my glucose level in case of a hypo. It could be very dangerous should it happen if I am traveling alone, esp. at night..

 

[jinstone]

Last yr in september, at the age of 23(!) i was diagnosed with type 2. It sucked, but i knew it was coming, i just didnt think it would be so soon! I have a lot of family history and i had gestational diabetes 5yrs ago and im overweight..
So im sat in the nurses office and she tells my my hba1c is (drumroll please...) 89!! This is when i burst into tears, because i know this is very high. The gestational diabetes i had meant i was tested every yr i went from not diabetic to that high in a very short space of time. I was put on metformin straight away.
When i went on the desmond course, i was the youngest by far there and also had the highest hba1c, it was literally off the chart they get you to mark it on! There was a collective, sympathetic ohh when i read out my result...
When i went to my review recently i was upset to find my hba1c is still very high, 85 to be exact. My metformin has been upped to the maximum and im on a new drug sitagliptin. The nurse also wants to see me in 8 weeks, at which point she may put me on something injectable! Very vague and ominous...
Diabetes is a progressive thing, and im only 24 now and im already this bad/this high/on this many drugs etc that i worry about the future, oh and i ******* love chocolate, and that kills me!
I had my eye screening results back too, and it said i had background retinopathy - that freaked me out, especially as there was no info about it with the letter. They just told me i had it and didnt need to see me any earlier...so im left thinking well *** is this? Is it a problem or not?
The silver lining of course is that im forced into being healthier and im losing weight, but a slip up costs me a lot more that than not being able to fit into that dress i like...
Has anyone else had an hba1c as high as mine?
X

>> Hi there try not to panic it will take time. My reading wasn't like yours mine was 23 but the nurses still were shocked when mine was discovered. I was due to have an operation. It took six months to get my reading down to a level where they were happy to complete the operation. Work with them on medications. It will seem overkill but anything you buy and eat for the first few months try and log how much sugar natural or other it may contain, carbs etc. and set up a simple spread sheet to log what you should have daily and what you are eating. Initially you might be shocked at how much sugar / carbs etc. you are having compared with the recommended daily intake and it does seems like a nuisance logging this all but soon you will find those sugar levels dropping away. I found I also lost a bit of weight which helped the medication work better and it became a bit of a cycle. Keep people here advised of how you are doing and don't hesitate to ask questions and bounce ideas off people. I've been diagnosed 3 years but still learning. Regards Jeremy

>> Just realised you don't need to panic as much, your 89 is new scale, isn't it? Mine was 23 old scale which I think equates to 228 new scale. Work with them and get the numbers down. Nice and steady, Work with them on different meds as no one is the same or reacts the same. Regular blood checks once a quarter to start with and despite comments do check your own sugar levels to work out what you can and can't eat.

 

[fossilhead]

Hello everyone! I understand about HbA1C but I wondered if anyone has access to any studies/research in regards to people with type 2 leaving their hba1c sitting between 48-58. This is higher than someone without diabetes (less than 42) so surely this will have long term complications such as retinopathy etc?! I thought the idea was to reduce hba1c to "normal" levels? Many thanks


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[Bluetit1802]

>>

>> Just realised you don't need to panic as much, your 89 is new scale, isn't it? Mine was 23 old scale which I think equates to 228 new scale. Work with them and get the numbers down. Nice and steady, Work with them on different meds as no one is the same or reacts the same. Regular blood checks once a quarter to start with and despite comments do check your own sugar levels to work out what you can and can't eat.

Please can someone explain the above readings? My HbA1c was 53 new scale, 7% old scale. I don't understand the 23 and 228. I was under the impression that between 20 and 42 new scale (4% to 6% old scale) was "normal".