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Am I unusual to be confused.....

Pollylocks

Well-Known Member
Messages
525
Location
Kent
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Not many.
........about all the conflicting advice we get...???

I was diagnosed as Type 2 fifteen years ago and only told not to eat sweet food.... other carbs such as potatoes, pasta, bread etc. were recommended so I stopped the sweet stuff.....my blood sugar improved somewhat but not too much and it was only by trial and error by testing that I discovered that these starchy carbs were as bad, if not worse for me....I thought that it must be individual to me and my metabolism so basically I stopped seeing my DN as I thought I couldn't be treated individually, so I just went for my annual tests..

After many letters from her, I went to see her last year, mentioned potatoes shooting up my bs which she seemed surprised at [have mentioned this in another thread so won't bang on about it in here!] ........bbbut after reading many of the posts in here I am sooo disillusioned that the medical profession are not up-to-date with what's going on with us, I'm not unusual at all, its common to most of us that these starchy carbs affect our bs....

I'm soo pleased I found this forum, the support, help and views are great, I feel I am with people who know what I'm talking about....

Sorry for the long post and bit of a rant, I worry about others diagnosed as long ago as myself, and ones who are newly diagnosed and still getting the same advice as I received...
 
No I think the NHS is just like a super tanker - you turn the wheel and 15 years later the bow starts to change direction. Takes another 15 years to have turned around. It is what you get with a huge hierarchical institution. Takes a generation for new thinking to start to evolve properly.

I thought it weird straight away when they kept pushing potatoes, rice, pasta down my throat and told me I shouldn't be eating hazelnuts (which are full of HDL and arginine)! Luckily I am single minded enough to ignore them but it took a while for me to convince my wife I was right
 
Your post Polly mirrors my confusion. The difference is that I'm newly diagnosed. My visit to the nurse on Friday left me wondering what to do and I started a thread here about it. Thank goodness the good people here told me what they did. I might only be new to Diabetes but I knew what was said, didn't add up. I can confirm that I'm getting the advice you did at the beginning.

I've ordered a meter and even though I don't know where to start properly yet, at least I know what to avoid as much as I can. I don't understand the NHS. I've got other questions to ask when I go tomorrow but to be honest, I don't think I will and that bothers me. If I was a nurse/doctor that dealt with Diabetes, I'd want to know all the up to date information on it. Unfortunately on Friday, that wasn't the case.
 
I usually ask the questions, and then come home to check that what I have been told is true! Occasionally, I get a good tip from healthcare professionals, but there are good tips on these forums all the time.
 
Absolutely. The first thing I did, after telling hubby and feeling confused, was come here and ask. As I told hubby, the members here have a wealth of experience and years to accumulate it. It's nice to be able to ask especially when you're a beginner who doesn't have a clue on what to do.
 
Slowly, the NHS advice is starting to change. It's gonna take time but when the docs/DSN's keep hearing stories like yours, some are taking note. Reducing carbs as well as sugars should be the standard advice.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Welcome Pollylocks!

I've had great advice on here, which in my case pre-arms me for my first DN session. But my GP was hopeless.
 
and while we wait for the ship to turn, people suffer the consequences of this deadly advice
 
It probably makes little difference Andy! My doctor told me the majority of people don't bother changing their lifestyle. Hence the pop a pill approach
 
It's great isn't it that some (many?) in the NHS are so out of date that they recommend a diabetic diet that makes you worse. Thank goodness for a bunch of 'amateurs' on this forum who actually know something about the illness through experience of it
 
Also a shame that 99% of diabetics never join a forum and so are not afforded any good advice other than NHS dietician.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
On diagnosis, my GP told me to eat a low GI diet which is actually pretty good advice as it would exclude white bread, potatoes, white rice etc as all are high GI. The Xpert course though focussed the much-maligned Eat Well plate, but to give them their due, they also said low GI was a good way to go, despite saying starchy carbs were required with every meal.
 



hehe you sound happy with the conflicting advice you received
 

Yep like brown rice. They suggested boiled new pots on my course but didn't like it when I suggested roast potatoes because the fat would slow down the digestion; "you can't have too much fat" was the reply. Although she then said a scoop of ice cream was ok (about the only part I took on board).

I do do low GI but not a full eat well plate full. Each to their own way. I tend to have all my veg at lunch and eat all my bad stuff in the evening lol (got to have a treat after 12 hours at work.
 
@Pollylocks

You're not alone in your confusion and disillusionment, many here feel the same.
I was diagnosed T2 twenty three years ago. Got dealt all the usual **** about eating plenty of carbs at every meal etc. Low GI, high fibre, blah blah. Consequently, as a result of poor control I have ended up insulin dependant. A few short months ago I was introduced to the LCHF way of life and haven't looked back. My weight has dropped, my Hba1c has halved, and my BGs are stable in the 5s and low 6s. And as a 68yr old I'm doing just great
Lots of luck to you
Geri
 
Wow I hope I am doing as well in 20 years time - kudos
 
I was lucky in that my doctor did mention the Atkins diet to me, which after starting odd "wrong" set me looking at low carb diets and happily I found our forum.

Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a particularly high opinion of people on forums as they apparently are too biased in their opinions.... particularly with reference to statins.

Robbity
 
If I had a pound for every person who has posted that they are confused at the conflicting advice which they have received or that they felt that the advice from the NHS just couldn't be right I'd be rich. It saddens me that yet another poster is experiencing the same issues. You are made to feel irresponsible if you refuse to eat bread, rice, potatoes pasta or include fat. When you suggest fat as an alternative energy source you are told about cholestrol. When you then say that it doesn't raise bs, they either tell you that it's the wrong type of energy or they say nothing. No further explanation is given whilst they continue to play Russian roulette with our lives!
 
Andrew Colvin said:
It probably makes little difference Andy! My doctor told me the majority of people don't bother changing their lifestyle. Hence the pop a pill approach
Click to expand...
Unfortunately that's very true. One of the things Prof Taylor emphasised in his talk was that people who decide to try the Newcastle Diet are a highly motivated subset of diabetics. I'd say the same is true for people who join forums and put in the effort to read and research for themselves. Way too many people are happy to hand their health and wellbeing over to other people without question. I'm betting most of our local libraries have lots of information too - but I wonder how many people actually bother?

I had the recent experience of seeing a new GP about a minor infection - she actually said "I can give you an antibiotic if you want". I said no thanks, but I'm sure she was just reacting to the usual demand to "write me a script". And now we wonder why there are antibiotic resistant bacteria?
 
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