Burnout?

Being on insulin is better than I expected. If your GP suggests it, you can give it a trial, knowing that you can have your eggs and spinach as the alternative.

You are but a spring chicken at 60 and could have years ahead of you. I am 71.

You have the choice. Eat sensibly and reduce those dangerous blood sugar levels, or run the risk of the rest of your life disabled in some way - you already have a foot problem. You don't want it amputating, do you? Your eyesight will suffer, and so may your kidneys. Diabetic complications are awful. If I have 10 years left on this earth, I want to be as fit as I can be, with all my limbs, eyes and kidneys working properly.

I eat low carb but could never call it rabbit food. For my tea tonight I had 2 fried eggs, 3 rashers of bacon, a grilled tomato, a sausage, a splodge of HP sauce, a slice of low carb bread (toasted) with mounds of butter, followed by strawberries and cream. I also had 2 glasses or red wine and a mug of tea with a dash of milk in it. Yesterday I had a Sunday roast. Saturday I had a juicy steak with all the trimmings. I don't call any of that rabbit food.

sparkyrich said:

Hi, I’ve been a member of the forum for a good while and I tend to drift in and out, reading lots but posting rarely.
Thing is, I’m struggling. My hba1c result used to be a fairly consistent mid 40’s. 18 months or so ago it climbed to mid 60’s. My GP put me on sitagliptin in addition to my metformin. This time it’s climbed to 74 and he’s taken me off the sitagliptin and added jardiance. Been on it for a week and I’ve got to say I’m not too impressed. They won’t give T2’s a meter so I bought my own. In the week since I’ve been on the jardiance my BG is averaging 11.5 first thing. Climbs after breakfast to a high of 24-25 then drops back to a low of 15. Same after lunch and tea.
I know my body is having a hard time of it - it’s affecting my vision and I feel faint at the slightest exertion. My right foot has gone from tingling toes to almost 50%numb and my left foot has now got the tingling. I’ve got extremely high blood pressure (under control with 6 different tablets), arthritis in my hands, feet, knees and elbows, a medically controlled problem with the pain receptors in my brain, oesophagitis and moderate/severe COPD. Otherwise I’m fit as a lop lol.
Thing is I’m also 60. Realistically I’ve probably got another 10 years if I’m lucky before everything falls off a cliff. Now that could be 10 years of doing pretty much what I like or 10 years of eating rabbit food and not having what I like. It’s a tough call. I love bread with a capital L. Wine and beer are personal friends. The thought of spending my last few years cooking egg and spinach mini quiches for breakfast and eating cauliflower rice and courgetti bolognaise washed down with black tea isn’t cutting it. I’ll still live the 10 years, but the second option will seem a LOT longer.
I’m due back at the Doctors in 10 weeks when I’ll do another hba1c and he’ll either say I’ve to stay on the jardiance or I’ve to go on insulin. But that’s the rub. Do I want to? Or do I say “enough is enough” and take my chances? I’ve had a reasonable life , I’ve nothing to look forward to but more pain and other wonderful effects of my various problems. I’m not thinking of suicide, per se, but going out in a blaze of glory appeals more than the alternative gradual decline. Sorry for the long, self pitying post, but hey, we’re all entitled to a grizzle now and again!

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It's funny but at first I felt deprived of sugar when i gave it up and now I just can't believe I was that bothered. You really can have an enjoyable life on a low carb high fat diet. There is so much more to life than bread and beer!

sparkyrich said:

Climbs after breakfast to a high of 24-25

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What are you eating for breakfast to create a spike like that?

sparkyrich said:

but hey, we’re all entitled to a grizzle now and again!

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Sorry that your feeling like this just now and you are right it's perfectly fine to scream and shout at the world when you do feel down.

If I can offer an observation, feeling's change.

I was misdiagnosed for over 9 years, but I was put on insulin fairly early because medications made me sick. I think it is maybe to long of a time to go without any insulin since 2011 if you were a type 1, but LADA is a very slow developing type 1.

But maybe more important is that someone else just posted information that they actually had type 2 and then got type 1 years later, they tested positive for the antibodies and everything. So you might ask to be tested. Or it could just be type 2 and you are getting a lot worse. In type 1, you have to have insulin, if you are getting that much worse with type 2, you probably need insulin too.

sparkyrich said:

18 months or so ago it climbed to mid 60’s

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first off, so sorry you are having a thoroughly miserable time right now, it can be tough this life thingy!

A couple of thoughts, did something else change around that time that could have triggered this change, that life thingy again? Also I wonder if diabetes (in "simple" type 2) has a sort of threshold effect where you are OK until "suddenly" you aren't. Where I'm going with this is that it's possible you don't have to have a life of no beer and lettuce juice (NBLJ diet) forever but a short term reset might make you feel better.

There a quite a few options which aren't NBLJ that could make you feel better, fasting (aka skipping meals), limit carbs to smaller portions or once a day, eat to your meter to find which carbs your body can tolerate. Any one of these changes might bring you below that "threshold" so you don't feel so grim.

Grizzling is an art form and should be appreciated as such

sparkyrich said:

The thought of spending my last few years cooking egg and spinach mini quiches for breakfast and eating cauliflower rice and courgetti bolognaise washed down with black tea isn’t cutting it. I’ll still live the 10 years, but the second option will seem a LOT longer.

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You might live for ten years, you might not. Somehow my father managed to live until he was 92 and he was a poorly controlled type II diabetic who like you didn't fancy the idea of eating"rabbit food". He thought Muesli, toast and honey was a healthy option and strangely having been tea total all his life, developed a love of red wine in his last 10 years. However, he had lost his sight, he had lost bladder control, he'd had several hospital stays because of UTIs usually lasting several weeks. He'd also had several infections affecting his feet and had had a toe amputated. I'd like to think that I loved my father, but it didn't stop the 60 mile round trip to West Middlesex hospital (M40/M25/M4) being a complete pain in the back side. 90 minutes each way was not unusual.

For me it's a no brainer, I will do everything within my power to lead a life whereby my medical conditions are in my control and not a drain on NHS resources. Where's that lettuce leaf?

sparkyrich said:

Hi, I’ve been a member of the forum for a good while and I tend to drift in and out, reading lots but posting rarely.
Thing is, I’m struggling. My hba1c result used to be a fairly consistent mid 40’s. 18 months or so ago it climbed to mid 60’s. My GP put me on sitagliptin in addition to my metformin. This time it’s climbed to 74 and he’s taken me off the sitagliptin and added jardiance. Been on it for a week and I’ve got to say I’m not too impressed. They won’t give T2’s a meter so I bought my own. In the week since I’ve been on the jardiance my BG is averaging 11.5 first thing. Climbs after breakfast to a high of 24-25 then drops back to a low of 15. Same after lunch and tea.
I know my body is having a hard time of it - it’s affecting my vision and I feel faint at the slightest exertion. My right foot has gone from tingling toes to almost 50%numb and my left foot has now got the tingling. I’ve got extremely high blood pressure (under control with 6 different tablets), arthritis in my hands, feet, knees and elbows, a medically controlled problem with the pain receptors in my brain, oesophagitis and moderate/severe COPD. Otherwise I’m fit as a lop lol.
Thing is I’m also 60. Realistically I’ve probably got another 10 years if I’m lucky before everything falls off a cliff. Now that could be 10 years of doing pretty much what I like or 10 years of eating rabbit food and not having what I like. It’s a tough call. I love bread with a capital L. Wine and beer are personal friends. The thought of spending my last few years cooking egg and spinach mini quiches for breakfast and eating cauliflower rice and courgetti bolognaise washed down with black tea isn’t cutting it. I’ll still live the 10 years, but the second option will seem a LOT longer.
I’m due back at the Doctors in 10 weeks when I’ll do another hba1c and he’ll either say I’ve to stay on the jardiance or I’ve to go on insulin. But that’s the rub. Do I want to? Or do I say “enough is enough” and take my chances? I’ve had a reasonable life , I’ve nothing to look forward to but more pain and other wonderful effects of my various problems. I’m not thinking of suicide, per se, but going out in a blaze of glory appeals more than the alternative gradual decline. Sorry for the long, self pitying post, but hey, we’re all entitled to a grizzle now and again!

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You're going to hate me, but... Carbs are inflammatory foods and they retain water. My rheumatism's as good as gone, with the occasional flare-up that'll last half a day tops, maybe once every 2 months (and nowhere near as bad as it used to be all the time, when I couldn't even hold a hairbrush or turn a key), and my mom's COPD's gotten a lot better since she cut carbs, as she's retaining less water. She can actually walk some distances again, where before she'd be ghasping for air in her own home. So the "eating like a rabbit" thing might actually improve your other health issues too, not just the problems with your feet and such. Your quality of life could be a lot better... If you choose to improve it. Thing is, as you probably noticed, T2 complications are not something that happens overnight, so that blaze of glory's not much blazing, more like a fizzling out. They're long, drawn out processes. Things I've seen up close, like amputations, heart faillure etc, they kind of dragged on for a miserably long time. (And the guy who lost his legs had huge hemorrhoids to boot till the day he died. Dunno if you ever had those, but having to sit on them all the time does NOT help improve quality of life.)

The LCHF diet is one with quite a few options. If you enjoy what you're eating (is bacon punishment?), it wouldn't be half bad... Scrambled eggs with high met content sausages, cheese, extra dark chocolate, meat fish and poultry, cream... I have never made mini quiches in my life and the courgetti was an abject failure, so... Just find what would fit your life and tastes best. If that's Burger King, just ask for the burger without the bun and with extra bacon and greens. If it's steak, have steak. Try LivLife bread instead of the usual fare, it's low carb. I'm having two chunks of salmon today, and pulled pork, probably some tuna salad as well... I'm not going to make fathead pizza or whatever. Too involved.

It's your choice. You don't have to follow LCHF. But I think if you did, you might find life'd be worth it. (Also, wine's not off the menu, dry ones are perfectly fine, as is champagne. Wodka's okay too... Beer's an issue, but there's low carb beer as well. I have a feeling you don't know what a LCHF diet entails exactly.... It might be worth your while to find out!)

Whatever you choose.... I hope you'll be okay. High bloodsugars also affect mood, so there's that to consider as well, but... Well... Good luck with it all, is what I'm saying. I just hope you have a good, healthy, long life.
Jo

sparkyrich said:

Thank you all for taking the trouble to reply. I think it’s seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and realising it’s just another trolley with yet more meds’ that’s getting to me a bit. I also need to give my head a bit of a wobble now and then

.
It’s easy sometimes to get your diets mixed when you’ve got a partner who is going to one of the “clubs” and they’re being told low carb is not good and they’re encouraged to eat lots of fruit etc. My own review dietician tried to turn me away from low carb by quoting recent reports that low carbing was responsible for loads of extra deaths, serious complications and , I seem to remember, global warming (but I’m not certain because I’d switched off by then).
So, here’s the plan. Knuckle down to LCHF again for the next 10 weeks. Then go for the review. If things are going the right way, then carry on. If there’s no improvement I’ll give the insulin a shot and see where that takes me. Once again, thanks!

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I am delighted to read this, and wish you luck in your endeavours. Another good plan would be to stay posting on the forum, joining in discussions, and asking questions if necessary. It should help you keep on track.

sparkyrich said:

Thank you all for taking the trouble to reply. I think it’s seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and realising it’s just another trolley with yet more meds’ that’s getting to me a bit. I also need to give my head a bit of a wobble now and then

.
It’s easy sometimes to get your diets mixed when you’ve got a partner who is going to one of the “clubs” and they’re being told low carb is not good and they’re encouraged to eat lots of fruit etc. My own review dietician tried to turn me away from low carb by quoting recent reports that low carbing was responsible for loads of extra deaths, serious complications and , I seem to remember, global warming (but I’m not certain because I’d switched off by then).
So, here’s the plan. Knuckle down to LCHF again for the next 10 weeks. Then go for the review. If things are going the right way, then carry on. If there’s no improvement I’ll give the insulin a shot and see where that takes me. Once again, thanks!

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Well done! I spent a small fortune going to a well known slimming club, diagnosed 3 years ago aged 63 lost five stone since then. You don't say if you need to loose weight but stick to LCHF and see the weight and the BG numbers go down and then see if your partner still thinks it's a bad idea.
You get the best support in these forums, most professionals don't read enough or listen to their LCHF patients, showing them results can help them change their minds and then help others. I was lucky as my GP told me to go LCHF straight off its not a fad, I recently found a book of my Father's called "Eat fat-get thin" which is at least 40 years old. This site and diet doctor is the place to go, please give it a go for your ten weeks and you won't be feeling deprived, you'll be getting results and that will help to lift the depression, you might even not need the insulin. Please let us all know how you are doing. When you're struggling there's always someone around to help and cheer you on.
Mell

Hi. First ignore anyone who tells you low carb doesn't work or is dangerous etc as they are talking rubbish. Do concentrate on keeping the carbs down to make sure your BMI is in a good range. BTW what is your current BMI? Insulin is not the best move if you have any excess weight as it's likely to add insulin to a body already overloaded with it thru insulin resistance. If you are slim then ask the GP for the tests for late onset T1.

sparkyrich said:

Thank you all for taking the trouble to reply. I think it’s seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and realising it’s just another trolley with yet more meds’ that’s getting to me a bit. I also need to give my head a bit of a wobble now and then

.
It’s easy sometimes to get your diets mixed when you’ve got a partner who is going to one of the “clubs” and they’re being told low carb is not good and they’re encouraged to eat lots of fruit etc. My own review dietician tried to turn me away from low carb by quoting recent reports that low carbing was responsible for loads of extra deaths, serious complications and , I seem to remember, global warming (but I’m not certain because I’d switched off by then).
So, here’s the plan. Knuckle down to LCHF again for the next 10 weeks. Then go for the review. If things are going the right way, then carry on. If there’s no improvement I’ll give the insulin a shot and see where that takes me. Once again, thanks!

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So glad to see this reply and I wish you all the best finding what works for you!!! Keep at it!! Xx

sparkyrich said:

Hi, I’ve been a member of the forum for a good while and I tend to drift in and out, reading lots but posting rarely.
Thing is, I’m struggling. My hba1c result used to be a fairly consistent mid 40’s. 18 months or so ago it climbed to mid 60’s. My GP put me on sitagliptin in addition to my metformin. This time it’s climbed to 74 and he’s taken me off the sitagliptin and added jardiance. Been on it for a week and I’ve got to say I’m not too impressed. They won’t give T2’s a meter so I bought my own. In the week since I’ve been on the jardiance my BG is averaging 11.5 first thing. Climbs after breakfast to a high of 24-25 then drops back to a low of 15. Same after lunch and tea.
I know my body is having a hard time of it - it’s affecting my vision and I feel faint at the slightest exertion. My right foot has gone from tingling toes to almost 50%numb and my left foot has now got the tingling. I’ve got extremely high blood pressure (under control with 6 different tablets), arthritis in my hands, feet, knees and elbows, a medically controlled problem with the pain receptors in my brain, oesophagitis and moderate/severe COPD. Otherwise I’m fit as a lop lol.
Thing is I’m also 60. Realistically I’ve probably got another 10 years if I’m lucky before everything falls off a cliff. Now that could be 10 years of doing pretty much what I like or 10 years of eating rabbit food and not having what I like. It’s a tough call. I love bread with a capital L. Wine and beer are personal friends. The thought of spending my last few years cooking egg and spinach mini quiches for breakfast and eating cauliflower rice and courgetti bolognaise washed down with black tea isn’t cutting it. I’ll still live the 10 years, but the second option will seem a LOT longer.
I’m due back at the Doctors in 10 weeks when I’ll do another hba1c and he’ll either say I’ve to stay on the jardiance or I’ve to go on insulin. But that’s the rub. Do I want to? Or do I say “enough is enough” and take my chances? I’ve had a reasonable life , I’ve nothing to look forward to but more pain and other wonderful effects of my various problems. I’m not thinking of suicide, per se, but going out in a blaze of glory appeals more than the alternative gradual decline. Sorry for the long, self pitying post, but hey, we’re all entitled to a grizzle now and again!

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Sorry that you are having a bad time and feeling so down.

I am in the same age bracket as you and had been looking forward to an enjoyable retirement. I have been on insulin for the last two months. Its nowhere near as bad as it seems and I can still eat things such as eggs and bacon and look forward to enjoying my retirement. As others have already said the alternatives are not pleasant and certainly not a blaze of glory.

We all feel down and low about this from time to time. I hope you get your head around it and take the right path for you.

Good luck.

Hi. I am about to turn 54 in 3 days time so not a lot younger than you. I too really really love the carbs but I am determined to do (not try just do ) the LCHF. I am fortunate that my husband who absolutely does not need to lose weight is very very supportive. At 60 you are still young. I have also struggled with the egg and spinach mini quiches for breakfast and didn't like them. I'm now trying cheese and pastrami and plan to try some protein type shakes to vary this. My husband also found a waffle mixture on the internet that has about 3 carbs per serving- I'm looking forward to trying that.

I have also found the vodka cruisers sugar free don't spike me and the flavoured gin (not awesome but drinkable) as some alcohol alternatives. The gin- doesn't replace cocktails but also doesn't spike- plus as they are not great one is all I will drink so better all round,

I guess all I can say I really feel your pain. I also believe that with time you can find some foods that will fit in th LCHF diet and that you can enjoy. I'm not (yet) a believer that you will stop missing the food.

You need to do whatever is best for you and what you can live with. This site is full of people who I have found so supportive and who don't judge. I think that it is one of the great things about it. I also have valued the suggestions for food as that has meant I've tried a lot more to find alternatives I can enjoy rather than resigning myself.

Good luck! I really believe that if you keep posting g you will find real support whatever you decide to do and helpful advice. ( I might of used-okay did use -the phrase blasé of glory when talking to my dr yesterday).