Conflicting advice

davd said:

My hba 1c , was 6 in December and 9 in April so an increase of 3 .

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Have you also started taking statins as this can increase blood sugar - my hba1c rose from 48 to 54 when I took them, albeit for a short while.

davd said:

I have been taking Atovastatin for the last 18 months and simvastatn before that also blood pressure medication for 20 years, and also acid reflux meds for last few years. .
It’s **** getting older Lol.
Paying for a past lifestyle but I did enjoy it .

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Change what you eat now and you will probably be able to ditch all of the meds... worthwhile do you think?

davd said:

I have been taking Atovastatin for the last 18 months and simvastatn before that also blood pressure medication for 20 years, and also acid reflux meds for last few years. .
It’s **** getting older Lol.
Paying for a past lifestyle but I did enjoy it .

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You sound like you're giving up man. Try getting a new lease on life. With bacon!

davd said:

It’s **** getting older Lol.

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Agree, but the alternative isnt much fun !

And it doesn’t have to be as bad as people think it does. A lot put up with **** thinking there’s no choice, when there is for quite a few things typically accepted as “normal part of getting old”

I threw away the statin - lasted about a month on the nasty things, combined with Metformin. I just do low carb. the nurse congratulated me on finally conforming to the healthy regime she thought I was on - the low fat high carb diet and the tablets. - at the first retest I did after diagnosis.
Her expression was one to remember. Total shock.
I do find it rather fun that my morris side wears black and Cadbury purple as their kit - as in 'when I am old I shall wear purple, and a red hat' ours are black though - but mine has a red lining.....
Get old? Blow that!

well done! You have proof it can be done by low carbs.keep it up and keep your blood sugar down you would at some point be able to lower your meds or even eventually be in remission.I have been doing omad for 105 days and have lost 2 stone and reduce my insulin 30/70 mix down from 40 units am / pm to now just 16 pm.If you put the effort in you reap rewards .for 2 years I followed the diabetic nurse advice on diet , and so wrong informed they are, and as a result I put on 3 stone and went through 4 different medications for diabetes.If only I had found this forum sooner and started low carb.keep it up...keep strong....be safe.

Always great to hear of someone's success- that is great news!

One by one we will eventually educate the medical profession.

Congratulations

EllieM said:

That's a big increase for just 4 months. (from 42mmol/L to 75mmol/L) Many folk on these forums have started with higher levels and reduced them to normal by low carbing.

Good luck, and don't forget that T1/LADA has the same symptoms as T2, but needs different treatment. If your levels go down but then start going back up (without an increase in carbs) you need to push your GP to give you the c-peptide and GAD tests. (I am guessing he/she is fairly old fashioned because your hba1c was given to you in old style units (a %) rather than mmol/L (which has been used in the UK since 2011).

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My test results give both but all the doctors(we don't see the same one) use the percentage both young and old.

davd said:

Yesterday I had my lowest BG reading to date 4.8 but I also felt a bit light headed.

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You have had elevated blood sugars for a while (hence the T2 diagnosis) and your body has got used to them so 4.8 feels off but in fact is totally normal and what you should be aiming for.
Your nurse is unfortunately talking rubbish and wants to keep your custom for a while longer!
There will be a period of adapting to a keto diet but the benefits will be worthwhile.. there's a thing called "keto flu" which can last a few days but once over leads to better health and speedier results all round. I'd recommend stick at the ultra low carb, enjoy the cream in the coffee and ditch as many carbs as humanly possible.

Edit to add just notice you are on loads of medications which won't help.. maybe try and talk to the nurse about reducing those whilst low carbing with the aim of removing them completely over time.

Your numbers have shown a dramatic improvement since you first started. I would seriously look at dropping the glucose lowering medication. Your numbers may increase slightly at first, but the would be your numbers, not artificially adjusted.

If you record your food and readings into the mysugr app it will give you an estimated hba1c after a few days. It's based on the data you enter so not as accurate as an hba1c. However, the longer you use it the more accurate. I found it highly motivating and by August you should have a pretty good idea of where you are.

davd said:

but all the medical bodies state diabetics have a greater chance of heart disease.

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So all the more reason to put your T2 into remission by dietary changes.
Then you can ditch the statins too.

Stick to a low carb diet walk once a day and your blood glucose and cholesterol will come down

davd said:

After research it seems that Atovastatin can increase my blood sugar level by up to 12% as it increases insulin resistance and limits pancreas insulin production, but all the medical bodies state diabetics have a greater chance of heart disease.
So a bit of a dilemma risk of heart attack or increased BG .
Note i am aged over 60 ,smoker of over 50 years , not very fit . I know i shouldn’t smoke but very hard to quit .
All the research is about statins increasing the risk of T2 diabetes but none explains the risk to already diognosed with the condition

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You have diabetes now. The risk of heart attack is theoretical at present. Continuing to smoke raises your risk an awful lot more than ditching the stain would (if doing so even did raise risk which is debatable). Statins can increase bgl. Whether you are already diagnosed or just heading that way and speeded along by the statins.

Are you on them for a specific reason or just because you are type 2? Sadly they are on the tick box list and not always prescribed specifically for individuals. Do you know the full breakdown of your lipid panel? Do you know your ratios?

low carb reduces the bad cholesterols and increases the good ones. Carbs are the issue not fats.

davd said:

She said which may be right that I need some carbs like a small amount of potatoes and veg and when I mentioned cream in my coffee she nearly had a fit .
Yesterday I had my lowest BG reading to date 4.8 but I also felt a bit light headed.
So today I had bacon, egg, mushrooms, and one waffle about 14g of carbs to see what that would do to my BG ,I didn’t take my level before meal as it was too near me getting up (dawn phenomenon) after two hours post meal BG 6.5 but I feel a lot better in myself .
What is a good level to keep my BG ?, between 5.5 and 7.0 I feel a lot better than in the 4s .
And how many carbs a day is ok .

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Lack of low carb knowledge errors on the nurses part. There is absolutely no biological need for any carbs at all. Oft quoted is the brain needing glucose but it can get this by converting proteins to glucose in sufficient quantities within the body. She seems welded to the low fat message too. Ignore this. She has it back to front. Your progress proves this.

You still need to see what you are before a meal to assess it, DP or not. The only thing to remember is you might get a small rise than expected if the base level is falling after DP wears off.

You feel better in the 6’s because you are used to higher numbers. It’s your normal. If you keep them lower then lower numbers begin to feel normal. If you can get mostly 4’s before meals mostly you’d be doing brilliantly. (Normal in fact) 7’s before meals is too high.

If you regularly go under 4 or even just close to it constantly then your medication has become too strong and needs reducing and if this happens before your review in August then it needs adjusting before August. Don’t be talked into raising carbs so you can take medication that is too strong for you! There are people who started higher than you that never took anything just did it by diet. Many that had just metformin at that level too. Different drs/nurses make different decisions. Ultimately it’s your choice after they state their case and reasoning.

How many carbs depends on your body not ours. That’s why you test.