Denial or just plain stupid?

Welcome snowysandie. Well done for taking the first and most difficult step in asking for help. There are lots of good people on this forum who will offer advice, information and support. I'm not the best person to advise as I've never been in denial but hang in there and keep checking.

I definitely sympathise, and I recognise the cravings for carbs and sweets: I had that before diagnosis- the more you eat, the bigger your spikes, and the more you crave. Still, once I found out about my diabetes I slashed my carb intake and the cravings dropped altogether. Might be worth a try; you might feel better after just taking that first step.

You have two choices as far as I can see; if you are refusing drugs AND refusing to control what you eat, then one or the other has to change.

Either accept that you cannot (refuse to?) control your blood glucose and accept the drugs or do something serious about your diet.

Nobody can make you change. If you know that you are an addict but you can't control the addiction it might be worth asking your GP about counselling.

I found that dealing with T2 is a huge mountain to climb. I found taking one tiny step each day helps. Set yourself tiny goals each day. Eventually you will get there. BUT you have to want to do it. No one can force you. There is research that indicates T2 can be reversed. I started by reading "the 8 week blood sugar diet" by Dr Michael Mosley. I didn't follow the 800 calorie diet as my doctor advised against it. But it taught me what a healthy diet should be. What food groups to eat what food groups to avoid. I set a target of 1500 calories per day. I no longer have the sugar cravings. In fact sweet things taste so sweet now I can't eat them. I go to the gym and walk 10k steps every day. in the words of Henry Ford if you think you CAN or you think you CAN'T you are right.

Hello @snowysandie welcome to the forum

I don't think you have got your head in the sand, as you've come here and you know you need to do something so be a little kinder to yourself as it's good you recognise you need support. Firstly the high blood glucose numbers will encourage the poor diet as your body isn't processing glucose efficiently so you are literally starving yourself by not treating your high numbers, no wonder your body needs carbs. Admitting you need insulin isn't a huge issue, it's medication which will help you control your blood glucose levels so please speak to your GP/DSN again and ask for some support, this is the first step you need to take.

I am tagging @daisy1 for our new members information, and wish you lots of luck in getting back in the driving seat again, take care.

If I'm honest I'm still a little in denial myself. Started the LCHF diet, fell off the wagon a coupla times but I have found myself checking and re-checking my HbA1c numbers at times. I was only diagnosed a few weeks ago so it's early days for me. My advice? Take the plunge, what have you got to lose?

Hi @snowysandie you have posted on here so you know something has to change, there are two questions now. How much do you want to change? Where do you start? Either way I would suggest a visit to discuss you position with your GP. If they know that you want to try to control your T2 without drugs they may suggest a short course to help your body return to more normal levels of BG then regular reviews to see if the regime can be tweaked.

As as been asked "what do you have to lose" Not trying to scare you but to put it bluntly an awful lot if you don't get it under control.

Please take this seriously diabetes is not something you can ignore.It will not go away. And it is tremendously harmful.

Any way welcome to the forum this is the right place for you to be as here you will get help, advice and above all support.

You are not stupid you are just human and trying to cope with a difficult situation.

Hi @snowysandie .. and welcome
Well, you have taken your first positive step and made made a good move coming here. Since joining this forum, the folks here have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead. So ask your questions and be assured that you will receive the answers that you need. It's still early for me but, in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly.

Managing and controlling your diabetes through diet, exercise and testing your BG (Blood Glucose) seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..

I see that @Juicyj has already tagged @ daisy1 for you and I suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. and the following Diet Doctor websites ...
Low Carb Intro and Information
Low Carbs in 60 Seconds

It seems as though have a meter and that you are already testing but,if not, it is a top priority that you get yourself one and, for this, the following websites might help:
https://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/
for the SD Codefree meter, which costs £12.98 (you don't pay VAT) or:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/
who distribute the TEE 2 meter, which is free.
I have both for comparative purposes and I have never found any significant difference between them. Unless you are prescribed test strips by your doctor (unlikely), the costs of testing comes down to the ongoing charges for test strips and lancets. I'm testing 3-5 times a day which works out at around £10 to £12 per month for either of the two packages above but, more importantly, I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them
Hope this helps

snowysandie said:

How can I get to a point where I start to take this seriously and try to make myself feel better?

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum, you're not alone. Personally I avoided bread, rice, pasta and potato and manged to drop 3 drugs and avoided being put on insulin. Insulin wasn't a problem as such but I wanted to take charge of my life. I kept telling myself that I had 2 choices, one where I would follow a particular eating regime and be free of the side effects of prescription drugs, be in relatively good health and the other where I'd take all the medicine the doctors wanted me too just so I could eat what I wanted and put up with the possible side effects. No brainer.

Even having high blood glucose make me feel unwell, so I must keep my BG down. Presently I'm only eating vegetables (grown above ground), not easy but paying dividends. I have "cheated" and had 0% yoghurt, a health bar, and paid the price. Amazing how long the body is dealing with a bit of carb.

snowysandie said:

i was diagnosed 2007 ish with t2 diabetes. I take minimal drugs and refuse insulin. Foxiga 10 and sitagliptin. Can anybody relate to my head in the sand attitude? I have got to the point where my sugars are daily between 15 and 26 depending on when I have eaten. I never had a sweet tooth til diagnosed and used to eat a moderately healthy diet. Now my diet is rubbish, I crave sweets and carbs. I'm feeling pretty rubbish most days and my energy is at an all time low. But still I carry on with this stupid head in the sand ......
I go to work struggle to get through the day, come home eat tea and then go to bed, hardly a great life. But still I continue on this ridiculous path........my family worry but I seem to be numb......well maybe not so numb else I wouldn't be writing this post.
How can I get to a point where I start to take this seriously and try to make myself feel better?

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum @snowysandie. Denial is one of the worst enemies of the diabetic. I was in denial for the first 12 months after my diagnosis. But after two trips to hospital I realised that there was no escape. I feel your frustration and understand that it is a bitter pill to swallow. Bgl's between 15 and 26 are quite serious, and could well be doing damage. You need to test glucose levels before you eat and two hours after. Excessive carbs and sugar need to be eliminated from the diet. Note - you need to keep hydrated tgroughout the day to avoid toxic build up in the kidneys to keep them healthy. Regular exercise and appointments with your GP/diabetes educator are a must.

An acceptable range to aim for is 4.8 to 7.5. Anything over 10 is reason for concern. I sometimes find it difficult to maintain an acceptable range, but I stay with it as much as possible. It is a frustrating condition, yet we work towards maintaining good health.

leslie10152 said:

Welcome to the forum @snowysandie. Denial is one of the worst enemies of the diabetic. I was in denial for the first 12 months after my diagnosis. But after two trips to hospital I realised that there was no escape. I feel your frustration and understand that it is a bitter pill to swallow. Bgl's between 15 and 26 are quite serious, and could well be doing damage. You need to test glucose levels before you eat and two hours after. Excessive carbs and sugar need to be eliminated from the diet. Note - you need to keep hydrated tgroughout the day to avoid toxic build up in the kidneys to keep them healthy. Regular exercise and appointments with your GP/diabetes educator are a must.

An acceptable range to aim for is 4.8 to 7.5. Anything over 10 is reason for concern. I sometimes find it difficult to maintain an acceptable range, but I stay with it as much as possible. It is a frustrating condition, yet we work towards maintaining good health.

Click to expand...

Do you have a specific reason why you refuse insulin?
I don't like being on any kind of diet, and I don't like feeling ****** from high bloodsugar. Insulin is perfect for me I don't eat many sugary things, but I do love bread, pasta, beer, crisps and my monthly pizza. Hba1c went from 78 at diagnosis to 42 last week.
Maybe being on insulin would work better for you than having to change your way of eating.
Wishing you all the best for the future and I hope you'll find a way of dealing with diabetes that suits you!

I've been T2 for just under 2 years and I don't test, so wouldn't consider myself an 'expert' on how different food intakes affect one's BG levels. However, I've just embarked on the low carb diet (3 weeks) and if it helps, I rationalised the removal of potatoes, pasta, rice and bread from my diet by considering that they don't really taste of anything, they are just vehicles for the tasty stuff you serve with them. So, just increase the tasty stuff (chilli, bolognaise, stew, casserole) and serve with veg to give it some bulk. And what I've noticed, since taking on this diet, is that my sensitivity to sweetness has increased. I had some French onion soup the other day, homemade, and it tasted as if sugar had been added, although of course none had, it was just the onions somehow (maybe cooking them releases sugars? another thing to learn!). So I think this diet has actually made me more averse to sweet things, which can't be bad. So please, give up the carbs and sweet stuff, start enjoying loads of meat, fresh fish , cheese, veg and salad - it's actually a really enjoyable diet!

@snowysandie

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope it will be useful to you. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 245,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children

I used my long term knowledge of Atkins to sort out my diet and found it really easy to get normal readings for just about everything in 6 months.
I know some people struggle, - I kept quiet about my last results for a while because I felt a bit guilty at how easy it had been.
I use Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution book as a guide as to what to eat. I use the UK version published in 2003 and eat all sorts of foods with a carb count of ten percent or under. I eat berries and cream, put cream in my coffee, have chicken thighs cooked in my air fryer - the crispy skins are so good. The foods I can eat are delicious. I can have a steak with mushrooms, tomatoes and other veges pork chops roast chicken, roast lamb - and I buy protein rolls from Lidl.
Not only do I get normal blood test results, I have lost weight and my waist has shrunk - the only downside to this diet is that I have had to buy or make new clothes as things were falling off me or flapping around - even my feet are smaller.
There are things you can take to help with the cravings for carbs, but I was concentrating on my health and just got on with it.
I saw my grandmother dying from the complications of diabetes and I would not wish that on my worst enemy.

snowysandie said:

So one consistent thing I am reading...... give in to the carbs and sweet foods, will make me have higher blood glucose and then this will make me crave again?? Vicious kind of cycle almost? This may well explain why I now eat so much refined carbs when Ten years ago I rarely touched them. Thank you

Click to expand...

That was similar to what was happening to me before diagnosis. No energy, eat something. Still hungry, eat more. That is an effect of too much blood sugar. Lower the sugar and that does go away, in my experience. Now you know one thing will improve with sensible eating at least, but others will too. Grasp the chance, and make a change!