Diagnosed last Friday

[syemon]

I'm Simon, 57, weigh to much, drank too much and with a stressful job a lot of the symptoms went under my radar.
Had a checkup 2 weeks ago, was told I had high blood pressure and given a monitor and sheet to fill in for 7 days.
Took bloods and went to the doctors last Friday 10am.
Doc asks me questions then does a blood sugar test, a urine test test, writes me a prescription for medformin, a blood pressure tablet and one for cholesterol, wrote me a letter and sent me straight to A&E with hbac1 at 71 and suspected DKA.
I was triage, had bloods taken then a while later put in a cubicle.
Next thing I'm on 3 drips and put in a bed on a ward.
Docs tell me I'm type 2 I end up coming home late Saturday with the 3 meds.
I have to see my GP in the next week to see how it's going and adjust.
The metformin is being ramped from 1 a day for 2 weeks, then 2 a day for two weeks then 3 a day and then I suppose they'll adjust from there.

This has been a big shock to me mentally and being the person I am I'm worried about everything now.

I bought a blood sugar tester and already have my own blood pressure checker and have planned a change in diet and my wife has sorted the produce.

Today I woke up and had overnight oats with fruit and a black coffee for breakfast.
I did 20 mins light cardio and felt fine.
I had fruit for lunch but think I had have had a bit more carb or mid afternoon snack. Just before my evening meal I went upstairs and went dizzy and felt queesy. my blood pressure went high and panic set in thinking I was checking out. Blood sugar was 15.1,ealier in the day 2 hours after breakfast it was 18.1 and 21.5 when I woke up this morning.
I've calmed myself down and ate my evening meal of wholewheat pasta and sauce and my blood pressure has gone down but still slightly higher than average.
I'm sure my system has to adjust to the 3 drugs now in my system and I also need to adjust my diet in a way that works for my body but frankly I'm swinging from panic to calm, from paranoia to plain underlying fear.
It's hard to think straight at the moment, I'm bit overwhelmed with everything.
Any advice is more than welcome.

 

[Rachox]

Hi @syemon and welcome to the club no one wants to join. Just take a minute and breathe, then try to forget everything you’ve heard about healthy eating, unfortunately the general healthy eating rules for the general public don’t suit us type 2s. The basic rule is to keep carbohydrates to a minimum. All carbohydrates turn to sugar once metabolised. So your fruit, wholemeal pasta and oats aren’t doing you any good.
I’m so glad you have a blood glucose meter, you need to use it to learn about the foods you eat. You are looking for a rise of no more than 2 from first bite to 2 hours later. I’ll post a link to a blog written by one of our members which I hope you will find helpful:
https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

 

[Antje77]

Hi @syemon , Simon, welcome to the forum.

Looks like you're getting meds for blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.
I'd focus on the diabetes for now, blood glucose is the only one of the three you can directly influence (bar watching the salts for BP).

Blood sugar was 15.1,ealier in the day 2 hours after breakfast it was 18.1 and 21.5 when I woke up this morning.

Those numbers are high, and if they're not coming down a bit in the next couple of days I'd contact your doctor again. Chances are you're T2, but you may have a different type, especially if you were suspected of ketoacidosis.
If at any point you feel nauseous, develop a stomach ache, start breathing in a funny way, or have breath smelling of pear drops or such, get medical advice.

What you can do yourself right away to lower your numbers is cutting the carbs.
All carbs (from things like fruit, oats, or pasta, wholemeal or not) turn to glucose in your body, which you can't use at the moment.

You might like to have a read of this to get the basics of diabetes, carbs, and making the best use of your meter: https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

Let us know how you are, and ask away if you have any questions!

edit: I really shuld learn to refresh my page before posting, looks like @Rachox already covered most of what I wrote!

 

[JenniferM55]

Hi @syemon, welcome, you've found a really good forum of helpful people who have no doubt started on this journey where you are at this moment.

Already you've had some great advice, with information that's no doubt putting you on a huge learning curve. My only suggestion to you is to download one of the free 'food logging apps', such as MyFitnessPal, FatSecret, CarbCounter, Cronometer (my favourite)..... there are many others. Log all your food through one of these apps and be prepared to be shocked, you'll no doubt find foods you thought were healthy have in fact lead you to your present situation.

Good luck and if you have any questions, just ask away.

 

[mhaffner73]

Hi @syemon, welcome, you've found a really good forum of helpful people who have no doubt started on this journey where you are at this moment.

Already you've had some great advice, with information that's no doubt putting you on a huge learning curve. My only suggestion to you is to download one of the free 'food logging apps', such as MyFitnessPal, FatSecret, CarbCounter, Cronometer (my favourite)..... there are many others. Log all your food through one of these apps and be prepared to be shocked, you'll no doubt find foods you thought were healthy have in fact lead you to your present situation.

Good luck and if you have any questions, just ask away.

Hi there

I’ve just had the call up too. I have had high blood pressure anti-cholesterol for awhile which is family related from my mum side. Also diabetes is on my mum side and now I’ve been told that I’m prediabetic. I’m 50, my job I sit down all day and probably need to lose a couple of stone. I have my first nurse appointment on Thursday next week. It’s really stressing me out too and I’m feeling really low about it all today. I can fully understand where your coming from with this.

 

[Ro9998]

I'm Simon, 57, weigh to much, drank too much and with a stressful job a lot of the symptoms went under my radar.
Had a checkup 2 weeks ago, was told I had high blood pressure and given a monitor and sheet to fill in for 7 days.
Took bloods and went to the doctors last Friday 10am.
Doc asks me questions then does a blood sugar test, a urine test test, writes me a prescription for medformin, a blood pressure tablet and one for cholesterol, wrote me a letter and sent me straight to A&E with hbac1 at 71 and suspected DKA.
I was triage, had bloods taken then a while later put in a cubicle.
Next thing I'm on 3 drips and put in a bed on a ward.
Docs tell me I'm type 2 I end up coming home late Saturday with the 3 meds.
I have to see my GP in the next week to see how it's going and adjust.
The metformin is being ramped from 1 a day for 2 weeks, then 2 a day for two weeks then 3 a day and then I suppose they'll adjust from there.

This has been a big shock to me mentally and being the person I am I'm worried about everything now.

I bought a blood sugar tester and already have my own blood pressure checker and have planned a change in diet and my wife has sorted the produce.

Today I woke up and had overnight oats with fruit and a black coffee for breakfast.
I did 20 mins light cardio and felt fine.
I had fruit for lunch but think I had have had a bit more carb or mid afternoon snack. Just before my evening meal I went upstairs and went dizzy and felt queesy. my blood pressure went high and panic set in thinking I was checking out. Blood sugar was 15.1,ealier in the day 2 hours after breakfast it was 18.1 and 21.5 when I woke up this morning.
I've calmed myself down and ate my evening meal of wholewheat pasta and sauce and my blood pressure has gone down but still slightly higher than average.
I'm sure my system has to adjust to the 3 drugs now in my system and I also need to adjust my diet in a way that works for my body but frankly I'm swinging from panic to calm, from paranoia to plain underlying fear.
It's hard to think straight at the moment, I'm bit overwhelmed with everything.
Any advice is more than welcome.

I'd suggest low carb program. It takes time to digest everything read up etc.

 

[Ro9998]

Roy Taylor Newcastle university talks he believes or knows fat round liver if removed contributes to reversal or certainly better health.

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes - Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre - Newcastle University

There's a video told if you look round.

 

[syemon]

Thanks for the replies.
I've been low carbing and my bg in the mornings is averaging 15 still. It does go up a few points with meals but seems to be at this sort of level.

Typical breakfast is black coffee, small pomegranate juice, some berries with fat free gree yoghurt.

Protein bar mid morning.

Lunch is 2 slices wholemeal bread, two slices of turkey with benechol spread.

Protein bar mid afternoon

Evening meals are either salmon, cod, chicken and turkey
Steamed veg or stir fry veg of cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, peppers, mushrooms.

Drinking water, abstaining from alcohol and just the one coffee in the morning.

Not had my doctors appointment or seen a diabetic nurse etc so just trying to do the best I can.

Health wise I feel fine, I'm sleeping properly, urination is normal and back out working.
I'm self employed and on the road most days and have been trying to keep stress to a minimum.

It concerns me that my numbers are stagnant but not sure if the drugs and diet will slowly bring that down.
I've done a lot of reading but it's hard to see my path through all the info.

Mentally I'm OK with it. I see it as a positive now as I would have been in a much worse way if I'd carried on as before.
I just want every day to be on an upwards trajectory no matter how small the change.

Will cutting as many carbs as poss ie keto to bring my bg down or do I stay low carb and take it month by month and the drugs help bring things down. That's what I'm not sure of.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, it's much appreciated.
Simon.

 

[ajbod]

Try Bacon, eggs and mushrooms for breakfast, fried in olive oil, or butter or lard or a combination. ditch the protein bar and probably lunch as you shouldn't need it after a while.
Avoid anything low fat, it's the opposite of the food we require.
Wholemeal bread is little better than white, ditch it.
Ditch the Benecol, and use butter instead, also put butter on your vegs, it's extra filling.
Lowering carbs as much as possible, should have a dramatic effect on your blood sugars.
You have to remember anything touted as healthy to eat, ISN'T for type 2 diabetics, the stuff they tell you is bad for you, is the exact foods that type 2s thrive on, without raising our blood sugars.
If you do need a mid morning snack, try hard boiled eggs, with FULL FAT mayo, you can mix in a bit of tomato sauce or curry, anything to vary it. Or sticks of cheese wrapped in cooked meats.
Forget calories altogether, concentrate on carbs.
You can take either approach, it's up to you, Keto will get you off drugs quicker, but it's your choice.
The usual problem with the drug approach, is that the medical profession prefer you to increase carb intake to match the drugs, rather than match the drug intake to the carbs.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Thanks for the replies.
I've been low carbing and my bg in the mornings is averaging 15 still. It does go up a few points with meals but seems to be at this sort of level.

Typical breakfast is black coffee, small pomegranate juice, some berries with fat free gree yoghurt.

Protein bar mid morning.

Lunch is 2 slices wholemeal bread, two slices of turkey with benechol spread.

Protein bar mid afternoon

Evening meals are either salmon, cod, chicken and turkey
Steamed veg or stir fry veg of cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, peppers, mushrooms.

Drinking water, abstaining from alcohol and just the one coffee in the morning.

Not had my doctors appointment or seen a diabetic nurse etc so just trying to do the best I can.

Health wise I feel fine, I'm sleeping properly, urination is normal and back out working.
I'm self employed and on the road most days and have been trying to keep stress to a minimum.

It concerns me that my numbers are stagnant but not sure if the drugs and diet will slowly bring that down.
I've done a lot of reading but it's hard to see my path through all the info.

Mentally I'm OK with it. I see it as a positive now as I would have been in a much worse way if I'd carried on as before.
I just want every day to be on an upwards trajectory no matter how small the change.

Will cutting as many carbs as poss ie keto to bring my bg down or do I stay low carb and take it month by month and the drugs help bring things down. That's what I'm not sure of.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, it's much appreciated.
Simon.

Not surprised you're still running high, which is good: if the culprits are obvious, they're obvious to cut out too...! You're getting dinner right, -pulses might be a problem, but otherwise, all good- but the rest of your meals aren't all that low carb, really... Might want to find something to replace the pomegranate juice with (juices are generally not a good idea, save for lemon/lime in your water or something). Protein bars, depending on the type, are usually carb-laden. One slice of wholemeal bread is about 20 grams of carbs... So you're having 40 grams in a go. That's quite a bit. Then another protein bar, which could mean anything, carb wise... Do you know the brand/flavor?

As you can see, there's loads of things you can adjust still, if you want to of course, so you can get blood sugars down yet. Forget fat free: usually fat free products lose flavor, and they tend to make up for the loss by adding sugars/carbs. So a full fat greek yog would be better, and probably more filling. Maybe add in some nuts, cocoa powder, shredded coconut or something to keep things from getting boring. I understand Fage (?) is good, but it's the only yog I've heard of that's both low fat and low carb, and I don't know how filling it is. (Being dutch and never having tried it). Eggs and bacon/high meat content sausage would be even better, as practically zero carb but filling. Real butter's better than benechol, and cold cuts, pork scratchings or nuts would be a better snack than a protein bar.

Basically, what you eat in a day, carb-wise, i put away in a week, maybe two. So don't dispair just yet about not getting blood sugars down as much as you want them to. Though you don't sound desperate, just a little miffed, haha. It's a process, I certainly took in more carbs than I meant to at the start... They're not always where you expect them to be, the sneaky little.... Anyway, you're going to get there. Just takes a little while to sort out what you like and how your body likes what you like.
Jo

 

[lessci]

Personally, i would lose the pomegranate juice as switch the low fat yoghurt for a full fat one, you'll feel fuller for longer and probably won't the the protein bar snack.

Lunch I'd ditch the bread and have a big green salad with mayo or a dressing with your protein - again the fat will help you feel fuller for longer

Dinner looks good, but again you might need to add some kind of fat to help you feel full.

Get you head around eating more fat after years of low fat, high carb being drummed into you as being "healthy" can take a bit of getting used to. Even on the road a salad is easily doable, prep it all the night before, cutlery/condiments in a small cool bag with an icepack if necessary

 

[KennyA]

Thanks for the replies.
I've been low carbing and my bg in the mornings is averaging 15 still. It does go up a few points with meals but seems to be at this sort of level.

Typical breakfast is black coffee, small pomegranate juice, some berries with fat free gree yoghurt.

Protein bar mid morning.

Lunch is 2 slices wholemeal bread, two slices of turkey with benechol spread.

Protein bar mid afternoon

Evening meals are either salmon, cod, chicken and turkey
Steamed veg or stir fry veg of cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, peppers, mushrooms.

Drinking water, abstaining from alcohol and just the one coffee in the morning.

Not had my doctors appointment or seen a diabetic nurse etc so just trying to do the best I can.

Health wise I feel fine, I'm sleeping properly, urination is normal and back out working.
I'm self employed and on the road most days and have been trying to keep stress to a minimum.

It concerns me that my numbers are stagnant but not sure if the drugs and diet will slowly bring that down.
I've done a lot of reading but it's hard to see my path through all the info.

Mentally I'm OK with it. I see it as a positive now as I would have been in a much worse way if I'd carried on as before.
I just want every day to be on an upwards trajectory no matter how small the change.

Will cutting as many carbs as poss ie keto to bring my bg down or do I stay low carb and take it month by month and the drugs help bring things down. That's what I'm not sure of.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, it's much appreciated.
Simon.

I found my BG came down fairly quickly on a very low carb approach (around 20g/day) - my HbA1c was 36 inside four months. No drugs. Thing is, you need to find the regime that works for you. There's little point trying to do what someone else did if it's not working, or if you can't stick to it.

Metformin doesn't affect the food you eat but does stop your liver trickling glucose into your bloodstream - livers do this all the time, it's perfectly natural. There's only around 4g of glucose in your blood at any one time, so the liver tries to keep levels stable - it doesn't always do a good job.

I completely excluded (and exclude) the very high carb items like potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, and fruit, in addition to sugar. With the exception of sugar, I had been eating all of these and using a lot of seed oils in place of things like butter and lard. So - following the "healthy eating" recommendations, led to T2, led to a lot of weight gain and a range of diabetic symptoms.

I'd be a bit wary of the protein bars, and anything manufactured. They tend to be very high in carbs. I think the last one I looked at was a "Carb Killa" that had (iirc) a claimed 40g of carb.

 

[JenniferM55]

I'd be a bit wary of the protein bars, and anything manufactured. They tend to be very high in carbs. I think the last one I looked at was a "Carb Killa" that had (iirc) a claimed 40g of carb.

Sorry, hope not to confuse, Carb Killa bars have 30g of polyols carbs, we can't digest those, as we can't with carbs from fibre.

 

[KennyA]

Sorry, hope not to confuse, Carb Killa bars have 30g of polyols carbs, we can't digest those, as we can't with carbs from fibre.

View attachment 65058

No problem - it was a long time ago and it was probably another brand.

 

[syemon]

Many thanks for this excellent information.
Understanding how metformin works shows I need to really kick the carbs to a bare minimum. Understanding it's not just low carb but specific food groups I need to reduce and others increase is super significant.
I'll drop the protein bars I think. The fact I went from no drugs to 3 drugs a day after being in hospital I was feeling a bit offish at the 4pm mark while out working and they gave me a little boost to finish the day before my evening meal between 7 and 8pm.
Obviously I want to lose weight as well but this is the sort of information I need.
Being 2 weeks into diagnosed T2 it's been a steep learning curve but I'm getting there with your help.

 

[Resurgam]

Many thanks for this excellent information.
Understanding how metformin works shows I need to really kick the carbs to a bare minimum. Understanding it's not just low carb but specific food groups I need to reduce and others increase is super significant.
I'll drop the protein bars I think. The fact I went from no drugs to 3 drugs a day after being in hospital I was feeling a bit offish at the 4pm mark while out working and they gave me a little boost to finish the day before my evening meal between 7 and 8pm.
Obviously I want to lose weight as well but this is the sort of information I need.
Being 2 weeks into diagnosed T2 it's been a steep learning curve but I'm getting there with your help.

Watch out for your blood pressure going low if you are on medication.
Low carb can normalize blood pressure quickly and on the low carb forum I am on I have read of several falls - one very serious due to going dizzy when standing up or on stairs.
I found Metformin and Atorvastatin unbearable and had to stop them before I went ahead with plans to top myself 7 years ago at this time. These days I eat twice a day, no snacks and am perfectly content.

 

[syemon]

Since last posting I went to a very low carb diet and last week was when I went up to 2 metformin a day.
My average bg readings are down to between 8 and 10 but still not as low as I want.
I've cut put all bread, pasta rice etc..
Breakfast is usually some berries and a desert spoonful of yoghurt with black coffee. No snacks, very light lunch like tuna, boiled or scrambled egg, maybe some salad.
Main meals are fish, chicken or turkey with steamed veg or salad.
I'm keeping the carbs to a minimum.
I checked my weight yesterday and have lost 30lb since Nov 15th.
I feel OK but still think my bg should be single digits pre and post meals.
I had a glass of wine with my Christmas meal and boxing day meal and my number stayed low in the 8.8.
Last night I was at a 30 year get together of the brass band I was in and had 3 x gin & slimline tonics. Checked my number when I got home and 8.8 again which is inline with my average low. Not sure what to make of that if anything at all.
I've and appointment with my GP on the 3rd. Is there anything I should bring up?
Am I being impatient or is there other things I should be doing to get my number into the 5-7 range?

 

[Guilty]

You're doing great. And that's a huge amount of weight lost - well done!

It can take some time for the average readings to drop to where you want them to be ideally. But it will happen.

Keep up the good work between the lifestyle and the meds, and they will drop.

And congratulate yourself on the progress you've made

 

[Colin2020]

Watch out for your blood pressure going low if you are on medication.
Low carb can normalize blood pressure quickly and on the low carb forum I am on I have read of several falls - one very serious due to going dizzy when standing up or on stairs.
I found Metformin and Atorvastatin unbearable and had to stop them before I went ahead with plans to top myself 7 years ago at this time. These days I eat twice a day, no snacks and am perfectly content.

Totally agree! I'm on Lisonpril. After being on a low carb diet for a week I started feeling dizzy and lethargic. My BP had dropped to 103/63. Which is very low for me. So I've split my dose over 4 days and been fine since. There is lots of warnings on low carb/bp medication.

 

[Antje77]

My average bg readings are down to between 8 and 10 but still not as low as I want.

They went from high teens and low twenties to mostly being under 10 in only a few weeks, which is an amazing improvement, well done!

Breakfast is usually some berries and a desert spoonful of yoghurt with black coffee. No snacks, very light lunch like tuna, boiled or scrambled egg, maybe some salad.
Main meals are fish, chicken or turkey with steamed veg or salad.
I'm keeping the carbs to a minimum.

Are you eating enough?
This sounds like you're doing low carb and low fat, and you need food to sustain you. You might want to count your calories for a day to see if you're not accidentally on a starvation diet.