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Don't involve yourself in the blame game.

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherinecherub
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Irishmist66 said:
I needed to read this today. Diagnosed 7 months ago with type 2 hbca1 or whatever it called was 107 3 months later 59. I'm struggling with what to eat always hungry and really feel I did this to myself. On 4 metformin a day and trulicity weekly
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Blame and guilt aren't useful, they tend to make us feel worse and possibly comfort eat. Regretting where we are at, and accepting the responsibility to change ourselves is more useful.

If you are always feeling hungry, you need to tweak your meals. If you have reduced your carbs, have you increased the amount of fats you eat to compensate? When I first went low-carb, I had to consciously increase the amount of fat in my diet - without it, I was frequently eating less than 1000kcals per day. I'm overweight so I wasn't worried - losing weight has been a bonus for me from controlling my blood sugars.
 
Yeah I felt bad, well I made myself feel that way after seeing the nurse back in 2016, "you look like someone who isn't looking after themselves" she said, lose weight, "stop at one biscuit don't eat the pack" she said.

Okay, fair enough. I did that at the time and felt a lot better in myself. went away and lost about 4 stone in weight and never had any follow up appointments made despite them saying I was diabetic, no info, nothing.

I put a fair bit of weight again on in the last few years since, talking 10 stone. Had a debilitating injury at the start of the 2022 and the doc wanted to test my hb1ac again after 6 years, turns out despite being 8 stone heavier than I was in 2016 I'm not diabetic any more? (the letter said) but I could go on develop it in future.

Spoke with a dietician today and they said they could see my results (which I was never given) from 2016 and 2022

2016 read 50, and the more recent one read 45, so they said even though it seems you are a lot more weight than you were when you had a reading of 50, you are in remission but because it is in-between 42-47 its seen as pre-diabetes so the doctors won't bother to follow up on it now as its not an issue. (guess they don't have the resources to be proactive, counter intuitive as it seems.. culture of 'firefighting' maybe.)

So I don't think it was strictly a 'weight' thing for me, even though I was overweight and felt bad at the time, although feeling bad isn't strictly a negative thing to me, it signals that I'm not happy with something and that I need to take action somewhere - sorta like a kick up the **** as a motivator, and then convert that feeling bad into something more helpful.

I guess as another possibility is it could have been that once I put it into remission the first time, my body was stronger the next time, so the sort of 'threshold' for becoming diabetic increased? No idea really as too many variables and not medically trained.

Thing is I need now to tell my stupid brain that getting fatter in my body doesn't = less diabetes and use it as a non rational excuse to take the mickey with food as I have been the last few years.

Def feel so much better in self all over when limit starchy foods though, and eat well, tend to lose weight as a by product when do so. I think there is def some kind of resistance going on,

It's just the doing so, and keeping it so.

Maybe I need a good telling off again!
 
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I recently came across a video on youtube with Dr Chattergee interviewing another Dr Robert Lustig then moved over to his book which he goes in-depth into. If there's any reason why we are all talking on here today it's explained in Metabolical. The food industry is nothing short of doing to everyone as the tobacco companies did to lung disease except food issues go further than diabetes and it's something we all need and cannot give up. It becomes apparent that it has also been found to have a profound effect on mental clarity - even the sugar-free stuff diabetics were suggested to have as a substitute for many years. Avoid like the plague!

(mod edit to comply with forum ethos)
 
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If it's the slightest comfort, most of us have had that sort of treatment over a variety of illnesses. There are a few practitioners who are more evolved, but they take some finding. The younger tranche newly qualified and coming up through the ranks do seem to be more promising, so there is hope.
 
Thanks loads for this post. It's pretty easy to get down with this bloomin; disease though I'm also grateful I don't have other ones. I'm looking to lose weight as well as lower my Hbac1 though sometimes keeping up motivation is tough. I'm so glad for this forum.
 
I’m sounding off here because frankly I’m fed up with the whole diabetes, NHS, internet information etc. I’m 67 & just read that the average age of passing for type 2 is 70. I get really bad advice from NHS and have for nearly everything I’ve ever been to them with. Last week out of the blue I received a text from them saying I have kidney disease (3a) but it’s probably due to my age. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT ??? I lost 4.5 stones and was well under any diabetic levels. I’ve put a stone back on but I’m sorting that again. I have a mate who was diagnosed years ago and is in his 80s but he wasn’t bothered, took no meds, still drank plenty of beer, ate takeaways every day, smokes, and never had any problems. I’m not saying that this is correct but I’m sick & tired of being treated as a leper and being told that I have a most dreadful disease that is going to finish me off early and I’m going to lose bits on the way. I am really trying, I keep my carbs to a weekly treat of a bacon buttie on a Saturday and I love my vegetables but enough is enough. I’ve had enough of sticking pins in my fingers and worrying about everything I put in my mouth. I’m so sorry for sounding so negative but I’ve had enough
 
Coming back here after 5 years of failing to control my T2. It's hard not to play the blame game, but good to read everyone's posts.

Initially when I was diagnosed I controlled it incredibly well - you can see from my signature. But my other problems in life, and particularly Covid, really messed me up. Getting this at 30 years old and seeing management stretching out in front of me for decades... it freaked me out. Now here I am waiting for my first HBA1C in years and dreading the result. Wearing a Libre (and wow haven't they improved technologically in the last few years!) I can already see that my average blood sugar must have been *crazy* high for those years I wasn't testing.

Starting again from scratch, realistically probably worse off than before, but hoping I can get back to where I was.
 
AlexMagd said:
Starting again from scratch, realistically probably worse off than before, but hoping I can get back to where I was.
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Don't get disheartened by your current results, if you get back on top of it, your numbers will improve with it!
Please try to not be a stranger when things are hard, sharing your struggles can help a lot.
Good luck!
 
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Antje77 said:
Don't get disheartened by your current results, if you get back on top of it, your numbers will improve with it!
Please try to not be a stranger when things are hard, sharing your struggles can help a lot.
Good luck!
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Thanks so much! I'm back on low carb now and in the first week my average BG numbers have gone from 11 to 9.5. Still a lot higher than I would have hoped, and my resting BG is still way too much, but really heartened by the results so far.

My next HbA1c is going to be brutal but after that... I'm hopeful

You just have to do it, I guess. Who knew!
 
Way to go!
And if you'll have your hba1c tested soon, all the better for the improvement you'll see with the one after that.
Keep up the good work!
 
Thank you so much for this post/thread. I really, really needed this.
Newly diagnosed (a month ago) as T2. Was a shock as was unaware I was even being tested for it. I am big, have always struggled with my weight & food, constantly yo-yoing. My overwhelming emotion on diagnosis was shame. Shame that I had done this to myself. I have no relatives with diabetes so obvious familial risk so just down to me, or so I thought. However in the last 4 weeks I have tried to get my head around the, quite frankly overwhelming information loss about what I should/shouldn’t be doing, I have switched to a low carb diet, I have last half a stone, I have “treated” myself to a CGM, and my numbers since I started checking (the last week) are mostly in the green even as I’m trying out different things out. TBH my experience with the NHS so far this year has been pretty rubbish so I have relied on places like this. So, thank you again. This was exactly what I needed to hear.
 
I have no complaints about the NHS when I read on here how others have to manage without it. However, the range of support for T2s is limited in some areas of the country. I think they may be surprised by those of us who want to work to. Improve rather than leanr to 'live with it'.
 
We have not had crisps, biscuits, sweets, cakes and only had occasional treats in our diets for years. Freshly prepared meals. I meet my exercise targets every day. And I am a slim and 'healthy' pensioner. So, to all out there, it doesn't seem to matter what your lifestyle is, you can still get diabetes. So, I agree, no point in self blaming. Just getting on with adapting to taking meds and strict diet is difficult enough. Be kind to yourselves.
 
Anybody else had problems with Metformin?

I've been diabetes patient for 17 years, managed it with diet and exercise. 2 years ago, contracted Epstein Barr virus, my bloods showed spiked from 44 to 54. Then 57. So put on Metformin, just one tablet a day, now I find my kidney function dropped from 66 to 57. Now got off Metformin.
 
Just what I needed to read tonight . I still feel ashamed of being t2 and only my immediate family know that I have the condition.
I was only diagnosed in January and after all the horror speech from the surgery about going blind, loosing limbs and having heart attacks and strokes i was so scared, especially after watching my mother struggle with it for years.
No support from surgery apart from to give me tablets for everything. I refused, she shouted at me for not taking things seriously. I still refused and so far I am getting levels down close to normal now by diet alone. it stays that way
 
Hello @Sadsac@21 . Firstly, well done and congratulations on getting your blood sugars down. That is a great result.
So please don’t feel ashamed. Having type 2 diabetes is not your fault. You did not cause it, no matter what you read on the internet. Most of it is regurgitated nonsense. They have these lists like poor diet, lack of exercise, and over weight/obese and that’s all you get. No explanation, so one naturally assumes you made it happen, but in fact you didn’t.

Type 2 diabetes is caused predominantly by two things: insulin resistance and your pancreas’ inability to produce enough insulin.

Firstly, insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can affect diabetics and non diabetics alike. Basically, your body does not use insulin effectively. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by your pancreas. It acts like a key. It allows blood glucose( converted from the carbs you eat) to enter your cells. Your cells then use it as energy. When you become insulin resistant, your pancreas has to produce a lot more insulin to counter this resistance so that your cells can utilize your blood glucose for energy. It is not fully understood why some people become insulin resistant, but what is known nearly everyone who has type 2 diabetes or is prediabetic is insulin resistant. Some research suggests insulin resistance increases with age, but its not fully understood.

Secondly, your pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to counter your insulin resistance as well as the carbs in the food you eat. This May because you have some genetic disposition , or there has been some insult on your pancreas that has in some way compromised your insulin producing beta cell mass. Whatever the reason, your pancreas cannot produce enough insulin. It can produce a lot but not enough to counter your insulin resistance. What happens is the glucose cannot enter your cells but just accumulates in your blood, and or your body converts it to fat. Hence a lot of type 2 diabetics are over weight and have high blood sugars.

What type 2 diabetics have done with great results, like you have achieved, is reduce their carb intake. It is easier to reduce your carbs through diet, than decrease insulin resistance. They have reduced, or stopped altogether eating High carb foods like pasta, rice, potatoes , pastries and cakes.
Reducing these high carb foods has allowed their pancreas‘ to produce enough insulin to overcome both the insulin resistance and the food being consumed. Thereby reducing the amount of blood sugar.

I hope that makes sense. It’s far more complicated than this, I have simplified it to demonstrate to you why it is not your fault. You have not caused it.

Check out the diet sub forums here. It’s a great community here and very supportive. Sorry for the long post!
 

Don't be so down on yourself!

We are all in the same boat.
 
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