Type 2 Feeling lost

[Taniae]

Hello, new to the forum. Type 2 diabetic since 2014, on slow release metformin, 2 x500mg , increasing to 3x500mg slowly as I do suffer stomach issues with it.
Suffer with health anxiety so covid-19 has been a real struggle (as for many people) and to be honest healthy eating went out the window!
After reading many posts I took it upon myself to buy a meter and have started testing.
I was alarmed at my meter readings as normally my hba1c is 48 .
I have started low carb this last week but my numbers are around the 9-11 mark . I know the fasting blood glucose is normally higher due to dawn phenomenon.
Can someone tell me when the effects of low carb will start to show in my numbers?
Today I have eaten cheese and ham omelette for lunch and salmon , cauliflower mash with butter and cream, broccoli and green beans for evening meal.
Sorry for the long post!

 

[DCUKMod]

Hello, new to the forum. Type 2 diabetic since 2014, on slow release metformin, 2 x500mg , increasing to 3x500mg slowly as I do suffer stomach issues with it.
Suffer with health anxiety so covid-19 has been a real struggle (as for many people) and to be honest healthy eating went out the window!
After reading many posts I took it upon myself to buy a meter and have started testing.
I was alarmed at my meter readings as normally my hba1c is 48 .
I have started low carb this last week but my numbers are around the 9-11 mark . I know the fasting blood glucose is normally higher due to dawn phenomenon.
Can someone tell me when the effects of low carb will start to show in my numbers?
Today I have eaten cheese and ham omelette for lunch and salmon , cauliflower mash with butter and cream, broccoli and green beans for evening meal.
Sorry for the long post!

Hi Taniae - Well done for taking the bull by the horns. The food you listed today was certainly low carb. Did you have no protein or fat with your evening meal? Over time, that could leave you hungry. There's no need to be hungry.

To your point though; if your numbers have been running a bit high for a while (meaning a few weeks), it is likely your liver will have a decent store of glucose on board, which it will dump into your system, to try to keep your bloods in their recent usually numbers. When your body isn't used to the lower numbers, that can sometimes make you feel off, but it passes, if you stick with it.

Over time, that tapers off and the numbers come down some more. It rarely takes more than a few days to pass, but might happen again, when you get to even better numbers, but again, it usually passes.

You're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last to have found the whole COVID situation to be very stressful, so don't beat yourself up too much. It happened. You're moving on in a positive direction. That really is to be applauded.

Keep up the good work, and join in the forum. You'll find lots of like-minded people around.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. The low-carb diet should show a reduction in BS within a day or so. Can you let us know what your BMI/weight is? If you are slim and struggling to control BS even on low-carb then you may well be a late onset T1 and not T2. So, if you do not have excess weight do ask the nurse/GP for the two tests for T1 i.e. GAD and C-Peptide. BTW if Metformin standard version is giving you problems do ask the GP for the Slow Release (SR) version.

 

[Taniae]

Hi Taniae - Well done for taking the bull by the horns. The food you listed today was certainly low carb. Did you have no protein or fat with your evening meal? Over time, that could leave you hungry. There's no need to be hungry.

To your point though; if your numbers have been running a bit high for a while (meaning a few weeks), it is likely your liver will have a decent store of glucose on board, which it will dump into your system, to try to keep your bloods in their recent usually numbers. When your body isn't used to the lower numbers, that can sometimes make you feel off, but it passes, if you stick with it.

Over time, that tapers off and the numbers come down some more. It rarely takes more than a few days to pass, but might happen again, when you get to even better numbers, but again, it usually passes.

You're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last to have found the whole COVID situation to be very stressful, so don't beat yourself up too much. It happened. You're moving on in a positive direction. That really is to be applauded.

Keep up the good work, and join in the forum. You'll find lots of like-minded people around.

Thanks DCUKMod , didn’t know that about the liver having stored the glucose so that’s made me feel more positive and a little less anxious

 

[Taniae]

Hi. The low-carb diet should show a reduction in BS within a day or so. Can you let us know what your BMI/weight is? If you are slim and struggling to control BS even on low-carb then you may well be a late onset T1 and not T2. So, if you do not have excess weight do ask the nurse/GP for the two tests for T1 i.e. GAD and C-Peptide. BTW if Metformin standard version is giving you problems do ask the GP for the Slow Release (SR) version.

Hi Daibell, i wish I didn’t have a weight problem and was slim! I need to lose about 5 stone, I know from the past that losing the weight had a positive impact on my levels. Doing low carb is different to weight watchers which in the past has helped me lose weight and kept my hba1c at 48. Fingers crossed I will start seeing the numbers come down over the next week, thanks fir your reply

 

[EllieM]

I need to lose about 5 stone, I know from the past that losing the weight had a positive impact on my levels.

Weight and T2 diabetes is a bit of a chicken and egg situation, as high blood sugars and high insulin levels (as seen in T2) are a cause of weight gain as well as a symptom of T2. WW is all very well but I suspect that they focus on low fat rather than low carb, so aren't that much help to someone who is genetically unable to process carbs properly.

Good luck, it sounds like you are doing the right things.

 

[mouseee]

Having done WW and SW in the past, its low carb that worked for my body. The weight kind of melted off the whole of my body, I'm still technically overweight but a very different shape and size!

I now know I was insulin resistant for probably a few years before diagnosis and that's when weight crept on and kept going. I put it down to my age! For me, weight gain was definitely a symptom.

 

[MrsA2]

Effects really are individual. I dont think my daily bg measurements have varied much but my 3 months Hba1c was down from 53 to 44. Also my weight only seems to go down slowly but I am losing inches,a size 16_18 down to a 14 in about 3 months with NO hunger!
I use my meter to adjust my eating to. It takes some of the stress away as you can instantly see what works and what doesn't.
Doing low carb is very very different to ww or anyother low fat or low calorie diet. Takes quite a bit of relearning but worth it in the end as being diabetic, it will probably be lifelong