From PCOS and Metabolic syndrome to New Type 2, from 24.6 to 5.2 in three weeks...

[mehhh2015]

Hi everyone,

I just thought to leave my experience around in case it is of any help to anyone.

On the 9th of january 2015 I ended up in hospital with high blood sugar levels, ketosis, and acidotic... Although I had been feeling unwell for a while I was assuming it was stress and tiredness... after too much celebration over new years eve I spent a whole week feeling extremely sick, excessive urination, thirst, cramps, my eyes were very blurry... the lot. A friend of mine type 1 realized what was going on and took me to the hospital on friday morning (after mesuring my bg at 24,6), where I stayed over night and was fed mainly carbs (sandwiches, pasta...) they gave me a few shots of insulin and struggled to bring be me to the lower teens. I left the hospital with a blood glucose monitor, Gliclazide and Metformine (I am not new to metformine as I have PCOS and just wasn't good at taking it lately).

I immediately started low carbing after leaving the hospital, I started again my metformine (2000 a day) I was reluctantly taking the gliclazide (I am insulin resistant and couldn't understand how Gliclazide was going to help someone like me) after two weeks I managed to bring down my fasting bg progressively from the 9's into the 6's. I stopped the gliclazide after my first meeting with the diabetic nurse and informed her about my cutting carbs out.

My fasting now is around 5,2 to 6-5 (mostly 5,5), my pre prandials mostly 4,4 - 4,9, my post prandials vary according to what I eat, but stay around the 5.5 mark... except when by accident or negligence I ate wheat in the form of brown bread or pretzels (7.6) or some sugar in half a mocha... sigh...

I am not new to Low Carb, I have managed to lose significant amount of weight in the past on Low Carb, I believe now that people with metabolic syndrome or insuline resistance should be treated as pretty much diabetics (or I least I wish they had treated me as such)... Particularly with a family history of diabetes... another sigh...

To me, having a glucose meter and being able to see what things like wheat and sugar do to my bg makes it really evident that my body doesn't like it. It is also more impressive when you compare your BG after a whole low carb meal (lets say green salad with tomato, avocado and a bit of onion, boiled sweet potato (a carb I know...) and chicken) against what happened after having half a cup of a mocha that had sugar... it is simply ridiculous...

Hoping to bring the weight further down to get into the 4's at FBG... Anyone who has managed that? I would be happy to read about it!

 

[Daffodils1]

Hi, that sounds really great. I ws diagnosed in Dec with Ha of 52. Didn't get a metre till January. Average reading about 6.9 now. Still needs to come down and higher first thing. Mine moving much slower than yours, learning to be patient.

How do you find metformin?

Congrats s on your fab nos.

d

 

[mehhh2015]

Hi, that sounds really great. I ws diagnosed in Dec with Ha of 52. Didn't get a metre till January. Average reading about 6.9 now. Still needs to come down and higher first thing. Mine moving much slower than yours, learning to be patient.

How do you find metformin?

Congrats s on your fab nos.

d

Hi Daffodils, (BTW I don't have gall bladder either) I take metformin since long ago, but I used to go on and off from it when not looking after my diet properly (long story) I got it prescribed by an endocrinologist that I was seeing due to fertility issues as I've got PCOS and I am insulin resistant. I take slow release glucophage. I got the metre at the hospital as I was so poorly I guess. I think however that the most significant impact comes from my LC diet, which is at the moment probably below 30g... I know its early days but it is just so impressive to see such a dramatic difference as soon as I touch anything with carbs or sugar...

 

[Suzie Quartly]

Just be careful trying to push your BS lower than 5. I was told that its illegal to drive if you are lower than 5!

 

[mehhh2015]

Lol, I don't drive but I was told that it was dangerous if lower than 4 by my nurse.

4.6 (on a constant basis) is my target.

 

[jimsboss]

I'm new to this forum and am learning something new everyday! MEHHH2015 had a lucky escape. With diabeties 'it takes one to know one'. When I was with a Government Security branch I was called by the cleaners' to a Sailor's room because they couldn't enter his room - He was dead. He died of very high BG levels. Hyperglcema. All his shipmates thought he was recovering from a hangover. Very sad.

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi everyone,

I just thought to leave my experience around in case it is of any help to anyone.

On the 9th of january 2015 I ended up in hospital with high blood sugar levels, ketosis, and acidotic... Although I had been feeling unwell for a while I was assuming it was stress and tiredness... after too much celebration over new years eve I spent a whole week feeling extremely sick, excessive urination, thirst, cramps, my eyes were very blurry... the lot. A friend of mine type 1 realized what was going on and took me to the hospital on friday morning (after mesuring my bg at 24,6), where I stayed over night and was fed mainly carbs (sandwiches, pasta...) they gave me a few shots of insulin and struggled to bring be me to the lower teens. I left the hospital with a blood glucose monitor, Gliclazide and Metformine (I am not new to metformine as I have PCOS and just wasn't good at taking it lately).

I immediately started low carbing after leaving the hospital, I started again my metformine (2000 a day) I was reluctantly taking the gliclazide (I am insulin resistant and couldn't understand how Gliclazide was going to help someone like me) after two weeks I managed to bring down my fasting bg progressively from the 9's into the 6's. I stopped the gliclazide after my first meeting with the diabetic nurse and informed her about my cutting carbs out.

My fasting now is around 5,2 to 6-5 (mostly 5,5), my pre prandials mostly 4,4 - 4,9, my post prandials vary according to what I eat, but stay around the 5.5 mark... except when by accident or negligence I ate wheat in the form of brown bread or pretzels (7.6) or some sugar in half a mocha... sigh...

I am not new to Low Carb, I have managed to lose significant amount of weight in the past on Low Carb, I believe now that people with metabolic syndrome or insuline resistance should be treated as pretty much diabetics (or I least I wish they had treated me as such)... Particularly with a family history of diabetes... another sigh...

To me, having a glucose meter and being able to see what things like wheat and sugar do to my bg makes it really evident that my body doesn't like it. It is also more impressive when you compare your BG after a whole low carb meal (lets say green salad with tomato, avocado and a bit of onion, boiled sweet potato (a carb I know...) and chicken) against what happened after having half a cup of a mocha that had sugar... it is simply ridiculous...

Hoping to bring the weight further down to get into the 4's at FBG... Anyone who has managed that? I would be happy to read about it!

Hello.

My details are in my signature, although it doesn't contain my fasting at the point of diagnosis, but it was (well) over 10.

My current fasting range bangs out at 3.5-4.5, although the ubiquitous "batch 44" has nudged that up a bit. I'm certain it's the batch as nothing else has changed.

At diagnosis I was given all the usual "eat carbs and lower fat" messages, but I just could not get my head around how that could work, given I have a medical/scientific background, way back. So I defied her to buy a meter and set about experimenting. I was also relocating, to anothEr continent for a few months, so there were some challenges in the mix.

As you can see my first post-diagnosis HbA1c was almost 4 months after diagnosis, but it was non-diabetic range.

I regularly return 4s and 3s, and am absolutely fine with those. As I take no medication whatsoever (never have), I have no concerns about medically dangerous hypos. I rarely feel "off" with lower blood scores, but if I do, I'm usually hungry, so, like a "normal" person, I get on and address that - though I don't have jelly babies or anything like that. If my meal is due, I just eat my meal, if not, I'll have something like a cup of tea with milk, just to bring me up a bit. I have no interest whatsoever in reaching for sweeties, going high, then crashing and ending up on a roller coaster for the day.

Take it steady. I think you'll probably join me in the low scores club, in due course, but it does take time, and we have a lifetime to deal with this. Pushing too hard, too fast only increases the chances of a carb-tasting rebound/rebellion, which we don't need.

Good luck with it all, you're doing really well.

 

[mehhh2015]

Hello.

My details are in my signature, although it doesn't contain my fasting at the point of diagnosis, but it was (well) over 10.

My current fasting range bangs out at 3.5-4.5, although the ubiquitous "batch 44" has nudged that up a bit. I'm certain it's the batch as nothing else has changed.

At diagnosis I was given all the usual "eat carbs and lower fat" messages, but I just could not get my head around how that could work, given I have a medical/scientific background, way back. So I defied her to buy a meter and set about experimenting. I was also relocating, to anothEr continent for a few months, so there were some challenges in the mix.

As you can see my first post-diagnosis HbA1c was almost 4 months after diagnosis, but it was non-diabetic range.

I regularly return 4s and 3s, and am absolutely fine with those. As I take no medication whatsoever (never have), I have no concerns about medically dangerous hypos. I rarely feel "off" with lower blood scores, but if I do, I'm usually hungry, so, like a "normal" person, I get on and address that - though I don't have jelly babies or anything like that. If my meal is due, I just eat my meal, if not, I'll have something like a cup of tea with milk, just to bring me up a bit. I have no interest whatsoever in reaching for sweeties, going high, then crashing and ending up on a roller coaster for the day.

Take it steady. I think you'll probably join me in the low scores club, in due course, but it does take time, and we have a lifetime to deal with this. Pushing too hard, too fast only increases the chances of a carb-tasting rebound/rebellion, which we don't need.

Good luck with it all, you're doing really well.

Yeah I noticed your low BGs over the last couple of days . I'm glad you don't take medicines. I always have had metformin (about 10+ years now) on and off because it does help me a lot, but I believe after loosing significant weight is not that necessary all in all, but we will see, I have always felt that my insulin resistance has a heavy genetic component than a diet generated one and I think I would do better while been on it even if in a much lower dosage.

Tell me about your diet? How is it? How many carbs are you tolerating?

I totally get the "tea with a bit of milk approach". Little bits of healthy foods (rather than sweets and starches) can go a long way... but I survived my craving today , just decided to eat slightly earlier... my BG wasn't as low as it has been over the last weeks (5.1 against 4.8 almost without fail), but I still thought eating before going out was better (also wanted the rain to stop a bit... still waiting ).

I think for me the BG drop has been dramatic in just literally a month time and therefore I am still adapting to it. So will just have to hang on and see.

Something that has been different this time is weight loss, sooo easy to lose weight relatively fast while now seems to be shifting but a very much lower rate.

 

[AndBreathe]

Yeah I noticed your low BGs over the last couple of days . I'm glad you don't take medicines. I always have had metformin (about 10+ years now) on and off because it does help me a lot, but I believe after loosing significant weight is not that necessary all in all, but we will see, I have always felt that my insulin resistance has a heavy genetic component than a diet generated one and I think I would do better while been on it even if in a much lower dosage.

Tell me about your diet? How is it? How many carbs are you tolerating?

I totally get the "tea with a bit of milk approach". Little bits of healthy foods (rather than sweets and starches) can go a long way... but I survived my craving today , just decided to eat slightly earlier... my BG wasn't as low as it has been over the last weeks (5.1 against 4.8 almost without fail), but I still thought eating before going out was better (also wanted the rain to stop a bit... still waiting ).

I think for me the BG drop has been dramatic in just literally a month time and therefore I am still adapting to it. So will just have to hang on and see.

Something that has been different this time is weight loss, sooo easy to lose weight relatively fast while now seems to be shifting but a very much lower rate.

I'm not going to quote how much carb I eat a day, as to be honest, it now varies and the level that works for me is a complete irrelevance to how your body works.

My primary objective in all I have done, related to my diabetes, has been to get my bloods in order. Anything else was considered a bonus. But, what I did notice is that my bloods moved in notches. I'd achieve a level, work around there for a bit, then it would notch down again, and so on. That dropping, and those notches tracked my weight downwards. So, for me, whilst not a primary objective, the weight loss was imperative, in my view. Have you read any of Professor Taylor's work on T2 reversal? I'm not, for an instant, suggesting you adopt his dietary approach, but there is some fascinating reading in there with regards to insulin resistance and "personal fat thresholds".

When one stops eating what spikes us, the drops can be sizeable and fast, but as we get closer to our targets, those quick wins become less frequent, so things moderate out.

I have always been able to eat some starchy carbs (oats and rice primarily), but in modest portions.

I suggest Professor Taylor's reading, plus a view of Professor Sikaris video on YouTube (sorry, I'm on the hoof at the moment, so can't fish out links) for an understanding of metabolic syndrome. I would suggest that a very high percentage of us would have had metabolic syndrome at least at the outset.

 

[mehhh2015]

I will have a look at it. However I have a sound understanding of the Metabolic Sydrome and PCOS. I have managed to bring the blood sugar down in a month, but I'm only a few kilograms lighter.

I'm nowhere near close to my ideal weight. I am following Berstains approach at the mo, to be really honest I do eat fat but not at an exteme level, nothing against it but don't see or feel the need to eat tons of it except if hunger attacks me, but I think this is all about personal preferences and lifestyle.

The last time I low carbed I went down from 76 to 64 kg in 3.5 months (that was a masive 12kg) and plataued at that weight for a month and a half... Other things happened at that time and my emotional eating kicked in and I went on a rampage to eat whatever as I felt all my efforts were worthless in life...

When I plataued I tried everything, reducing fats, reducing protein, excersicing, nothing moved the scale. I accept I didn't give myself the chance to get over the plateau naturally, by letting the body adapt to its new weight, but between that and the other emotional situations that triggered my off the track eating, I put all the way back.

After that ocasion, everytime I start low carbing I simply don't go down as fast.

Right now I started at my fatest ever.... And have a loooong way ahead so I'm surprised I only habve lost 3kg in a whole month, but, not the whole month was as low carb as it is right this moment. I was esting slightly higher carbs until now.

After starting Dr. Berstains the scale moved a bit again, so I have hope things will improve eventually, its just going to be a much longer road than it used to be .

All in all cant complain at all as my numbers are good and I will work to keep them there.

Thanks for telling me about taylor I will have a look at it.

 

[mehhh2015]

I'm not going to quote how much carb I eat a day, as to be honest, it now varies and the level that works for me is a complete irrelevance to how your body works.

My primary objective in all I have done, related to my diabetes, has been to get my bloods in order. Anything else was considered a bonus. But, what I did notice is that my bloods moved in notches. I'd achieve a level, work around there for a bit, then it would notch down again, and so on. That dropping, and those notches tracked my weight downwards. So, for me, whilst not a primary objective, the weight loss was imperative, in my view. Have you read any of Professor Taylor's work on T2 reversal? I'm not, for an instant, suggesting you adopt his dietary approach, but there is some fascinating reading in there with regards to insulin resistance and "personal fat thresholds".

When one stops eating what spikes us, the drops can be sizeable and fast, but as we get closer to our targets, those quick wins become less frequent, so things moderate out.

I have always been able to eat some starchy carbs (oats and rice primarily), but in modest portions.

I suggest Professor Taylor's reading, plus a view of Professor Sikaris video on YouTube (sorry, I'm on the hoof at the moment, so can't fish out links) for an understanding of metabolic syndrome. I would suggest that a very high percentage of us would have had metabolic syndrome at least at the outset.

I had a good look at professor Taylors' approach, yes, very interesting and promising indeed. Sikaris I knew from before all very interesting.

I think that although I follow a VLCD my fat intake is not massive at all, and I should be well within a normal calorie diet, but I do eat my fats, and they do take away my hunger.

What they say about the fast weight loss I think applies to me after after losing some weight and reaching the 4's in just a month.

I guess it could be technically forced down even more but I think I will naturally get there by shifting the weight while doing what I am doing.

Hopefully I will meet you in the low numbers club

Thanks again for the info about Taylors.