Greetings from sunny Thailand

[Chris Thailand]

Hello everyone,
I'm a 50 year-old male who was diagnosed with type 2 about 6 months ago. I'm currently on metformin 500 morning and evening (changed from Janumet which I was originally prescribed) and 60mg sr glyclazide each morning (down from a morning and evening dose). I hope to get the glyclazide down to 30 as soon as I can.
I'm down to 75 kilos mainly due to giving up sugar and obvious carbs (chips, pop, pots, rice, pasta, battered stuff and bread....all the good stuff) but I still have a few pints twice a week and surprisingly (to me) it seems to lower my numbers not raise them.
My numbers seem reasonably steady as long as I take care to avoid the bad stuff with readings of around 5.8 fter meals and between 3.9-4.8 fasting. My last 30 day average was 5.2 but I know that when I first started testing I ate what was a normal dinner, with ice cream, and my numbers were a whopping 12.9; I've not done that since.
I've just started to experience some numbness in my feet which comes and goes. Should I be trying to reduce my numbers further? Medication wise, is it possible for me to aim to take less?
I will admit my exercise regime is pretty poor. I've developed real calf muscle pain which makes walking any distance difficult, my calf muscles blow up like footballs after 100 metres, but, that said, I otherwise feel ok.
So, that's me. I'm hoping to learn a lot here to make this whole thing a bit easier.

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hello and welcome to the forum @Chris Thailand

Best wishes RRB

 

[Hiitsme]

Welcome
I will tag @daisy1 who will give you lots of helpful information. You have obviously made a good start already. I did notice you had found the fasting blood sugar thread and had posted on there.
Do ask questions and people will try and help. I also have foot problems but was told I needed really tight control if I wanted to see any improvement. I do a lot of walking and find that helps but you may need to look at other forms of exercise, possibly swimming. Others may come up with more suggestions.

 

[daisy1]

@Chris Thailand

Hello Chris and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and helpful. Ask questions when you need to and someone will answer.

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 over 150,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

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

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 bloodglucose 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.

 

[4ratbags]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Those numbers look really good, if you would like to try and reduce your meds you should discuss this with your Dr as you are testing so you will be able to see if it is making an impact on your numbers.

 

[DeejayR]

I've just started to experience some numbness in my feet which comes and goes. Should I be trying to reduce my numbers further? Medication wise, is it possible for me to aim to take less?

Hiya. Yes, that's the start of peripheral neuropathy and many people find it recedes as your BS levels fall. Your levels are already very good but then you're on meds. A good goal would be to ease off the pills and keep your BS down with diet and whatever exercise you can manage.