H1b1c Continually Going Up, New Meds, No Change

What type are you, I can't see your profile on my phone.

Can you tell us everything you ate yesterday?

What was your HbA1c and what meds are you on?

Can you give us some idea of what you are eating please?

Also, your profile says Newbie. Can you tell us what type of diabetic you are, and what meds you are taking. There is a drop down screen in your profile to tell us what type you are.

suziare said:

I was diagnosed about 4 years ago, while it was in check for a while for the past 2 years my H1B1C keep raising. They keep raising and changing my medication, but nothing seems to be stopping it from going up. There has been no drastic change in my diet over the year to see it change so much. Does anyone have any idea why this might be happening? Should I request to see a specialist rather than my GP? Really want to see some changes.

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Type 1 or type 2? What meds are you on? What have you been eating? And yes I would say you need to see a diabetic specialist and not just your GP

Tell us what you ate yesterday and do you test?

suziare said:

I am afraid to tell you what I ate, because I did not have a good day yesterday-bagel for breakfast, pasta salad for lunch and chinese dumpling soup, that we make for dinner. Black olives for a snack in the afternoon and a little dark chocolate before bed. I don't test regularly only when I'm feeling bad, but it is often on the high side 12-14.

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In that list, only the dark chocolate and olives are okay... The diet might not be changing, but your insulin resistance might be getting worse, or your pancreas exhausted, or both. (If T2 isn't slowed down or halted by a lifestyle change, it is a progressive disease, after all). You might want to give low carb a shot? It really does help, honest...

suziare said:

I am afraid to tell you what I ate, because I did not have a good day yesterday-bagel for breakfast, pasta salad for lunch and chinese dumpling soup, that we make for dinner. Black olives for a snack in the afternoon and a little dark chocolate before bed. I don't test regularly only when I'm feeling bad, but it is often on the high side 12-14.

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what is your HbA1c, do you test your blood sugars during the day?

EllieM said:

T2 is the default diagnosis (unless you're obviously T1). T2s can go without meds (or progression), but the only solution appears to be low carb (ie no bread, pasta, rice, potatoes). If you've tried and failed with low carb then there's a good chance you're LADA - which progresses to T1 whatever you do.

Healthy eating doesn't help T2s unless it's low carb, so, have you tried low carb?

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It is quite usual for some T2's to progress, and not be LADA. Not everyone can control their T2 diabetes by diet alone, but they still remain T2's, even those on insulin.

Testing is the only way to understand how your food is affecting you. You need to do it religiously at least until you get some control.

The olives were ok.

I see this is your first post, so welcome on the forum!
I'll tag @daisy1 for you. She'll give you a bunch of useful information you probably didn't get from your GP.
I think the main thing is testing your own blood sugar before and after food, so you can see what foods to reduce or avoid, and changing what you eat.

suziare said:

I need to exercise more and eat less.

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No, you don't need to eat less, you just need to eat different things!

Good luck, I hope things will get better for you soon!

Hi @suziare we all have good and bad days, so don't feel ashamed. The olives and dark chocolate were OK choices as was the salad bit for lunch. What you may find useful is to buy yourself a bg meter then keep a food diary and test results to find the foods that you can no longer tolerate. We call this eating to your meter. Often it amounts to eating lower carb foods but to some extent you stay in control. Initially it is a bind but if you do it for a while then you can begin to change what you eat and maybe slow down the progression you are seeing. You may also then tweak it to add in exercise you have taken and see the result, if any, on your bg. I hope that this helps.

suziare said:

I was diagnosed about 4 years ago, while it was in check for a while for the past 2 years my H1B1C keep raising. They keep raising and changing my medication, but nothing seems to be stopping it from going up. There has been no drastic change in my diet over the year to see it change so much. Does anyone have any idea why this might be happening? Should I request to see a specialist rather than my GP? Really want to see some changes.

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I'm sorry, didn't realise it was your first post! Your family eats healthily, but what is healthy for a regular, non diabetic isn't healthy per se for a T2. We can't handle carbs, our bodies can't process them. So fruit is out, save for berries. You might want to leave out bread, cereal, pasta, rice, corn, potatoes and underground veggies. They're all full of carbs, and all carbs, fast, slow, brown, white, sugar or starch, turn to glucose once ingested. And will spike you. What you can eat? Dairy, (full fat mind you!!!) eggs, meat, fish, above ground veggies... I don't eat three meals a day all the time, but I don't go hungry either. Three eggs with bacon, cheese and mushrooms can start off my day just fine, and the fats make sure I feel full. Salad with tuna, capers, olives and mayo, a huge bowl, fills up at lunch. (Could probably use some avocado in there, but I never met one that wasn't over ripe or rock hard, so I gave up). Bacon and cheese works too, goat's is nice. Dinner is usually meat (no marinade or batter!!!) or fish with cauliflower rice or briccoli rice with bacon and cheese mixed in. Maybe some really low sugar ketchup, ground beef, and cherry tomatoes and oregano for variety or something... I keep it a bit boring so I know what my bloodsugars 'll do. I'm usually on 20 grams of carbs a day or less, it's a keto diet with intermittent fasting, but that's because I want to tackle my fatty liver. My HbA1c has been in the non diabetic range for a while now. (Was diagnosed 2 years ago, could stop meds, including statins, after 3 months of low carb high fat. And to date I've lost 44 pounds, which was a nice bonus. Keto is recent, I did LCHF at 80 grams of carbs a day for about a year and a half.). It takes a while to find out what works for you, and with the meds you need to check bloodsugars so you don't hypo and know what your food is doing with your body... But if you're a bunch of healthy eaters, this could work just fine. Just remember dropping carbs can give a cold turkey reaction... Might not feel well for a few days. Broth, salt, plenty of water and possibly coconut milk will help. And check this place's low carb program and dietdoctor.com for meal ideas. You don't have to eat less, you don't have to starve, and you don't have to go hungry. But eating other stuff... Not a bad idea. Good luck!

suziare said:

I need to exercise more and eat less.

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You need to eat right rather than less. Exercise may help a bit but what you eat will have a far greater effect on your blood sugar levels.
Up the fats and cut the carbs.

Type two diabetes is an inability to cope with carbohydrate, and when eating carbohydrate the increasing Hba1c will show how the disease is progressing.
Eating fewer carbs is a powerful tool to keep things normal, but if you chose not to use it there are only two ways to go, higher readings or more medication, or in some cases, both.