Have I Made Progress?

[ZozoSanfura_91]

Hey!

I hope I’ve posted this correctly (I’m new here and new to forums in general).

Background:
I’m 26. I was diagnosed around 2 months ago and realised I was probably diabetic 3 months ago. It all started when I was about to have a slice of cheesecake for lunch and dad was checking his blood sugars. He offered to check mine and so I allowed him to. Reading: 16.5! I’ll never forget the look on my dad’s face.
As you can imagine, I dropped my spoon and went a bit crazy after that, researching and reading, checking my blood sugars before and after everything I ate (obviously at this point I wasn’t on Metformin) and you try getting an appointment within 2 weeks with a GP in my area! I was getting readings as high as 22/23. One day I thought “you’ve been eating greens and proteins all week, today you can have a lemon meringue doughnut from Doughnotts” (gourmet doughnut shop here in Leicester) and a couple of hours later my sugars hit 25.6. I actually cried. After that I completely stopped eating any form of dessert.

Let me go back a bit to 2010. I have PCOS and back then I was really suffering with it. I saw the doctor during my gap year and was told I was prediabetic. Back then it didn’t make me feel concerned. At all. I was told that I was put on Metformin to help with the side effects of PCOS e.g. weight regulation. Nothing was mentioned about it being for the blood sugar levels. Keep in mind that, at this point, I was only 17/18 years old. I started at the University of Nottingham and lived in the catered dorms there. The food they served probably didn’t help. Neither did the stress of university. So fast forward to 8 years and 4 degrees later (I took a bachelors degree, 2 masters and a PGCE) and here we are.

So anyway, before taking metformin, I would eat something like a sandwich with a bs reading of 11 and then test it two hours later to see that it had spiked to around 20. I was really concerned and called the doctor again to push for an urgent appointment. It worked. Got one and saw a brand new doctor who was really good and really keen to help me (apparently I could have had diabetes for a long time and, according to them, was one of the youngest in the area to have T2). Even though I was only put on Metformin, he pushed for me to get my own reading machine and even put my needles and tester strips on prescriptions (something that is hard for other people from what I’ve read) as he said that it really seemed to motivate me as opposed to causing me grief and anxiety as it did with a few other patients.

Signs and symptoms:

• Thirst. I absolutely never ever felt anything otherwise until I improved my bs levels.
• Frequent urination. This was terrible. Even when I had been the feeling to go still lingered. I felt horrible all the time and was in pain. I used to go to the bathroom 1-3 times in less than an hour. I am happy to report that this is an issue that no longer exists.
• Thrush. Absolute bane of my existence. I have had it since last June and have never been able to get rid of it. Today, for the first time, I have gone 9 hours without having anything - so fingers crossed!? I am taking antibiotics at the moment (issues with my tooth: a bicuspid) and was told by my doctor that thrush can be caused by or treated with antibiotics - perhaps this is the reason it’s stopped? ‍
• Vision issues. I’ve had issues with my vision since I was around 11 and officially got glasses when I was 13 (year 8). When my bs readings are high my vision gets even worse. It doesn’t help that I have a genetic degenerative illness in my eyes.
• Unexplained weight loss / gain. So last year I lost over a stone and a half from nowhere...? Then a few months later I gained more than half of it back. I hadn’t made any drastic changes to my lifestyle and when I had gained it back I hadn’t been eating excessively at all and had even used the loss of weight to initiate healthy eating etc.
• There are a few others but they are minor compared to those I’ve mentioned.

Foods that spiked the hell out of me:

• BREAD. In any shape or form (even the healthiest) it was not my friend.
• Certain types of pasta.
• White rice.
• Certain types of pastry.
• The usual fruits: pineapple, mango and especially peaches?

HbA1c and my bs readings:

My HbA1c result was 11.5.

So just a summary of my waking and post-prandial bs readings over the last 3/4 months:

• Month 1 (April): 20 (waking) and 16-23 (post-prandial).
• Month 2 (May): 16 (waking) and 12-20 (post-prandial). << Put on Metformin here but because of the side effects stuck to 1/2 doses a day depending on severity.
• Month 3 (June): 10/11 (waking) and 8-12 (post-prandial) - yes sometimes I’ve been naughty! I had successfully reached 3 doses a day without being violently sick all the time.
• Month 4 (July-now): 9/10 (waking) and 8-11 (post-prandial).

How I feel now:
Honestly, overall I feel so much better. The medication really has helped although, unfortunately, that has been part of making me feel horrendous sometimes. I am a bit concerned about a few things though; I don’t feel thirsty at all and when I drink water I feel like I’m gorging myself - like I actually feel sick. I also don’t feel hungry, especially in the heat. I have to force myself to eat something so I can take both my Metformin and my antibiotics. Why might this be?Additionally I’ve had two actual hypos: 3.2 (last month) and a 2.2 (2 days ago). Checked with 3 different machines several times on both occasions so it was accurate and I felt awful and shaky and confused. Not sure why. The weather has been making me feel sick - it definitely wreaks havoc on bs levels.

What do you think? Would you say I’m making good progress? I haven’t started on physical exercise yet (I’m a teacher - so I’ve lacked time and I’ve also been so sick) but now that summer has begun I’ve re-registered for the gym (something I vowed never to do; I was going to home gym which is actually better for me), mainly due to the heat, so off to the air-conditioned gym I go. I’ve already lost weight through changing my eating habits (I wasn’t much of a big eater before), but I suppose it was what I was eating, as opposed to how much.

Note: does anyone get a spike in their bs simply from being hot and flustered or even from bouts of severe stress? My doctor said this is normal for some people.

Any other pieces of advice (especially regarding the lack of hunger and meals I could possibly eat?) for a newbie would be appreciated

 

[Rachox]

Hi Zozo and welcome to the Forum!
First let me tag in @daisy1 for her welcome info post.
Sorry to hear about your story but you’ve come to the right place.
I'm now 14 months from being diagnosed type 2. Once I was over the initial shock, I saw it as the proverbial kick up the bum to get healthier. I was started on Metformin tablets and tolerate them well now after a bit of stomach upset in the early days. I wasn't advised to eat low carb by my GP, but I stumbled on this forum by chance and took up a low carb life style with self monitoring. I started by eating less than 100g carbs/day to begin with and then after 6 weeks reduced it to 50-70g/day, then since the start of this year I keep to under 60g. Caution needs to be taken on certain drugs going low carb but on just Metformin it’s usually ok, so your hypos are unusual. Good to see you are testing and how lucky are you to get your strips on prescription, the majority of Type 2s don’t, keep hold of that GP of yours!
All this has worked for me, to date I've 6 stone (still more to go) Metformin has definitely suppressed my appetite which helps. I’ve also got my HbA1c down to a non diabetic level, all due to the fantastic support and advise I got here. Read around the Forum and ask any questions that occur to you.
Edit to add. Sorry I didn’t answer your original question! Looking at your numbers you appear to be making good steady progress. It’s a marathon not a sprint is a phrase often used here.

 

[jayney27]

Hello and welcome, I see the wonderful @Rachox
It would appear from reading your post you have made a great start and are already making positive changes to diet which is reflected in lower BG levels.
I was diagnosed in Oct 2017 and given an opportunity to try diet only to bring my levels down, initially I followed the NHS advice but thankfully found this forum and switched to low carb eating, 3 months after diagnoses I was at pre diabetic levels and 4 months later (3 week ago) I have normal blood sugar levels, have lost 4 stone and have much more energy.
I have occasional higher readings than I like but am seeing a pattern connected to either hotter weather or that wonderful time in the month we ladies experience!
There is a very good thread that I, @Rachox and others post into, we share our daily menus and generally motivate, encourage and support each other, its a great place for getting menu ideas and inspiration https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/posts/1829454/
hopefully this is the correct link for the thread, if not @Rachox will put it right.
Keep up the good work you have already started, good luck.

 

[ringi]

My peak BG reading was 32 with most readings close to 20, by not eating any carbs (other then green veg) I got down to under 6 most of the time within a few weeks.

Therefore I would recommend you drink only water, along with only eating green veg/salad with lots off home cooked meat, eggs and fish adding lots of olive oil. Olives and avocados are also good, choose meat and fish that naturally has a lot of fat as that will make you feel more full up.

Don't even think about your weight it until you've got your blood glucose under control however most people with type 2 diabetes find that they lose weight just by limiting the carbs they eat without having to limit other food.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

You're making good progress, so pat on the back thoroughly earned! I have PCOS too, but wasn't perscribed metformin until I was diabetic. And oh, it made me so ill. (Slow release wasn't available in the Netherlands at the time, it is now). So on to gliclazide. But after reading a whole lot about low carb I decided I wanted off all meds, including statins, and 3 months later, I was. I followed the LCHF diet for about a year and a half, then upped the ante some by researching Keto and intermittent fasting, after learning of it here. If you ditch more carbs, you could probably get rid of the metformin. Just be careful you don't hypo, so keep testing. They're uncommon for t2's, but I had them too. (Until my thyroidmeds got sorted, now I'm okay). So all in all... Yeah, you've made progress, well done! And if you want, you can step it up. But that's up to you. You don't have to drink straight water. For some reason plain water comes back up for me. But, no issues with fizzy water, tea, coffee or 0 cal waters with flavoring. (In the Netherlands, SPA just came out with coconut flavored water. I'm in love!). As for eating, you could just fast... But with hypo's and metformin, I'd be careful with that. I usually skip breakfast, twice a week I skip lunch too, so that's a 24 hour fast from one dinner to the next. Not a problem, though from what I understand, metformin on an empty stomach wreaks havoc. So again, decide what's right for you. As for stress, yes, it can and will influence your numbers. From what I understand stress releases a corticosteroid which tells your liver to release sugar in your bloodstream (it's a primal thing: stress used to mean "try not to get eaten/killed", so the liver wants to help, giving you enough sugar to burn for a fight or flight situation). Hot weather affects us all differently. I used to get bouncy sugars, up and down and all around, but this heatwave I've been doing alright. But yeah, perfectly normal. Just stay hydrated.

Suggestions for meals can be found at dietdoctor.com or this place's vault of recipies, at their website. But bacon, eggs, mushrooms, above ground veggies, berries in moderation (and preferably with cream), cheese, meat (without carby additives/marinades/coatings), fish, avocado, cauliflower rice, very dark chocolate... Stay away as much as possible from cereal, bread, pastry, pasta, potatoes, rice, corn, sugar etc... But a lot of this you already figured out on your own. Good luck!

 

[daisy1]

@ZozoSanfura_91

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it both interesting and useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
  

 

[kitedoc]

Hi @ZozoSanfura_91,
Your BSLs seem to be improving well with such dedication. @daisy1 has kindly provided the range of blood sugar levels for T2Ds for your comparison.
I have heard that sufferers of side-effects to Metformin may be eligible for prescription of a the long-acting form which is said (by some at least) to be less savage on one's constitution.
The general advice is not to have one's vision tested for some weeks after BSLs are in normal ranges as any glasses prescribed too quickly will not be suitable later.
Enjoy the exercise, be as virtuous with your diet as all of us !!!!!!!