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Type 2 HBA1C going up and up

S

Sbhsbhsbh

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hello All,

I follow this forum regularly. However this is my first post.
This forum has very useful information.
I am type 2 diabetic. Earlier I was on gliclizide 40 mg + metformin 1000mg morning and same in the evening.
I was struggling with Gliclizide. However as HbA1C was good, doctor didnt change. In november in spite of taking the same meds and no change in diet or exercise HbA1C went up from 53 last year to 73 in Nov 2017.
After discussing with doctor I have been taking Sitagliptin 100mg + 1000 mg metformin in the morning and just metformin 1000mg in the evening. With this med change I was comfortable and increased my exercise level. I generally cover 7000 to 8000 steps a day which is 60-80 mins walks including morning, afternoon and evening. I dont feel as hungry as I used to feel before so my calorie intake has also reduced.
With this the HbA1c has gone up to 76. Just got the results now. I am very upset. Reason for the HbA1C before even 3 months is the NOV one was done privately and my GP suggested I get it done again.
I don't understand where I am going wrong.
I have got the meter now and need to start checking the before after readings.
I am going for nurse appointment on friday morning. I am totally lost what I need to say and what is going to happen.
Honestly, I don't want to go back to Gliclizide. It made me feel very bad.
Please help and suggest?
Diet wise, I am vegetarian and I don't follow low carb yet.

with regards,
S
 
Hi and welcome,

I am so pleased to see you now have a meter and can start testing out your food. Hopefully this will show you if and where you are going wrong. Up to now you have been working blind, lurching from one HbA1c to the next with no idea what is happening, or why.

You can start now by organising a food diary for yourself in which you write down what you eat every meal and snack, including all the ingredients such as sauces, drinks etc. and importantly, the portion sizes. Test yourself immediately before you eat and again 2 hours after the first bite. Record these two levels next to the food and look at the rise from before eating to the 2 hour mark. This rise is the important measurement initially. Try to keep it as low as you can, and definitely under 2mmol/l (preferably less). If it more than 2mmol/l there are too many carbs in that food, and this may include some hidden ones you weren't aware of.

If you do this over a period of time you may see patterns and be able to discover which foods in which portion sizes are causing your problems. Then you can reduce the portion size or eliminate completely.

Hopefully this will help you, and should help you to reduce your levels so by your next HbA1c you may give yourself and your nurse a lovely surprise. :)
 
Diet is key and @Bluetit1802 has pointed you the right direction. Also consider asking your GP about SGLT 2 inhibitors, as, unlike other drugs, they do remove the sugar from your body with no additional risk of Hypos.

PS, what is your normal breakfast like?
 
Sbhsbhsbh said:
Hello All,

I follow this forum regularly. However this is my first post.
This forum has very useful information.
I am type 2 diabetic. Earlier I was on gliclizide 40 mg + metformin 1000mg morning and same in the evening.
I was struggling with Gliclizide. However as HbA1C was good, doctor didnt change. In november in spite of taking the same meds and no change in diet or exercise HbA1C went up from 53 last year to 73 in Nov 2017.
After discussing with doctor I have been taking Sitagliptin 100mg + 1000 mg metformin in the morning and just metformin 1000mg in the evening. With this med change I was comfortable and increased my exercise level. I generally cover 7000 to 8000 steps a day which is 60-80 mins walks including morning, afternoon and evening. I dont feel as hungry as I used to feel before so my calorie intake has also reduced.
With this the HbA1c has gone up to 76. Just got the results now. I am very upset. Reason for the HbA1C before even 3 months is the NOV one was done privately and my GP suggested I get it done again.
I don't understand where I am going wrong.
I have got the meter now and need to start checking the before after readings.
I am going for nurse appointment on friday morning. I am totally lost what I need to say and what is going to happen.
Honestly, I don't want to go back to Gliclizide. It made me feel very bad.
Please help and suggest?
Diet wise, I am vegetarian and I don't follow low carb yet.

with regards,
S
Click to expand...

If you fancy trying vegetarian LCHF food, and want a luxurious introduction so you don't get put off, you could try something called the Fathead Pizza. Search on this forum or elsewhere online. The base is surprisingly bread-like and will be vegetarian if you check that the cheese used doesn't use rennet. The toppings of course could be e.g. cheese, onion, sun dried tomatoes etc.

Be careful of calories however. LCHF might be one of the better diets for avoiding weight gain, but if you're anything like me, you can put down 2,000 calories of pizza accidentally with a cup of tea :)

If you're so upset with the way things are currently heading, that you want to see quick gains to give you hope, then you could combine a low carb (doesn't matter if it's high fat if just briefly and for weight loss) diet with calorie restriction for say a week, and take a morning finger-prick reading each day. You may be surprised how quickly your morning bgs fall if you combine avoiding carbs with significant calorie restriction. I'm talking circa 1,000 calories and just for a week, just so you can convince yourself you can take back control.
 
ringi said:
Diet is key and @Bluetit1802 has pointed you the right direction. Also consider asking your GP about SGLT 2 inhibitors, as, unlike other drugs, they do remove the sugar from your body with no additional risk of Hypos.

PS, what is your normal breakfast like?
Click to expand...
My normal breakfast is porridge with almonds, 2 slices of bread with 1 egg. with coffee (with milk) and mid morning I generally eat an apple at 11AM.
I need to see about the portion size of porridge though. I do make it with 5 dinner spoons of oats when I make it. If I buy outside it is standard soup tub.
Thank you for the SGLT2 suggestion. I will ask about it.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Hi and welcome,

I am so pleased to see you now have a meter and can start testing out your food. Hopefully this will show you if and where you are going wrong. Up to now you have been working blind, lurching from one HbA1c to the next with no idea what is happening, or why.

You can start now by organising a food diary for yourself in which you write down what you eat every meal and snack, including all the ingredients such as sauces, drinks etc. and importantly, the portion sizes. Test yourself immediately before you eat and again 2 hours after the first bite. Record these two levels next to the food and look at the rise from before eating to the 2 hour mark. This rise is the important measurement initially. Try to keep it as low as you can, and definitely under 2mmol/l (preferably less). If it more than 2mmol/l there are too many carbs in that food, and this may include some hidden ones you weren't aware of.

If you do this over a period of time you may see patterns and be able to discover which foods in which portion sizes are causing your problems. Then you can reduce the portion size or eliminate completely.

Hopefully this will help you, and should help you to reduce your levels so by your next HbA1c you may give yourself and your nurse a lovely surprise. :)
Click to expand...
Thank you Bluetit1802 for your reply.
Very useful information. I will start the food diary and start measuring the levels before and after food.
Thanks once again. :-)
 
AdamJames said:
If you fancy trying vegetarian LCHF food, and want a luxurious introduction so you don't get put off, you could try something called the Fathead Pizza. Search on this forum or elsewhere online. The base is surprisingly bread-like and will be vegetarian if you check that the cheese used doesn't use rennet. The toppings of course could be e.g. cheese, onion, sun dried tomatoes etc.

Be careful of calories however. LCHF might be one of the better diets for avoiding weight gain, but if you're anything like me, you can put down 2,000 calories of pizza accidentally with a cup of tea :)

If you're so upset with the way things are currently heading, that you want to see quick gains to give you hope, then you could combine a low carb (doesn't matter if it's high fat if just briefly and for weight loss) diet with calorie restriction for say a week, and take a morning finger-prick reading each day. You may be surprised how quickly your morning bgs fall if you combine avoiding carbs with significant calorie restriction. I'm talking circa 1,000 calories and just for a week, just so you can convince yourself you can take back control.
Click to expand...

Hello Adam,
Your suggestion about low carbing for a week is a good idea. I would like to try that. May be will mention it to the nurse when I go in on friday. Because earlier I was on gliclizide, it was not a good idea it seems. Now that I am off gliclizide, I should be ok.
 
Sbhsbhsbh said:
Thank you Bluetit1802 for your reply.
Very useful information. I will start the food diary and start measuring the levels before and after food.
Thanks once again. :)
Click to expand...

Sbhsbhsbh said:
My normal breakfast is porridge with almonds, 2 slices of bread with 1 egg. with coffee (with milk) and mid morning I generally eat an apple at 11AM.
I need to see about the portion size of porridge though. I do make it with 5 dinner spoons of oats when I make it. If I buy outside it is standard soup tub.
Click to expand...

I think you will find your breakfast needs tweaking. It is extremely high in carbs. Porridge is a very difficult food for T2s, and so is milk if you made it with milk, bread of any colour is a no-no for most of us, and fruit is also difficult. A better choice would be eggs, cooked any which way, maybe a cheese and mushroom omelette. Coffee is fine, but most of us abandon milk in favour of cream. However, test it all out and see what happens. You may have a shock. Let us know!
 
Sbhsbhsbh said:
My normal breakfast is porridge with almonds, 2 slices of bread with 1 egg. with coffee (with milk) and mid morning I generally eat an apple at 11AM.
I need to see about the portion size of porridge though. I do make it with 5 dinner spoons of oats when I make it. If I buy outside it is standard soup tub.
Thank you for the SGLT2 suggestion. I will ask about it.
Click to expand...

If you want to ween yourself off high-carb breakfasts, a nice cheat is if you can get hold of Lidl High Protein Rolls, there's a few threads on them in this forum.

Half of one toasted, with butter and a couple of (scrambled?) eggs on top is almost the type of food normal people are allowed to eat, and will be radically lower in carbs than your current breakfast. The whole lot may be not much more than 5g of carbs, depending on whether you trust Lidl nutritional info. Currently you'll probably be getting those 5g of carbs in just a quarter of a slice of the normal bread you're having. The porridge doesn't bear thinking about, especially if made with milk, as Bluetit says.
 
As a vegetarians with Type2, olives and avocados are your best friend along with lots of olive oil, mayo and full-fat Greek yoghurt. Think about for example a homemade blue cheese salad dressing.
 
Hello All,

Just an update.
I have been following the useful suggestions given here. I did the HbA1C test last month and it has come to 62. Mostly breakfast is the one where I have made changes. Having more often egg now than before. With still one toast though :-)
Reduced fruit intake as well. Mostly I am having apple when I have. Else stick to veg like cucumber or tomato.
I know i still need to get the HbA1C number down to atleast low 50s. way to go :-)
Thank you all once again for the support.

with regards,
S
 
Good to hear you are making progress but bread looks like it is still not so good for you and apples too aren't great.
Have you tried olives, avocados, yoghurt as alternatives rather than bread for breakfast. Have an extra egg..
 
Once upon a time I had porridge for breakfast until I got a meter that is. Now I have eggs, I scramble mine and add cheese in the pan.... its delicious and takes less time than porridge . If Im feeling lush smoked salmon and lemon ...mmmmmm. . If you don't do fish avocado. .... ..I didn't realise that breakfast could be so tasty.... and healthy.....
 
Last edited:
Sbhsbhsbh said:
Hello All,

Just an update.
I have been following the useful suggestions given here. I did the HbA1C test last month and it has come to 62. Mostly breakfast is the one where I have made changes. Having more often egg now than before. With still one toast though :)
Reduced fruit intake as well. Mostly I am having apple when I have. Else stick to veg like cucumber or tomato.
I know i still need to get the HbA1C number down to atleast low 50s. way to go :)
Thank you all once again for the support.

with regards,
S
Click to expand...

Great progress, andnow you have your meter, you can likely see where you might be able to make further tweaks to probably go a bit lower?

It surerly is goo to see those numbere just get smallerr.

Well done to you.
 
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