Hello. My Name is Paul. I'm 45 years old. I was diagnosed with Type 2 in January. My HBa1c was over 100 upon diagnosis but was down to 70 about a month ago. I'm currently injecting insulin twice a day with my daily mmol/L numbers generally staying between 4 & 8. I've had Psoriatic Arthritis for over 20 years, so have been used to taking medication over the long term and on diagnosis I think I probably just assumed this would now be something else I would learn to live with.. I'm not massively unfit or obese (BMI of around 27) but have struggled to do as much proper exercise as I probably should due to the pain it causes and also having a busy life with 2 young kids, work etc. Strangely since starting on the insulin my Psoriasis has really improved as has my overall feeling and ability to do more exercise. I have just had a telephone conversation with a new Rheumatologist who expressed quite an interest in Diabetes, he has told me that I should start on a low carb diet and continue with the extra exercise. I have recently cut bread & pasta from my diet having already stopped drinking any fizzy pop, eating sweets, almost any chocolate etc straight after my initial diagnosis. I have also been talking to my diabetic nurses on a weekly basis and whilst they were aware and encouraging of the changes I was making to my diet habits they were not as upfront as the Rheumatologist on what I really need to do to turn things around. So now I am intending to go as low carb as is realistic in a busy life with kids etc. Any advice from people who have been through similar would be appreciated, especially on eating well whilst not always having a lot of free time. Its a reality I'm just starting to get my (and my wife's) head around but I am hopeful that I might soon be able to get off the insulin injections then on to Metformin tablets with a long term goal of getting off meds all together.
I would add that I have also checked with my healthcare team that I definitely have Type 2 and not type 1.5 (LADA) which we thought might have been possible due to my Psoriatic Arthritis but they have assured me it is something they checked and that the Type 2 diagnosis is correct.
Thanks. P.