xyzzy
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,950
- Type of diabetes
- Other
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Undeserving authority figures of all kinds and idiots.
Hello everyone
Diagnosed Type 2 at the beginning of December although having tests done for late onset Type 1 / 1.5 as my eldest son (a regular contributor to this forum) is Type 1 and I also have a nephew who was diagnosed as Type 1 in his early 40's and had a grandfather who also got Type 1 late on.
Actually I was diagnosed back in March last year but my surgery forgot to send me the letter and then didn't chase me when I didn't come to see them! I only got told when I went to my GP in December feeling really c**p and had finally recognised I had many classic diabetic symptoms.
My GP then told me to make an urgent appointment with the DN. Urgent turned out to be a one month wait even though I was reporting BG levels greater than 20 to my GP. My son tells me this is par for the course with the NHS and that if I want to control my diabetes it is really going to be down to me...
My son has been a real star and quickly put me on the straight and narrow telling me to go on an ultra low carb diet until I could get some medication. Until I could get to see the diabetic nurse I ate on average 40g carbs per day. I am now on 2x 500g Metformin a day but I still can't eat much more than 50g of carbs in anyone meal without my BG spiking too high. Any advice on this would be really appreciated! My current average is now around 65g a day.
Researching on this site showed me that if I wanted my GP and future DN to take me seriously I should immediately start to keep a food diary that recorded my carb intake each meal. I borrowed my sons spare BG tester and started to test when I woke up, prior to every meal and 2 hours after each meal and religiously recorded every reading.
I found the fact that I was testing combined with having to record it made it far easier to stick to a low carb diet as writing down BAD BG scores so that you see them makes you quickly realise how important it is to change your lifestyle, I do not want to go blind or have my feet fall off thank you!
At the initial meeting with the DN I went armed with my results and was able to drive the meeting how I wanted it to go. As I said earlier it took a month before I got to see the DN and in that time I had reduced by BG readings from an average in the high teens to around 6.5 to 8.5 depending on the time of day and what I ate.
You can imagine that after not being told you were diabetic for 8 months by an incompetent surgery and having picked up a fair amount of knowledge over the years as to how the NHS treats you as a diabetic I was up for a fight!
My new DN turned out to be everything I expected a lovely warm friendly lady who initially just wanted to push the NHS line. She apologised without prompting for the surgery's c**k up and said I wasn't fat but then we got down to business.
I said "I assume I can now get a BG tester and test strips on prescription rather than having to buy my own?" She said "It wasn't the surgery's policy to give out more than 50 test strips / year to a type 2" I then made the following "prepared" statement.
"First you are assuming I am Type 2 with no evidence. There is a history of late onset Type 1 in my family. I agree that Type 2 is the likeliest outcome however if I am Type 2 you would still not be following the N.I.C.E guidelines for Type 2 diabetics. I have shown you I am taking my condition seriously by both recording and modifying my diet and testing and understanding what my BG readings mean."
She let that pass and moved onto my blood test results. I had organised these two weeks PRIOR to attending the DN the first time so she had my initial HbA1c result. It was 9.9% which I found shocking considering the blood was taken two weeks into starting my low carbing. I know its an average of the last 3 months but the majority of the reading comes from the last 30 days. She started to talk about the standard NHS 6.5% to 7.5% target. I replied.
"My target HbA1c is to be less than 5.5% as I want the kind of score a non diabetic would get. Would you as a healthcare expert in my position want anything different? Would you accept a raised risk level of going blind and having your feet drop off"
I pushed more on the test strip issue.
"When I achieve my target HbA1c I will be in the range that medication you have prescribed could cause me to Hypo if I am not aware of my BG levels. I drive to London very regularly on business. Does the surgery want to take the risk that I could crash and kill myself and others just because it wont prescribe me an adequate number of test strips for testing."
The result was "I will speak to the doctor and see if we can make you a special case"
We then started on the diet stuff. She said "You're carb intake is too low" I said "Yes it is, I would love to be able to eat more carbs as they are my favourite foods but as you can see by my BG readings whenever I try my levels spike dangerously. I will eat more carbs when you have shown me the medication you are giving me allows me to eat them safely so at the moment I'm afraid I will not be eating more than a smidgen of rice, pasta or potatoes and I don't like porridge"
I am now 7 weeks into my regime. My BG levels are averaging between 5 & 6 and I have lost 23lbs and 4 inches off my waist measurement. I am 52 years old, 6ft 2inches and weigh 15 and half stone.
Good luck to everyone!
Diagnosed Type 2 at the beginning of December although having tests done for late onset Type 1 / 1.5 as my eldest son (a regular contributor to this forum) is Type 1 and I also have a nephew who was diagnosed as Type 1 in his early 40's and had a grandfather who also got Type 1 late on.
Actually I was diagnosed back in March last year but my surgery forgot to send me the letter and then didn't chase me when I didn't come to see them! I only got told when I went to my GP in December feeling really c**p and had finally recognised I had many classic diabetic symptoms.
My GP then told me to make an urgent appointment with the DN. Urgent turned out to be a one month wait even though I was reporting BG levels greater than 20 to my GP. My son tells me this is par for the course with the NHS and that if I want to control my diabetes it is really going to be down to me...
My son has been a real star and quickly put me on the straight and narrow telling me to go on an ultra low carb diet until I could get some medication. Until I could get to see the diabetic nurse I ate on average 40g carbs per day. I am now on 2x 500g Metformin a day but I still can't eat much more than 50g of carbs in anyone meal without my BG spiking too high. Any advice on this would be really appreciated! My current average is now around 65g a day.
Researching on this site showed me that if I wanted my GP and future DN to take me seriously I should immediately start to keep a food diary that recorded my carb intake each meal. I borrowed my sons spare BG tester and started to test when I woke up, prior to every meal and 2 hours after each meal and religiously recorded every reading.
I found the fact that I was testing combined with having to record it made it far easier to stick to a low carb diet as writing down BAD BG scores so that you see them makes you quickly realise how important it is to change your lifestyle, I do not want to go blind or have my feet fall off thank you!
At the initial meeting with the DN I went armed with my results and was able to drive the meeting how I wanted it to go. As I said earlier it took a month before I got to see the DN and in that time I had reduced by BG readings from an average in the high teens to around 6.5 to 8.5 depending on the time of day and what I ate.
You can imagine that after not being told you were diabetic for 8 months by an incompetent surgery and having picked up a fair amount of knowledge over the years as to how the NHS treats you as a diabetic I was up for a fight!
My new DN turned out to be everything I expected a lovely warm friendly lady who initially just wanted to push the NHS line. She apologised without prompting for the surgery's c**k up and said I wasn't fat but then we got down to business.
I said "I assume I can now get a BG tester and test strips on prescription rather than having to buy my own?" She said "It wasn't the surgery's policy to give out more than 50 test strips / year to a type 2" I then made the following "prepared" statement.
"First you are assuming I am Type 2 with no evidence. There is a history of late onset Type 1 in my family. I agree that Type 2 is the likeliest outcome however if I am Type 2 you would still not be following the N.I.C.E guidelines for Type 2 diabetics. I have shown you I am taking my condition seriously by both recording and modifying my diet and testing and understanding what my BG readings mean."
She let that pass and moved onto my blood test results. I had organised these two weeks PRIOR to attending the DN the first time so she had my initial HbA1c result. It was 9.9% which I found shocking considering the blood was taken two weeks into starting my low carbing. I know its an average of the last 3 months but the majority of the reading comes from the last 30 days. She started to talk about the standard NHS 6.5% to 7.5% target. I replied.
"My target HbA1c is to be less than 5.5% as I want the kind of score a non diabetic would get. Would you as a healthcare expert in my position want anything different? Would you accept a raised risk level of going blind and having your feet drop off"
I pushed more on the test strip issue.
"When I achieve my target HbA1c I will be in the range that medication you have prescribed could cause me to Hypo if I am not aware of my BG levels. I drive to London very regularly on business. Does the surgery want to take the risk that I could crash and kill myself and others just because it wont prescribe me an adequate number of test strips for testing."
The result was "I will speak to the doctor and see if we can make you a special case"
We then started on the diet stuff. She said "You're carb intake is too low" I said "Yes it is, I would love to be able to eat more carbs as they are my favourite foods but as you can see by my BG readings whenever I try my levels spike dangerously. I will eat more carbs when you have shown me the medication you are giving me allows me to eat them safely so at the moment I'm afraid I will not be eating more than a smidgen of rice, pasta or potatoes and I don't like porridge"
I am now 7 weeks into my regime. My BG levels are averaging between 5 & 6 and I have lost 23lbs and 4 inches off my waist measurement. I am 52 years old, 6ft 2inches and weigh 15 and half stone.
Good luck to everyone!
You have done very well to get your levels and weight under control despite the lack of help from your Doctor. Just carry on what you are doing. Ask as many questions as you like as there is always someone here to help.