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Hi All

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FishingForSouls

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8
Hello All,

I’m a Type 2, diagnosed 4 years ago and now controlling my blood glucose levels with a low carb lifestyle. Early after diagnosis I was very lucky to find the websites Blood Sugar 101 and DSolve. Without the knowledge gained from these sites there was the very real possibility that I, in dire need of help, would have given up and following the NHS guidelines.

I have managed to get my HBA1c down to 5.2%, Total/HDL cholesterol ratio down to 3.5, triglycerides down to 0.7 and blood pressure down 115/75.

I eat very low carb, moderate protein and high fat – animal fats, coconut cream, double cream in coffee, olive oil and butter but definitely no margarine.

Over the past 4 years, business and family commitments have meant that I did not have the time to seek further information on diabetes (apart from the two web sites mentioned above)> Now that these commitments have reduced I hope to take a day or two to read recent posts and see if I can make some contribution.
 
Hi FishingForSouls and welcome to the forum You do seem to be looking after yourself very well with such good figures. Some basic information wouldn't go amiss - our friends Sue and Ken, the former monitors, have written some advice which is routinely given to new members and I think you could probably find something of interest in here even though you are not newly diagnosed. Go ahead and ask all the questions you like as there is always someone here to help.

 
hya fishing and a warm welcome to the forum, hope we can be of some help
 
Dear Daisy1 (and Totsy),

Many thanks for the kind welcome. However, I am somewhat alarmed at the guidelines you offered. My diabetes team indicated that prolonged spells of blood glucose levels in the region of 7.5 and above caused damage to body organs.

Spending the rest of the day reading recent posts.
 
Hi FishingForSouls These figures are the official NICE guidelines which are just a maximum. In addition the after-meal levels are of course temporary as the level goes down afterwards. I personally prefer to keep my levels much lower than these and you would be wise to do the same if you can
 
Hi FishingForSouls

The advice that daisy1 likes to post are only guidelines.......you will find levels of blood sugars which will suit you. For instance my blood sugars shouldn't really go below 6 because i feel bad at that level so my guidelines by my consultant (who i have seen for the 14 years since my diagnosis) is to have my levels between 6 and 11 because that works for me.

You will find loads of good advice and lots of support on the forum.......everyone is different when it comes to what works for them!!!!!!!

josie
 
I agree what suits one don't suit another, there are however certain facts of life. One of these is BG ranging from 6 to 11 are going to cause real problems at some stage!

Any consultant that offered me that advice would not be my consultant for long.

I too used to feel unwell when I first started getting my readings down, but after a couple of weeks it all settled down. I now start to panic if I see a reading above 6.8!

I'm not trying to start an argument, but certain things need to be said.

Ray
 
Ray......I have no problems at all with keeping my bs at these levels and i have no complications.

As you said what suits one doesn't suit another...why do you assume that going over 10 is wrong?

You don't know my history...so what things need to be said?

Josie
 
Pardon me for interfering but...maybe the certain thing that "need to be said" should be said by PM or in a seperate post.

Otherwise I fear that another thread will go off topic and I imagine that is something that the forum can do without at the moment.

This is introductions after all.
 
raydavies said:
there are however certain facts of life. One of these is BG ranging from 6 to 11 are going to cause real problems at some stage!
Click to expand...

The facts are Ray that many people have bg ranges between 6 and 11 and never suffer any complications, some people have real tight control and suffer complications.

You may not agree with the facts but they are still facts
 
Hi Josie, I don't need to know anybody's history to know those figures are not good. So that is what needed to be said.

Nothing I've read indicates that those levels are safe.

If it suits you, that's fine - it's your body and well-being. However, I do think it's wrong to possibly lead the newly diagnosed who happens upon this thread to think they may be doing well if they have figures like that.

As I say, it's your body.

Ray
 
Pardon me for interfering but...maybe the certain thing that "need to be said" should be said by PM or in a seperate post.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but so far as I'm concerned this is a forum where discussions should take place openly for all to see.

Ray
 
Hi fishing for souls, welcome to us all here. Your health care team are working fron NICE rules 7.5[below] acceptable level. You are new to all this n it can and does feel overwhelming to begin with. What the others are trying to say is that for some they can feel really grotty being below 7.5 and their consultant gives them bit of flexibilty to find a more acceptable level they can feel better with. I myself feel awful when go below 7.7 as my body n system are so used to being a lot higher. Hope this reassures you? keep reading and learning as you feel you way along. Any thoughts or concerns just pop back to us with them, n we will try to help, as thats what we are here for. Anna.x
 
The guidelines that are given to us, aren't figures pulled out of the air but are derived from continuous data collection, research and review.. So those of us who have been diabetic for a long time will know that these 'guidelines' have been slightly changed over the years...

How do we know the adverage HbA1c for a non-diabetic (very important bit of information to know) Well every years it's checked by checking out a group of non-diabetics, in verious parts of the world (all goes back to an American centre) this has been done ever since the invention of the HbA1c blood test..

They have continuely collected and compared diabetic HbA1c data over this time has well, comparing it to non-diabetic data also study points where complications set in at what degree, Complications being both sides of the line, the damage complications such as eyes, kidneys etc and Complications such as excess occurance of hypo's, hypo unawearness, fits etc associated with low blood sugar leverls..

Over the years with improvements of home blood glucose monitoring, and better Continuse glucose monitoring, have and will continual to give a clear picture surrounding our HbA1c's etc.. They can from this build a range of blood targets for us to work with..

HbA1c's really does need to be looked slightly differenlty for T1's and T2's (T2's also needs to be determined to whether insulin or insulin production drugs are being used)

T2's on diet or oral medication, the HbA1c is a pretty good indicator of control and if they might be at an higher risk of complications such as kidney damage, eyes etc as it's more likely that their blood glucose hasn't got a large standard deviation from it's mean point,,

How ever for the T1 or T2's on insulin or insulin inducing medication.. HbA1c's isn't always reflective of good control or indicator of possible risk of complications.. Until you hit the higher figures about 7.5%...

Purely because every hypo will mask the high's! So you need to be looking at the standard deviation from the mean line, the larger this is the more likely you are to suffer complications.. The tighter it is the less likely you are to suffer complications.. But another thing that needs to be included in the guidelines is a safety net to avoid hypo's, and hypo unawareness as both these two can and do kill diaebetics..

And the figures are worked out in a realistic manner, most people should be able to acheive we live in a real world were we aren't all the same, so our guidelines got to reflect this..

Sorry I forgot to hello and welcome to the forum
 
Here's an interesting link from Phoenix.

The average HbA1c is about 5.2%

http://www.springerlink.com/content/a55 ... lltext.pdf

So, why are the NICE guidelines so much higher? Possibly because it's impossible to get anything near that if you follow the standard guidelines for managing diabetes; i.e. no testing for Type 2's, low fat, plenty of starchy carbs, low GI if possible, etc., etc.,

I think we shouldn't be sitting here saying here are some cut and paste guidelines for you Fishing For Souls - we should be saying; tell us how you've got such fantastic results!?? I want bloods like yours :!: :!:

Anna - on the feeling rotten at low levels; the body is designed to register changes not continuity (that's why one ceases to be aware of the smell of one's house*, or your wedding ring on your finger), if you drop your average blood sugars then you will acclimatise to the lower levels and go far in avoiding the very real risk of complications you have at those types of level.

Best

Dillinger

*Not saying anyone has a stinky house, friends, but you know what I mean? :wink:

Study supporting above for Type 1's:

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/control/

And lastly - Hello Fishing For Souls!!!
 
On a related note - the bad feeling you get when your BG is going DOWN does subside. It's the actual change that makes you feel bad, not the level that the BG gets down TO.

You'll find that you feel MUCH BETTER once that bad feeling has gone away, and you BG has stabilised at the lower level.
 
FishingForSouls, sounds like you've got real good, solid numbers there

Keep up the good work.
 
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