Hi - I finally made it

[jeff21up]

Hi all
I finally made it to a forum I never wanted to join (for obvious reasons). Firstly I would like to say what a great facility this forum is for all the unfortunate sufferers of this horrible disease.
I have spent the last couple of days reading through some of the posts by members and have been really impressed with the great advice given out by fellow members and because of that have been inspired to join.
My name is Jeff (Hello everyone) and I am 54 years of age. I am really struggling with my Diabetes control at the moment and feel really ill most of the time.
I will explain in the following summary my story and what led me here.......
All of my life I have been extremely fit and have always been paranoid about my weight and consequently have always eaten healthily, limited fats, no added salt or suger etc.
Most of my adult life i have weighed in at around 12st 4lb and I am a medium framed 6' 1" Now if anything I was probably a little under- weight, but I felt fit and I suppose had a good physique.
I played Crown Green Bowls for years on a regular basis, every night and at weekends, so had no fat around my middle.
Suddenly around the year 2000 I started to feel generally unwell but sadly at that time i had a bit of a drink problem and found that every time i presented myself to the GP it was put down to the drink. I knew it was something more than that (we all know our own bodies don't we?). I even collapsed a couple of times, in retrospect i now believe those to be hypos.
Anyway moving on, in 2002 i suffered a heart attack and was told that i had previously suffered 2 others (they know somehow). I went on to have a couple of stents in my arteries followed a year later by 3 more. During the next couple of years i developed spinal stenosis and lost most of my mobility and gained over 5 stone in weight! I now also have blocked arteries in my left leg which is currently being investigated.
My heart problems are currently and hopefully stabilised after a scare with my lipid levels which have been as high as 22 (normal is 2), currently at around 5
I no longer drink alcohol and haven't drank for 4 years

In 2008 whilst having some tests done it was discovered that i was diabetic and started the process of diet control etc. Nothing has worked and i now find myself on victosa amongst other meds (will list further below).
In the last 2 years i must confess i have not tested my sugar levels much at all but when i did i found them to be mostly between 7 and 8. My weight seemed to level out at around 108kg, no matter how hard i tried with my diet i couldn't reduce it. I accept that it is probably due to the lack of mobility. About six months ago i was put on Bayetta but couldn't tolerate it so was switched to victosa around 3 months ago.
Although i seem to have lost 2.5 kg and now weigh 105.5kg my sugar levels are through the roof.
I have been testing 4 times a day for the last 7 days whilst eating moderately and am getting reading of up to 16+
In the mornings on waking it is around 12, increasing during the day although i have had 2 readings in the 8's.
12, 14, 16's are the norm no matter what time of day or whether it is before or after eating?
I have emailed these results to my clinic and await their reply.
My Medications
Metformin 500mg 2 tabs twice a day
Zapain 30mg + 500mg 2 tabs four times a day
Victosa inj 18mg/3ml 1.2 microgram once daily
Atorvastatin 80mg one a day
thiamine 50mg 4 tabs a day
Ezetimide 10mg one a day
Tramadol 50mg 1 tab three times a day
Bisoprolol 7.5mg one a day
Ramipril 5mg 1 tab twice a day
Aspirin 75mg once a day
Lansoprozole 30mg one a day

I look forward to reading through the forums and finding any advice that may help me turn these readings round. I hope that also I may be able to contribute in some way helping others who may have been through similar.
Hope I didn't bore you
Jeff

 

[ebony321]

Hi jeff

I'm glad you finally joined, like you've already seen lots of good advice and support are given here!

I'm not T2 so can't advise much on medication but it makes sense if your levels are high then your bound to feel ****** and everyone knows how that feels!

I'm sure someone else will be along to help better than i can but just wanted to say hi and you've come to a good place to talk to some pretty great people

good luck!

 

[sugarless sue]

Although you are not new to diabetes the information below, which we give out for new diabetics, may help you a bit especially in respect of diet. Reducing carbohydrate in the diet can not only bring your blood sugar levels down but also help you lose weight.

It is best to test just before eating then two hours after to get a good picture of how the foods that you are eating are affecting your blood sugar levels.

We hope that some of the information can be of help to you.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!
If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.