How can I be diabetic ???

[unhappy]

Hi, can anyone explain to me why up until Easter when I was eating anything I fancied (cakes, sweets, chocolate, fizzy pop but not of course all the time) as I had no reason not to as diabeties was not a problem I was aware of, I felt fine, had plenty of energy and slept a normal amount of time. I went shopiing when I needed to, did jobs in the garden or house when needed. Now on my new 'health' diet of no sugar, no white bread etc, I feel horrible, I'm tired all the time, waking at dinner time only because I need the toilet and I'm tired a couple of hours later. When I do get up I just sit watching the TV as I have no energy at all, I just keep saying to myself I do it tommorrow which of course doesn't come and tommorrow its the same. I have an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach as if I'm hungry but I don't fancy anything. I losing weight but I not sure if this is a good thing as I wasn't that heavy before???

 

[Yorksman]

I wasn't diagnosed until around Christmas but I did feel very different last summer. I didn't have the usual symptoms of diabetes but I wasn't the same at all. Having lost a lot of weight got fitter and reduced my blood sugar levels, I still feel some of these differences, particularly in the morning when I feel as if I had either been drinking heavily the night before or smoked far too many cigarettes. I hardly drink and gave up smoking well over a year ago but I just put it down to similar chemical changes in the bloods. My trigs are going down, my glucose is going down, my cholesterol is going down, my BP is going down, my weight is going down as fats reduce and my body is changing shape. I have come to the conclusion that I ought to feel different with all this going on. Oddly enough, whilst I tend to feel bad in the morning, after a shortwhile I am up and ready and feel that I have a lot more energy. I do a lot more during the day, especially exercise and work in the garden and I am much more sleepy early in the evening. There are a lot of changes that I am simply not used to yet.

It might just be that since you were used to a ready supply of sugar to give you energy, withdrawing that sugar from your diet means your body has to work harder to extract it from other sources. Lots of enzymes and hormones are involved in those processes. If it is sugar withdrawal, drink plenty of water. It is counterintuitive if you keep needing the loo but it helps flush the system. Sugar withdrawal I am told can last about 6 weeks.

 

[Sketcher]

Hello Unhappy. When you switch to low carb, you need to add more fat and protein so that your body has a source of energy. I made the switch to LCHF in 3 steps: this was to bring my BG levels back into line every time the doctor reduced my meds (because my control is so good); so I don't know what it would be like to change suddenly. The books on Atkins and low carbing all say that it takes time for the body to adjust to generating energy from fat (ketosis); and the adjustment period can include temporary ill effects such as headaches. Apparently it can take a few weeks to adjust, so I'd suggest sticking with it if you can. If you compensate by eating more carbs, it may set the adjustment process back.


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[unhappy]

I'm getting very confused about this whole thing. Before the so called diagnosis I felt fine had nothing that would have worried me about my general health except my thyroid which is under control. Any tiredness I felt has been sorted out by regulating my Levothyroxine dose. Now because of an under informed nurse who thinks she is the boss (by the way just a little update, I'm not the only person she has upset and I've been advised to make a formal complaint about the way she treated me that day) I am now very paranoid about anything I'm eating, I'm throwing away food, not buying it if its got sugar or carbs in the ingredients (which seems to be almost everything !!) and I'm weighing myself nearly every day, doing random BM tests and going into panic mode about the results. I even cancelled my latest appointment with the consultant who is dealing with my hair loss so that I could work more on reducing my sugar levels even more before seeing her again !!! At the moment I'm on a permanent low level of energy, I'm having to push myself to do everything. I've even had my shopping delivered to my house by the local supermarket today as I just can't motivated myself to go out. If I eat then I feel uncomfortable if I don't I just feel uncomfortable. My whole body seems to be protesting to these massive changes which may not have been needed in the first place.