How can I manage my diabetes better?

Hello, @Ifejoy , and welcome to the forum!
Do you use a meter to check your blood glucose?
What sort of diet are you on? What is the name of the insulin(s) you use?
If you decide to change things in your diet, please remember it may mean you need to change your insulin dose as well, so please consult your health care professional about it first. Changing your diet may lead to hypo's when on insulin.

Here's the info sheet about diabetes we like to give new members, it may be useful. Read around the forum as well, and chip in or ask questions whenever you like

Good luck!
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.26870/

Hi Ifejoy, Sorry to hear you are having a bad time, lots of us have good and bad days. Firstly, can you let us know a little about your diet. Do you follow a low carb diet or not. Do you test your blood glucose with a meter and if so, what sort of readings do you get. Also can you tell us your HbA1c results. I'm not on insulin, just metformin and I try and control with LCHF diet and exercise. I test before eating and 2 hours after to see how that food has affected my sugar levels. You are on a great forum here and there are lots of people who can give you great advice. I'm sure lots will be along soon.

Ifejoy said:

I'm trying to manage my diabetes type 2. Any advice on how to manage it better. Some days are good, some days are not so good. I feel fatigue, headache, buzzing in the ear. I also just started coughing recently after I yawn for too long.sometimes, just after yawning. I am on soluble insulin and some other drugs ibuprofen, Vastarel MR, clopidogrel, atorvastatin, gastro-resistant Omeprazole, neurovite.. and others. Please help.

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Hi @Ifejoy , and welcome,

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time of it. You might want to check your diet as well as your medication. Statins (atorvastatin) are known to u bloodsugars and in some people even cause T2. I don't know where you were put on the statin, but often it's an automatic thing: T2? Have a statin! So it is worth it to check out just what your numbers are (not just otal cholesterol but the breakdown, because you want to know what the ratio's are: a sligthly elevated cholesterol is fine if the ratio's are good, and there's no pre-existing heart condition). Anyway, that's one thing to ook into, as it can affect your bloodsugar control. Also, your diet. The only thing is, you're on insulin.... I don't know much about that as I never got to that point, so when you say soluble insulin, that doesn't actually tell me anything. Do you have a basal/bolus regime or just background? Do you carb count? Because if you do, you already know carbs make your bloodsugars go up. So... Not eating (as many) cabs would bring your bloodsugars down. Only problem being that if you go low carb and stay on insulin, you'll hypo. So if you choose to go that route, you could do with a lot less insulin. I don't know if your pancreas still makes insulin, or has it exhausted itself? All things to consider.... Some people can come of insulin entirely, some can't because their pancreas is pretty much wrung out. So that's all things you want to look at.

You might want to read this little quick-start guide : https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ , and check out diabetes.co.uk (Not .org!) which is this forum's website, dietdoctor.com which is excellent and a lot of info on there is free, and Dr. Jason Fung's The Diabetes Code for more in-depth info.

In any case, I hope this is the point where things start looking up.

Good luck,
Jo

It's good to hear your blood sugars have been stable lately. You obviously are doing the right things. Not sure why you are weak and exhausted. One reason could be the statins. They have that effect on lots of people. May I ask why you are on them? If possible you could maybe ask your doctor if you really need to be on them and if yes, they can try different ones. My mother -in-law was on statins and she had muscles aches and pains and weakness so it really could be the reason. If you are on them because of high cholesterol could you let us know what your levels are, LDL, HDL and Trigs. How long have you been diabetic and have you lost weight? These answers may help forum members to give you their thoughts and opinions. Take care.

I developed terrible aches and pains a few weeks after starting Metformin and Atorvastatin. Most of them went quite quickly after I threw them away, but I had a niggling pain in my lower left leg for over a year - and then it just went away.
There were also a strange alteration in taste, itching, dreadful guts, my hair fell out in handfuls I was terribly depressed - a total mess really.

When I was initially diagnosed with T2D my GP I immediately put me on statins, because of the associated risk for heart issues even though my cholesterol and blood pressure was perfect. I had similar pains and felt that I was being beaten up every day. I threw away the statins and told my GP I would rather have the heart attack. That was 5 years ago and have never looked back. My cholesterol and blood pressure haven't changed. We now know the science behind statins is questionable. If they told me then about LCHF/Keto/IF I could also have avoided 5 years of metformin and gabapentin. I would also have been slimmer and healthier.

Resurgam said:

I developed terrible aches and pains a few weeks after starting Metformin and Atorvastatin. Most of them went quite quickly after I threw them away, but I had a niggling pain in my lower left leg for over a year - and then it just went away.
There were also a strange alteration in taste, itching, dreadful guts, my hair fell out in handfuls I was terribly depressed - a total mess really.

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