Husband just diagnosed, reassurance needed

[Onlyahobo]

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KIND REPLIES. I’M TRYING TO REPLY TO SOME INDIVIDUALLY BUT WHEN I DO IT COMES UP AS UNABLE TO SEND DUE TO SPAM CONTENT, ANY IDEAS?

Hi to everyone,


Hi there Antje77: I didn’t think anyone would get the user name, I’m a mad Rod fan and that’s my favourite song of his although no one seems to have heard of it! The 23.5 wasn’t a fasting result, when he did the first fasting blood test at the hospital it was measured on the other level which was 114 (we haven’t really got the hang of the difference yet) We have got a test meter to use at home but wonder whether it’s worth getting one of those expensive ones that you wear all the time. He’s taken the tablets for the first time today. He did a test early this morning before he took them and it was 21.6. He took another one this afternoon (a long time after eating) and it was 8.1. Those tablets really work quickly don’t they? Sorry to write so much, it’s all so new to us. I’ve joined this forum on his behalf as he‘s not very technically minded. Thank you for those tags, I’ll have a good look at them.

My husband was diagnosed with type 2 earlier this week. He’d gone to the doctors as he had the usual problems of very frequent urinating, excessive thirst and dry mouth.
His level was a very high 23.5 so the diabetic nurse has put him on to Metformin & Gliclazide. It came as a shock to us as we‘d thought it would probably be pre-diabetes so when we heard how serious it was it came as a surprise. We also thought that type 2 wasn’t very serious and could be controlled by lifestyle changes alone.

What we’ve found hard is that when we asked the diabetic nurse what we could do to reduce the levels naturally she said that as he isn’t severely overweight, doesn’t smoke and eats a relatively healthy diet there is really nothing we can do to get the level down as it’s so high. She said if people are severely overweight or have other problems there’s a much better chance of improvement. We came out feeling that there was no point in trying to change diet or do exercise if it wasn’t going to make any difference and he’s going to be stuck on the tablets for life anyway. Any advice would be much appreciated as we’re feeling pretty fed up at the moment.

 

[Resurgam]

Hi to everyone,

My husband was diagnosed with type 2 earlier this week. He’d gone to the doctors as he had the usual problems of very frequent urinating, excessive thirst and dry mouth.
His level was a very high 23.5 so the diabetic nurse has put him on to Metformin & Gliclazide. It came as a shock to us as we‘d thought it would probably be pre-diabetes so when we heard how serious it was it came as a surprise. We also thought that type 2 wasn’t very serious and could be controlled by lifestyle changes alone.

What we’ve found hard is that when we asked the diabetic nurse what we could do to reduce the levels naturally she said that as he isn’t severely overweight, doesn’t smoke and eats a relatively healthy diet there is really nothing we can do to get the level down as it’s so high. She said if people are severely overweight or have other problems there’s a much better chance of improvement. We came out feeling that there was no point in trying to change diet or do exercise if it wasn’t going to make any difference and he’s going to be stuck on the tablets for life anyway. Any advice would be much appreciated as we’re feeling pretty fed up at the moment.

My first thought was one which would get a red flag.
Calm now.
If your husband is a typical ordinary type two then it is all about the carbs.
Fewer carbs in the diet, more protein and fats and in a few months when retested all should be well again.
You can use a meter at home to check that glucose levels are falling.
Rather than potato or other starchy veges, swede, cauliflower and the like will make b big difference.
As the tablets can cause low glucose levels care is needed to keep things in balance with no hypos, but he should be provided with a meter to check he is OK to drive, which can be used to check progress to lower levels as well.

 

[Antje77]

Hi @Onlyahobo and husband, welcome to the forum. (is it Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart you like? Or is your username a different reference altogether?)

What we’ve found hard is that when we asked the diabetic nurse what we could do to reduce the levels naturally she said that as he isn’t severely overweight, doesn’t smoke and eats a relatively healthy diet there is really nothing we can do to get the level down as it’s so high. She said if people are severely overweight or have other problems there’s a much better chance of improvement. We came out feeling that there was no point in trying to change diet or do exercise if it wasn’t going to make any difference

If your husband has T2, diet can make a huge difference, no matter if he is or isn't overweight.
Let me tag @AndBreathe for you, who is rather petite, and who has just celebrated her 10 years anniversary, diet only. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/10-year-update.200176/#post-2652788

Here's a very informative piece on how diabetes and food works, written by one of our members, I think you'll like it: https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

With a blood glucose in the twenties, I can understand your husband has been put on medication right away, this is a very high level.
Was this a fasting test or had he eaten before testing?
Have you been given a meter to test at home?

Would your husband like to join the forum himself? It could be very helpful for him.

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome @Onlyahobo

Welcome to the forum. I'd like to respectfully suggest that the diabetic nurse is incorrect in saying there's nothing that you can do to reduce the levels naturally. I'm not saying that everyone is able to manage type 2 without medication although many here do (myself included) but there are things people can do to try to lower their levels through diet.

So the first thing I'm going to recommend that you do is invest in a meter. This is the tool that will allow your husband to measure his levels and allow him to work out what effect different food have on his levels. This allows choices that don't make his levels spike.

The second and very strong recommendation is to measure regularly while he is on any medication that reduces his levels.

My approach is very low carb. As your husband is on medication which reduces his levels care must be taken. The first thing is to measure his levels so he knows what they are. Then my suggestion is to measure the carbs he is eating and the effect they have on his levels. That will allow for a gradual reduction. of his carb levels while keeping an eye on his blood sugar levels.

Anyway- start by getting a meter if you don't already have one.

Good luck and welcome.

 

[Antje77]

So the first thing I'm going to recommend that you do is invest in a meter.

I think being on gliclazide means that he should get a meter and teststrips prescribed in the UK.

 

[JenniferM55]

My goodness, can't believe what the DN said to you. Scary stuff, and least said.

You'll get excellent advice here from people who are living with Type 2 and who have managed toput their diabetes in remission through tweaking what they eat, their lifestyle and other steps.

Good advice about getting a blood glucose meter, it's a way of discovering what food is affecting insulin spikes.

There are some very good apps that are free where your husband can log all he is drinking and eating each day. Try MyFitnessPal, CarbManager, FatSecret, Cronometer, are just a few of them. It's an eye opening experience how so called healthy foods are contributing to your husband's ill health.

You'll have many questions as this is a huge learning curve for both of you, so ask away, we've all been in your situation.

 

[Antje77]

Hi there Antje77: I didn’t think anyone would get the user name, I’m a mad Rod fan and that’s my favourite song of his although no one seems to have heard of it! The 23.5 wasn’t a fasting result, when he did the first fasting blood test at the hospital it was measured on the other level which was 114 (we haven’t really got the hang of the difference yet) We have got a test meter to use at home but wonder whether it’s worth getting one of those expensive ones that you wear all the time. He’s taken the tablets for the first time today. He did a test early this morning before he took them and it was 21.6. He took another one this afternoon (a long time after eating) and it was 8.1. Those tablets really work quickly don’t they? Sorry to write so much, it’s all so new to us. I’ve joined this forum on his behalf as he‘s not very technically minded. Thank you for those tags, I’ll have a good look at them.

Hi @Onlyahobo , I came in from the Bob Dylan side, mad enough to know and like the Rod Stewart version as well, and mad enough to get a little jolt when seeing the username.
It looks like you edited your opening post to add in the above. It works better if you use the reply bar on the bottom of your thread to reply to individuals, editing a post is often overlooked and it can get confusing.

Glad to hear the 23.5 wasn't fasting, and from the 8.1 it looks like something is happening.
The hba1c of 114 means his average blood glucose over the past 2-3 months must have been around 17.

Please keep writing and asking questions, don't apologise!
This is exactly what this forum is for.
Take your time reading around on the forum, no need to learn everything in a week!

 

[MissMuffett]

Hi and welcome @Onlyahobo and husband.
I agree with what’s been said here already and completely disagree with the district nurse. There is definitely lots of positive things you can do to help reduce BG. Diet change and exercise (and it doesn’t have to be strenuous) and testing BG before and after meals will help identify what is causing BG spikes.
Keep us updated with your husband‘s progress and ask all the questions you need to. This forum is so supportive and knowledgeable.

 

[becca59]

Hi @Onlyahobo big Rod Stewart fan here too. Take it you have been given a meter as you mentioned your husbands levels after eating. Main thing of course is to test before driving. A must! Also make sure he carries some hypo treatment with him everywhere.

 

[EllieM]

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KIND REPLIES. I’M TRYING TO REPLY TO SOME INDIVIDUALLY BUT WHEN I DO IT COMES UP AS UNABLE TO SEND DUE TO SPAM CONTENT, ANY IDEAS?

Can you try and add a post to the thread without replying to a particular individual's post? (Just hit the "post reply" button at the bottom of the page. ) If you put an ampersand in front of someone's name they will get an alert that you are talking to them

eg @Onlyahobo

The forum software can be picky about new members' posts, as I suspect you've already noticed, and it should be easier once you have some more posts.

 

[CatsFive]

How is your hubby's HbA1c? That gives a reflection of average levels over the past 10-12 weeks.

And I second him joining for himself, though maybe he doesn't feel he can at present. It took me a few weeks to join and many more weeks to do more than look from 'behind the sofa'. The diagnosis can be very disturbing - I was in a flat spin for several months.

 

[Paul_]

Welcome @Onlyahobo.

I was diagnosed in July this year. At the time, I was the polar opposite of your husband - very overweight, ate unhealthily by any definition, and had little exercise. The diagnosis wasn't a shock as such, but it was definitely a wake up call.

The reason I outline the above is that I was given the exact same advice as your husband. My questions regarding diet and lifestyle were dismissed, and I was told to just take medication. Why would two people such as your husband and me, who have such wildly different starting positions with a T2 diabetes diagnosis, be given the same advice? The short answer is that the nurse's advice is wrong, simple as that.

Type 2 diabetes can be caused by diet and lifestyle, but a significant part of it can also be down to genetics and/or family history. As such, although your husband's diet may have been healthy by traditional standards, for a diabetic (or someone prone to diabetes), it possibly won't have been healthy from a diabetic perspective. Lowering carbs and increasing exercise can definitely help with blood glucose control. Despite being very overweight, I reduced my blood glucose readings down from the 17-18 mmol range when I was diagnosed, to the 6-7 mmol range within 4 weeks of being on a low carb diet. However, with your husband's diabetes medication, I would strongly advise you tell the nurse you want to try a low carb diet approach, if that's what you decide. Some medications can cause blood glucose to drop too low if carb intake isn't sufficient enough. Tell the nurse you want to do this though, if that's the decision your husband comes to, don't ask for permission. It's his life, his health and his decision, not the nurse's. The nurse is there to support the approach with medical supervision and medicine dosage moderations, not to make decisions for your husband on these matters.

Don't be disheartened or demoralised by the nurse's attitude. I know it's hard not to be, I've been there, but with the help of people on this forum I can say for sure that there is absolutely a route forward for diet and lifestyle changes to have a significant benefit.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Onlyahobo I'm proof that the nurse was mistaken about slim Type 2 diabetics. I was Thin Outside Fat Inside (TOFI) and got my Blood Glucose numbers down to normal figures quite quickly. There are some thoughts that it isn't always good to reduce them too fast because the eyes are affected by BG levels and it takes some time for them to adjust to rapid changes (so expect you husband's vision to get a bit wonky for a while as his eyes adjust to lower BG levels).

I used Low Carbohydrate foods and Traditional Fats as in fish, meat eggs, full fat dairy, leafy green veg, nuts olives avocado and low carb veg - Google them. I was initially shocked at how bad the NHS advice on food for Type2 diabetics is. They kept telling me to eat lots of whole grains and fruit, when it was the 'healthy eating' low fat, whole grains, fruit thing that helped me go from pre-diabetic to fully diabetic in the first place!

It was the members here Jo Kalsbeek's blog entry (the link to which @Antje77 posted for you earlier in this thread) and the results of Dr David Unwin's T2 patients that got me started on my rapid road to remission. It takes much less time to get into remission than it does to become T2 diabetic in the first place.

My first and biggest shock was how my so-called healthy breakfast of whole oat porridge and banana was skyrocketing my BG. While a switch to boiled eggs meant it didn't budge except for sometimes downwards.

Be careful not to reduce carbs too fast while on strong medication that can cause hypos. For many of us we find a Low Carb way of eating (no calorie restriction) is even more powerful than medication (except perhaps for Insulin).

 

[retrogamer]

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KIND REPLIES. I’M TRYING TO REPLY TO SOME INDIVIDUALLY BUT WHEN I DO IT COMES UP AS UNABLE TO SEND DUE TO SPAM CONTENT, ANY IDEAS?

Don't click the reply button under people's posts. It's probably the forums security settings stopping you from quoting in replies.

You have found the most helpful place here, I've only been diagnosed for a few weeks, put straight onto Metformin and not much in the way of dietary advice from my GP. I don't even know what my results were from my blood test!!

Anyway, many helpful members on here have given me a lot of useful advice regarding reducing carbs to control my bg. Most of what you hear will go against what you have been told your whole life but it makes complete sense when you research it.

Don't be afraid to ask as many questions as you like, I've asked dozens and nobody has said I'm annoying them. (Not yet anyway!!!)

 

[mojo37]

Welcome @Onlyahobo.

I was diagnosed in July this year. At the time, I was the polar opposite of your husband - very overweight, ate unhealthily by any definition, and had little exercise. The diagnosis wasn't a shock as such, but it was definitely a wake up call.

The reason I outline the above is that I was given the exact same advice as your husband. My questions regarding diet and lifestyle were dismissed, and I was told to just take medication. Why would two people such as your husband and me, who have such wildly different starting positions with a T2 diabetes diagnosis, be given the same advice? The short answer is that the nurse's advice is wrong, simple as that.

Type 2 diabetes can be caused by diet and lifestyle, but a significant part of it can also be down to genetics and/or family history. As such, although your husband's diet may have been healthy by traditional standards, for a diabetic (or someone prone to diabetes), it possibly won't have been healthy from a diabetic perspective. Lowering carbs and increasing exercise can definitely help with blood glucose control. Despite being very overweight, I reduced my blood glucose readings down from the 17-18 mmol range when I was diagnosed, to the 6-7 mmol range within 4 weeks of being on a low carb diet. However, with your husband's diabetes medication, I would strongly advise you tell the nurse you want to try a low carb diet approach, if that's what you decide. Some medications can cause blood glucose to drop too low if carb intake isn't sufficient enough. Tell the nurse you want to do this though, if that's the decision your husband comes to, don't ask for permission. It's his life, his health and his decision, not the nurse's. The nurse is there to support the approach with medical supervision and medicine dosage moderations, not to make decisions for your husband on these matters.

Don't be disheartened or demoralised by the nurse's attitude. I know it's hard not to be, I've been there, but with the help of people on this forum I can say for sure that there is absolutely a route forward for diet and lifestyle changes to have a significant benefit.

I would like to give u a double " agree " icon thingy .

 

[Onlyahobo]

Hi all, thank you so much for your replies, they’re really appreciated.

My husband had his check with the DN today and she was really pleased with him. He’s been checking his blood 3 - 4 times a day and his average level has now come down to 11.4 (from 23.5!) She was happy with him following the low carb diet and gave him the usual advice about making sure he doesn’t get a hypo. She said she’d spoken to a Diabetes matron at the hospital as she was so concerned about his high level and is now getting him checked for LADA? I have looked at that and it seems it’s a level between Type 1 and Type 2 . Hoping it won’t be that so that he won’t have to go on insulin. Anyway he’s feeling a bit more positive now, onwards and upwards. Thanks to @Antje77 for those links which I found really interesting and to everyone else that commented.

 

[Antje77]

This sounds like triple good news!

Numbers are going down, DN sounds like a good one, being happy with the low carb diet, and getting him checked for LADA.

is now getting him checked for LADA? I have looked at that and it seems it’s a level between Type 1 and Type 2 .

LADA is T1, it just comes on slower than the kind of type 1 you see in children, and is therefore often misdiagnosed.
Having a DN looking into this possibility is a big win in my book.

Please keep us posted on his progress, it sounds like the both of you are doing a fab job!

 

[Onlyahobo]

This sounds like triple good news!

Numbers are going down, DN sounds like a good one, being happy with the low carb diet, and getting him checked for LADA.

LADA is T1, it just comes on slower than the kind of type 1 you see in children, and is therefore often misdiagnosed.
Having a DN looking into this possibility is a big win in my book.

Please keep us posted on his progress, it sounds like the both of you are doing a fab job!

Thank you so much (I’m now allowed to reply directly!)

 

[retrogamer]

Thank you so much (I’m now allowed to reply directly!)

Yeah I think it's just security settings on the forum to prevent spam from new accounts.

Glad to hear you are getting somewhere, after initial diagnosis it can seem quite daunting but don't enter panic mode. Just ask here about anything you are unsure about and somebody will advise you.