I’m so fed up with my Diabetes

[DaisyDuke 2]

To be fair there’s still a lot of carb in your typical day. The porridge rice sandwich noodles crackers all stand out as quite high and probably doing you no favours at all. Do you have a meter? And test before and after meals, particularly theses foods so you can see what is happening as a result of them?

Have you seen the link in my signature to the nutritional thingy? You seem to be driving back to calorie based low fat ways of eating that don’t tend to work well for type 2. I’d have a (re)read of this and take a look at diet doctor.com. I think there’s a fair bit you can do without insulin that would lower levels and lose weight.

Totally agree, leave out the carbs.

diet doctor.com is the way to go. .. you don’t need to join they will tell you free what are the higher carbs
Basically everything below ground is out, with the exception of peas and sweetcorn, don’t eat them either.

Everything green is good, Cabbage, spinach will bring your sugars down..Good lunch x

 

[fiona35]

Hi, sorry to here this, sugars do go up and down, your body might like some foods more than others... don’t thin Turkey agreed with me! And whilst I walk 30 minutes every day it still wasn’t enough over the Xmas period...

On a normal day I usually do a mix of jogging and walking, but over the Xmas period I had just been walking, after hitting a high of 6.7 one morning I felt like I needed to run and so I did, not far, but hay ho, the next morning it was back to 5.7, not as low as usual but acceptable... So all I can say is, What exercise are you doing??

I take the dog for 30 min walks usually each day but over Xmas as I’ve had time off, the walks have been about an hour each day, I can no longer jog as I have arthritis in my knee so walks have to do.
Then I usually do two online aerobic classes each week lasting about 45 mins, and one yoga session a week. I can’t really fit much more in as work full time and care for an elderly Dad but next week it will be back to just 30 min walks each day.
Haven’t been swimming in ages as DSN didn’t want me anywhere near a swimming pool with the current pandemic so aerobic classes have replaced the swimming.
I guess it’s not enough exercise to bring the sugars down.

 

[DaisyDuke 2]

I take the dog for 30 min walks usually each day but over Xmas as I’ve had time off, the walks have been about an hour each day, I can no longer jog as I have arthritis in my knee so walks have to do.
Then I usually do two online aerobic classes each week lasting about 45 mins, and one yoga session a week. I can’t really fit much more in as work full time and care for an elderly Dad but next week it will be back to just 30 min walks each day.
Haven’t been swimming in ages as DSN didn’t want me anywhere near a swimming pool with the current pandemic so aerobic classes have replaced the swimming.
I guess it’s not enough exercise to bring the sugars down.

Well it’s not the exercise then.. All I can suggest is looking at and doing more research into your diet plan, cut the carbs totally to start with, drink lots of water and green veg. Once your sugars drop then add small amounts of carbs.

Most foods contain carbs so if you cut the obvious ones, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, noodles and cereals, for a period of time this should help.

 

[Dr Snoddy]

Hi Mrpaulgee. Thank you for sharing your general daily eating pattern. You seem to be falling into the trap that the NHS advocates and which medics are obliged to follow. Type 2 diagnosis, prescribe Metformin and low-fat carbohydrate based diet. When this doesn't work add in additional medications. When these also begin to fail recommend a move to insulin. This is the equivalent of putting an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff instead of a fence at the top and is clearly stated in the NICE guidelines for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes!
So the alternative is to cut the carbs and increase the healthy fats in the diet to prevent hunger. Using this approach I have been able to lose weight, give up medication and put my diabetes into remission. At the moment the porridge, bread, crackers etc are doing you no favours. What is a healthy diet for many people is not a healthy diet for someone who is carb intolerant or a person with Type 2 diabetes.

 

[Fenn]

Hi, may I jump on the “fed up’ness please hehe.

I havent read every reply sorry, I also have similar problems with still going way too high even when eating the correct things, low carb worked amazingly well for me for like 5-7 years, eventually though nothing worked, I seem to be extremely carb intolerant now.

Its very frustrating when you are trying hard and still “failing” I hope you find a working solution for your body and mind asap.

 

[fiona35]

Thought I’d give a quick update.
DSN has increased my insulin morning and night and I’m to have another phone appt with her shortly to discuss how things.
Sugars have now reduced to around 12 before meals and about are 14 after eating.
Latest HBA1C from Dec has come back as 66, DSN said she’d like it down to at least 50!

 

[mrpaulgee]

To be fair there’s still a lot of carb in your typical day. The porridge rice sandwich noodles crackers all stand out as quite high and probably doing you no favours at all. Do you have a meter? And test before and after meals, particularly theses foods so you can see what is happening as a result of them?

Have you seen the link in my signature to the nutritional thingy? You seem to be driving back to calorie based low fat ways of eating that don’t tend to work well for type 2. I’d have a (re)read of this and take a look at diet doctor.com. I think there’s a fair bit you can do without insulin that would lower levels and lose weight.

There is a reason for the carb focus in my case. My exercise is around 2 hours of fast walking (7-9 miles) per day, and I need the carbs to fuel this. Saying this I don't think my carb count is excessive. I believe it's the carb that sugars that is really crucial to a diabetic, so all of the carbs I consumer are low glycemic index carbs.

My diet is largely protein based with low GI carbs or no carbs. I was one of the first people to successfully lose weight on a low carb regime (not Atkins by the way). The way my body works is, however, as confusing as it is frustrating.

I stopped using a meter and rely on the HbA1c. I suppose I could start going through that malarky once again, but to be honest, found the whole metering thing took over my life and my doctor wasn't interested so I stopped testing.

Since my original post, I have started using non-dairy milk alternatives.

I think there is something else happening. Not even sure I am diabetic, as other things cause high blood sugars, and if my diabetic medication is not working then my plan is to come off it, as a waste of time

 

[HSSS]

There is a reason for the carb focus in my case. My exercise is around 2 hours of fast walking (7-9 miles) per day, and I need the carbs to fuel this. Saying this I don't think my carb count is excessive. I believe it's the carb that sugars that is really crucial to a diabetic, so all of the carbs I consumer are low glycemic index carbs.

My diet is largely protein based with low GI carbs or no carbs. I was one of the first people to successfully lose weight on a low carb regime (not Atkins by the way). The way my body works is, however, as confusing as it is frustrating.

I stopped using a meter and rely on the HbA1c. I suppose I could start going through that malarky once again, but to be honest, found the whole metering thing took over my life and my doctor wasn't interested so I stopped testing.

Since my original post, I have started using non-dairy milk alternatives.

I think there is something else happening. Not even sure I am diabetic, as other things cause high blood sugars, and if my diabetic medication is not working then my plan is to come off it, as a waste of time

I’m sorry but you are falling for the typical and generally unhelpful mantra of diabetes. A low carb diet means you become fat adapated and you burn the fat on your body (or that eaten) for energy and have no need to rely on carbs. Long distance endurance athletes manage so I’m sure you could once adapted, and lose more weight than on a low fat diet such as you are right now. Exercise is helpful for diabetics, diet even more so though.

It is all carbs that matter not just sugar. A common misconception often not corrected by drs. All carbs turn to glucose as you digest them, the only difference is how quickly. A long slow rise as in lower GI foods is still the same amount of time under the curve as a shorter higher one. They both do damage and will show up in the hb1ac.

Talking of which the hb1ac is a good tool for seeing overall levels of control but it doesn’t show highs and lows and can be quite deceptive. For a T2 (not their dr who probably either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care or both) a meter isn’t for dosage or avoiding hypo’s as most drs use them. It’s to check your personal response to the food you eat. You want a 2mmol rise or less after 2 hrs. It is the single most effective method to establish what your food choices do for you. Waiting months for an hb1ac means you haven’t a clue what meals did what. It’s driving without a speedo and waiting to see if you get a speeding ticket or not. And sadly with an hb1ac of 11 recently you got the ticket but have no idea when or where.

With several hb1ac over the diagnostics level why would you think you are not diabetic? Few things will keep causing this to this level. Why do you think your medication is not working if you are not testing? If your body has become accustomed to high levels it’s likely you won’t notice til yo7 reduce it and then realise how much better you feel. What do you think will happen if you drop the meds and keep the same lifestyle? It seems more likely more changes are required not less. Diabetic medication does not prevent being in ketosis. I’m not sure why you believe this. Perhaps going back to the low carb diet (with or without the meds) is something you need to consider if you already know from experience it works.

 

[mrpaulgee]

Hi Mrpaulgee. Thank you for sharing your general daily eating pattern. You seem to be falling into the trap that the NHS advocates and which medics are obliged to follow. Type 2 diagnosis, prescribe Metformin and low-fat carbohydrate based diet. When this doesn't work add in additional medications. When these also begin to fail recommend a move to insulin. This is the equivalent of putting an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff instead of a fence at the top and is clearly stated in the NICE guidelines for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes!
So the alternative is to cut the carbs and increase the healthy fats in the diet to prevent hunger. Using this approach I have been able to lose weight, give up medication and put my diabetes into remission. At the moment the porridge, bread, crackers egg are doing you no favours. What is a healthy diet for many people is not a healthy diet for someone who is carb intolerant or a person with Type 2 diabetes.

Thank you for your response. I haven't really taken advice directly from NHS but diabetic information available. I have had great success in the past on low carb eating plans (not diets specifically). I was one of the first to try out the Michel Montignac regime. After self-doubting for months, this began to work and weight absolutely flew off. Not only that I enjoyed what I ate. What soured it for me was when Atkins became popular, and I saw how people cherry picked and abused it. Montingnac never commercialised the way Atkins did.

When I tried to go back on Montignac years later, I wasn't successful. It was only more recently when I started losing weight for no apparent reason that I started to worry. It was a bit like finding unaccounted for money in your bank account. While it's a nice feeling, you're also feeling some unease. Its come from somewhere and there may be consequences. In the case of the weight loss it was diagnosed finally as diabetes. I have a strong history of it in my family and it seemed fairly inevitable I would end up suffering.

I would gladly return to low carb to be honest. The issue I have is that the diabetic medication seems to suppress ketosis, and this is how I lost weight in the past. So my dilemma is to find alternatives or to dump the diabetic medication, at least temporarily. I am also now questioning whether I am indeed diabetic. I should be experiencing a positive reaction to the medication, and a negative from not taking it. But it's like a placebo. Well, all except the complete inability to lose weight now.

I do have to agree with your observation about the NHS approach to diabetics. I'm very guarded over the advice I receive, particularly when it comes to nutrition. There is still this obsession with calorie theory, an outrageous over-simplification of nutrition, and negligence in treating each person as different. A great failing in my opinion. I cannot believe they even advocate Weight Watchers! Are you serious?! That has to be the biggest lie and scam on earth.

The reality is my bloods are all over the place. If I don't see results I stop believing. I'm absolutely not going to start on insulin and would rather try alternatives. I'm hoping to get another HbA1c in Feb. I did one a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't give the blood glucose results for some stupid reason (why the hell wouldn't you?). But I'm feeling a horrible tingly feeling all over and constant pain, just like completely out of control blood sugars causes. Getting more than a bit fed up with this myself

 

[mrpaulgee]

Diabetic medication does not prevent being in ketosis. I’m not sure why you believe this. Perhaps going back to the low carb diet (with or without the meds) is something you need to consider if you already know from experience it works.

Because I was testing for ketones and monitoring that at first. With the medication these were reduced to zero. The doctor explained that this is what the medication does. It's the one thing I have to agree with her on