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I'm confused - Newly diganosed T2 but...

Dazbobaby

Dazbobaby

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Movies, music and tinkering with code.
I've just been diagnosed as type 2 with an HBA1C of 48, so I'm right on the threshold. (4 weeks ago)
I've made adjustments to my diet, I've dropped sugar and carbs as much as humanly possible, though I love crisps (chips to our American cousins), and God I love chocolate.

That is a bit of an understatement. I've dropped all sugar from tea and coffee, and I only have 1 sweetner per cup, and I've not had any chocolate in weeks.
I've swapped all white bread for brown, or rather I won't buy any white bread in future, I only buy white when there's no brown bread I like available.

I have also stopped drinking beer (shares prices for Innis and Gunn dropped immediately).

I went to the doctors with symptoms of aches and pains, not sleeping and high blood pressure.
I've also quit smoking recently, about 2 months before going to the doctors. To be honest I expected a surge of energy after quitting smoking. It never came. In fact I actually started to feel worse.

This still continues.

So today I bought an at home testing kit. The GlucoseRx Nexus, and I was shocked at the result.
Despite having some (around 30) malteezers.. I know I know, and a lunch of sausage rolls and half a tin of Heinz beans (I know, full of sugar), but they still need eating.

My at home test result 30 minutes and later at 2 hours: 5.0

When I stopped smoking I couldn't stop eating for a couple of months. So would all the extra food push up my HBA1C test so it looks like I'm type 2... or am I type 2?

But my at home test was normal.

Any idea what's going on?

TIA
Daz
 
Good for you giving up the fags, I salute you.

The good news is that after you are happier with your diet and numbers you will be able to eat a couple of squares of chocolate as long as it is 85 per cent or higher.

Any carbs are going to raise your sugar levels. Have you looked at the LCHF properly? It's a steep learning curve but it is totally worth it.
 
To be honest I'm not overly bothered about carbs, just the crisps :(
I can quit carbs, I'm not a fan of chips, mash baked or new potatoes, pasta, rice etc.

Quitting smoking ... that's a different kettle of fish... that was hard, but worth it.
 
Sorry I also forgot to mention Vitamin D deficiency. It should be between 60-70 mine's at 15. So that could explain the very low energy.
 
That is a good start. I managed to get mine down very quickly when diagnosed, and I can eat more carbs than many others and still get good results - but I would not have eaten sausage rolls!
I soon found that a couple of days of extra carbs and my blood sugar was creeping back up. Catching insulin resistance quickly and going low carb got me into remission but so far evidence suggests that returning to my previous 'normal' diet would trigger high blood sugar again within weeks.

BTW, brown bread has the same carbs as white.
I only ever have a low carb bread and even so restrict myself to 1.5 small slices in a day, and not every day. But '90 sec' bread works well for sandwiches and homemade burgers and is almost carb free.
And I've made pastry with ground almonds instead of flour.
 
Dazbobaby said:
I've just been diagnosed as type 2 with an HBA1C of 48, so I'm right on the threshold. (4 weeks ago)
I've made adjustments to my diet, I've dropped sugar and carbs as much as humanly possible, though I love crisps (chips to our American cousins), and God I love chocolate.

That is a bit of an understatement. I've dropped all sugar from tea and coffee, and I only have 1 sweetner per cup, and I've not had any chocolate in weeks.
I've swapped all white bread for brown, or rather I won't buy any white bread in future, I only buy white when there's no brown bread I like available.

I have also stopped drinking beer (shares prices for Innis and Gunn dropped immediately).

I went to the doctors with symptoms of aches and pains, not sleeping and high blood pressure.
I've also quit smoking recently, about 2 months before going to the doctors. To be honest I expected a surge of energy after quitting smoking. It never came. In fact I actually started to feel worse.

This still continues.

So today I bought an at home testing kit. The GlucoseRx Nexus, and I was shocked at the result.
Despite having some (around 30) malteezers.. I know I know, and a lunch of sausage rolls and half a tin of Heinz beans (I know, full of sugar), but they still need eating.

My at home test result 30 minutes and later at 2 hours: 5.0

When I stopped smoking I couldn't stop eating for a couple of months. So would all the extra food push up my HBA1C test so it looks like I'm type 2... or am I type 2?

But my at home test was normal.

Any idea what's going on?

TIA
Daz
Click to expand...

Hello and welcome to the forum. Well done for testing your blood glucose. You might be one of the lucky ones and have done enough to put it in to remission.

If i were you I'd keep a food diary and record your BG tests at just before eating and two hours after - experiment with all your normal foods at your normal portion sizes and it'll give you some idea about whats going in inside you.

Did you feel stressed when you gave up smoking? Stress can raise BGs. It might have been the combination of stress and over eating that pushed your BGs up temporarily but you will only find out by testing.
 
Welcome. You sound like you've made a fantastic start to this journey. Daisy1 will post all of the HbA1c details but it looks like you're just in the beginning of the diabetic range with your HbA1c of 48 (prediabetes: HbA1c: 42 to 47 mmol/mol (6.0 to 6.4%) diabetes: HbA1c: 48 mmol/mol and over (6.5 % and over) which may explain your random normal blood sugar test of 5. Daisy1 will give you an idea of when to test your blood sugars, such as on waking and what ranges you would like to be in.
 
TriciaWs said:
That is a good start. I managed to get mine down very quickly when diagnosed, and I can eat more carbs than many others and still get good results - but I would not have eaten sausage rolls!
I soon found that a couple of days of extra carbs and my blood sugar was creeping back up. Catching insulin resistance quickly and going low carb got me into remission but so far evidence suggests that returning to my previous 'normal' diet would trigger high blood sugar again within weeks.
Click to expand...

That could explain my average BG test earlier, all the good work in the past few weeks seems to have paid off.

TriciaWs said:
BTW, brown bread has the same carbs as white.
I only ever have a low carb bread and even so restrict myself to 1.5 small slices in a day, and not every day. But '90 sec' bread works well for sandwiches and homemade burgers and is almost carb free.
And I've made pastry with ground almonds instead of flour.
Click to expand...
I had NO idea that brown bread is as bad as white, the nurse told me to avoid white and switch to brown, but not that.
 
Dazbobaby said:
I had NO idea that brown bread is as bad as white, the nurse told me to avoid white and switch to brown, but not that.
Click to expand...

ALL carbs turn to sugar, not just white ones. There are similar amounts of carbs in wholemeal varieties as there are in white. It is the flour that does it. Your nurse was following the out of date dietary guidelines that the NHS still clings to, probably because she is worried about lack of fibre. You can get enough fibre from other sources.
 
To be honest, giving up bread will be harder than quitting smoking.
I love bread more than chocolate, and I practically live off sandwiches.

bread.jpg
So if this loaf is 37.8% carbohydrates, which 4.1g is sugar... is this high?
What should my carb/sugar intake be per day, what should I be aiming for?
 
It is too high for me. Anything above 10% carb is high. Many prefer to keep it under 5%.
One slice is 15.1g. A sandwich would make it 30.2g and that is more than some eat in a whole day.
The one I eat is Burgen, but that is also high so I keep it to a very maximum of one slice a day, usually half a slice.

How many carbs you eat in a day is entirely your choice. The fewer you eat, the better you will be. Your meter should guide you with this. If you test before you eat and again an hour and 2 hours after first bite, if you rise more than 2mmol/l there are definitely too many carbs on that plate. It is preferable to be a lot less than 2mmol/l. You may find you are OK with this bread. You may not. It will also depend what you put on the bread. Plenty of butter will help, and a zero carb filling.
 
@Dazbobaby I was diagnosed with an hba1c of 48 as well although it rose quite quickly to 54 due to statins and I seem to be able to tolerate more carbs than many on the forum. I have Tesco High Protein Bread which is 10g carbs per slice and tend to find one slice, loaded with filling or toasted with eggs, is sufficient. Try testing and see what effect it has on your BS reading.
 
I've just got the bread out of the freezer, and I haven't had this bread in a few days.
So tomorrow I'll do some testing.

The impression I get is that some people can tolerate carbs and some can't.
It's a shame too, I was going to make myself a chicken and bacon caesar salad wrap.

Now it'll have to be scrambled egg on toast.

OT. but cleaning a pan that you've used to make scrambled egg is a proper pain. I suppose it helps work off that sugar I've just eaten.
 
Are you up for a little DIY?

Make sure you have in some baking parchment paper. Not greaseproof, parchment.

Set your oven to it's lowest setting.

Get some ready sliced cheese such as Gouda.

Cut the squares of cheese into thin strips. Then cuts the strips into triangles. This is the time consuming bit. Put the triangles onto the parchment paper on a baking tray.
Try to make sure the bits aren't touching.

Put into the oven for an hour. Then check.

Take one out and let cool, taste. They should be crispy. If not, put back in the oven but check every couple of minutes.

I always have an airtight container standing by for storage. Never had to use it yet.

Google keto snacks to find all sorts of yummy stuff.
 
Dazbobaby said:
That could explain my average BG test earlier, all the good work in the past few weeks seems to have paid off.


I had NO idea that brown bread is as bad as white, the nurse told me to avoid white and switch to brown, but not that.
Click to expand...
Dazbobaby said:
That could explain my average BG test earlier, all the good work in the past few weeks seems to have paid off.


I had NO idea that brown bread is as bad as white, the nurse told me to avoid white and switch to brown, but not that.
Click to expand...
@TriciaWs . I was also given that advice.
I guess brown is just the better of to evils .
 
Dazbobaby said:
I've just got the bread out of the freezer, and I haven't had this bread in a few days.
So tomorrow I'll do some testing.

The impression I get is that some people can tolerate carbs and some can't.
It's a shame too, I was going to make myself a chicken and bacon caesar salad wrap.

Now it'll have to be scrambled egg on toast.

OT. but cleaning a pan that you've used to make scrambled egg is a proper pain. I suppose it helps work off that sugar I've just eaten.
Click to expand...
Got a microwave?
 
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