I'm lost with this t 2

[Vonrikety]

Hi I'm new to the forum. I was diagnosed in 2019 three years from loosing my mam to complications with type two. I'd watched my mam go down over a period of around six years she didn't help herself as well as she could of, but part of her problem was the mix up with drugs she was prescribed which caused damage to her kidneys she spent five years on dialisis and lost a finger and toe to the disease. She also suffered bad pain in her hands due to nerve damage. So you can imagine my reaction when I was diagnosed back in 2019, to say I was motivated to do all I could to reverse it was an understatement. I heard about the 800 calorie trials and applied to be part of it but I never got on it, so I put myself on it hard going for a class one hgv driver that spends a lot of the day throwing chains around securing heavy plant and regular 12 to 15 hour days. but I stuck to it, and dropped from 19 and a half stone to 17 stone very quickly. They had me on metformin during this time but this soon stopped working for me and despite watching my intake carb counting my blood sugars were rising. I kind of lost heart stopped taking the metformin and in the mean time covid kicked off I've not had regular checks until recently, the old surgery I was with lost their diabetic nurse and wouldn't see me and the only advice I was given from the nhs was to double and then treble the metformin. again hasn't worked my blood sugars were regularly up in the 18 to 20 range and I was getting more stressed with the job lack of sleep long hours and just felt I was getting worse so I quit took a leap of faith and started my own company repairing cars and farm machinery. I met a customer who swore by herbal and Eastern medicines so I tried these my blood sugars were dropping I got them down to 7 on average the nhs then tells me I can't have testing strips anymore..After explaining what I'd been doing and the results I'd had, the changes in my life style even changing jobs to be more active they agreed to give me one more prescription,but recently despite the Mediterranean diet i feel stressed and suffering from brain fog hard to concentrate and generally feeling like this is it for me. nothing I can do is going to change the ultimate outcome and I'm going to wind up the same way as my mam. Its not self pity I don't do that and I'm trying all I can so my kids don't have to watch what I saw. the first time I saw her on dialisis knocked me flat and that takes some doing I'm not a soft person. I've been through some rough times and normally I choose fight over flight but this thing feels like its literally killing me. I just don't know what else to try I don't want to go down the route of metformin then gilipizide insulin and dialisis it seems like the nhs is just working from a script sheet and they want to just put me on the conveyer belt but like I said fight over flight there's got to be another way I have managed to loose and keep off another stone I'm trying but honestly the biggest problem right now is the brain fog low motivation and low mood. If any one has some advice on nutrition vitamins etc that can help this I'm open to anything except the nhs conveyer belt. I'm slowly running out of ideas. Thanks..

 

[EllieM]

Welcome to the forums @Vonrikety . I'm not T2 but as I'm in New Zealand I am online at this time of the UK night so I just wanted to reassure you that you are not alone and death, dialysis and complications are by no means an iinevitable result of T2. A lot of the T2s on here keep their blood sugars down and their T2 in remission by restricting the carbs in their diets (many coming off or reducing medication they were previously taking) but I agree it is much easier to do this if you have access to testing strips and the NHS is very mean about supplying them to T2s (a cynical person might say that they just want to save money in the short term). Do your finances allow you to self fund? We can advise on here on the cheapest testing strips available.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll get some advice from some friendly T2s soon. In the mean time, brain fog sounds really demoralising. Have you spoken to your doctor about this? I appreciate you don't want to get on the medication conveyor belt but sometimes issues can be caused by simple things like vitamin deficiencies and your doctor might be able to help.

And finally, congratulations. It's no mean achievement to lose all that weight and get your blood sugars down as you have so you should be proud of what you've done so far.

Lots of virtual hugs.

 

[Resurgam]

I am wondering if you are not a plain ordinary unexciting type two at all, but something more interesting.
All I need to do is keep my intake of carbs low and that is it, no need for tablets - There are genetic types of Diabetes which require more medication, not Metformin - I really think that you ought to go back to your GP and ask about having tests for different forms of Diabetes and point out your high glucose levels and other symptoms - you might even mention your mother. I can keep my levels under 7mmol/l most of the time, and even though we are all different, if you are restricting carbs I really think you should not be seeing those numbers.

 

[Andydragon]

Hi I'm new to the forum. I was diagnosed in 2019 three years from loosing my mam to complications with type two. I'd watched my mam go down over a period of around six years she didn't help herself as well as she could of, but part of her problem was the mix up with drugs she was prescribed which caused damage to her kidneys she spent five years on dialisis and lost a finger and toe to the disease. She also suffered bad pain in her hands due to nerve damage. So you can imagine my reaction when I was diagnosed back in 2019, to say I was motivated to do all I could to reverse it was an understatement. I heard about the 800 calorie trials and applied to be part of it but I never got on it, so I put myself on it hard going for a class one hgv driver that spends a lot of the day throwing chains around securing heavy plant and regular 12 to 15 hour days. but I stuck to it, and dropped from 19 and a half stone to 17 stone very quickly. They had me on metformin during this time but this soon stopped working for me and despite watching my intake carb counting my blood sugars were rising. I kind of lost heart stopped taking the metformin and in the mean time covid kicked off I've not had regular checks until recently, the old surgery I was with lost their diabetic nurse and wouldn't see me and the only advice I was given from the nhs was to double and then treble the metformin. again hasn't worked my blood sugars were regularly up in the 18 to 20 range and I was getting more stressed with the job lack of sleep long hours and just felt I was getting worse so I quit took a leap of faith and started my own company repairing cars and farm machinery. I met a customer who swore by herbal and Eastern medicines so I tried these my blood sugars were dropping I got them down to 7 on average the nhs then tells me I can't have testing strips anymore..After explaining what I'd been doing and the results I'd had, the changes in my life style even changing jobs to be more active they agreed to give me one more prescription,but recently despite the Mediterranean diet i feel stressed and suffering from brain fog hard to concentrate and generally feeling like this is it for me. nothing I can do is going to change the ultimate outcome and I'm going to wind up the same way as my mam. Its not self pity I don't do that and I'm trying all I can so my kids don't have to watch what I saw. the first time I saw her on dialisis knocked me flat and that takes some doing I'm not a soft person. I've been through some rough times and normally I choose fight over flight but this thing feels like its literally killing me. I just don't know what else to try I don't want to go down the route of metformin then gilipizide insulin and dialisis it seems like the nhs is just working from a script sheet and they want to just put me on the conveyer belt but like I said fight over flight there's got to be another way I have managed to loose and keep off another stone I'm trying but honestly the biggest problem right now is the brain fog low motivation and low mood. If any one has some advice on nutrition vitamins etc that can help this I'm open to anything except the nhs conveyer belt. I'm slowly running out of ideas. Thanks..

Hi there,

the NHS has a pathway they have to follow, so it can feel like a conveyor belt unfortunately. As you indicate, metformin is often first and if there is progression there can be other drugs leading to insulin. But that’s not a certainty

many have found lower carb approaches or other diets have made a difference. It sounds very much like you have taken this approach but your levels are not improving? This can happen, it isn’t always the cure all. We are all different and sometimes there are other reasons it won’t work, which I will mention later

One thing is, stress makes a difference too and you’ve been through the wringer. So, let’s try and help get a rounded picture for you… What sort of food do you have on a daily basis? You said a medeterranian diet? So what is in that? (Sorry, not an expert)

I know you aren’t being prescribed strips but are you testing yourself still? What levels are you seeing if so?

thing is, uncontrolled diabetes will lead to complications. I saw it in my dad. So I do understand a bit. Drugs can help at times and sometimes we need more than metformin. You indicate a pushback against more, what is your fear here?

I mentioned above where things are being done right but no improvement. As others have mentioned, there are types other than T2 and if you are doing everything “right” and it’s still not working then getting that checked for that’s is important. Do you know if your doctors tested for anything else? If you are younger and not higher on the bmi they sometimes do other checks but with family history and the fact you mention your weight it was likely just an assumption on their part

moving onto insulin is managed very successfully by many on the forums, it’s a scary thought and hopefully not necessary.l but it is maneagable and gives people a new lease on life. So, try not to let that overly dwell on your mind

Personally I’d be wary of herbal or non medically advised approaches. Drugs of other kinds can have other issues.

 

[sunspots]

It might be worth knowing that the NHS has new medications to add to metformin now that also aid weight loss rather than risking hypos and weight gain like with the old types. So it is a different ball park than it was in your mother's day and more hopeful.

I don't know how your GP surgery works, but if there is a way to inform them of your high BG levels and troubles your mother had, eg by leaving a message for the doctors by telephone, it might be worth trying.

I do hope you find some of the support and ideas on here helpful. It sounds like you have been in a lonely dark place, fighting as you do, for too long. I think you have done fantastically well in your decisions and efforts. Please let us know what you try next and the outcome. We can keep supporting you as much as you need, this is that kind of website

 

[Deleted member 475901]

You have tried several ways to reduce your blood sugars but I am wondering how you reduced carbs and by how much?
What do you eat on a typical day?
And yes if you went very low carb and that didn't help then more testing for other types of diabetes - GPs tend to assume any adult is T2 but we aren't all.

I found I only needed to get down to 95g carbs a day, but no more than 30g in a single meal - I know others here had to cut carbs much more than me.

 

[finzi1966]

Yes, two thoughts come to mind from reading your post 1) you mention very low calorie diets, but what you haven’t mentioned is low carb diet. You can be restricting to 800 calories a day and still be having more carbs than a T2 should. Eat low carb and you may well find you can eat 2000 calories a day and still have the weight fall off you. (You just need to get your calories from protein and fat instead of carbs. No bread, flour, pasta, potatoes, oats, breakfast cereal, rice. Plenty of meat, fish, eggs, butter, olive oil, green vegetables).

Secondly don’t be scared of medication if you need it. High blood sugar causes complications like your mam suffered (amputations etc) - if you can lower your sugar by a combo of low carb eating and medication, there’s no reason at all why you should suffer any complications.

And as others have said, if you *can’t* lower your sugars when eating, say, a maximum of 50g carbs per day (you could go lower, but I wouldn’t go higher until I was certain that my pancreas could cope with it) then time to get checked out for alternative types of diabetes. But because we don’t know from what you’ve said whether you’re eating low carb (that 800 calories could all be coming from wholemeal bread and brown rice, for all we know), it’s too soon to jump to that conclusion.

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and another welcome,

I am sorry that you are worried and stressed. It must have been so tough seeing your mother suffer so much and be worried about your kids.

People have already asked for a bit more information so I will just leave it with a welcome and a note of reassurance that while we are all different here on the forum we all want to help. There are many here with different approaches so don't lose heart.

Take care and post a bit more about your diet and see what suggestions people come up with.

Good luck.

 

[Danmiluk]

Hi
try not to worry about it to much as it will send you crazy.
With me it all went wrong as I couldn't control my blood sugar with metformin and glipizide(low carb diet, cut out nearly all sugar) and still ended up on insulin best thing for me, bearing in mind everyone is different, sugars dropped like a stone and now I can keep them within levels.

The drop in sugars all of a sudden was horrendous for about 3 months as you said brain fog, exhaustion and very low mood, I just couldn't shake it off which was not like me at all.

I did a lot of reading on medical studies and all the same thing kept coming up. Which was folic acid, vit b12 and vit d.

Got my gp to test for all of these and thyroid albeit reluctant to do these tests got them done.

Turned out thyroid fine, basically no folic acid, very little b12 & D.

I take 1 each of these a day and after about a week was back to how I felt when my blood sugars were really high.

I assume that having high blood sugars was masking they lack of these.

Good luck in finding a solution and I hope you feel better soon.
All the best
Dan