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It can be done

Has your doctor suggested healthy lifestyle changes instead of meds to manage your T2?

  • Total voters
    17
U

Unbelievable

Member
Messages
9
Hello everyone

Firstly I am not a doctor.
I am an ordinary person who for many years ate all the wrong stuff.
Sugary snacks, breads, rolls, wraps, rice. Sugar after sugar, carb after carb. Takeaways week after week and bought lunch out every day at work.

I ended up 5 - 6 stone over weight and then my body stopped healing cuts and bruises. Coughs and colds
were taking much longer to clear up and I was going down hill.

Eventually I was being tested and it turned out my HBA1C was around 110% and my MMOL was 16 ish.
I was type 2 and referred to a specialist and immediately offered the usual meds.

I decided that it wasn't how I wanted to treat myself and radically reset my lifestyle.
I'd read about certain doctors who have a lot of success in this and that gave me hope.

I had to immediately stop all the sugars and carbs. No ifs or buts. Not next week. There and then.
I had to exercise more.
I had to be really determined and committed.
I read about Dr Michael Mosley's and Dr David Unwin's findings and approaches which really motivated me.

The first 6 to 8 weeks were not fun. I had a lot of symptoms coming down. Infact it was Hell but I kept on.
Day after day, one day at a time and slowly I started to come through it.

After 15 weeks, I had a second HB1AC test and I was in the 30% range and a couple of weeks after that my MMOL was around 5.5

I want to:
a) Offer some inspiration to others that despite it sometimes seeing very depressing, there is always hope.
b) Provide some awareness: I've spoken to a lot of doctors and most of them can't understand that not taking meds and changing lifestyle will achieve this kind of result. They just don't get it.
c) Make others aware there are alternatives but it takes a lot of will power, just believe in yourselves.
d) Change the mindset of the default option of if patient has x then go to meds. Give the patient a choice.

Hopefully someone else will read this and try it for themselves. Hopefully I can inspire at least one person to change to healthy eating and losing weight.

There is no magical cure or fix, just will power and belief but read, learn and understand. Don't hide away from what you have. Don't be ashamed but I can be worrying and above all don't be afraid to try things even if the medical community may disbelieve you. It is possible. I have done it.

Good luck to all my fellow diabetics and I hope one day there is a proper cure.
 
Hi @Unbelievable and welcome to the forum. Well done, although I would encourage others to take it a little slower than you so as to avoid most of the temporary (hell like) symptoms.

For anybody reading your post I'd like to correct any confusion by pointing out that there are 2 typos when talking about your HbA1C levels ( the Blood Glucose finger -prick test levels seem accurate enough):
I think you mean 110 (which is high) rather than 110% (which I think is is impossible) and then going down 30 rather than 30% (which would still be hugely high - about 3 times higher than I have ever heard of).
 
Sorry, for the typos but yes it was a HB reading , not a finger prick, of 110 that dropped in to the 30s (maths was never my best subject) but 42 or lower is the target. It was fast and I had set out to do that but the points that I am trying to make is that it is possible to do by the ordinary person. I am not a fitness fanatic. I was a couch potato eating the worst of the worst. I went through some tough moments accepting what I had and to me this was light at the end of the tunnel. If someone like me can do it then I can not be alone, and its this hope I want to convey to others that might be struggling.

The other point is there is still a lot of doubt by doctors that it is even possible. Even with the test results right in front of them, taken under hospital conditions and measured in a pathology lab, I feel that they look at me as if I am barking mad or a freak of nature. They just don't seem to figure that sometimes there are other options to just taking meds and putting you on the treatment production line.
 
I also owe a HUGGGGEEEEE gratitude for the nurse who initially diagnosed me and also the most amazing Diabetics Nurse who inspired me, treated me, let me try my way, was completely open and frank with me and got my dry sense of humour. Without either of them I would probably still be struggling on a dangerous path.
 
Not sure which way to vote!

Yes the doctor advised lifestyle changes, however the ones he suggested weren't the right ones! Wholemeal carbs with every meal and 'trying' to go up and down stairs a few times a day! I had already given up the 'big' carb items and switching back would have made my BGs higher.

The inference that I was too lazy to walk upstairs was an insult as whilst on holiday I was the one who rejected the lift to walk up the stairs, even when we were on the 10th floor.

So maybe I should tick the No box since his lifestyle suggestions would have been a backward step for me.
 
My Diabetic nurse (not seen a doctor) has suggested 'healthy' lifestyle changes, but involving large amounts of carbs, and going low fat. I do not consider her advice to be healthy, so dont know how to answer your poll. Do you mean healthy for type 2 diabetics?
 
There is no right answer to the poll.
I think what did it for me was getting used to the idea of low carbs. Once I found alternative foods, I got used to low carb. As an example I ate biscuits in the morning, crisps, chocolate, sandwiches at luchtime with a cake, fizzy drinks and evening meal with rice, pasta or potato. Daily and more chocolate later in the evening. I had really bad eating habits and I am not afraid to say thats what I did.
 

The best advice I can give to anyone is research for yourselves and look for what works for you. What ever progress you make, be proud of even if its small steps and keep looking at the positives.

By healthy lifestyle changes, I mean instead of jumping to prescribing meds, offered the choice of trying med free but working on weight loss, exercise and limiting carbs to the suggested 150g per day.

Another thing I do is I have my own plan that I call the 90:10 plan. 90% of the time I keep to a strict low carb and healthy Mediterranean style diet but the other 10% of the time I can come off plan for a meal, dine out or order a takeaway but with considered choice of food.
 
Have you read much of the forum? Do you have the impression that we all take meds?
 
 
You know, it would be helpful if you had a read around the forum, especially the low-carb section. And looked at the stuff under the post of the people on here. 150g a day is a lot more than many of us have. I would not be able to tolerate 150g of carbs a day, even after 10 years of med free diet only diabetic control. I have never taken diabetic meds.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but maybe have a look at what others on here are doing, and what suggested carb levels are working for us?
 
PS I forgot to ask - how long have you been diagnosed as diabetic? And are you aware that there are many causes of type 2 diabetes, some are slim, weight gain is a symptom of insulin resistance, and that its all about the carbs, not weight loss?
 
I am of the impression that the majority of doctors do a double take when you tell them that you don't take meds and can control your T2. I have found the general advice to someone newly diagnosed is take the meds. Of course this is not all doctors but certainly the ones I have met and that is quite a few, all follow the same route. I don't feel that all or even the majority of patients are made aware that they can try and manage with a drug free plan and I accept not everyone wants to try a drug free plan, but you have to give people the understanding and the choice.
 
Thank you. My a1c was 50 and from the my sugr app by logging my bloods it says an estimate a1c to b 5.7% - is this me grabbing at straws or do you think my 4 weeks of healthy eating has paid off? X
 
what country are you in? Some people, regardless of what they do with their diet, need the support of meds as well. I respect their decisions around that. Its not always a clear cut choice. We are all different.

There is a lot of information on here to help you broaden your understanding. I can see how happy you are that your plan works for you. Its really great. I couldnt have 10% off low carbing because then I get carb cravings, and also I would want to spike my blood sugar levels afterwards until my body re-adjusts.
 
I was never told anything about diet changes or losing weight. All I was told was at the age of 32 I would need to be on metformin for life and I wouldn't bring my blood sugars down without it as they were too high (76). I did take the metformin as I was terrified but in the end only took 1 tablet a day rather than the 4 they prescribed. A year later I rarely see high readings and my hb1ac is 31. It's such a shame that medical professionals don't talk to people about diet changes. I know other factors can impact on type 2 as well but diet can be powerful in helping control it.
 
zand this is exactly why I also ticked the No box!
 
That's an amazing drop and it's good of you to share this with us, to hopefully encourage people with lowering carbs. Also we really need to understand what we are doing, which was my big downfall from diagnosis in 2016. It's mostly the good friendly informative people on this great site that have helped and encouraged me with my understanding, and who also told me to read, read and read as much about my condition as possible. That's when my own lightbulb moment occurred and I got to grips with the way forward, and here I am just eight weeks later with an HbA1c of 37 (from a previous 68)
 
I think the confusion with your thread is that most of the people with T2 who are active on this forum already have adopted a low carb way of life.
So while we applaud your results, it's not something new to anyone around here.
You're preaching to the converted so to say

Keep up the good work!
 
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