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It's been 6 months since my last confession

J

Jogon

Member
Messages
10
Oh wait, different forum, sorry!
59, a bit over weight (not too much) and recently diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes ( early March 22)

I can't quite remember the readings type but feel sure I was 6.2 of something (bloods at docs) and bordering on type 2 to a couple more tests two weeks apart and on to 6.5 and now class as diabetes type 2. I think thats right.?

I did initally stick my head in the sand but have been reading a bit and purchased a meter 'True Metrix Air'
with the strips and lancets etc, took the readings over the last few days (the app is not particularly user friendly) and so far I have conducted random tests at various times, before and after eating etc.

I have had it as low as 7.1 (if that is low, am assuming not) and as high as 8.6 which I'm assuming is high...

The meter is set to mmol/ L

So now, I've got myself into a bit of a lather as it seems Im even higher than I was originally diagnosed just 3 weeks ago.

I was prescribed Atorvastatin 20mg once a day and Metformin 500mg twice a day but am yet to take them as I take a raft of other medication such as Morphine Capsules, Pregablin, Candesartan and 4 other tablets which I care not to mention at the moment.

I haven't been able to see my usual gp due to some changes at the practice which has made it difficult to see him, this latest diabetes medication was dished out by a nurse who paid little notice to my other medication (this happened last year for a different drug and it totally messed me up and so until I see my GP i'm not taking these new diabetes tablets)

I'd like to think I can reverse my type b ( I guess most like to think that but in reality it's probably more difficult than it seems) but my diet is atrocious, as is the time I eat, I am not easily able to exercise and I suffer a couple of other ailments that make things a little more difficult to get along.

So, first up, I'm going to read as much as I can on the forum on meters, when best to take a test and once i'm
appraised I shall do the tests for a week and see if any difference can be made.

At the same time as this I intend to try a low carb diet (thats going to be hard but gradual rather than full
on is my way of thinking)

and thats where I'm at.....hello everyone *waves*
 
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Hi @Jogon and welcome to the forums.

First the good news, you are at the bottom end of the diabetic spectrum (6.5% is the level at which diabetes is diagnosed) and many people go into remission starting at much higher levels.

An hba1c of 6.5% (48mmol/mol in the measuremet scale more commonly used on these forums) corresponds to an average blood sugar of 7.8mmol/L

If you want to go med free then here's a link to my favourite intro to T2 diabetes and low carb
JoKalsbeek's blog | Diabetes Forum • The Global Diabetes Community

And it might be worth reading up on the side effects of all of your other medications to see if raised blood sugars are mentioned. eg Steroids are so notorious that people actually speak of steroid induced T2 diabetes.

If you're going the diet route, most people test just before a meal and 2 hours later. If their levels go up more than 2mmol/L then that meal probably had too many carbs for them.

Good luck and once again, welcome.
 
Hello and welcome,

The link posted by @EllieM is one of my favourite links particularly for new people. Please read it.

As Ellie said- there is hope. And to confirm diet is way more important than exercise.

Read around and post. This place is an awesome resource for everything diabetic and in my opinion provides better advice and suggestions tan most of the medical profession particularly for type 2s.

Good luck and welcome.
 
Ellie (have removed your post from quoted as for some reason it told me I was being spammy
(or words similar, how rude, ha!)

Thankyou for taking the time to reply and with such a concise and informative post...thankyou!

I will try the med free/low carb diet way first ...the diet will include lifestyle changes as I eat / graze and
at the wrong times, I have attempted to modify in the past but with limited success...

My only real success has been to drop sugar from almost all of any drink I
have, it's now either sweetners or none at all and only once a day will I have a drink with sugar in
not sure if any of that is any good but for me Sugar is what seems to be the evil *shrugs*.

I will need to appraise myself of the habalc mmol/l but my meter reads in mmol/l so i'm guessing
thats what most will run by....

I did test this morning, woke, dressed and just before my first meal/drink I tested and it gave 4.8mmol/l
and I tested again 2 hours later and it read 10.6 mmol/l . I'm guessing this isn't so good....
meal consisted of 1 rasher of bacon (no fat on it) one egg and two slices of white bread (uncut) and a small
amount of tomato sauce. 1 small cup of tea with 1 sweetener (I rarely eat Bacon and Egg, usually it's
shredded wheat or some other low sugar cereal ..but from 4.8 to 10.6 seems a little too high post a meal

Again, thankyou for your input.
 
VashtiB Thankyou for your reply, glad to note some do feel diet carries weight over exercise (not saying either should be
discounted of course but exercise when you have a physical disability isn't always easy......(not impossible) and thus by lack of exercise doesn't help keep the weight down.

I am lucky in that I can lose weight quite quickly if I set my mind to it, last time was 2 months ago and I lost just under 10% of my 17st 4 ...but I confess to feeling a little weak, ill a little and then I caught Covid so it all went a bit wrong and within 2 weeks i was back to 17st ....but I will try again when back up to full speed...

Fatigue, be that due to medication im on (non diabetese) age, diabetes or possibly long covid (if such a condition exists) is a barrier sometimes.
 
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Two slices of bread could possibly be over 40 grams of carbs add the tomato sauce and that's your reason for the rise of almost 6mmol. A better choice would be to have more bacon including the fat ( fat will not affect your blood sugar levels and will fill you up ) extra egg's and forget the bread.
I'm puzzled by low sugar cereal ? Cereals are extremely high carb and not really suitable for someone trying to control blood sugar levels without medication.
 


Hello, thanks for the reply.

Low sugar cereal is Shredded Wheat with no additives other than skimmed milk.....I think the salt is high in
Shreeded wheat but no sugar
 
Sorry Jogon but shredded wheat is %66 carbs you have to ignore the of which are sugars bit. All carbs when digested are converted to glucose except for the carbs that are fiber, they pass right through. In the UK they take out the fiber content from the nutritional info so it's the total carbohydrate figure you need to worry about..
Don't take my word for it, use your meter it's already shown you what a couple of slices of bread does to your levels.
 
Morale of the story, never ever believe a low sugar or no sugar label. Check the back of the packet for the carbohydrate value.
Better still don't buy anything in packet, just eat real food, meat, fish, eggs, dairy, nut, veg
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. With a bit of luck you will soon have your bloods back in normal levels. My advice to you is to put out of your mind everything you think you know about healthy eating. Everything.

If you are going low carb (and I would recommend it) what you eat has to change. Sugar is only one of the things that I avoid. The others include bread, pastry, pasta, rice, cereals, potatoes and other root vegetables, and most fruit. Wholemeal etc makes no difference, they're all high carb foods. For all practical purposes carbs are the enemy.

I do eat meat, fish, butter and cream, green "above ground" veg, nuts and (some) berries. I have found I can manage some legumes in moderation so they're in sometimes. There are some good very low-carb bread substitutes around. There's no calorie counting involved. I've largely stopped drinking beer (bit of a tragedy for me, although Marston's Resolution is only about 3g carbs per bottle) but drink wine and spirits (spirits are generally zero carb, but alcohol has peculiar effects on how your body deals with carbs and therefore what happens to your blood glucose - mine is lowered quite dramatically).

This link below will take you to my list of things that helped me in my first year post-diagnosis. It might be some help for you. Best of luck. This is an excellent forum!
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/kennya.517579/
 
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