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Little shell shocked..

N

NorthernPhoenix

Member
After switching GP surgeries I am a little shell shocked.

I had a blood test in March 2022 (with my old surgery) and was told everything was fine. Lots of issues later, couldn't get appointments, have other issues going on (not diabetic related) which require injections every 4 weeks, they cancelled appointments, couldn't offer advance appointments and then they deregistered me due to "human error". So I found a new surgery and they offered me a health check/work up, so I thought why not?!

So fast forward and they confirmed I have type 2 diabetes and should have been on medication from March 2022 - my HbA1c reading in March 2022 was 107, had a blood test yesterday and HbA1c is now 118? I was urged to get to the Drs urgently this morning so they could give me some advice and medication. They've said my levels of 118 are quite worrying and had to have ketones checked which was 0.3mg? My blood sugar was 19.7? I've been referred for weight loss (was already dieting for past 12 months), diabetic eye clinic and waiting on diabetic referral. They have given me metformin? Which I'll be picking up shortly. The nurse and Dr were lovely and really tried to help me understand but even they said its a lot to take in but I did need to get my levels under control. They were actually really shocked nothing had been done at my last GP.

How in the hell do I navigate what to eat, what not to eat, I've read leaflets, articles, forums and now my head is buzzing and totally lost!

Am I right in thinking keto diet is what I should be following? Am I getting ahead of myself? Should I wait for the referral?

Thanks,
A confuzzled newbie!
 
Hi and welcome

You’ve definitely landed in the right place. The initial diagnosis can be a bit worrying and the circumstances surrounding yours must make it worse.

Your HbA1c is high, but there are quite a few on here who started at similar or higher numbers and have got themselves into remission by changing what they eat - my own HbA1c at diagnosis was 108 and has been at non-diabetic levels for over 5 years now.

As you suggest, reducing carbs is the key and a ketogenic way of eating would be a very good starting place. For more information on that, take a look at diet doctor: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto

There are some subscription options on their site, but you can get what you need for free.

The other thing to say is that metformin won‘t do much for your blood sugars on its own - the dietary changes are necessary. Metformin works by stopping the liver from chucking out glucose, and helps a bit with insulin resistance but doesn’t directly reduce blood sugars.

Good luck and stick around!
 
That deregistration might be considered divine intervention - and also arriving here.
Me - being me - I just dropped down to 50 gm of carbs a day and it all come right, but I was born lucky.
With your rather high Hba1c the safest thing to do is evaluate your carb intake, on average and then either by reducing the amounts or eliminating some high carb food cutting back gradually so you gently sink down to more normal numbers.
If you get a glucose testing meter you can, after a little while start to check just how much meals affect you.
I discovered that I digest peas and beans more thoroughly than normal - there are a few others who have mentioned the same thing. I need to count legumes at around 180 percent of the listed carb content.
By eating low carb I can remain just at the top of normal numbers, after what must have been a lot time with high numbers that is good enough for me. I tried to push down my Hba1c by lowering my intake of carbs from a maximum of 50 gm to 40 gm per day, and that had exactly zero effect on my Hba1c - so there is more going on than a strict relationship between intake and results, but I still stick to the 40gm limit. I can eat very well so it is no problem.
 
If not as low as keto then low carb. With a meter, you can check how many carbs you can safely eat and which foods affect you the most.
I was lucky in that my T2 was picked up quickly, and I found I could eat up to 85g of carbs a day. But some people need to go a lot lower.
We are all different, for example I have fresh raspberries with greek yogurt most days but I found the same amount of carbs in strawberries pushed my blood sugar up more! Testing for yourself is the only way to know.
 
Hello and welcome @NorthernPhoenix

Well I'm going to chime in to say I agree with previous posters

I really recommend that you get a meter- that will be key in working out how many carbs your body can tolerate.

I have gone keto- very low carb as I crave carbs less when I eat less- that works for me on an emotional level as well as a physical level.

Good luck and welcome.
 
https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html might help some, it's a little quick-start guide I wrote eons ago. It's hopefully a little less overwhelming than half the internet's advice, which can get a bit much. I'm with @Resurgam , that was indeed divine intervention at its finest! Yes, you're starting from high numbers, but there is NOTHING stopping you from getting them back down to normal. You're barking up exactly the right tree when you mention a low carb diet like Keto, so yay, you. And yeah, don't count on metformin to solve the woes, it doesn't do much of anything about what you ingest. It's a nice little help if you can tolerate it (I couldn't, but that goes for a lot of medications, alas), but don't for a moment think it'll carry the burden on its own.

You're off to a good start, believe it or not.... You're facing this head on, gathering information on how to combat this thing... That's half the battle right there. Get yourself a meter if you haven't yet (they're not usually funded for T2's), and get on top of this.
Hugs,
Jo
 
Hello @NorthernPhoenix

My diagnosis experience was similar to what you describe so I'll share my experience it in case it could be helpful.

I also was called into my doctors surgery and checked for ketones further to having a very high HBA1C - a bit higher than yours. I was also referred for diabetic eye clinic, a link to an online resource for information, and to a consultant (but the telephone conversation with the consultant would not be for two weeks). I too was commenced on metformin with a plan to ramp up the dosage each week.

Like you I was shell shocked. I did not sign up for this forum at the time - I was scared, I know that's irrational - but I did search on it and a couple of other places. It was overwhelming so I just took a very simple approach to begin with:

1. Cut out all sugars - cakes, biscuits, sweets (that's what it mean to me at the time)
2. Cut out all carbs - to me that mean bread, rice, pasta, potatoes (I would later realise that sugars are in fact a type of carb - I didn't know much about nutrition)
3. Bought a blood glucose meter further to reading on this forum (quite possibly it was posts from the very same posters who have replied above!)

My BG readings dropped daily from high 20s, to low 20s, to teens, and were in single figures by the time I had the telephone conversation with the consultant. Although consultant mentioned going onto insulin, they were ok with my desire not to do that because my BG readings had fallen. To cut a long story short, the BG readings continued to fall in the next few months and then I ceased metformin as they fell into the normal range.

In my case I did not wait to speak to the consultant before I took a those first actions because I could understand them, i.e. if my intake of sugar was reduced then so would my blood sugar levels My despondency lessened as I saw my numbers improve. Over time I got more sophisticated as I was able to better digest all the information available, but in the beginning two weeks it wasn't a sophisticated approach.
 
Thanks for your reply.

I've been going through a whirlwind of emotions these past few days and I very much appreciate the replies I have on this post.

I've planned meals for keto diet this week. I had been following a diet plan for slimming world and aside from a few treats of pink wafers or a fun size chocolate once a week I had already cut out the sugary snacks. I think the carbs is my issue, pasta, bread, rice, lentils.

I guess I'll have to research the meters, daft question - does it matter what I go for? I.e brand?

I'm slowly coming round although I think I'll have a few moments where I feel a little lost and despair.

Thanks again!
 
There aren't any daft questions ...when it is out of the blue there is no reason you'd know about meters.

The third post down in the following thread has info on meters and links to suppliers:

Paying for test strips unfair if you've been told to self monitor.​

This is an absolute DISGRACE, I have just been told that I will not be able to get my test strips on prescription when I have been told to monitor my blood glucose levels. I am planning of putting a complaint into the General Medical Council, Care Quality Commission, Royal Collage of Nursing...
www.diabetes.co.uk

To give you an idea of cost a couple of weeks ago I bought the Gluco Navii mentioned in that thread, using the discount code specified in the thread, and for £37 got meter + 10 strips plus 250 strips.
 
One of the cheapest to run glucose monitor is same Gluco Navii from Home Health UK have a look at their Website the strips are one of the cheapest around .You find out about how you deal with your blood glucose by testing just before a meal and 2 hours after .
Carol
 
Hi, at least you’re now on the path to improving. I’m in wales so don’t know how it would apply to yourself but managed to talk my surgery into meter(reps give them to the surgery apparently) and into prescribing testing strips as I reasoned that medicating me was more expensive. So far they’ve agreed so might be worth a try. Sadly looking at posts over last 6 months, successfully getting strips is very variable no consistency over nhs
 
I know that feeling, suddenly finding out about your condition. Many here do. The good news is this is the right place to get support and good advice. You are now one of this big family, ask anything you want to know. Read other peoples stories, you will see what helps. One essential thing is to get a meter. Test after meals to find out what foods spike your blood glucose, and adjust what you eat. Getting rid of carbs is usually the way to go. Eating only good foods that you like but which do not spike your blood glucose makes that less difficult. Use the shock you had, and turn it into determination to do something positive and you are well on the way to beating this. It sounds hard now, and it is not easy, but it can be done. Read how others, including me, have put their levels back in the normal range. It might seem odd that you can get bad advice from doctors, and great advice from strangers, but the evidence is all here. Read on, start your journey to improvement, and good luck!
 
Northern Phoenix: Buy a book called "Diabetes Solution" by Dr Richard Bernstein, it has everything you will need to know and do and includes what to eat and what not to eat, exercise, hypos, hypers, complications, calculations and a bunch of stuff your doctor doesn't know or hasn't told you.

Best of luck.
 
II don't know how old you are but I would double check that you haven't got Type 1 , my wife was misdiagnosed as type 2 because she was in her late 70's but after about 6 months correctly diagnosed with Type 1.
 
Hi

Beginning of July 2021 I was carted off in ambulance. My HBa1C 134!‍ Absolutely no indication, husband thought I’d had a TIA, nope, T2D What an absolute shock
Over week in hospital, MRI, CT.
I went seriously low carb and got down to 43 in months. Weight was already dropping off in hospital, ‘food’ was dire and not geared for human consumption.
It is an absolute shock, still trying to deal with it. HBa1C gone up to 51 but I’m a little more relaxed.
There’s cookery books by Katie & Giancarlo caldesi, he’s a chef who developed T2D
 
Hi, none of the bodies you mention has any role in deciding whether your local NHS will pay for a meter and test strips.

Every area in England has a local group called an Integrated Care Board (they keep changing the name and fiddling with the precise responsibilities) . This Board is made up (keeping this brief) of local health care professionals, and they decide what to spend money on. They'll take into account what the healthcare needs are in your area, and they will work within the NICE guidelines, but they make the decisions. They have to prioritise what they spend and where they spend it, and it seems clear that very few, if any, think spending anything on meters and strips for T2 diabetics is a priority.

I've always thought that the case to be made is that spending a little bit now on meters and strips should lead to very big savings further down the line from avoidance of much more serious diabetes-related complications, but it seems that short-term thinking is firmly in place.
 
@KennyA - not sure if you thought it was I who was mentioning the bodies, but it wasn't. I was linking to a thread where the third post in that thread contains info about meters which as what NorthernPheonix was asking about. Clicking on the link, the first post in that thread, which is the one mentioning those bodies, is by "Member559176" and is described as "Guest".

Nonetheless perhaps your clarification will aid others who may read the linked to post from the top down.
 
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