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Need advice please

Carol3120

Carol3120

Member
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13
Hello everyone, this is my first post here. I have been type 2 diabetic for 20+ years. Was on meds for a short time at first until I got it under control with diet, exercise & weight loss. Then about 10 years ago everything went to hell in a hand basket. I had a severe back injury and went from walking 5 miles a day to 0. Was bedridden for 3 months. I've seen numerous diabetes docs in these years plus dieticians. Over the last 10 years I've been on Prandin, slowly going up from 0.5mg with meals to 2mg with meals. My BG usually doesn't go below 200. Recently I went to a new doc who told me the Prandin wasn't working any longer, was an old drug & not used anymore. He switched me to glucophage xr 500mg with dinner AND gave me a diet that included 45grams of carbs with each meal plus 15grams for a snack in afternoon and before bed. This was after I told him I could not tolerate carbs but he insisted. I followed everything he said except the carbs, substituting veggies for the bread/pasta/potatoes he wanted me to eat. I try to keep my carb intake to less than 90 grams/day. I've been on the glucophage xr 500mg for 2 weeks. I have bad nausea and stomach pains from it along with a killer headache. I called the doc yesterday & he said everyone tolerates it differently & try to keep taking it for 2 more weeks. The thing is my BGs have not come down below 170. The morning BGs are always high and rise rapidly and then I struggle the rest of the day to get it down. For example, waking up BG was 176 then 20 minutes later it was 212 before I ate breakfast. Then 1 hr PP was 245 and 2 hr PP also was 245. I'm unable to walk a lot due to a torn meniscus which I was declined surgery for because of my high BGs. I found this group and hope the members here can help me with their experiences and maybe give some suggestions. Thanks for reading my very long post.
 
Welcome to the forum, @Carol3120. It sounds as if you have not been terribly well advised over the years, but at least you had the very good sense not to indulge in a total carb fest. However, your 90g of carbs per day is quite high compared with what many T2's here eat and find necessary to fully control diabetes and get rid of most/all meds. There is a lot of information elsewhere on this site (see the Low Carb Forum) about eating low carb and about really, really good results. In addition, I would look at the Diet Doctor site, https://www.dietdoctor.com/ for explanations, diets, success stories and recipes. On a proper low carb diet, many people lose lots of weight, give up diabetic medications and hold non-diabetic numbers - this could be you!
Best of luck with it and do ask as many questions as you need,
Sally
 
Thank you very much Sally for your reply. It seems I have a lot of reading and learning to do. My husband is afraid that the high fat in lchf will adversely affect my heart/liver/pancreas. But from what I've just started reading that is not true. I'll check out all the links you advised and, again, thank you for your help.
 
Hi @Carol3120 Don't be afraid of the high fats. It's what stops you feeling hungry. It is a weird thing to get used to after a lifetime of being told to avoid them.
I was a lifetime dieter on the low calorie low fat options.. ended up with metabolic syndrome and fatty liver disease.
6 months on LCHF and my fatty liver was cured.. liver readings went from 185 to 35 , I've lost 2 stones and my BG levels are great., and no medication. also I'm never hungry.. this is now my lifestyle choice, and once I got used to it, the easiest "diet" I've ever followed.
 
Carol3120 said:
My husband is afraid that the high fat in lchf will adversely affect my heart/liver/pancreas.
Click to expand...
The important thing is to eat natural fat, in a natural way. That is, eat your chicken skins, egg yolks, full fat yoghurts. Put some butter on green veggies, dress your salads with olive oil (not sugary sauces), have bacon for breakfast and your body will love you for all the wonderful fat soluble vitamins you are providing for it.
Sally
 
I walk with two sticks - they are pink Nordic walking poles, but they effectively stop me falling over when my knee gives way which it does unexpectedly rather too often. I manage to walk a mile or so but I haven't been doing much for a long time.
Low carb has brought about a steep decline in my blood glucose - so much that my doctor doesn't want to see me about my diabetes, and that was achieved during the bad weather when I wasn't going out much at all.
If you do decide to eat low carb then continuing to take medication to lower BG might be dangerous. I stopped taking what I was prescribed - eating to your meter seems to be the way to go, checking BG after meals will let you see how you cope, or don't with various foods.
Eating low fat is simply wrong - it was something which caught the imagination of a few powerful men and it just grew and grew, despite the health of the whole population declining year on year.
There is a lot of information on the forum about the way of eating and the successes people have had with it, and I can only commend it. Not only does it defy the effects of diabetes it makes you feel and look good as well.
 
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