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New here, but not newly diagnosed.

briped

Well-Known Member
Messages
946
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
In November 2005 I saw my GP for a bad knee, but came home with a T2 diagnosis and metformin.
By the summer of 2006 I'd lost 36kgs. That's 5,67 st. for you imperials according to google. I'd also lost my metformin. Yay.

By March 2015 I'd gained it all back, and found it increasingly difficult to breathe, but it was probably just a virus, right? A so-called cold pneumonia, perhaps? It would pass, I was sure. I didn't want any pesky doctors taking a closer look at me because I knew what they'd find, namely my deeply buried, but not quite forgotten, T2.

After a couple of weeks I could no longer climb the stairs between two of my 3 floors without taking a 15 minute break halfway up. I had to catch my breath. No good if you live on the 4th, 5th and 6th floor without a lift, which I do, so I caved in and called my GP the next morning. She tried to make me go see her, but I knew that climbing the stairs to her 1st floor practice would be a no-go. I wasn't even able to speak in full sentences without gasping for breath, so she admitted me to hospital on suspicion of blood clots in my lungs without even seeing me.
At the A&E they decided I was a keeper, and threw a couple of other interesting diagnosis in my bag too. One of them my old 'friend' T2. I was prescribed insulin and victoza at the same time, apart from metformin and a 6 month course of the blood thinner called xarelto.
Come autumn 2015 I'd lost 20kgs or 3,15st. My BS was much better, and my new endocrinologist was exceedingly happy, but outraged that I'd been prescribed 2 new drugs simultaneously, the insulin and the victoza. He took the insulin away. Thanks Dr.

February 2016. My mother passed away, and I was left in a dark place of loss and nobody to talk to. Feeling utterly sorry for myself I couldn't care less for my health than I did. I never checked my BS, and I became increasingly fatigued, but didn't care. I needed to pee frequently. Sometimes I couldn't even make it to the toilet, and I hated myself whenever that happened, but not enough to do anything sensible about it. I suddenly found that I loved plain water, and drank at least 2 litres per day. I did turn up for my doctors' appointments, and they increased my dosage and added another tablet to my repertoire. Jardiance. I'd gained back the 20kgs and then some. Still I didn't care.

March 22nd 2018. Another appointment. My A1C had risen to 13.4, and now the doctor uttered the I-word. That was yet another wake-up call. No way was I going to go on insulin. Especially not when I knew how to avoid it. Instead she doubled my dosis of Jardiance, but looked worried.

March 23rd. I cut out all bread (apart from 30g of ryebread/day, Danish staple), all potatoes, rice and pasta and decided to eat sensibly. I came across this forum, and started taking an even closer look at LCHF while being a very thorough lurker swallowing so many wise and encouraging carb-free words.
April 28th, today. My estimated A1C is down to 5,7%. I try to eat by the meter, and I've lost 6kg or a bit less than 1st as a bonus.
I'm lucky, because it seems as if I could be worse off after all those years of self-neglect and denial. My eyes are fine, so're my kidneys. My feet have lost sensitivity, but nothing serious yet.

I'm so glad I found this forum. It's so encouraging to be able to nod 'yes' to what many of you lot write. Even to find that periods of hitting the wall is not uncommon at all. I was sure that only I was stupid and spineless enough to experience that, and then to find out that perhaps I shouldn't blame myself ... Thanks for that!
I hope that I can stay in this frame of mind for the rest of my life, even when I've reached my goal, which is to get off at least the Jardiance and the Victoza. I hope you don't mind a Danish forum member. The Danish approach to diabetes is so gloomy and biased. Danish noir.
 
In November 2005 I saw my GP for a bad knee, but came home with a T2 diagnosis and metformin.
By the summer of 2006 I'd lost 36kgs. That's 5,67 st. for you imperials according to google. I'd also lost my metformin. Yay.

By March 2015 I'd gained it all back, and found it increasingly difficult to breathe, but it was probably just a virus, right? A so-called cold pneumonia, perhaps? It would pass, I was sure. I didn't want any pesky doctors taking a closer look at me because I knew what they'd find, namely my deeply buried, but not quite forgotten, T2.

After a couple of weeks I could no longer climb the stairs between two of my 3 floors without taking a 15 minute break halfway up. I had to catch my breath. No good if you live on the 4th, 5th and 6th floor without a lift, which I do, so I caved in and called my GP the next morning. She tried to make me go see her, but I knew that climbing the stairs to her 1st floor practice would be a no-go. I wasn't even able to speak in full sentences without gasping for breath, so she admitted me to hospital on suspicion of blood clots in my lungs without even seeing me.
At the A&E they decided I was a keeper, and threw a couple of other interesting diagnosis in my bag too. One of them my old 'friend' T2. I was prescribed insulin and victoza at the same time, apart from metformin and a 6 month course of the blood thinner called xarelto.
Come autumn 2015 I'd lost 20kgs or 3,15st. My BS was much better, and my new endocrinologist was exceedingly happy, but outraged that I'd been prescribed 2 new drugs simultaneously, the insulin and the victoza. He took the insulin away. Thanks Dr.

February 2016. My mother passed away, and I was left in a dark place of loss and nobody to talk to. Feeling utterly sorry for myself I couldn't care less for my health than I did. I never checked my BS, and I became increasingly fatigued, but didn't care. I needed to pee frequently. Sometimes I couldn't even make it to the toilet, and I hated myself whenever that happened, but not enough to do anything sensible about it. I suddenly found that I loved plain water, and drank at least 2 litres per day. I did turn up for my doctors' appointments, and they increased my dosage and added another tablet to my repertoire. Jardiance. I'd gained back the 20kgs and then some. Still I didn't care.

March 22nd 2018. Another appointment. My A1C had risen to 13.4, and now the doctor uttered the I-word. That was yet another wake-up call. No way was I going to go on insulin. Especially not when I knew how to avoid it. Instead she doubled my dosis of Jardiance, but looked worried.

March 23rd. I cut out all bread (apart from 30g of ryebread/day, Danish staple), all potatoes, rice and pasta and decided to eat sensibly. I came across this forum, and started taking an even closer look at LCHF while being a very thorough lurker swallowing so many wise and encouraging carb-free words.
April 28th, today. My estimated A1C is down to 5,7%. I try to eat by the meter, and I've lost 6kg or a bit less than 1st as a bonus.
I'm lucky, because it seems as if I could be worse off after all those years of self-neglect and denial. My eyes are fine, so're my kidneys. My feet have lost sensitivity, but nothing serious yet.

I'm so glad I found this forum. It's so encouraging to be able to nod 'yes' to what many of you lot write. Even to find that periods of hitting the wall is not uncommon at all. I was sure that only I was stupid and spineless enough to experience that, and then to find out that perhaps I shouldn't blame myself ... Thanks for that!
I hope that I can stay in this frame of mind for the rest of my life, even when I've reached my goal, which is to get off at least the Jardiance and the Victoza. I hope you don't mind a Danish forum member. The Danish approach to diabetes is so gloomy and biased. Danish noir.
Welcome! You must have noticed that we have all sorts of foreigners here. Oh dear, now I have written that, "foreigners" sounds a bit rude, but it shouldn't, nothing wrong with being foreign. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some other Danes lurking.
 
Welcome! You must have noticed that we have all sorts of foreigners here. Oh dear, now I have written that, "foreigners" sounds a bit rude, but it shouldn't, nothing wrong with being foreign. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some other Danes lurking.
Well we are all foreigners to someone !!! Ha ha
 
Welcome! You must have noticed that we have all sorts of foreigners here. Oh dear, now I have written that, "foreigners" sounds a bit rude, but it shouldn't, nothing wrong with being foreign. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some other Danes lurking.
Why? Whatever else would you call 'us'? :o) Not to worry. We have the same PC-probs in Denmark. Sometimes it's impossible to say anything without risking being called racist, sexist etc. etc.
 
Welcome briped, well done for taking control and getting your HbA1c down so far!
 
Well we are all foreigners to someone !!! Ha ha
Well, I suspect we Brits don't see ourselves as foreigners, ever. When we are in another country, we find ourselves surrounded by foreigners, with inferior and incomprehensible languages, ludicrous or despicable ways, even their clocks are out of sync with ours. When I was a child, it was well known that foreigners were incapable of making a nice cup of tea, and to get one in places like Nice we were obliged to patronise "English Tearooms" run by genuine English ladies, but perhaps the skill of tea making is not as important now as it used to be.
 
Well, I suspect we Brits don't see ourselves as foreigners, ever. When we are in another country, we find ourselves surrounded by foreigners, with inferior and incomprehensible languages, ludicrous or despicable ways, even their clocks are out of sync with ours. When I was a child, it was well known that foreigners were incapable of making a nice cup of tea, and to get one in places like Nice we were obliged to patronise "English Tearooms" run by genuine English ladies, but perhaps the skill of tea making is not as important now as it used to be.
How sad :(
 
Welcome to the forum @briped youve found a group of new friends I hope.
Wow you’ve had a lot happen to you personal loss losing someone very close and important to you is devastating and can quite understand how it knocked you back into a difficult place. So well done you for getting back up there and making such big changes. You know what to do and with help and support from all of us on here too I’m sure you’ll carry on succeeding well done.
 
Welcome to the forum, @briped.

Wonderful job getting your Hba1c from 13.4% to 5.7%. Go you!

Btw, I am from Germany.
Then you're a foreigner to me!! (where are those surprised/shocked emojis when you need them?) :D
 
Welcome to the forum @briped youve found a group of new friends I hope.
Wow you’ve had a lot happen to you personal loss losing someone very close and important to you is devastating and can quite understand how it knocked you back into a difficult place. So well done you for getting back up there and making such big changes. You know what to do and with help and support from all of us on here too I’m sure you’ll carry on succeeding well done.
Thank you so much, shelley262. We can only do our best, which for me wasn't good enough till recently, but I enjoy my progress so far. I feel so much better. I'm actually awake! I look forward to being a part of this forum :)
 
WELCOME HERE DEAR @briped :) ....

this condition is a gigantic shock to most of us... I also lost 35 kg initially but have gained back around 20 of them... so seems I must be on an eternal diet... and calorie counting, and well I am from Denmark too

but there are so many treats and food kinds we can actually eat and still keep blood glucose in the normal level... so maybe you could be inspired now from all these delicious recipes in this link

wish you well and welcome ... stay in this forum it is so great for help and support so many kind and helpful people in here

https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/category/Recipes
 
, but perhaps the skill of tea making is not as important now as it used to be.
No, it isn't a very important skill anymore. So many of you prefer a nice cup of instant coffee. I do a nice cuppa chai. Does that count? :)
 
No, it isn't a very important skill anymore. So many of you prefer a nice cup of instant coffee. I do a nice cuppa chai. Does that count? :)
Chai is the best! I currently have 4 different kinds of chai teabags in my cupboard, drink chai several times a day, and I keep meaning to concoct my own out of whole spices. Did you know, we used to call tea "char", which was a corruption oft the word "chai", brought back from India when it was part of our Empire? I haven't heard anyone use that word for many years, but perhaps that's because I now live in the North. Maybe Londoners still use it.
 
Chai is the best! I currently have 4 different kinds of chai teabags in my cupboard, drink chai several times a day, and I keep meaning to concoct my own out of whole spices. Did you know, we used to call tea "char", which was a corruption oft the word "chai", brought back from India when it was part of our Empire? I haven't heard anyone use that word for many years, but perhaps that's because I now live in the North. Maybe Londoners still use it.
I absolutely love chai. I use Brooke's Bond Red label, and boil it for 15 - 20 minutes with cinnamon sticks, cloves, crushed cardamom pods, ginger and chai masala, but no matter how hard I try it never tastes quite authentic. Could be because my local supermarket doesn't carry buffalo milk. The Indian version is probably ½ milk and ½ water, and if you want sugar free chai it costs more than the regular sugared version, simply because they have to make it especially for you. I've learned that if I microwave the milk seperately it's easier to clean the saucepan afterwards - and to keep an eye on how much milk I drink.
Fun fact. in Denmark lots of people call it chai tea (chai te) :) Yes, I did know about 'char'. I believe I picked up the term in Sheffield in the early 80es. I never spent much time in London. Oh, I only ever listen to Radio Union Jack. Doesn't that make me qualify for a visa after Brexit? :D
 
WELCOME HERE DEAR @briped :) ....

this condition is a gigantic shock to most of us... I also lost 35 kg initially but have gained back around 20 of them... so seems I must be on an eternal diet... and calorie counting, and well I am from Denmark too

but there are so many treats and food kinds we can actually eat and still keep blood glucose in the normal level... so maybe you could be inspired now from all these delicious recipes in this link.

wish you well and welcome ... stay in this forum it is so great for help and support so many kind and helpful people in here

https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/category/Recipes

Dear Freema,
Thanks for your wonderful warm welcome. Honestly, I didn't know which icon to click, and wish I could've clicked them all :) Losing weight is not the main point, but losing BS is. Unfortunately the two are related, as you know. I once read that only 5% of all "losers" manage to keep their weight down. Something to do with what one's body is used to and has come to regard as "normal". Not nice to know, but that's how it is, apparently.
As I mentioned I've been lurking for some weeks, and noticed the friendly and helpful atmosphere, and am pleased that I signed up. I started following you, not as in stalking, but because being Danish it's good to have a fellow Dane who might know the ropes and her way around the health care system in Denmark better than I do. Believe you me, it doesn't take a lot :)
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out tomorrow.
 
Hi and welcome

Well done for taking things in hand and making progress. Keep going.

I will tag @daisy1 for her helpful information pack

and also @Freema who I think is also from Denmark.

Hiitsyou, thanks for your kind welcome. :) Being a pro, but former lurker I've read daisy1's information pack already, but thanks anyway. It's very useful, and well worth another read or two.
 
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