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Mexican Jon

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The last part of 2020 I was putting weight on (I went from 115K to approx142K) and nothing seemed to work to lose weight, I also started falling asleep all the time including when I was standing up and couldn't get a good nights sleep. I work Offshore and work days and nights with short changes inbetween. Anyway the wife booked me in to a sleep clinic (I was tested several years ago and they said everything was normal) I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, I was waking up 74 times per hour and my snoring hit 110 Db! At this time they also said I had high blood pressure so the doctors prescibed Losatan 50mg and carried out a blood test which came back as pre diabetic but my cholesterol was fine. Move on 3 months my blood pressure is under control and within a normal range my weight is coming down via a calorie controlled diet (i've lost 15K) but my last blood test the doctor says I'm now diabetic with a reading of 61? I had just come off nights so had been up nearly 20 hours without proper food, So i'm confused after reading up on diet etc. I'm doing everything that a diabetic should, that's even before I was diagnosed. They have prescibed tablets without any consultation and I'm not sure whether I want to start taking them with out being retested when my sleep pattern and eating habits are normal. Any advice greatly recieved. Cheers Jon
 
Hi.
a calorie controlled diet might not be right for you. Have a look at controlling your macros, it’s usually the carbs that need to be adjusted down.

You need a meter so you can track your progress
 
61 means you've had an average blood sugar of 9.7 over the last 3 months, which is well into diabetic levels. The fact you'd been up for 20 hours would affect your blood sugar level if that was taken, but not the hba1c. Of course, stress does put your levels up, and weight loss may well decrease them, so it's possible that your levels aren't that bad now. In my opinion, you absolutely need a meter so that you can see what is happening now, and in particular, how your body reacts to the carbs in your meals.

Up to you whether you want to tell your doctor that you'd like to try diet before taking medication, plenty of people normalise their levels just by diet with higher starting points than yours, but there's also no need to keep taking them if you start off with them and find your levels come down enough. What tablets have been prescribed?

Here is @JoKalsbeek 's very useful blog on diabetes and low carbing.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/

And I'll tag in @Rachox to give you the latest info on meters.

And I forgot to say welcome to the forums.
 
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Hi @Mexican Jon and welcome to the forum! Thanks for the tag @EllieM

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.


Home Health have recently bought out the Gluco Navii, but I haven’t heard any reviews yet, links to strips and the meter:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.


Disclaimer, I haven’t used the discount codes that I have quoted recently so I don’t know if they are still current.





Spirit Healthcare have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423


With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual which I currently use, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.


Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
 
Hi. Can you let us know what meds your doc has prescribed. Do check your BP yourself; it's worth buying BP monitor if you don't have one. You need to check whether your BP med dose is too high. Checks at the Doc's can show your BP higher than it normally is so a home check is worth doing. If it's now too low discuss a dose change with the Doc. What is your current BMI? Losing 15Kg is good. Although a Calorie controlled diet will always help, a Carb controlled one will be more optimal as it's the Carbs that are the problem and Calorie measures don't distinguish between Fats and Carbs. BTW no medic should prescribe drugs without discussion and your agreement.
 
Hi All

Thanks for all the input it's very helpfull.

So I'm taking Losartan 50mg for the blood pressure and I monitor it at home with an average reding of somewhere around 130/78. I always managed to control my blood pressure with diet and less alcohol up until I developed sleep apnea. For the Diabetes the doctor has prescriped Metaformin 850mg. My BMI is high always has been even when I was training i.e. lifting weights, it currently sits at 39! I'm aiming to lose another 27Kg but this isn't always easy as I have to eat what is provided at work and it isn't always the best.

What should I be looking at Macro wise? I track all my food with MyFitnessPal app and have been doing since I got my sleep sorted, the 15Kg has been lost over approx 90 days so it's a steady controlled loss.

Many Thanks Jon
 
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So I’m home now and I’ve got a test kit, tested myself a couple of hours after having eggs tinned tomatoes and a bit of cheese and the result was 6.7 is that good ?
 
Mexican Jon said:
So I’m home now and I’ve got a test kit, tested myself a couple of hours after having eggs tinned tomatoes and a bit of cheese and the result was 6.7 is that good ?
Click to expand...
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

It looks good but knowing what it was before you ate is also a good way to know how foods impact you. So the general advice for most foods is a rise of no more than 2, 2 hours after your first bite.

This isn't foolproof, if you eat high fat and carbs it can slow the peak and make it spike later and for longer but what you described I doubt would act like that

Personally I try and aim for levels as close to non-diabetic as I reasonably can as a T2, but even now certain foods can easily spike me too high (near 10, 2 hours after food) so good to know what they are and so I don't rest on my laurels
 
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