Newly diagnosed and feeling unsupported

[vanrose66]

Hi, I was diagnosed type 2 diabetic in March after a few years of pre diabetes. I was told to diet control and go back in a year for next HBA1c. I am very obese, have an underactive thyroid, high blood pressure and reflux disease -All medicated. I was told I didn't need to test even though I said I was concerned that I needed to know what certain foods were affecting me in what way. I have lost 22lb since diagnosis but now the weight loss seems to have just stopped. I had an appointment with a surgeon for gallstones who said he wouldn't remove the gallbladder as symptoms weren't bad and he wouldn't want to anesthetise but then wrote to my doctor suggesting referral for bariatric surgery, which I don't want to have. I have now got to wait until Friday for a conversation with my GP about medication to help with weight loss i.e metformin or orlistat. Feeling rather confused, and unsupported. Should I be testing?

 

[Kaytey]

Hi I don’t know much about diabetes so probably not much help to you, I came on the site to learn about trans fats and saw your post. I suffer from so many tummy problems I am very limited in what I can eat. I just want to say please don’t be disheartened, you will start to lose weight again. You are doing all the right things, and yes if I was you I would get tested because after all you have nothing to lose by doing it. Keep going, you are doing brilliantly. You are not alone, sending you a positive hug. Kathryn

 

[EllieM]

Welcome to the forums @vanrose66 (and @Kaytey ).


Many of the UK T2s have gone to bed now so the forums are pretty quiet.

As a T1 I may not be the best to advise, but I would say that blood glucose testing is a big help to all kinds of diabetic control.

@vanrose66 congrats on losing 22lbs, can I ask what type of diet you have used to achieve this? Many of the T2s here control their blood sugars by limiting the carbs in their diets, which often has the added benefit of weight loss as well.

If you do a blood test before and 2 hours after a meal you can see whether your body can cope with the carbs in that meal. (A rise of 2mmol/L or less is desirable).

Once more, welcome.

 

[jjraak]

Hi, I was diagnosed type 2 diabetic in March after a few years of pre diabetes. I was told to diet control and go back in a year for next HBA1c. I am very obese, have an underactive thyroid, high blood pressure and reflux disease -All medicated. I was told I didn't need to test even though I said I was concerned that I needed to know what certain foods were affecting me in what way. I have lost 22lb since diagnosis but now the weight loss seems to have just stopped. I had an appointment with a surgeon for gallstones who said he wouldn't remove the gallbladder as symptoms weren't bad and he wouldn't want to anesthetise but then wrote to my doctor suggesting referral for bariatric surgery, which I don't want to have. I have now got to wait until Friday for a conversation with my GP about medication to help with weight loss i.e metformin or orlistat. Feeling rather confused, and unsupported. Should I be testing?

Hi @vanrose66 .

Congratulations on the weight loss so far, no small feat.....bravo

@EllieM make great points .

Many liken it to a SPEEDOMETER in the car .

You could drive without it working, and just wait for the fines to roll in to see what damage (financially) that decision had cost you.

Same with testing.

You 'could' ignore it and see what damage that costs to your health, over the intervening time at your next 3/6/12 months HBA1c test.

And THEN look back over the period concerned to try & identify the foods you no longer tolerate so well .....(good luck with THAT )

OR

Check on the day, and slowly lower or eliminate the offending foods, AS you discover them.

Two simple tools (Speedo + testing )

One most of us who know the potential cost, choose when driving .

The other, (testing) many of us aware of the damage NOT testing can cost us, choose once diagnosed with Type 2

doctors say to ignore testing as

A. It cost the NHS to prescribe it
B. Some (& I'd suggest doctors think 'all') type 2's find testing anxiety inducing.


The sad truth is the data suggests T2D is a progressive disease, and type 2's get complications as the years progress.

Data, Likely driven by the fact fewer were aware of the damage carbs 'Can' coat us, and historically fewer of those suffering type 2 were doing a low carb or keto diet.

So stats, as well all know, can prove anything, and if the data is wrong or input correctly can seriously present a false narrative

I do believe data from the last few years, will prove overwhelmingly, it is not as inexorably progressive as previous data suggests & can be slowed to a large degree.

And personally, even though we all slip up + fall off the LC wagon at times, everything we do in just 'TRYING' to lower our carb input, WILL have a positive effect on our current AND future health.

Which, judging by the ones, like me & now yourself, who trouble to look for forums like this to offer advice & help,
We consider the effort & time involved justified, because, to paraphrase the advert ...."We're worth it".

I certainly think we ALL are worthy of ANY attempts we can make, to improve our health, particularly if it involves simply amending our diets

Good luck on your journey

 

[Resurgam]

Hello @vanrose66 I also have an underactive thyroid, but since I have been eating low carb consistently since diagnosis it has recovered to some extent, and I am due to have another test to see if I need to reduce the Thyroxine still further I have gone from 200 micrograms to 125 daily.
For the type 2 diabetes I eat no more than 40gm of carbs a day, and have 2 meals at 12 hour intervals. I eat far more now that when on the low fat high carb cholesterol lowering diet - which didn't work at all.
I have meat, fish seafood, eggs cheese and full fat dairy, and have no problem keeping control of my diabetes. In the first year I tested fairly regularly but after that did not need to as my Hba1c was just at the top end of normal.
Hopefully all your conditions will improve if you can reverse your diabetes.
As you are medicated for the blood pressure you might need to stop that if you low carb as it seems to help correct it. I am on a low carb list and over the years several people have had falls due to their blood pressure going low as they continued to take the tablets. One was quite serious so it is something to keep in mind.
I have lost over a foot in circumference around my middle - I was almost spherical at diagnosis, and have dropped several sizes in the last 5 years, so I recommend low arb as doing the business for an ordinary type 2.

 

[onnecar]

If you are fairly recently diagnosed and overweight, cutting carbs will help your bg levels. Exercise also helps. Not sure if you get free monitor and strips, but if you do and want to test regularly, that should be your choice. Not everyone wants to see their levels all the time as it can cause people to worry if the levels don't respond the way they expect and be stressful. If you stick rigidly to your low carbs, you will undoubtedly get results, it might not happen overnight. Your ac1 will show the results and is a better overall indicator, however testing is good if that is your choice.