Newly Diagnosed, not sure what type.

[tickorama]

Hi all,

I am a 39yo male who was diagnosed with Diabetes on Monday, following a couple of rounds of blood tests.

I have Addisions disease which is an endocrine disorder in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough steroid hormones. Its not uncommon for people with Addisons disease to develop additional endocrine disorders such as T1 diabetes.

For the last few weeks I had a raging thirst, getting up in the night for the toilet, thrush and extreme tiredness. I arranged an appointment with the Dr and had a blood test which showed a blood sugar level around 16mmol and 104 (I don’t know what this value means). They wanted a repeat blood test to confirm, so I went and had that. In the meantime I had dropped my carb intake after reading this can help. Second test was 14.6mmol and the Dr confirmed diabetes. The Dr was under the impression that this was T2 diabetes, until she spoke to my Endocrinologist and he suggested it could be T1 as I have Addisons. I have an immunology blood test today to check for T1.

I did buy a blood glucose monitor and some urine test strips, before the results of the first blood test as I was eager to find out for myself what my levels were and these were around the 16mmol mark with significant glucose in the urine. I then started limiting my carb intake in the hope I would reduce the levels. This then dropped down to around 11-12mmol - the thirst and urinating at night symptoms have since subsided.

Once officially confirmed, the Dr put me on Metformin one 500g tablet a day for 3 days to minimise side effects, then move up to two 500g tablets a day after. I have taken two tablets in total so far and have been on a low carb diet for around 6 days, eating daily amounts such as 27g, 20g, 29g, 69g total carb intake.

My question is, even though I have taken two tablets and severely limited my carb intake the last week, I can’t seem to get my blood sugar levels to go lower than 11mmol (fasting AM test).

Am I being naive and expecting too much results too soon? Or has the fact diet changes haven’t made a significant change to my levels over the last few days mean its most likely T1 and additional medication is required?

My fingers are crossed for a T2 diagnosis, so I can work hard trying to get this managed mostly through diet (currently 17st), but not seeing any changes is disheartening - but as I said perhaps I’m just expecting this a miracle cure overnight. I guess I just need to await the results of the blood test I will be having today.

Many thanks in advance for any advice – Its all a bit daunting right now and the first thing I think about when I wake up is I have diabetes.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Prem51]

Welcome to the forum @tickorama. It is a shock when you get that diagnosis and takes a bit of time to get your head around it all, but you will get a lot of good advice and support on here.
How you deal with it depends on whether you are diagnosed as Type 1 or Type 2. Type 2s can control their blood glucose by changing what they eat. Type 1s are largely controlled by insulin, though reducing carbs can help.

Don't expect your blood glucose to drop immediately. Glucose/sugar in your blood attaches to red blood platelets. These are replaced over 8-12 weeks, so your current readings will be largely dependant on what you have eaten over the last 3 months, not the last few days. But if you are T2 eating less sugar and carbs should reduce your blood glucose levels (and usually weight) over time. How long it takes can vary. Our bodies are all different.

Have a read round the threads and ask any questions you want to.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Although the HBA1c test covers 3 months of platelet history a meter check is a real-time measure. Metformin only ever has a small effect on blood sugar and that effect will show up after a week or so. Low-carbing will have an immediate effect unless you are overweight and have insulin resistance. I think T1 for you is quite likely unless you have excess weight but you need to wait for the test results which, by the way, are not always conclusive if negative. Your other conditions may of course influence the diagnosis. If you are diagnosed as T1 then you may stay on further tablets for a while during the honeymoon period, but insulin may need to start soon. Don't panic as it's not a big deal and gives you complete BS control. I welcomed the change from tablets to insulin and wouldn't (couldn't) go back.

 

[tickorama]

Many thanks for your replies @Daibell & @Prem51 - I am still awaiting the tests to ascertain what type I am.

I am now taking 2 x 500mg Metformin daily, one in the morning and one in the evening and I am also keeping to a low carb diet and I am starting to see improvements on my BG results.

The last few mornings have gone from 11.4 down to 7.6mmol, and just now before lunch it was 6.0 - so it seems its moving in the right direction.

In the meantime my close vision is absolutley awful, I have to ask my wife to read labels from food and have had to change the font size on my phone to be able to read it - so hoping that calms down at some point.

I will keep you updated with my result. Many Thanks!

 

[Resurgam]

Try some cheap reading glasses to see if they help - getting new glasses from an optician is not advisable as your eyesight will most likely be changing all the time until the lenses in your eyes adapt to the altered amount of sugar in the tissues. It ought to settle down fairly soon if you can keep the BG levels steady.

 

[tickorama]

Try some cheap reading glasses to see if they help - getting new glasses from an optician is not advisable as your eyesight will most likely be changing all the time until the lenses in your eyes adapt to the altered amount of sugar in the tissues. It ought to settle down fairly soon if you can keep the BG levels steady.

Hi @Resurgam - many thanks for the information. I already wear contact lenses and glasses (having to stick to the glasses for now, as the contact lenses are useless with this new blurry vision) - so I will wait and see what happens when its calmed down and sort out a trip to the Opticians.

To All - another question if I may (I’m sure it wont be the last!), I mentioned before that before my lunch my BG was 6.0 - I guess naively, I then thought I would be ok to have a slice of Hovis wholemeal bread. I then then checked 1hr and 2hrs afterwards and it went up to 7.4 and 9.9 consecutively.

I searched the forum for “bread” and can see a lot of people say that bread (another obviously other high carbs) cause them to “spike”, which I understand means the BG shoots up – but is this actually a problem if it returns back to normal levels? or are “Spikes” something which should be avoided for some reason? Sorry if this is a dumb question!

Cheers in advance
Paul

 

[Resurgam]

Hi @Resurgam - many thanks for the information. I already wear contact lenses and glasses (having to stick to the glasses for now, as the contact lenses are useless with this new blurry vision) - so I will wait and see what happens when its calmed down and sort out a trip to the Opticians.

To All - another question if I may (I’m sure it wont be the last!), I mentioned before that before my lunch my BG was 6.0 - I guess naively, I then thought I would be ok to have a slice of Hovis wholemeal bread. I then then checked 1hr and 2hrs afterwards and it went up to 7.4 and 9.9 consecutively.

I searched the forum for “bread” and can see a lot of people say that bread (another obviously other high carbs) cause them to “spike”, which I understand means the BG shoots up – but is this actually a problem if it returns back to normal levels? or are “Spikes” something which should be avoided for some reason? Sorry if this is a dumb question!

Cheers in advance
Paul

A spike is the term used fairly loosely to mean an elevation in blood glucose, and they can be high or low, but usually when someone reports 'I spiked' it is not good - in my cast I think I am really lucky in that I have a more normal response to carbs now, after almost two years eating low carb foods which I know don't cause high spikes. My personal limit was 8mmol/l at 2 hours - I had some background retinopathy at the first check so I thought it advisable to be cautious. At the second check it was gone, and by then my levels were often under 7mmol/l after eating so I was feeling distinctly pleased with myself.
I buy protein bread at the local Polish delicatessen as it is really low carb - very thin slices of very dense bread, but I can eat it no problem - it is just rather expensive. I now make bread, I took my old recipe added extra yeast and baking powder, and psyllium husk flour, rye flour, milled seeds, almond flour - to try to lower the impact of the bread flour, and it does seem to be OK from time to time if I make small loaves and bring them out of the freezer at intervals.

 

[Lamont D]

Hi @Resurgam - many thanks for the information. I already wear contact lenses and glasses (having to stick to the glasses for now, as the contact lenses are useless with this new blurry vision) - so I will wait and see what happens when its calmed down and sort out a trip to the Opticians.

To All - another question if I may (I’m sure it wont be the last!), I mentioned before that before my lunch my BG was 6.0 - I guess naively, I then thought I would be ok to have a slice of Hovis wholemeal bread. I then then checked 1hr and 2hrs afterwards and it went up to 7.4 and 9.9 consecutively.

I searched the forum for “bread” and can see a lot of people say that bread (another obviously other high carbs) cause them to “spike”, which I understand means the BG shoots up – but is this actually a problem if it returns back to normal levels? or are “Spikes” something which should be avoided for some reason? Sorry if this is a dumb question!

Cheers in advance
Paul

The way to explain why carbs especially in bread can be a problem for your blood glucose levels. If you are getting diabetic levels before eating as you have said, there is already too much glucose in your blood, with type two, you probably have insulin resistance, which in turn won't help with normal response to a carb laden meal.
It is like adding petrol to an already flaming bonfire.
The spike is increased because of the lower than normal insulin response.
If you were to eat again two to three hours later, your glucose levels would be higher before you ate and spike higher again.
Too much carbs, sugar, starch just increases the imbalance of your blood glucose levels.
This is why a glucometer is essential to finding out what foods you don't tolerate. The likely lads are those foods and drinks that are carb laden.

But, I would get a definitive diagnosis first!