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Newly diagnosed - some advice please

Mike d

Expert
Messages
7,994
Location
Australia
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
idiots who will not learn
Hi All and greetings from OZ

I was diagnosed with Type 2 in June this year. High cholesterol, high blood sugars, high blood pressure, you name it, I had it.

I knew NOTHING about Type 2 and I'm still learning from the mountain of information out there and REALLY appreciated finding this site. I am taking Olmetec (1 in morning) Cavstat (1 in evening) and two metformin tablest (Diabex) with morning and afternoon meals.

I went back for my first three month check last week and the doctor was thrilled ... cholesterol normal, blood sugars normal, HDL/LDL ideal, triglycerides / HDL ideal .... but that came at a cost with the lifestyle change. I'm male, 60 and was set in my ways. I then started losing weight (I'm down to 79 Kgs from 90 Kgs) and exercising and COMPLETELY changed my diet by dumping anything considered bad for Type 2. I am now on one Diabex a day so I'll take that as a win.

I have some questions. I've read about long term effects on nerves and warning about leg / foot treatment. Does anyone know how quickly this develops after initially contracting Type 2?

The other question that's driving me nuts is in relation to blood sugars .... and I feel at times they're too low. Just HOW do you regulate them during the course of a day to maintain a consistent level? Is snacking important? Is water important? Does alcohol (guiness only) help or hinder?

Hope to hear from you

Best Regards

Mike
 
Welcome! Sounds like you are doing better than most newly diagnosed type 2s. In answer to your question about diabetic complications, specifically nerve damage in the extremities: it seems like you don't have any yet, but are anticipating it might occur. If you keep your blood glucose below 7.8 mmol/L for most of the time (e.g. >99%) you should avoid hyperglycemic complications including peripheral neuropathy.

You say you "feel" your blood sugar is too low sometimes. Do you measure your blood glucose levels with a home meter? If so, how low do they go? Supposedly metformin won't cause hypoglycemia. I don't think the cholesterol drug or the blood pressure drug will cause it either. Supposedly alcohol will lower your blood glucose, but I don't drink much so I don't know. Also, I don't have low blood glucose problems. Obviously eating some carbs will raise your blood sugar if it's dangerously low - pure sugar is the best in this case.

So really, the key to both your questions/concerns is self testing your blood glucose levels.
 
 
Thanks NoCrbs Much appreciated.

Yes, my question re neuropathy was based upon many comments I've read that indicated it didn't develop until quite a few years after initial diagnosis.

It's a scary thought so combined with your second response, it encourages me to go get a meter as I don't self test and relying on my last result would seem to be irrelevant given the time lapse between doctor visits.

Probably time to give up the Guinness as well or at least cut back big time and hopefully, the rest will take care of itself.

You don't know how much I appreciate the response. As I suggested, I found this site and could NOT believe how helpful and supportive people truly are. Makes me feel very good to know there's support and advice.

Deepest thanks

Mike
 
Glad to be of help. You absolutely need to get a blood glucose meter ASAP. There are threads on here about when to test, but initially you should test first thing when you get up, before meals, 1 hr after meals, 2 hours after meals, just before you go to bed. You will quickly get an idea what your blood sugar levels are doing throughout the day and in response to what you eat. It's best to keep a log of your results and what you ate, especially how many grams of carbs. You may find very quickly how many grams of carbs will cause your blood glucose to rise to unacceptable levels. You can then adjust what you eat (and drink) until your blood glucose is under control. Eventually you can cut way down on the frequency of testing. There may be no need to give up the Guinness completely.
 

Consider it done. 'll go out and buy one on Wednesday my time. Great advice about when I should test too !!

I'm just wanting a steady reasonably consistent reading (within acceptable parameters) and know what to eat as a result.

Snacking lightly between meals also appears to be a preferred method of keeping things under control.
 
If you don't normally snack, don't bother snacking. It's very unlikely that as a type 2 your blood sugar will go too low if you are not eating lots of high carb food, which you shouldn't be. When you first start to test you should avoid eating between meals as it will mess up your experiments. If you absolutely must snack between meals, eat some zero carb food, like cheese or meat. Good luck.
 
Understood my friend

I eat low fat turkey meat as a lettuce sandwich like it's going outta style. That's my snack / lunch at work. Total veggies at night with some really lean fillet steak or lean beef rissoles. Breakfast is avocados / bananas (lots of water) and maybe a fruit biscuit.

I've cut out chips (crisps / potatoes) chocolate, processed meats like salami / sausages, all pastries, sausage rolls, pies, dim sims, breads, bacon, sweets, lollies ... in short, the lot The weight loss has been enough and I'm trying to plateau that and the doc agrees.

My blood glucose level in June 2014 was 8.8 (HBAIC %) and 7.3 (mmol / mol) rated as very poor from what I've read

At the last test last week. it's 6.5 and 4.6 respectively which (again according to a NHS chart I've got) is line ball between good and excellent.

I've tried to correlate those AUS figures against yours. Are they as good as I've been told?

Doc seems to think so ... as I said, he couldn't believe the turnaround.

Take care mate

Mike
 
Hi and welcome. I agree with the posts so far. Keep the blood sugar down and you should avoid nerve problems etc for life. Yes, snacks are best avoided other than, say, nuts, berries, cheese and don't worry about some BS movement during the day; just avoid peaks above 8'ish mmol as far as you can. Alcohol only has a small effect on BS so a small quantity is OK. For water, just drink a sensible amount that a non-diabetic should. Take care.
 
G'day bluey
no booze with metformin, sorry
if you get your bloods down more you can minimise the risk of complications, you have done well getting your a1c down, but 5's are where you could be heading because A1c under 6% is normal
see you dr you get referred to a foot and eye check once a year and sent on a course where they tell you to eat carbs
are you signed up with NDSS for cheap strips?

these sites helped me
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf it’s a long page and a video
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm
http://diabeticmediterraneandiet.com/low-carb-mediterranean-diet/
http://www.lowcarbdietitian.com/blog/carbohydrate-restriction-an-option-for-diabetes-management
testing
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
 
Hi and welcome,

Well done on getting your levels down so much. Your hard work paid off. A little more work and you can get them down further.
When you get your meter, try to aim for a morning fasting level of 5.5 or under, same with pre-meal, and post meal no more than a 2mmol/l spike, preferably less but not always easy. A couple of things - bananas are not a good choice for diabetics. They are all sugar and the sugar is released very quickly (hence used by athletes during games). We have to be careful with all fruits as they all contain sugar - you can learn this by testing. Berries are normally the best choice.
 
Hi Mike-and welcome from down under!! Lots of advice and support on this lovely friendly forum- I know I wouldn't be where I am at the moment had I not been here- and only 14 weeks since diagnosis!! Keep posting to ask and let us know how you are doing.
 

Keep in mind there is not much one can do about fasting and pre-meal levels on a day-to-day basis. If they are really high, a drug adjustment may be in order. Over time they may go down with a LCHF diet. But you can reduce the post-meal levels by reducing the amount of carbs per meal.
 
@Mike D
Mike welcome to this forum, just thought I would throw my few words for you.

We are both approx same age, I was 60 in August,diagnosed Mid May this year with Type2, shock horror, why me etc etc.
Weight at diagnosis 95kgs in your terms, found this forum in early June and starting making some sort of sense of my situation concerning D2. Decided LCHF was the way forward for me.

Since then, have lost just over 20kgs, looking to get to 73kgs, my 3 month blood tests had me at average 12.5 , now averaging with home monitor 6.5. I am also on 2 x 500g Metformin per day.

Guinness was also my tipple and had been for a number of years 40ish, changed this to Vodka and diet mixer.

I could not have done this without the advice and support from this forum.

Please keep asking questions, you are the only one that can actually make the choices of what path to take but you will find assistance here.

All the very best for the future, good luck with everything.
 
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To Daibell

Thanks both for the greeting, the encouragement and for the tips

To Jack

Yep, I'll keep the guiness way down. That's gonna hurt but so be it.

To Bluetit

Doc said ripe bananas is a strict no no but green tinged are fine as they're slow release. Opinions ? Thanks for you words as well.

To Kimbo

Couldn't agree more ... sensational people around here, that's for sure. You take care too !

To John D

Appreciate your kind words ... and here was I thinking losing 12 kilos in 2 months was good ... you put me to shame

THANK YOU ALL
 
 
Hi jack

Forgot to address you strips question ... I'll find out more about that later today as my pharamacy has links to the doctor's offices and I believe I'll be getting a discount.

Cheers
Mike
 
the dr will join you up with NDSS, you get them for about 1/3 of the price or less if on a benefit
 
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