Newly Diagnosed Terrified and in Denial!

Hi Lindy,
I was diagnosed in 2005 after I slipped a disc. My GP told me in a very matter of fact way, not knowing that I was sitting with my Mum in 1990 when she died of a stroke as a result of diabetes. Fear, anger, the usual "why me" and I just about ran out of the surgery in tears thinking I had just had a death sentence read to me.
Anger was the main thing and I would get out my bike and peddle like a mad thing for 10 miles or so nearly every night. A few months later and 3 stone lighter as a result of the cycling I was managing it on diet alone. I still get angry and I am now on metformin so I'm doing the LCHF diet and my bg has dropped to 5.6. I suppose the moral of this rant is channel your feelings and put them to use in your favour. I now know it's not the end of the world though it was in 2005. Educate yourself and take all the help you can get to get your bg levels down then you can work on the long term from a far better place. It is not easy but you can get there. I wish you all the luck in the world but in the long run you won't need it.
Sorry about the rant but some of what the experts tell us or don't tell us winds me up.
We all need a good dose of determination!

Lindy1706 said:

Nope I am loving it.....Confit Duck tomorow

Ok so two hours after my wonderful Rib Eye, Blue Cheese salad and mayo we have a reading of .....6.6 so BS up 0.3.

Yesterday It was 6.2 going up to 6.4

My next goal is to get my fasting BS under 8.0

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Great Stuff Lindy

You go girl!!!

Ah-hah might just have to be done! Have two tins sitting here in the cupboard in our kitchen in Spain, we leave on 3rd April for our road trip back to the UK - it would be rather silly to take them back to France wouldn't it! We have a farewell dinner party on Saturday - was planning to do ossobuco but posh tinned duck legs would be much easier!

Inner control freak - I can identify with that!

Lindy1706 said:

Hence my overwhelming desire to run for the hills. My inner control freak is screaming!

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Don't let your control freak steer the sail! You can do this.
It's tough to get a handle on diabetes, that's for certain. You have to decide how you want to live your life. I strongly recommend talking to a professional (like a therapist) about your feelings right now.
People may tell you all sorts of things that affect your blood sugar, but one they often forget to mention is stress. Stress can shoot your glucose through the roof, which is why getting your feelings about your life and condition in order will be crucial for good control.
Metformin can have side effects besides wind, but it can be your best friend to help yourself get away from diabetic issues that can arise over time. Since it simply increases your sensitivity to insulin (which you need right now), think of it as an aide to help you get past this rough spot.
You're on the right track losing weight and dieting. You are doing the right thing!
The only other thing I can offer is that this is YOUR condition now. You'll need to develop ownership about the condition and decide for yourself who's giving it to you straight and who's trying to scare or manipulate you. Some health professionals don't get it (I once had a doctor tell me to take up smoking to lose weight.) When presented with a health professional telling you something contrary to what the last one told you, ask for more info - fight back! - and then decide for yourself if their info is worth its salt.
Good luck! Keep coming back here - there's tons of folks ready to support you!

They are just the same with other conditions - I am on blood thinners and because we travel a lot (we have a caravan and love touring) the only possible way for me to carry on is to check my own blood coagulation and self medicate - and it's not rocket science! So I go in once every 6 months with my spreadsheets and graphs and they seem incredulous! I asked the GP if I could email test results to them and they give me any necessary feedback and they refused, suggesting I visit whatever facility is available wherever I am to have the checks done and a doctor adjust the dosage, I would spend my entire life searching out the process, and visiting strange hospitals where I may well not be able to speak the language. And it's so blindingly obvious - blood gets a bit too thin, take a bit less anticoagulant, a bit too sticky, take a bit more! Thankfully I can just buy the medication over the counter in Spain and it's cheap as chips, so I stock up for the year!

I think the name of the thread is just fine, it shows exactly how far you can come in such a short time! And the key, I am sure, is to love the food! Eat delicious, mouth watering LCHF food, then you never feel deprived of anything. Just out of interest, has your husband actually joined you on the diet, or are you still adding carbs for him? My dh is happily eating with me, has been for 5 years, it makes life much simpler, not having to buy or cook 'illegal' stuff.

Lindy1706 said:

Tested my Fasting Blood sugar at 7am and it was 7.1 to say I am over the moon is an understatement.

Now I need to work out if that is purely related to the fast yesterday so will eat normally today and see what I have tomorrow morning.

My inner control freak is loving all this research and the ability to treat myself as my own personal lab rat

Still not opened the meds!

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Good on you... I mistakenly took metformin for 3 weeks after being diagnosed.. never had such a bad time. Stopped taking it and concentrated on diet. I am a tad bloody minded (putting it mildly) and once the diabetes nurse had told me I would end up on insulin because diabetes is a progressive illness I'm afraid my "****** that" instinct kicked in. Now have a nice spreadsheet with all my data blood sugars, weight, food diary and medical test results. I am in control of my own condition as well as lighter than I have been in years and with non-diabetic blood sugar levels. Thanks mainly to the good folks on this forum.
Keep up the good work you are doing great. Big hugs
Mark

Lindy1706 said:

I hear you on stress and I really do wonder wheter this has had a lot to do with my diagnosis, as we have had one hell of a last 6 months.

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Well done. Interesting how everyone reacts differently to the diagnosis. My anger made me become determined to take control too.
Interesting you should comment on your 'stress levels'.
I was diagnosed as T2 in June last year - and was so angry about it!!I found it so unfair given the following: I exercise a fair amount (mainly walking and cycling, and pilates), but have eaten low calories for years (<800cal/day) - I am not a big eater - , also a healthy diet. I also have a wheat intolerance, so ate very little cake, biscuits and bread or pasta.
However, 23 years or so ago, I opened up my own business (retail), had 2 children at infant school, and a husband who worked long hours and away a lot. I suddenly jumped up 2 dress sizes (even though I hardly ate at all - too busy!) Obviously my poor body was holding onto anything I ate! (this was for 5 years). Life returned to a more leisurely pace, but I couldn't drop the weight gain. Then 9 years ago, I went through another extremely stressful job, and behold my weight jumped upwards even further. A friend pointed out to me that my stress levels were through the roof, and that cortisol (produced by stress) was affecting me.
My doctor knew me during this second period, but never offered advice. When I was diagnosed as T2, I had a huge rant, and asked him if stress causes weight gain. The upshot is that Stress can be responsible for a lot of problems in the body - especially insulin resistance! He agreed to hold the metformin and try to loose weight - somehow (Low Calorie no good, already exercising)....
I found this forum an absolute godsend, and all the wonderful people on it. If your insulin isn't working properly, don't give it so much to cope with....I went LCHF, no more than 60g carb/day, and lost a stone in 8 weeks. Three months later, Dr agreed my 'treatment' was working, as my HbA1C was down to 53....and have dropped 2 dress sizes now.
I am now trying to get weight down further as I seem to have stabilised.

Read this forum here...
The Cortisol Connection

Lindy1706 said:

Ok just by way of an update.

I have not had a reading over 8.0 for the last two weeks.

I tend to spike in the morning them bob along in the low to mid 6's and mid 5's for the remainder of the day.

My lowest reading has been 5.1 which made me feel a wee bit woozy.

So averages w/c 19/3 First week of testing 7.1 and w/c 27/3/ 6.4.

This morning I had my lowest fasting reading of 6.3.

So very happy and still seem to be on a downward trajectory

Oh and walnuts make me spike! Bizarre but true!

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Well done. That's great progress.

Dear Lindy,

This rings such bells .. I had the luxury of first being diagnosed T2 and then T1 (late onset) - so I got two doses of horrors. Your feelings on diagnosis - the terror, the shame, the guilt - yup! And by just omitting all starch, even before I'd read about LCHF properly à la Bernstein or Phinney and Volek, numbers were down to the sixes IN TWO WEEKS. The doctor and the nurses had never heard of such a thing (seemed affronted). Then I got the T 1 diagnoses and things got serious ...

You are doing all the right things, already. Don't pay any more attention to nurses, or anyone, who tells you that fat raises your cholesterol, and don't listen to anyone on the subject of cholesterol till you've read properly. Which you have. BTW the first phase of low-carb, the first nine months or so, will skyrocket your cholesterol. It's the weight loss. Trigs will go down and HDL will go up, but LDL and TC will go up a lot. Later, they'll drop. But if you are one of apparently one in five ketosis low carbers who continue to get high LDL and you don't feel good about that, then read Peter Attia, Thomas Dayspring, and Franziska Spritzler. These will give you the absolute last word on the subject. More than Ken Sikaris, impressive as he is and seductive as his message is that high LDL simply doesn't matter.

Peter Attia (start at para beginning 'And contrary to what some you might think ...')

Thomas Dayspring (Dr Lipids): You have to register to read his site, but it's free and he's the world's leading lipidologist. You want Lipidaholics Anonymous Case 291: Can losing weight worsen lipids?

Franziska Spritzler:here. And her later post on the same subject here.

So read, read, read, and listen only to those who you respect. Congratulations !!

Another edit: I actually found this article on weightloss driving up cholesterol today, by Phinney.

Edit: BTW, my two pennorth on Metformin. I wouldn't knock Metformin. It's a good safe drug (if you can tolerate it) and it knocks insulin resistance. Which is one of the main ways the hormonal distortion that ends up as diabetes works. It gets your liver to do less of a Dawn Phenomenon in the morning. And it is really, really safe. It's very benign for us in more than one way.

If you can do without it, great. I am considering going back on metformin to increase my insulin sensitivity, and I am an injecting Type 1. LSW