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Please Help Me

T

Too High

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2
Hello Everyone

I was finally diagnosed with type 2 just over three years ago, two years after first going to the doctors with diabetic symptoms.
Over the last five years I have gained 5.5 stone in weight and now weigh in at 22.5 stone. I am male, 51 years old and stand 6' 6" in my socks and was always well proportioned before the diabetes. I eat a low GI diet of around 1500 - 2000 calories per day and exercise for at least an hour per day, exercise bike, sit ups and weights etc.
My problem apart from the weight gain is this, my fasting levels are always around 9 - 10, before meals around 8 and after meals anything up to 22 but usually around 14.
I am taking 2 x 500 metaformin twice daily and 1 x 30 Actos per day. I feel terrible all of the time, dizzy, blurred vision etc, I have no feeling in my feet and lower legs and can't walk very far now. I have spoken to my doctor but he thinks my levels are fine, if I complain to him he increases my medication, Metformin, once to twice per day then Actos 15 to Actos 30.
What can I do? I live in a small village and the next closest doctor is 15 miles away so I can't change my doctor.

Please Help
Colin
 
If I were you I'd make a complaint about the current doctor, and get a new one asap. You need to see a specialist for diabetes. Ask your doctor for a referral to the nearest diabetic clinic. Ask him why he thinks your levels are fine. What was your last hba1c? Take a copy of the NICE guidelines with you, I can't read pdfs on this thing so I can't check, but I'm sure there is one with healthy blood sugar levels. Ask him why he prescribed Actos before you were on the maximum dose of metformin. Ask him why you aren't on the maximum dose of metformin considering you have high blood sugar. Also ask for a referral to a dietician but watch out they might just tell you to stuff your face with carbs and fruit, you might be lucky and get one that is sensible though.

Have you seen someone about the eyesight and lack of feeling? You need to see someone proper about those, not a GP, ask for a referral. I cannot stand the way the NHS gives up on people with type 2 diabetes.
I'm sure someone will reply soon with diet advice, losing weight will really help you. Have a look at the diet forums here they will have helpful advice. Actos can cause weight gain so you might have to reduce what you eat further to counteract that.
 
Those glucose levels are too high, NICE guidlines state that Bg levels should be in the ranges below :
Fasting (waking)............between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals...........no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
with the readings and symptoms you are getting i'd ask for a referal to see a specialist as soon as possible, in the mean time try cutting down on your carb intake and see if your glucose levels start to drop.
Phill
 
The way that you may help is to reduce your carbohydrate intake radically for a while and see if you can not only lose weight with this method but also get your blood sugar levels under control.

The high blood sugar levels are causing complications by the sound of it so some drastic action is needed. Upping medication will not help, only make your insulin resistance worse and weight gain worse.

Have a read of the info below and see if any of it can help you.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the affect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

Sue/Ken.
Click to expand...
 
Hi TooHigh,

Cannot add much more about your levels and medication than others have. They are far from ideal and your GP should know this. He obviously is not diabetic friendly. :(

With regard to the G.I. eating to control your diabetes. I am wondering what advice you were given. Were you told that you could eat anything that was low G.I. and not told you still need to test even if it is low G.I. and you need to use portion control? As diabetics we have to test complex carbs to see if they are suitable for us and not rely on their G.I. rating. We all seem to have foods that we can and cannot eat. We also have to only eat small portions of the ones that do not raise our blood sugars. This is more important than calorie control. Perhaps you could tell us what you eat on an average day and in what quantities?
Look forward to your reply and hope we can help you to gain control.

Catherine.
 
Hello TooHigh and welcome to the forum. :)

Sorry to hear that you are feeling so rough just now. :(

I am wondering what it is that you are eating and if you have changed anything at all. Have you tried altering your diet to cut out more of the starchy carbs than you were eating?

Clearly you are testing so are you also keeping a food diary and have you noted any patterns at all?

You sound as if you probably need to see an Endo but for your own peace of mind it is wise to do as much 'homework' as possible before you go. Ask for a referral and really work at your food side of things as much as you can whilst you wait for the appointment and keep going with the exercise as that will also help you. :)
 
Hi Everyone

Thank you for your help, it is all very much appreciated.

I know it sounds like I am a big fat pig but I'm really not, I was 18 stone before the diabetes but a lot of that was muscle (52" chest 36" waist). The weight just started creeping on and when I told the doctor I was told it was my age and I should exercise more, which I done and cut down on my food intake.
I try to eat a low GI diet based solely on what I have read on the internet and a couple of books from the library.
A typical day would be porridge in the morning (1 cup 75 grams ish) with 4 or 5 prunes, lunch I have a green salad with some lumps of cheese (2 oz), dinner is either fish or chicken with more salad. I don't eat potatoes, bread, rice or pasta. If I have a snack I tend to eat 2 or 3 oatcakes. Altogether in an average day I eat around 2000 calories which is low for someone my size.

I test my BG first thing in the morning then before each meal and two hours after, then again before I go to bed. I haven't made a food diary, how do I do that? But I will if it will help me.

Thanks again
Colin
 
Get a notebook and write down, every day, at every meal what you eat.

Record how many carbs are in the food, you need a carb counter book for this and a set of scales, your blood sugar reading before the meal and then two hours after the meal. Make sure you get a fasting reading as soon as you get up in the morning.

After a couple of weeks you should then be able to see which foods are affecting your blood sugar levels. Then, you either cut these foods out of your diet or you experiment with giving yourself smaller portions until you get the balance right.

For instance, porridge 75 gms? :shock: That is a lot of porridge ! If you do a one hour test after eating the porridge you may find a large 'spike' which may or may not settle down at the 2 hour test.

Quaker oats for instance...one serving is listed as 45 gm which contains 60 gm of carb per 100 gm of porridge.

75gm therefore would be 45 gm of carbs which doesn't include the milk or the prunes ! Probably this is about 60 gm+ of carb in one sitting ! This is more carbs than I eat in one day :shock:
 
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