bgup
Newbie
- Messages
- 3
- Type of diabetes
- Prediabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Hi, welcome to my novel.
Over the past...let's say decade, even, I've been in various states of less than exciting health. Tests were always at best inconclusive if not outright free of any alarms whatsoever, leading to a likely diagnosis of 'hypochondria'. It was also rather easy to assign "feeling lousy" to my **** diet and lack of exercise, which would improve sporadically here and there, often when I felt compelled to lose some weight for aesthetic purposes. The last time that happened was in August of last year, after climbing to a lifetime high of 235 lbs on a 6'3 frame. I was fat, and unhappy about it, and winnowed it down to a 215 lb plateau with some intermittent portion control and exercise. Unlike previous self-improvement phases though, I still felt lousy. I was also getting some worrisome heart-like symptoms...racing heart most usually. So, back to the doctor.
A battery of tests revealed three things. A mysteriously enlarged spleen (it did this before, and was eventually labelled "idiopathic"), a fatty liver, and a fasting blood glucose of 6.5. The latter was given to me as a passing point of interest. I asked if that was pre-diabetic, and was told "yup", and that was the end of that conversation. It was only after accidentally over-fasting for a follow up blood test and not feeling horrible that I looked into pre-diabetes a little harder, having always viewed it as a "You should be 10% less stupid" shot across the bow ho-hum medical warning, and lo and behold it appears "pre-diabetes" is "basically diabetes" and I'm on an express train to disaster. On my next trip to the doctor, I raised the question of the pre-diabetes, and asked whether I should be on Metformin. "That's a great idea". Alright then. Would've been capital if YOU had suggested it, but alright then.
Where I'm at over the last two-three weeks:
1. Down another 8 lbs to ~207. Have stuck at 207-208 for a couple of days, which is annoying me. My inflamed/tender abdomen seems to have settled down. I can now suck my stomach in and approximate a semi-flat torso, instead of simply sucking my gut in and making an anecdotally smaller gut. Huzzah.
2. Exercise changed from 50 minutes "when I feel like it" to 30 minutes a day six times a week no excuses. I'd say 6-7 times a week but that 7th time is still up for debate, I'm getting really knackered. Exercise is pure cardio thus far, it's what I have time for, heart rate between 120-150 for at least 25 of the 30 minutes.
3. Dramatically reduced portion sizes. All vice foods scuttled.
4. Over the last week, adopted the Low Carb High Fat diet bandied about here and elsewhere, dropping first under 100 carbs then under 50. I think. I'm reading labels, but vegetables do not come with labels. I'm avoiding starches and fruits like the plague. I did eat 5 strawberries the other day.
5. Metformin 250mg twice a day for the last week.
Where I was at before:
1. Classic **** western diet, probably worse than most, but not the sort of thing you'd see on a "You Won't Believe What This Man Eats" article. Lots of KD (for financial reasons, and I liked it). Lots of white bread. Lots of white rice. Lots of sugary iced tea. I know, I know. Shocking.
2. Exercise here and there, but it wasn't uncommon to go weeks or months without any. Sedentary work, sedentary hobbies.
3. Stress. Lots of stress. So much stress. A decade of stress. Sudden death of loved ones, constant financial crunches, health constantly in the air. Uh, I guess this one probably shouldn't be in the "before" section because it's not like I'm any less stressed post diagnosis. Very much more so, really.
Others things to know:
1. My father was pre-diabetic when he passed away at 56 (from an unrelated, or at best tangentially related ruptured aneurysm). He was moderately overweight, but surprising fit in spite of it.
2. No history of diabetes on my Mother's side.
So, questions. Answers to any and all would be appreciated.
1. The Metformin. It's making me nauseous. I was aware of this potentiality, but it's actually gotten worse over the week, and ideally I was to scale up to 500mg twice a day. I like the notion of what Metformin can do for me, so I'd like to stay on it, perhaps even long term. This nausea though. I take it with food, and the general result of that is I get nauseous after meals. Which...whee. How long until this settles down? How high a chance that it NEVER settles down?
2. The diet. I've been under 50g for about three days and it's freaking me out. I had an initial burst of well being (likely from giving my gut a break from nigh endless inflammation) but now I'm in a grey area of my body losing its gourd. How the hell does someone eat enough food on this diet? You can't just go ham on protein, that creates its own issues. No one can eat 1000 calories in vegetables without calamity ensuing. I can make up massive dietary shortfalls in fat without making myself dangerously nauseous, to say nothing of the mechanics of it. I'm confused by the carb restrictions on paleo/keto...why does a 200 lb man have virtually the same carb ceiling as a 100 lb woman? I need almost twice the energy of my partner for a daily caloric allotment, but we're supposed to eat the same amount of carbs? It's confounding. Additionally...energy. Exercising is getting hard, there's not a lot of pep in my legs. I'm sleepy as hell at night time. I imagine my blood sugar is lower (I can't imagine how it WOULDN'T be, switching from what I was eating to what I'm eating now), but is too low just as damaging as too high, or at the very least damaging in its own right? What does everyone snack on? Virtually everything "snacky" seems to be off limits, save possibly cheese, and it's hard to credit a "diet" where I'm eating half a block of cheese a day in a desperate race for satiety. Why the hard cut off lines? Is the only benefit to diabetics ketosis? Is a 29g diet full of benefits, but a 31g diet a wretched failure? Or is it just a rough guideline? Did I reduce carbs too fast? Is this just the "low carb flu"? Or am I eating starvation rations and trading one set of problems for another?
3. "Pre-diabetes". Is there any kind of scientific consensus on this? Opinions are all over the map. 10 minutes in the pre-diabetic sub forum and I can read from a man who "reversed it completely" while eating carbs just by doing crossfit, and from a guy saying you can literally never eat from restaurants or supermarkets again and if you look at a potato you'll die. Committing to a program of self-improvement is a lot easier when there are tangible goals, as opposed to "Hop on this grim treadmill, son, you'll be running on it forever", but if that's the reality, that's the reality. Long term I'd at LEAST like to be able to comfortably re-introduce fruits and starchy vegetables like carrots, it seems ludicrous to be eliminating them from a "healthy diet". To say nothing of the desire to eat a bun or a wrap and not be functionally stabbing myself in the heart with a dagger made of sugar. Possible? Not possible? Is diabetes/insulin resistance simply a continuum you get on at one point, and after you've passed Go the condition only worsens? Is it a binary situation, where you're sugars tolerant Y/N and it's only a question of how many complications you've unleashed? Or can you "rest" your system and actually enable some healing/recovery of prior function? This is not an entreaty to return to eating like a moron, by the way, I'm pretty stupid but I'm not THAT stupid. "Everyone is different", I know, but I'm curious.
4. Stress. How big a role does this play in blood sugar elevation? I took a "stress test" online with a friend and it came back as "dangerously stressed" with the sage advice of "try to avoid life crises", which was extraordinary. The diabetes and massive lifestyle overhaul haven't done much to improve that. Am I trading one inflammatory factor for another? And on that note...
5. Testing blood sugar. How essential is that, at this stage? I ask because simply the diet changes have created an uncomfortable level of financial crunch (produce and meat are expensive, processed kibble not so much), and I'm loathe to add to it buying hundreds of test strips so I can test my blood glucose 10 times a day unless there's an immediate, tangible benefit to doing so. If it's a question of "Not all carbs are terrible, you might be able to endure some, and the meter will tell you this", that's interesting. If it's "Keto or bust, diabetes boy" then shouldn't I just not eat carbs and assume the diet is doing what it's supposed to? Am I going to get interesting meter readings off the salmon I ate?
6. Not a question, but if I seem crazy, I had an emotional pining dream about a wholegrain bun last night. A wholegrain bun. I don't even like whole grain buns.
Over the past...let's say decade, even, I've been in various states of less than exciting health. Tests were always at best inconclusive if not outright free of any alarms whatsoever, leading to a likely diagnosis of 'hypochondria'. It was also rather easy to assign "feeling lousy" to my **** diet and lack of exercise, which would improve sporadically here and there, often when I felt compelled to lose some weight for aesthetic purposes. The last time that happened was in August of last year, after climbing to a lifetime high of 235 lbs on a 6'3 frame. I was fat, and unhappy about it, and winnowed it down to a 215 lb plateau with some intermittent portion control and exercise. Unlike previous self-improvement phases though, I still felt lousy. I was also getting some worrisome heart-like symptoms...racing heart most usually. So, back to the doctor.
A battery of tests revealed three things. A mysteriously enlarged spleen (it did this before, and was eventually labelled "idiopathic"), a fatty liver, and a fasting blood glucose of 6.5. The latter was given to me as a passing point of interest. I asked if that was pre-diabetic, and was told "yup", and that was the end of that conversation. It was only after accidentally over-fasting for a follow up blood test and not feeling horrible that I looked into pre-diabetes a little harder, having always viewed it as a "You should be 10% less stupid" shot across the bow ho-hum medical warning, and lo and behold it appears "pre-diabetes" is "basically diabetes" and I'm on an express train to disaster. On my next trip to the doctor, I raised the question of the pre-diabetes, and asked whether I should be on Metformin. "That's a great idea". Alright then. Would've been capital if YOU had suggested it, but alright then.
Where I'm at over the last two-three weeks:
1. Down another 8 lbs to ~207. Have stuck at 207-208 for a couple of days, which is annoying me. My inflamed/tender abdomen seems to have settled down. I can now suck my stomach in and approximate a semi-flat torso, instead of simply sucking my gut in and making an anecdotally smaller gut. Huzzah.
2. Exercise changed from 50 minutes "when I feel like it" to 30 minutes a day six times a week no excuses. I'd say 6-7 times a week but that 7th time is still up for debate, I'm getting really knackered. Exercise is pure cardio thus far, it's what I have time for, heart rate between 120-150 for at least 25 of the 30 minutes.
3. Dramatically reduced portion sizes. All vice foods scuttled.
4. Over the last week, adopted the Low Carb High Fat diet bandied about here and elsewhere, dropping first under 100 carbs then under 50. I think. I'm reading labels, but vegetables do not come with labels. I'm avoiding starches and fruits like the plague. I did eat 5 strawberries the other day.
5. Metformin 250mg twice a day for the last week.
Where I was at before:
1. Classic **** western diet, probably worse than most, but not the sort of thing you'd see on a "You Won't Believe What This Man Eats" article. Lots of KD (for financial reasons, and I liked it). Lots of white bread. Lots of white rice. Lots of sugary iced tea. I know, I know. Shocking.
2. Exercise here and there, but it wasn't uncommon to go weeks or months without any. Sedentary work, sedentary hobbies.
3. Stress. Lots of stress. So much stress. A decade of stress. Sudden death of loved ones, constant financial crunches, health constantly in the air. Uh, I guess this one probably shouldn't be in the "before" section because it's not like I'm any less stressed post diagnosis. Very much more so, really.
Others things to know:
1. My father was pre-diabetic when he passed away at 56 (from an unrelated, or at best tangentially related ruptured aneurysm). He was moderately overweight, but surprising fit in spite of it.
2. No history of diabetes on my Mother's side.
So, questions. Answers to any and all would be appreciated.
1. The Metformin. It's making me nauseous. I was aware of this potentiality, but it's actually gotten worse over the week, and ideally I was to scale up to 500mg twice a day. I like the notion of what Metformin can do for me, so I'd like to stay on it, perhaps even long term. This nausea though. I take it with food, and the general result of that is I get nauseous after meals. Which...whee. How long until this settles down? How high a chance that it NEVER settles down?
2. The diet. I've been under 50g for about three days and it's freaking me out. I had an initial burst of well being (likely from giving my gut a break from nigh endless inflammation) but now I'm in a grey area of my body losing its gourd. How the hell does someone eat enough food on this diet? You can't just go ham on protein, that creates its own issues. No one can eat 1000 calories in vegetables without calamity ensuing. I can make up massive dietary shortfalls in fat without making myself dangerously nauseous, to say nothing of the mechanics of it. I'm confused by the carb restrictions on paleo/keto...why does a 200 lb man have virtually the same carb ceiling as a 100 lb woman? I need almost twice the energy of my partner for a daily caloric allotment, but we're supposed to eat the same amount of carbs? It's confounding. Additionally...energy. Exercising is getting hard, there's not a lot of pep in my legs. I'm sleepy as hell at night time. I imagine my blood sugar is lower (I can't imagine how it WOULDN'T be, switching from what I was eating to what I'm eating now), but is too low just as damaging as too high, or at the very least damaging in its own right? What does everyone snack on? Virtually everything "snacky" seems to be off limits, save possibly cheese, and it's hard to credit a "diet" where I'm eating half a block of cheese a day in a desperate race for satiety. Why the hard cut off lines? Is the only benefit to diabetics ketosis? Is a 29g diet full of benefits, but a 31g diet a wretched failure? Or is it just a rough guideline? Did I reduce carbs too fast? Is this just the "low carb flu"? Or am I eating starvation rations and trading one set of problems for another?
3. "Pre-diabetes". Is there any kind of scientific consensus on this? Opinions are all over the map. 10 minutes in the pre-diabetic sub forum and I can read from a man who "reversed it completely" while eating carbs just by doing crossfit, and from a guy saying you can literally never eat from restaurants or supermarkets again and if you look at a potato you'll die. Committing to a program of self-improvement is a lot easier when there are tangible goals, as opposed to "Hop on this grim treadmill, son, you'll be running on it forever", but if that's the reality, that's the reality. Long term I'd at LEAST like to be able to comfortably re-introduce fruits and starchy vegetables like carrots, it seems ludicrous to be eliminating them from a "healthy diet". To say nothing of the desire to eat a bun or a wrap and not be functionally stabbing myself in the heart with a dagger made of sugar. Possible? Not possible? Is diabetes/insulin resistance simply a continuum you get on at one point, and after you've passed Go the condition only worsens? Is it a binary situation, where you're sugars tolerant Y/N and it's only a question of how many complications you've unleashed? Or can you "rest" your system and actually enable some healing/recovery of prior function? This is not an entreaty to return to eating like a moron, by the way, I'm pretty stupid but I'm not THAT stupid. "Everyone is different", I know, but I'm curious.
4. Stress. How big a role does this play in blood sugar elevation? I took a "stress test" online with a friend and it came back as "dangerously stressed" with the sage advice of "try to avoid life crises", which was extraordinary. The diabetes and massive lifestyle overhaul haven't done much to improve that. Am I trading one inflammatory factor for another? And on that note...
5. Testing blood sugar. How essential is that, at this stage? I ask because simply the diet changes have created an uncomfortable level of financial crunch (produce and meat are expensive, processed kibble not so much), and I'm loathe to add to it buying hundreds of test strips so I can test my blood glucose 10 times a day unless there's an immediate, tangible benefit to doing so. If it's a question of "Not all carbs are terrible, you might be able to endure some, and the meter will tell you this", that's interesting. If it's "Keto or bust, diabetes boy" then shouldn't I just not eat carbs and assume the diet is doing what it's supposed to? Am I going to get interesting meter readings off the salmon I ate?
6. Not a question, but if I seem crazy, I had an emotional pining dream about a wholegrain bun last night. A wholegrain bun. I don't even like whole grain buns.
I hope this information which we give to new members will help to answer some of your questions, especially on diet. Ask more questions and members will flock along to help.