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Really not sure where to start

K

KLD

Newbie
I was diagnosed with Type 2 last year, with the GP telling me I had probably had it for years but didn't realise as I had no symptoms. By Hbca1 was 81 and I was put on Metformin, but it really didn't agree with me, so I was prescribed a slow release version. I buried my head in the sand and didn't take the tablets on a regular basis. Fast forward to today and I've been told my Hbca1 is now 101 and I should be on insulin. I have agreed to try the medication again for 3 months first and have been given Metformin and Gliclazide.

So a real wake up call that I need to stay on the medication, but I don't know what else I really need to be doing in terms of diet (I have read so many different approaches I have no idea where to start) and what should I be doing in terms of testing. I feel really ashamed that I didn't take it seriously enough and I'm now panicking about what I should and shouldn't be doing.

I would really appreciate any guidance at all on what I should be doing and the best place for advice on diet, exercise and anything else to finally get control.

Thank you for reading this
 
Good to read that you have been given 3 months to try other approaches than insulin and that you are going to take steps to control your T2 yourself. Any exercise you enjoy enough to do regularly is beneficial. As for testing I think most here would say it is essential in order to see just what impacts your bg. Diet or way of eating is more nuanced but a consensus seems have formed around the need to limit carbohydrate. This seems to help many as does this. Above all, don't stress or feel guilt they are sure fire ways to make things worse. By posting here you have already begun to write your own success story. Keep us informed how it goes as we will be rooting for you all the way.
 
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Hi and welcome to the forum.

I usually say that the first thing you need to do is to forget everything you know, or you think you know, about "healthy eating". A quick read around here will show that many of us, for example, disregard calories, eat plenty of saturated fat, and have done quite a bit in addressing our diabetes. Many of us use a low-carb way of eating - as you're on gliclazide I would strongly advise discussing this with your doctor first, before starting low carb. This is because gliclazide is a glucose lowering medication, and a low-carb way of eating is as well - there is a risk that you might lower it too much.

There are stories here of people who started with higher HbA1cs than yours, and brought it under control. So it can be done. I'd advise a good read around on the forum, particularly in the "Success Stories" section. You'll see that there's no one way to do this - you've got to find what works for you and will be sustainable long-term.

I would also advise getting hold of a fingerprick blood glucose tester, and using it immediately before meals and then two hours later. This is not to see "how high you go" - in fact the high point will probably be well inside the first hour. What this is for is to see how well your system coped with the carbohydrate and the glucose. You're looking for the second reading to be not above 8.0, and to be within two points of the first baseline reading. If achieved, that means your system can currently handle that level of carb. If not, there was too much carb in what you ate.

Personally, I went for a very low carb approach (around 20g/day, roughly the equivalent of one apple). I cut out, for example, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, sugar, and fruit. It did the trick for me. Others have achieved the same with different approaches.

best of luck. This place is a great resource and you are free to ask as many questions as you like.
 
Great advice from Kenny. To give KLD a general idea of the best foods to go for can you please say what foods you yourself eat. Thank you.
 
I take metformin three times a day and take buscopan just after this helps with the cramps .. after a few weeks it was ok anyway. All I did was cut out all sugar no cakes no chocolate and etc because my number was very high in July (it was 126) they gave me a libre monitor this was brilliant because I could see what effect each food I ate had in me. Aside from cutting out all sugar i limited other carbs like bread and pasta but had it occasionally like if eating out. Had my HBCa1 test on Wednesday and I’m down to 52 (the libre monitor gave an estimate of 37 but the GP explained that the HBCa1 test is a snapshot of the last three months) so I’m hoping that on my next test in Dec I’ll be below 48 ., you can do this if I can (I’m not that disciplined) anyone can
 
Appletree21 said:
Great advice from Kenny. To give KLD a general idea of the best foods to go for can you please say what foods you yourself eat. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Assume this is for me?

What I eat:
Meat, fish, all kinds, plenty of it. That includes things like liver and kidneys. Tripe is great but hard to find in the UK. I do eat sausages and bacon etc, but the sausages are at least 96% meat (Lidl's bratwurst and Silesian sausages are good) - many sausages have high levels of cereal filler.
Dairy - mainly butter, cream, and as much cheese as I like, often melted over veg.
Green and most above-ground vegetables - cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, onions, spinach, tomatos, leeks, etc. I've found that most legumes - kidney beans, cannelini beans etc don't affect BG as much as the official carb content might indicate, so I have these maybe once a week. Mushrooms.
SRSLY bread substitute.
Nuts - almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans (from Lidl)
Low-carb (near zero carb) beer, red wines, spirits

That's about it. We almost never have the same meal twice inside two or three weeks except by request. I do a lot of batch cooking and plan for leftovers.
 
Thanks Kenny A
Your experience will be so helpful to a lot of people and will give KLD a good idea of where to start with things. It's always a lot to take in when a diagnosis is given and we are all overwhelmed and floundering at the beginning.
Thanks again
 
Hi @KLD

Hi and welcome to the forum no one really wants to join.

Right, deep breathe.....
Now chill.

You are where we all started at first.
So we ' get you'

This is a long term race for control & the battle against complications.

You got to this level over many years.
The challenge to regain control may take some time as well...so baby steps.

If it helps, the guidance consensus is the two hour window testing as mentioned previously .

I found it helpful to see the guidelines as a corridor.

One I could approach in darkness, know each stumble against the walls caused me damage, that may not be apparent immediately.

Or...

I could shine a light into that corridor and see where the boundaries were, and avoid as much as possible hitting those walls causing the damage.

Aka testing...daily FBG and the 2 hour pre and post food testing.

But as @KennyA says, if you try lower carb, do speak to doctors first if on glucose reducing meds.

Personally I started at 58 HBA1c.

Slowly learnt that all I thought was 'healthy' was for me as a T2D, wasn't.

I dipped a toe in, followed some of the advice on here, looking at diet doctors guidelines helped tremendously.

Visual low carb guides - Diet Doctor

Visual low carb guides Which vegetables are best on a low carb diet, can you have berries and which nuts have the fewest carbs? What should I choose to drink at a party? Check out our visual guides to low carb, which can help you make better choices!
www.dietdoctor.com

From DX to finding the forum I was lost , worried..and slowly starving myself to death. Fearful of what was ok to eat.

Once I found here, I found salvation.

Got my HBA1c down to 42 in six months, and back to 40 by next HBA1c check.

Ate more, ate better, food was tastier...all from the guidance I got here.

It's a journey we all start somewhere because we want that healthier older US.

Easy to not bother, I suppose for some.

But for those willing to try, a lot less arduous than expected and that bright shiny US that emerges is immensely grateful we took the time to love it enough to care .

Best wishes for your journey to better health.
 
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