Still losing weight???

Hi, Stew and welcome. You will see this repeated on here many times, but let me be the first to say: "Eat to your meter". It's advice well worth following, and will allow you to build up a picture of what different foods do to your levels - we all seem to react in different ways. I'd agree that you shouldn't stress about your weight loss at this point: it will take a while for things to stabilise, particularly as you've made some fairly major changes to your diet. You may notice other things, such as a temporary worsening of your eyesight but don't panic, it's all related to your body adjusting to lower sugar levels in your blood and things will re-establish themselves after a while (in my experience, anyway).

I'm tagging @daisy1; who will provide you with a very useful introductory list of things to be aware of, and to consider. Stick around, and ask questions. Whatever your query, I'm confident that somewhere on here has been there and got the T shirt

Hiya, yes, get a meter.
We'd need to know what your HbA1c reading was when you were diagnosed, and what you're eating now, to see if it may have a bearing on feeling unwell.
I lost a lot of weight I didn't need to lose when I cut out all cakes, sweets, biscuits & puddings and ate fewer, slower-acting carbs.
Now I'm doing LCHF and my weight is stable (although a bit low).

Hi. You must get a meter. Can you let us know your current weight/BMI and age. It's always possible with unexpected weight loss that you are T1 not T2 which is why the meter is important. As long as you have a low-carb diet with enough protein and fat your weight should stabilise, but do go back to the GP is the blood sugar doesn't come down.

BigStew said:

Good morning everyone,

Relatively new to this and also to forums in general so please forgive any faux pa's

I've been diagnosed with Type 2 for about 6-8 weeks now after a few years of feeling low (due to ongoing depression I thought).

I went to the doc's due to some fairly severe weight loss in a short period of time. I've been a little overweight for a while but nothing great due to my height and build but I lost around 2-3 inches off my waist in a matter of weeks with no change to my diet/lifestyle. Being a builder I'm fairly active but the jobs i'd undertaken hadn't warranted this change.

After being diagnosed with Type 2 I've cut out all refined sugar, no cakes, biscuits etc have passed my lips and our diet has been improved by home cooking immeasurably. I know this would normally help with weight loss but I still seem to be losing weight at the same rate (3/4 Stone in 4 weeks).

I am still feeling rubbish as well. I know this is exacerbated by the depression and my medication but my Dr's attitude seems to be wait and see as its still early days. I'm trying to monitor my sugar levels via Diastix but the results seem to be random and there is little correlation to my diet and my levels.

Probably my main question is, is it worth investing in a blood sugar monitor to try and take "up to date" reading on my blood sugar then plot them against various factors in an attempt to understand what the heck is going on???

Many thanks,

Stew

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Stew - Well done on recognising the need to keep an eye on your blood sugars, but unfortunately, Diastix aren't the way forward for anything meaningful. In my view Diastix are the chocolate teapot of blood glucose management. I say this from personal experience, as I was prescribed them by my own GP when newly diagnosed.

I don't know what your blood scores have been, but I do know that Diastixs really only show up glucose in your urine, when your glucose situation is the equivalent of a blood score of around 10. For me, that level of ten is much higher than my personal targets, and even when newly diagnosed, I rarely saw any reaction on the Diastix.

Whilst it's a great early target to simply stop the Diastix giving a reading (inferring your glucose position is improving), really longer term, for your health, your scores need to be lower than 10.

Losing weight around the time of diagnosis is fairly common.

What, if any reviews has your doctor set up for you? Are you having any additional tests; like additional blood tests? Do you know what your blood test results were that led to your diagnosis?

BigStew said:

Thanks All, your info is a real help.

I think my blood score is 7.8 (as far as I'm aware), I wasn't told on diagnosis, I went back after about 4 weeks, when I was feeling particularly unwell and I had another set of bloods which I was told was 7.8 and unchanged from the previous!!!

My BMI is currently 23.8 (it was 25 a fortnight ago), healthier than its been for most of my adult life, (I'm 38 now) so I'm not too worried about anything bar the speed of the weight loss.

I'll look seriously into a blood monitor, I've been sent a offer by Diabetes.co.uk about a type 2 testing program which looks to be decent value to I may well invest.

My doctor has advised me to see my diabetic nurse in another 3 weeks to see how I'm progressing, but a month between visits feels too long given how I am feeling at present.

Thanks again, all of this help is really appreciated.

Stew

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Hi and welcome Be sure to check out the cost of replacement testing strips as some cost a lot more than others. The SD Codefree is probably the cheapest for test strips....worth bearing in mind They are available on Amazon and Ebay at good prices

BigStew said:

Thanks All, your info is a real help.

I think my blood score is 7.8 (as far as I'm aware), I wasn't told on diagnosis, I went back after about 4 weeks, when I was feeling particularly unwell and I had another set of bloods which I was told was 7.8 and unchanged from the previous!!!

My BMI is currently 23.8 (it was 25 a fortnight ago), healthier than its been for most of my adult life, (I'm 38 now) so I'm not too worried about anything bar the speed of the weight loss.

I'll look seriously into a blood monitor, I've been sent a offer by Diabetes.co.uk about a type 2 testing program which looks to be decent value to I may well invest.

My doctor has advised me to see my diabetic nurse in another 3 weeks to see how I'm progressing, but a month between visits feels too long given how I am feeling at present.

Thanks again, all of this help is really appreciated.

Stew

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Stew - it's up to you which meter you go for, but most of us who have to self fund go for the SD Codefree, from a company called Homehealth UK.: http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/blood_glucose_monitor_testing.htm

If you do a price comparison, you may get a surprise. Replacement strips are the expensive part of the deal, because we have to keep buying them (the meter effectively being a one-off), so that's where to focus your research. If/when you order from Homehealth, you will receive the discounted price as you are diabetic. If you buy 5 or 10 pots of strips at once, you will qualify for a discount, provided you enter the magic code at the checkout. 5 pots would be plenty to start with, as their delivery is usually very prompt.

The discount codes are:

5 pots = 264086
10 pots = 975833

Keep asking questions. It's how we all learn.

@BigStew

Hello Stew and welcome to the forum

Here is the basic information we give to new members and I'm sure you will find it helpful in addition to the useful answers you have received so far. Ask as many questions you like and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Hi and thanks for the BMI info. I think you may need to ask for the two tests for Late onset T1 i.e. GAD and c-peptide if your blood sugar doesn't stabilise soon. At 7.8% HBa1C you should be given some medication soon. Although in some ways T1 and T2 treatment is similar, T1 has different tablets to start with. I've been thru the mis-diagnosis route and so have some others on the forum. I may be wrong but at least be prepared and keep an eye on your meter readings.