stopping smoking with diabetes

It is true that Gliclazide can influence weight gain, The real cuplrit is the amout of Carbohydrate you consume particularly as a T2 as this affects your BS levels. Personally i have never smoked so cant offer you any real advice on the subject. I am T2 and like you did get near the 20st mark. Finding this site and reading the Carbs threads convinced me to reduce my carb intake. Result -23lb since march. Giving up smoking and change of diet might be a tough one to crack so allow yourself the right to stumble now and again but be determined to do it all the same

Good luck
Dave P

Hello and welcome to the forum and congratulations on giving up smoking, well done!!! I know that this is not an easy thing to do and cravings last for quite some time, but now you have gone this far it is not worth going back to smoking is it, so try and just take it one day at a time and be proud of your achievements.
It sounds very much that you are a very strong, determined person and that you are being too hard on yourself. Give yourself credit for what you have achieved so far, being diabetic, giving up smoking, a single parent, geeezus I would just cave in I think, you certainly have a lot going on there and coping with most of it all on your own too. You must try and do nice and good things for yourself too, you have deprived yourself of cigarettes, so treat yourself in other ways instead, do something nice for yourself as a reward for YOU for a change, I bet you havent done anything like that for ages, always being there for others, huh?
Talk about your diabetes with your children, tell them that you really dont want to be so grumpy with them but that sometimes you just feel overwhelmed and so alone and also scared, your children will understand and do their bit to support you, thats what families are all about isnt it, the children will learn from this, become more considerate and learn that its ok to lean on others for a bit of support now and then.
Try and cut out junk food and sweets and savouries as much as you can, dont do anything drastic with your diet, just see how you can make some improvements here and there, read here in the forum what people do in regards to their diet, do you have a meter and test strips, do you test regularly at all? If you change your diet then do it s-l-o-w-l-y, or else you will say 'well stuff this for a lark, I gave up smoking, yeah, now I am supposed to give up the food that I enjoy, I have no pleasures left' - so slowly start replacing these not so good snacks with healthier options, a few nuts (though not too many) and maybe some low carb fruits or a nice yogurt, sugar free, (you can sweeten it or add a bit of fruit and sprinkle with cinnamon) instead and see how that goes, and take it from there. If you go low carb, again do it slowly, cutting them out overnight is a bit of a shock to the system, mentally actually, and do get hold of Dr Bernstein's book, Diabetes Solution, your library should have a copy or would order it for you.
If you are stuck in a bit of a rut see if there are any activities out there in your local area that may be of interest to you,a short college course, exercise class, anything really and meet new people, either make it time for you, we all need some 'me' time or as a family, do new things, that can help too in taking your mind off things like smoking and comfort eating.
And just dont feel alone in all of this, come here to the forum and ask questions and talk about your feelings and fears and when things are good too, share it with us, we are all there for each other.

All the best

Karen x

I know i will be rapped for this but i have done all i have been asked but smoking is a no no.
There is no way i will stop, i have tried twice and gone back smoking more i just dont think i could and not go back to it.
Doctor has said he has tablets but if there the ones i think they are there as bad as smoking for killing people.

Congratulations on the smoking Campervan - I know that this is a hideously difficult thing to do, but it is probably the single most important thing that you can do for your health - so keep it up, for your own sake and for your families. It sounds like you mostly have the diabetes under control too. A BG that is mostly in the 4-6 range is really good, and the occasional glitch doesn't matter too much just so long as they are occasional. Far better have a day or two with a high BG than go back to the weed. As others have said, get hold of the Bernstein book and try his system. Not only is it likely to help you control the diabetes, but a lower carb diet will probably make it easier to loose weight. When I started doing this I lost a lot of weight without even trying. In fact, I didn't realize how much weight I had lost until I went to a University graduation ceremony in my best tailor-made suit. It was absolutely falling off me - I must have looked pretty bizarre trying to hold my trousers up underneath my gown

Graham55 said:

I know i will be rapped for this but i have done all i have been asked but smoking is a no no. There is no way i will stop

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I'm certainly not going to rap you, and I really doubt that anyone will on here. It is your body, and you have every right to do what you like with it. Some people play dangerous sports, some diabetics smoke and some manage to get away with it - I hope you stay lucky! The important thing is that people make their own informed decisions about such things. Everyone knows the health risks associated with smoking, so there is no point in preaching. What some people don't fully appreciate is that diabetic smokers get hit by this doubly hard - smoking makes the control of diabetes more difficult (not impossible, but more difficult) and it also makes a lot of the nastier complications more likely. So that is worth pointing out for the benefit of people trying to or considering quiting.

Hi new to this but told had type 2 in late June and have come to terms with quite quickly and knew I needed to do something positive( had no symptoms what so ever) but I’ve had little or no contact with doctors or nurse. Im on Metformin but haven’t be told to test bloods, should I be. I feel well and lost 2stone 4lbs since diagnosis I hope I’m going the right way but it’s a bit of a minefield

Haddo16 said:

Hi new to this but told had type 2 in late June and have come to terms with quite quickly and knew I needed to do something positive( had no symptoms what so ever) but I’ve had little or no contact with doctors or nurse. Im on Metformin but haven’t be told to test bloods, should I be. I feel well and lost 2stone 4lbs since diagnosis I hope I’m going the right way but it’s a bit of a minefield

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Welcome, you've responded to a 12 yr old thread. If you haven't already, you might want to consider starting your own thread.

Check the red link below in my signature line, great piece of dietary advice for T2 people.

Yes, you need a meter regardless of what doctors tell you. You may well have to self fund one, but there are some other people here who can help with that if you are in the UK. You need to be able to see what foods affect your levels. So testing before a meal and a few hours after it is pretty standard advice for seeing what changes occur based on what you eat. The easiest way to think about T2 I think is that you are carbohydrate intolerant. You just cannot deal with carbs like in the past.

Have you lost weight intentionally?

Coming to terms with it quickly is a good thing, this allows you to head in the right direction sooner, rather then later.