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Tears of frustration

Bunnylover1973

Newbie
Messages
3
Hi all. I was diagnosed as Type 2 last week. Called in for a blood test by GP because “it’s been a while”. Got a text saying “you are diabetic. Pick up a pack at reception”. That was literally it.
I sent a message on Ask My GP for more help and got a phone call back from a doctor. She said that 2 years ago my HbA1c level was 49 and now it is 53. She said I had to cut back my carbs to no more than 75g a day. 75g????? I have actually pretty much given up eating anything this week because even fruit and veg is full of carbs. I looked through the recipes on here and they are loaded with carbs too. I am now eating less fruit and veg than before.
I have spent every night since being diagnosed crying my eyes out. I am hungry, missing my cups of tea and generally just fed up.
Friends with Type 2 have been raving about the Education day Course, but this has, of course, now been cancelled because of Covid and there aren’t any online options.
I have bought The Hairy Bikers “Eat to Beat” book, the “Reverse your diabetes” cookbook, and the “Diabetes Weight Loss” cookbook. EVERY recipe in them would push me over the maximum 25g of carbs per meal the doctor has suggested.
Only plus side is that I have lost 8lb in a week, just by not eating.
My first diabetic nurse appointment is June 9th and I am sure she will be thrilled that I have lost some weight, but at what cost? This can’t be helping my body.
Any advice would be gratefully received xx
 
Hi sorry to hear your GP wasnt helpful. I find this forum very helpful and the people on here will help you i am sure. As far as books go i found Jason Fung Diabetes Code quite helpful. Best of luck x
 
Bunnylover1973 said:
missing my cups of tea
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Why aren't you drinking tea? Try it with double cream for a real treat but no sugar obviously..

Meat is zero carb so base meals around that and add in green veg.
Fish, seafood and dairy are fine too.

Bunnylover1973 said:
just by not eating.
Click to expand...

Fasting too can be a useful tool but maybe try and use it productively to reduce your eating window by skipping a meal like breakfast or dinner. Just make sure you eat enough in your 2 meals a day.
 

I have high cholesterol too so have been told to not have any red meat and only very limited dairy. Doctor said to stop my cups of tea and change to Diet Coke instead. Been put on Metformin and Statins straight away
 
First off, don't panic. You might have more use of keto cookbooks rather than "diabetic" ones, those aim at about 20 grams of carbs a day or less. (I don't do cookbooks, I am a crummy cook...!). Like @bulkbiker said, meat could be your main ingredient, same with fish, poultry, eggs... Those are pretty much zero carbs, as are most hard cheeses and the like. Leafy greens, above ground veggies (most of us don't respond well to pulses though, you'd would have to check whether that goes for you too by using a meter)...

Right when all this started for me, about 5 years ago, I was in a right state and all food seemed like poison all of a sudden. I didn't dare eat either. So I know there's a lot to learn and a lot to process, when a diagnosis is just dumped on you with an "Oh dear, so sad, never mind". https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ should help you some. As well as dietdoctor.com (no need to pay, lots on there is free).

You'll be okay, honest. Due to other accumulating health issues I've gone to a zero carb diet now, even gave up my beloved extra dark chocolate (which for you is still very much on the menu), so it can certainly be done. Just takes a while to figure out what works for you. Getting a meter'll help with that. For all you know you're fine on 100 grams of carbs a day, or fare better at 50. A meter'd tell you.

You'll be okay.
Hugs,
Jo
 
Hi and welcome!

Really sorry you are feeling like this, and have has so little support. It is a big shock to get news like this, and 'oick up a leaflet at reception' REALLY doesn't cut it!

I am delighted that your doc gave you advice to cut carbs. As a type 2 reducing carbs is the biggest step you can take to reducing your blood glucose levels.

And I agree with you that most of the cook books for T2s have far more carbs than my body can cope with.

One of the best low carb recipe sources that I have ever found is the www.dietdoctor.com website. It is jam packed with info on how to keep eating delicious, nutritious foods at carb levels that are both sustainable and fit your doc's suggestion. In fact, you can eat 3 x a day and keep under 25g of carbs for the whole day, using the dietdoc recipes and menus and shopping lists.

Additionally, you do not have to go hungry (you can eat good satisfying low carb meals) including chocolate based foods (if that is your thing), bread type foods, hot drinks and desserts. But they all need to be different from the carb laden sugar fests that those types of food are usually. Again, lots of delicious recipes.

Please understand, I am not encouraging you to live off cake! However, it can REALLY help to know that you are not going to be required to live off meat and salad for the rest of your days. There is a huge variety of low carb options, including a huge variety of delicious veg options.

I will drop a few links below.
Check out the recipes. You will see a lot of different ingredients, because they are low carb versions of 'normal foods'.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes/side-dishes-2

https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/recipe-index/

https://gimmedelicious.com/keto-pizza/

https://www.delish.com/cooking/g25707235/keto-side-dishes/

https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/keto-chocolate-mug-cake/
 
UsmanMo96 said:
Hi sorry to hear your GP wasnt helpful. I find this forum very helpful and the people on here will help you i am sure. As far as books go i found Jason Fung Diabetes Code quite helpful. Best of luck x
Click to expand...

Thank you. I am sure that cutting down drastically from what I was eating will help me, but all the diet books seem to advocate quite high carbs and high fat xx
 
Bunnylover1973 said:
I have high cholesterol too so have been told to not have any red meat and only very limited dairy. Doctor said to stop my cups of tea and change to Diet Coke instead. Been put on Metformin and Statins straight away
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Wow. Well, your doc is a mixed bag, aren't they?

Some diabetics find that diet coke and other diet drinks are really unhelpful - they can cause raised blood glucose from the sweeteners, and increase the sugar cravings.

You can drink as much tea as you like - just don't fill it with sugar.
People on this forum sometimes switch to black tea and coffee, because there are a few carbs in milk. Or they swap the milk for cream. But if you are starting out, a little dab of milk in tea is going to be far less problematic than a big dollop, and you are already looking to cut out large amounts of carbs in other areas. Tea is a minor carb source, in comparison.

Personally, I wouldn't want to drink all the Diet Coke chemicals, either. But people vary a lot in what they like and are willing to eat and drink.
 
Bunnylover1973 said:
I have high cholesterol too so have been told to not have any red meat and only very limited dairy. Doctor said to stop my cups of tea and change to Diet Coke instead. Been put on Metformin and Statins straight away
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Sorry but your doctor is an idiot.

Diet coke won't help and statins have been know to raise blood sugar levels so again aren't helpful.

Maybe ask your doctor how many patients he has who have put their T2 diabetes into remission before following his advice.
 
Welcome back!
 
Oh dear, I can understand your frustration- with that advice, what would you eat?

I would seriously recommend that you do some research of your own about mechanisms of raised cholesterol, and what indeed constitutes ‘raised’ in any case. Some doctors automatically put diabetics on statins with no consideration at all. As others have said, statins can raise your BG all on their own. My understanding is that the supposed causal link between natural dietary fat, as found in red meat and dairy, and raised cholesterol and heart disease has been thoroughly debunked in recent years. But as I say, you will feel happier if you can satisfy yourself that this is the case.

In which case, meat and dairy are back on the menu so you will have much more choice and a much more satisfying diet.

Definitely get a meter and test what affects you personally - diabetes is a very individual disease and people respond to different carb sources in wildly different ways. For example, I cannot tolerate milk and bread at all. I use double cream instead in my coffee now. Tea I have always drunk black, but if you only have a splash , then unless it sends your BG sky high, carry on! You may also fine that different varieties of tea are more palatable with less or no milk - I am a complete tea snob and love speciality Darjeeling, no milk needed. Lemon in tea is nice and refreshing too.
 
Bunnylover1973 said:
but all the diet books seem to advocate quite high carbs and high fat
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Answer:
(1) Step away from the diet books! Hard when you have just bought them but they may not be giving you the best advice.
(2) As others have said, it is now generally no longer believed that high fat means high cholesterol. Many on this forum eat Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) and find that this helps with weight loss and BG control.

In general, don't panic. It will take a while to get your head round all the ins and outs of managing your diabetes so don't be too hard on yourself.

One thing to possibly look at is the ratios between different bits of your cholesterol.
I have high cholesterol (according to the guidelines) but the surgery is happy because the ratios between "good" and "bad" bits are fine.

I was prescribed statins but they did bad things to me and I have been statin free for years and eating LCHF with good ratios.
 
Bunnylover1973 said:
I have high cholesterol too so have been told to not have any red meat and only very limited dairy. Doctor said to stop my cups of tea and change to Diet Coke instead. Been put on Metformin and Statins straight away
Click to expand...

Oh boy.

Statins can raise glucose levels and actually can trigger diabetes early. Unless you've had a cardiac event or have familial high cholesterol, you might want to rethink it. Tea is perfection. And speaking for myself, diet soda's often contain sweeteners that are toxic to gut bacteria. It completely killed off mine and you do not want to know how painful and bloody things got. Years later i am still healing.. That, and for some sweeteners raise blood sugars. (If you're one of those, you produce more insulin because you taste something sweet. Then nothing actually ups you blood sugars, so to prevent you from going too low, your liver dumps glucose. Which you can't process very well, so hello, high. Doesn't happen for everyone, but... Quite a few artificial sweeteners are bad news.) How are you with the metformin? Any side effects? Main ones are gastro-intestinal issues, and it doesn't exactly do much about things you eat, just tells your liver not to dump a whole lot of glucose in the morning. Considering your change in diet so far, I doubt you'll need it in the long run. If there's no lasting side effects it's a perfectly safe drug to take with a bunch of benefits... But if you need to do without, you can, considering the steps you're taking. Just discuss it with your doc first, since we can't give out that sort of advice, exactly....

Just so you know... My doc doesn't know a thing about T2. Like most GP's. (Mine admitted as much though, which is a rare occurrence.). She was on board with me just experimenting with a diet though, and she'd monitor my bloodglucose as I went. The dieticians I had were not on the same page I was and kept trying to push high carbs, low fats on me, while my meter was telling me that was no good. To date I am the only one in my GP's practice to have put her numbers back squarely in the non diabetic range without medication or insulin. That's with low carb, high fat, in a bunch of variations. (I started medium low carb/high fat, then gradually went to keto, and am carnivore these days. But I would've been fine just sticking with LC/HF or keto, diabetes-wise. My other issues just demanded more sacrifices from me, alas.). All in all... It is a really steep learning curve (hence the link to the Nutritional Thingy, it's a bit of a crash course. ), but you'll get to a point where all this is old hat and blood sugar control is an afterthought. I have a bucket load of issues and the easiest one to manage, by far, is diabetes. I never thought I'd say that, as when diagnosed I was sure I was going to die, but.... Nope. If I can get the hang of this, so can you. Just read a lot, get yourself a meter, and check with it what rings true for you. If you see advice online, get advice from your doc, etc etc... And you want to try it out, because there's a LOT of contradictory material out there.... Finger pricks'll tell you what works for you. Don't trust strangers or dubious "doctors" on the internet, or medical professionals who are hopelessly outdated. Trust your meter. It won't steer you wrong.
Hugs,
Jo
 

Sadly I too have a doctor who is either a fool or a liar or both. Mine told me that testing blood sugars caused anxiety. He is a fool if he genuinely believes this. What other posters have said here is really true. It’s a real challenge unlearning all the garbage taken as fact though. Pre diagnosis 4 years plus ago I was primarily vegetarian Now I enjoy food in a huge way but am keto. It didnt happen overnight by any means. I’ve found testing to be key. It keeps you away from all those weird and wonderful belief systems and into the realms of personal knowledge. I wish you well
 
Hi I also was recently told I have Type 2 and bought lots of books and joined lots of websites.The nurse told me today about an App called My Diabetes My way which can help with tracking blood I'm not sure what else is on it as I can't find the correct App to tell you if it does. So if anyone knows which one it is it may help us both? I'm not sure
 
Guessing you are in Scotland?
There's a website but never heard of an app
https://www.mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk/MyDiabetes.aspx#gsc.tab=0
 
Bunnylover1973 said:
She said that 2 years ago my HbA1c level was 49 and now it is 53.
Click to expand...

You should have been told 2 years ago that your HbA1c was already over the threshold of a diabetic diagnosis which is >48.
This may have saved you from allowing the disease to progress over the past 2 years.

You're already doing low carb & that's great, I'd like to think you've some great success ahead of you.
Judging by your username you were born the same year as myself.
Your starting A1c is almost the same as mine was.
I lost over 5st by going low carb post diagnosis, never counted calories & added moderate exercise.
Blood glucose normalised very early & has kept improving over time.
Keep going, you've got this.
 
Hi @Bunnylover1973, now then, first of all dry your eyes!!!! Seriously you have managed to find the best diabetes site out there absolutely chock full of people who have been there and done it. Instead of having to spend months if not years trying every approach out there you can have a cup of tea(!) and read through all the appropriate posts. I think one of the first things to do is to BELIEVE what people here are telling you. You are probably thinking 'what about my cholesterol' etc, but in the absence of any other conditions you may have, I would focus solely on getting your levels down and to do that low carb is the answer. Your GP actually isn't too far off with his 25 carbs a meal and if you were eating 'normally' before diagnosis, you were probably consuming hundreds of carbs. When you think that many on here eat less than 10 carbs a meal and eat well, you will realise that you definitely CAN have tasty meals.

Get yourself a meter to test your levels before and after meals, that way you will know how a particular food and how an amount of carbs is affecting you.

Don't panic, don't rush, just log and record what you do. For example, you could have an omelette for breakfast, you could use a smidgeon of mushroom or pepper in it, 10 carbs in total. For lunch you could do the same or make up a low carb soup. For tea you could have meat...and more meat..... or more eggs...or cheese. I know you will worry about cheese and saturated fats after what your GP has said but I would say don't let that concern you too much at this very early stage, fill yourself up.

See how you go over the next month and you may be pleasantly surprised, after all, what have you got to lose? If things stay the same or get worse then you can think again. I am positive though that you will see BIG changes which is why I said 'believe'.

After you have seen for yourself how your body adapts you can then (possibly & if you want to), up your carbs a little, some people can tolerate a few more than the next person.

Also, if you can tell us what used to be a typical days food for you (sugars in your tea???), then it helps us to help you to think of a few good alternatives.

x
 
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