-
Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
Things I don't really understand.
- Thread starter Margarettt
- Start Date
i have had ups and downs, my emotions were all over the place and the change to low carb made me feel rough but feel so much better now and i actually have some energy too, this forum is a god send and no question is daft and someone will always answer you. We will get there, I am hoping for remission but who knows! they change of lifestyle can only be a good thing whatever the outcome
Stick with it, Margaret! You're doing really well.
I was diagnosed 4 weeks ago, started low carb not long after. Also started walking daily for at least 30 mins. I'm not on meds.
When I was diagnosed, my BG was in the 15 range for fasting and before a meal, 17.4 after a meal. Within 1 week of low carb that reduced to 10s and 9s across the board. By the end of week 2, it was 9s and 8s. Now, at the end of week 4, I'm in the 6 or 7 range for fasting, then 5s or 6s for before and after meals. I've lost 1st 9lb (10kg) since diagnosis.
It's easy to get carried away with all the hype out there about low carb/keto diets. I've had to force my brain to not see each day as a competition with the last, instead having faith that while numbers may go up or down from day to day, it's weeks, months and years that matter when it comes to trending, and low carb combined with exercise is delivering improving trends for me over those time periods. One "bad" reading doesn't matter. A week's worth might, a month's worth will, and a year or mores worth is probably what unknowingly landed most of us in diabetes territory.
Keep at it, you're doing amazing and you'll get where you want/need to be in time.
Last edited:
Margarettt
Well-Known Member
Paul. Thank you. This sentence came at exactly the right moment for me this morning. I thought I was taking on board all the dawn phenomenon info but yesterday my numbers were 6.6 before breakfast and 7.2 after and I was really pleased.This morning the before breakfast 8 was disappointing. I read your post and thought about lots of other supportive responses I've had here, got on with my morning and lo and behold two hours later it was 6.1.
I truly appreciate and am grateful for the kind, supportive responses.
It's a tough ride. It's still tough now 4 weeks in, but the first couple of weeks are especially hard. You're suddenly confronted by endless numbers. BG readings. Blood pressure reading. HBA1C. Blood test results for all sorts of things. Weight. Carbs, fat, protein grams for every single thing you eat. Exercise/activity performance stats. I'm very data driven generally, my job involves dealing with lots of data, yet this has been overwhelming and stressful at points when I've let my brain run wild and unchecked with all the information.
I read an article/blog, pretty sure it was by Adam Brown who wrote the 42 Factors article that someone previously linked to. In it he said something along the lines of "there aren't good or bad numbers, they are just data points that allow you to make informed decisions". I remind myself of this every time I get a bad number/result/reading. If I get a bad BG reading, I exercise if I wasn't planning to, or I exercise slightly more, or I cut down my next meal's carbs. Sometimes, like you did, I just go about my day. Often the bigger picture is more important than one number measuring a single point in time, as difficult as that is to rewire your brain into thinking.
Last edited:
D
Deleted member 527103
Guest
This is why I get annoyed by anyone who writes or talks about “controlling diabetes”.
The chance of controlling something which can be influenced by so many things (after 20 years with diabetes I think 42 things is a conservative estimate) that we have little control over, is very low. Forcing ourselves to control diabetes is such a a high risk of failure and subsequent mental health issues. Did I mention that people with diabetes are more likely to suffer from mental health issues?
So, I manage my diabetes. I try to learn when things don’t go to plan. I accept there will be days when my bg is higher than I would like (and I do not have the time to do make exercise) and move on focusing on the general trend not the individual numbers.
I compare it to managing a group of toddlers. Most of them will do what you want most of the time but none of them will do what you want all the time. That doesn’t make you a bad parent.
The chance of controlling something which can be influenced by so many things (after 20 years with diabetes I think 42 things is a conservative estimate) that we have little control over, is very low. Forcing ourselves to control diabetes is such a a high risk of failure and subsequent mental health issues. Did I mention that people with diabetes are more likely to suffer from mental health issues?
So, I manage my diabetes. I try to learn when things don’t go to plan. I accept there will be days when my bg is higher than I would like (and I do not have the time to do make exercise) and move on focusing on the general trend not the individual numbers.
I compare it to managing a group of toddlers. Most of them will do what you want most of the time but none of them will do what you want all the time. That doesn’t make you a bad parent.
Just 4 weeks for me here and I wholeheartedly agree with that! 42 tangible things maybe and 4 billion intangible ones - and that's just what I've counted so far!
HSSS
Expert
Control/manage = tomAtoes/tomOtoes
Doing our best and keeping it in perspective (the rest of what you say) however is something I totally agree with.
D
Deleted member 527103
Guest
I would love to know how you control a group of toddlers!
But seriously, it is about managing our mental health as well as our BG. If keeping it in perspective is the way you do it, that is great for you.
HSSS
Expert
Again semantics. To me control doesn’t have to mean 100% perfect (though it could do), just acceptable/ noticeably better results than without any efforts ie it makes a real difference.
As I understand it, the liver delivers glucose to the body in response to its need for it. So fight or flight, your body needs energy fast and that means glucose. Similarly, if you’ve fasted, eg overnight, you get a release of glucose from the liver, sometimes called a liver dump or dawn phenomenon. Just getting out of bed requires energy. There is nothing wrong with raised glucose levels, provided they aren’t a high spike followed by a sudden crash. You need to use the given energy. You are doing very well with your results already. Don’t beat yourself up about it, stress raises your glucose levels as well. I’ve just spent a high stress 10 days and my glucose was around 15 the whole time. It’s coming back down slowly to within range but the more stressed I got about that, the worse it got. Good luck, you are on the right track.
Margarettt
Well-Known Member
Thank you. I recognise the truth in everything you say. I'm just a big scaredy cat (hypochondriac) who is not dealing very well right now.. The appointment letter for my first diabetic eye screening came to day which is a whole new level of things to worry about but I really appreciate your support.
Don't worry about diabetic eye screening - it's a good thing, though a bit of a faff.
Even if they find something on retina, usually for those looking after their BG levels, whatever it was is gone by the next year's check-up.
Margarettt
Well-Known Member
Thank you. I needed that
BoldItalic
Member
I get that too. I think the explanation is that in hot weather we use less energy keeping warm so the blood glucose gets used up more slowly and we need less intake to keep the levels right. I purposely reduce my carbs a bit in summer (35g/meal rather than 40 in winter) and that seems to work for me.
Miss_Piggywig
Active Member
Thank you for putting it like this. I get so disheartened when I'm sticking to everything but numbers are still high, even exercise doesn't bring it down anymore. I will now imagine my classful of 5 year olds when I'm frustrated and be pleased that some of them are doing what I want some of the time.
Junius
Member
Like dieting to lose weight, the first week figures mean very little, give yourself a date - say two months ahead and work towards that date. It'll be here before you know it. I started at Slimming World on 20th April this year having just completed a Desmond (diabetes) workshop with a date of 20th June in view and a dream of losing a stone a month. I made it - still going to Slimming World - four months on from 20th April it's over three stone gone now and my diabetes blood results are consistently between 5 and 7. Nothing significant happens in a week. Occupy yourself losing your excessive weight and cooking the magnificent SW recipes, just do your bloods a few times a week. Set your targets in months, not days!
Not in my case. These are fasted levels, and I am on 20g/day, so food intake isn't the reason. It's clearly my liver deciding more fuel is need, but no idea why.
