Hi,
My name's David - diagnosed type 2 in September 2012 in the middle of an operation to remove part of my bowel. Put straight onto insulin (novorapid and levemir) but what I was told didn't really sink in that much.
Initially I had very good control of my blood sugar levels but gradually things have declined - eating too much and not eating the right things, not getting enough exercise and putting on weight.
Over Christmas I got as down as I can remember being in a very long time - weight over 20 stone, no interest in anything, and having problems which would all appear on the face of things to be related to poorly controlled blood sugar - fungal infections in both ears and around my navel, a frozen right shoulder, and a wound from an operation to drain an abscess starting to weep.
Decided enough was enough and that I needed to get things back under control. A series of visits to my GP's practice and a drastic reduction in the amount of carbs and calories consumed and increasing the amount of walking I do and things look to be improving - the frozen shoulder's gone, the fungal infections are clearing up with the help of treatment, my weight's down to 18 stone 9 and my blood sugars are looking good again - been testing seven/eight times a day for the last two weeks and now ten days since I last had a reading that was in double figures and the majority of readings are now between 4 and 7 pre-meal and 4 and 8.5 two hours after eating. Readings in the 5s are becoming more and more prevalent and even my morning readings (which I've always had problems with are coming down.
Have also reduced managed to reduce my insulin doses (initial doses were 8 at breakfast, and 12 at lunch and dinner, with a bedtime dose of levemir of 34). Breakfast dose is now down to 4 (had been eating either Ready Brek or Weetabix but have subsequently discovered that they were massively spiking my levels and now usually have some Greek yogurt and a couple of oatcakes) lunch is down to 9 and dinner to 6 ... but it's the Levemir that's really come down - had been getting nighttime hypos and GPs advice was to eat more before I went to bed - didn't want to do that and tried instead reducing the insulin dose and have now reduced that to 8 and the hypos have disappeared.
Had a HbA1C test last month and that's at 53, cholesterol was at 4.7 and BMI is 39 so still a lot of work to do but feeling like I'm on the right road after a long time in the doldrums. Have got another session with my GP at the end of the month and feeling much more positive.
Will post on here as to progress ... in the meantime thanks for your time.
Regards,
David V.