Turn for the worst

Hi @pdm23 and welcome to the forum! I'm going to tag the wonderful @daisy1 in here - she's got lots of lovely info and advice for newcomers and I hope you'll find it helpful.

I think your subject line is exactly incorrect. From what you've written, you've taken a HUGE turn for the better: you've recognised your situation and you're taking considered, measured steps to deal with it and seek support.

Diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint, and change can be slow and frustrating. Try not to be too influenced by your meter; remember it's just there to guide you. What's more important is how you feel in and of yourself and how positively you view yourself: vulnerable and mortal could be paraphrased into "open and alive".

Many of us T2s have had "funny" liver function - do let us know what the results are (you can ask for a print-out of all of your results), but try not to panic too much. You're doing the right stuff and you've come to a great place to seek support, advice and encouragement - and your wife sounds amazing, too.

You've got this. Welcome to the boards

Sock x

pdm23 said:

Thank the Lord I found this supportive forum. I'm a 46 year old male living in South Yorkshire.

I've been struggling with obesity for as long as I remember, around 8 years ago I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. At the time I had given up smoking and supplemented ciggies with sweets and beer. Glad I gave up, but on the negative side I had gained 2-3 stone and the diagnosis was established.

Next I started exercise and healthy diets (you name it I did it) and managed to shift 5 stone. My hba1c has always been good since. Just on metformin 2000mg a day.

About 18 months ago I started to suffer from acute anxiety (work related) and stopped going out as much as possible. About a year ago I started mild exercise again which has increased. During this time I started feeling ill after eating, I went down the road of gluten problems, however I recently started testing my blood sugar on my wife's meter (she's type 1). The results were alarming. Always above 9 in the mornings and following meals up to 17. My recent hba1c was significantly higher than last year and have been started on 50mg sitagliptin (doesn't seem to be making much difference but only been on it a week). I try to eat low carb as much as possible and hit the gym 4-5 days a week. After gym sugar levels return to 6-6.9. I'm feeling pretty vulnerable and mortal at the moment, coupled with the fact that I have to have further blood tests at the end of week as I have abnormal liver function tests.

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Mortal you are... but definitely not alone.
Welcome to the forum.
How are you getting on with low carb??

Be kind to yourself, you have come to the right place for support if you want it. I would support @SockFiddler but would also suggest a food diary and keeping a record of your before and after eating test results. If you do that you will soon see which meals are causing your bg to spike and then narrow it down to which foods. You may find that you not only can no longer tolerate sugars and carb rich foods but also need to avoid grains, and not just refined grains either.
Well done for getting back into regular exercise
I hope that the work stresses are beginning to resolve themselves.

pdm23 said:

I find it hard to not eat carbs. I love bread and fruit in particular. I know it's for the best in the long run. I allow some treats/ cheat days but I suffer so it's not worth it really.

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Bless you.

GET OFF THOSE CARBS! ha ha

If you do a few low carb meals you'll lose that carb craving. I promise. Give it a go.
What have you got to lose?

@pdm23 we had the chicken and vegetable mixture we used to have with fajhitas but didn't have the wrap. The spice mix is tasty though. I fried the chicken with bacon, onions, mushrooms, courgettes and peppers. Very tasty.

One of my favourite mixtures in the wok is sweet pepper, mushrooms and courgette, cooked on a gentle heat with olive oil.
I have an Actifry - hot air cooker - they are worth the purchase prie just to cook chicken thighs - I get a one Kg pack from Lidl and toss them in for 45 minutes - then cook button mushrooms in the juice whilst the skins evaporate off the chicken.....

Welcome @pdm23 ... loads of recipes on the site, and I mean loads ...low carb as well

It doesn't need a seismic shift in diet to get those figures under control

Go to www.dietdoctor.com for some great low carb recipe s particularly recommend the fathead pizza you don't have to be a member or pay to use the recipe s. Good luck there are so many yummy low carb things you need to get some ideas to try out that feel naughty and the pizza does for me !

@pdm23

Hello podm23 and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
  

pdm23 said:

I find it hard to not eat carbs. I love bread and fruit in particular. I know it's for the best in the long run. I allow some treats/ cheat days but I suffer so it's not worth it really.

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Hello and welcome, like you I miss fruit but am slowly testing my levels and experimenting by introducing them slowly to see what I can tolerate. Bread was and still is a weakness for me, however I haven’t eaten what I call “proper” bread since diagnosis, I have found a low carb bread following a recommendation, it’s called LivLife Seriously Seeded and can be bought in Waitrose, its 3.8g per slice, they are not the biggest slices but toasted they are ok. A lot of members on here also enjoy the high protein roll sold in Lidl, this is higher in Cals and carbs but a bit more “man sized”.

Low carb soups are easy to make and filling particularly ones with chunky veg in. Mrs W makes great chicken and veg soup to use up the remains of a chook we've already scoffed most of. A nice spicy soup is butternut squash and peanut butter with a dash of chilli and garlic.
How about trying kippers for breakfast for a change or cold meats or smoked salmon, olives and cheese at lunch time.

Welcome @pdm23 to the Forum .

pdm23 said:

i seem to be at one of those turning points in life. I know I need to look forward with positive approaches instead of regretting all the poor choices I've made. I smoked, drank too much alcohol, ate the wrong things and in abundance. These seem to have caught up with me despite my efforts over the last 8 years and I feel overwhelmed. My anxiety is through the roof and need to feel that there is hope that I will see my grandchildren. In a bad place at the minute but thanks for all the kind words and encouragement. Going to try diet doctor web pages for recipes and continue regular exercise.

My wife has had a rough ride with type 1 (since she was 14). She had an islet cell transplant 4 years ago and things did improve. She still has severe brittle diabetes and has many hypos without warning signs. It's a horrible condition.

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Things will improve. You'll see.
Does your wife do low carb too?
Many type 1 benefit too. Insulin can change the bodies dynamics, for sure.

pdm23 said:

seem to live on eggs at the moment. Omelettes for breakfast, Bacon and eggs with tomatoes and mushrooms being my go to lunch. Evenings are harder. Need some tasty suggestions for stirfrys and low carb curries.

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I love a lazy low carb stir fry. Cabbage, broccoli and onion all fried up in butter with either bacon or chicken. Loads of garlic, chilli, ginger and soy sauce. Takes 10 mins and by the time I've had the first mouthful I've stopped caring that there's no rice or noodles.

I know exactly how you feel when you say vulnerable and mortal. Well done on the low carb and the gym sessions. I was so impatient to see results, i'm still not where I want to be, but as everyone says, it's a marathon, not a sprint. It needs to be sustainable for the long term.

It's so hard not to get caught up in 'If only's. You seem to have a great attitude and self-awareness. Just that will take you really far. Facing this and having anxiety must be really hard. Are you taking anything/seeing anybody for your anxiety? There is hope. I know it might sound a bit trite and lame, but you have anxiety, I genuinely believe that people who deal with anxiety and other mental health issues on a daily basis and just face life and live are the bravest people. So, you're already ahead just by virtue of being an overall trooper.

pdm23 said:

I find it hard to not eat carbs. I love bread and fruit in particular. I know it's for the best in the long run. I allow some treats/ cheat days but I suffer so it's not worth it really.

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I love fruit too so can sympathise. There are lots of low carb sweetish things to eat. You're doing magic

Diabetes can mess with your head, depression, anxiety etc. A low carb diet will help, as you bring your BG under control, you will feel pleased with yourself, diabetes can make you feel like a yoyo, but persevere eventually you will become a winner. This is a great forum, and full of fantastic winners, work to live, rather than live to work. I have adopted the philosophy that "Those that matter don't mind, and those that mind don't matter" works for me.