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Type 2 Newly Diagnosed

C

CSKSCS

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Just diagnosed 2 days ago. Feeling awful about it. In between bouts of crying and changing my mind on whether to tell my family (husband and son know) as just feel that I will get a lot of judgement.

My HBA1c was 76. Not sure how long I've had high levels but im assuming a while given the numbers. My doc has not yet put me on metformin. They want to see me in 2 months and in the meantime have an appt with the nurse in 2 weeks. I am assuming to see if I can make any positive change myself without medication. Considering mounjaro but am not keen on shakes and soup regime they told me about.

Have stopped diet coke started drinking water, bought a walking pad and have great intentions of changing eating habits ( went shopping to stock up) but just hope i can stick at it. Have bought a glucose monitor- coming tomorrow

Just looking for guidance and support really. I hope i can do this. Why no medication? Should I consider mounjaro? How do you track what you eat and ensure low sugar, high fibre, low carbohydrate, high protein all the while trying the loose weight......its all very overwhelming.
 
Hi @CSKSCS and welcome to the club no one wants to join. You are making some good choices already, low sugar, high fibre, low carbohydrate, high protein are all good dietary choices and may well result in losing weight without counting calories. No need in my opinion to do the soups and shakes approach, some of these preparations are too high carb to improve blood sugars much and are miserable to maintain.
Buying a meter is a great guide. Test before a meal, then two hours after first bite. If the second reading is no more than 2 mmol/l above the first reading that meal was ok for you.
I lost 5 stone initially by eating low carb and taking Metformin, but then hit a mentally challenging patch of my life and found further weight loss impossible without help. I then started Rybelsus tablets (a drug similar to Mounjaro) and I have lost a further load of weight.
As for telling people, I just told my immediate family to start with, I didn’t tell my late father til he mentioned my weight loss, then it all came pouring out. Bide your time just tell them when you’re ready, which may not be now.
 
Hi there @CSKSCS . Welcome to the forum . Firstly this is not your fault. The media spout misinformation about T2 diabetes, too many sweets, too many crisps and on and on it goes. It doesn’t help when we read it’s a lifestyle disease. I have diabetes and I’m a lean and I’m into fitness, hiking 70 miles a week.
Type 2 diabetes occurs in most instances ( not all) when the cells in your body become less sensitive to insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. Using a very simplistic explanation Insulin acts like a key, it opens up the cells so that the cells will allow glucose in. Glucose is used for energy. If the cells are resistant to insulin the glucose has no where to go, so it ends up circulation in your blood. This is called insulin resistance. Some of this excess glucose is made into fat. The body produces more and more insulin to counter the body’s insulin resistance . Excess insulin may cause the cells to become more insulin resistant.
The pancreas also plays a role in high blood sugars. If your pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to counter the effects of insulin resistance then this further adds to accumulating high blood sugars.

Some very over weight people are very insulin resistant, but their pancreas’ can produce enough insulin to counter their insulin resistance .That may be the reason why most over weight people do not become diabetic. My mom was obese, she was in a wheelchair , but she never became diabetic.
I hope my simple explanation helps you to understand that it is not your fault.

Ed grammar spelling
 
CSKSCS said:
How do you track what you eat and ensure low sugar, high fibre, low carbohydrate, high protein all the while trying the loose weight......
Click to expand...
I keep it very simple. The only nutrient I keep an eye on are the carbs, this is the only one relevant to my diabetes.
I tend to simply avoid the high carb components of meals like (regular, non low carb) bread, potatoes, pasta, rice and fruits, and eat more of the low carb components like veggies, meats, cheeses, cream, eggs, and some LC versions of high carb stuff.

I have absolutely no idea how much protein, fibre or calories I eat, but eating this way has kept me alive and as far as I'm aware fairly healthy too for the past 9 years. I also lost weight without actively trying.
 
@CSKSCS I'm afraid I don't understand your problems over letting people know - assuming that they are people you might like or need to know. Type 2 diabetes, in the plain ordinary form is being unable to deal with carbohydrate - the starch and sugar in our diet.
If you are one of the many Humans unable to cope with the sorts of foods supermarkets want to sell you in order to turn a good profit, it is perhaps unfortunate, or bad luck but it is just that, nothing more.
There are no carbs in diet coke or any diet drink - though they can make the bladder a bit more excitable than usual - at least it seems that way for me, so in hot weather I drink plain water or various teas, camomile, mint or liquorice.
By swapping to lower carb foods many people find that their metabolism heaves a sigh or relief and goes back to normal - in the months after diagnosis I saw my blood glucose levels normalise, and then my clothes started sliding off due to losing weight which was entirely effortless and unplanned - all I did was find out what I could eat without causing elevated levels.
Although lose weight is often cited as how to reverse type 2 I found that reversing type 2 caused weightloss - I lost over 12 inches from my waist (I was almost spherical) when all the advice on eating low fat and high carb had never been the slightest use.
 
Me too I lost stones when I went low-carb. Never let myself get hungry and just naturally needed less food. Bloods in non-diabetic range for 6 years now, just through diet change.
 
I'm not diabetic but have been in a prediabetes group through NHS, not terribly targeted, so I started reading here. Someone recommended a programme - I hope it's OK for me to post it, I think it's very useful, called Freshwell Low Carb Project. Freshwell is a placename in Essex, where two GPs set up a low-carb programme, particularly during lockdown. It's all free of charge and there are articles to read, diet suggestions and an app. Its aim was treating and preventing diabetes. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/ - Whereas the prediabetes group still advises us to follow the Eatwell Guide, with quite a lot of starchy carbs in every meal.
 
Thanks all. Just over 2 weeks later and have lost a stone in weight. I know this will now slow down but hopefully that the changes I have made will make a difference when I go back to the docs in 6 weeks time. Fingers crossed anyway. Thanks for all your comments. Really does make a difference when you know others are going through the same thing.
 

What a great explanation
 
Well done @CKSCS shows what can be achieved with commitment and understanding. You rock!
 
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