Type 2s What motivates you to control by diet?

[bulkbiker]

Hi,

I feel we can all agree that there have been many debates on the merits of certain diets elsewhere.
Staying on topic with this thread regarding what motivates the choice would be appreciated.

Not a discussion on scientific study & therory..

Thanx in advance.

Oops.. sorry ...

 

[zand]

The weight loss diet does so much more than the low carb/drugs, which only lower BG. Whilst this is important in preventing complications, so I wouldn't knock it as a last resort, Low Carb only affects the symptom of diabetes, high BG, not the cause. If you put less sugar in your tea it will be less sweet. Same with your bloodstream. If you eat fewer carbs (sugars) you will obviously have lower HBA1c numbers. The substantial weight loss method (Now officially dubbed "Newcastle style approach" by it's backers, DUK), works by a completely different method and lowers BG by restoring the first and second phase insulin responses to near non diabetic levels in newly diagnose diabetics. This way the body lowers it's own glucose by itself, even if you eat 60% of your cals from carbs. Drugs like metformin won't do this either.

Have you even read @lucylocket61 and my posts? Low carb is healthy for the whole body, and that is what motivates me to use diet to control T2.
I am not going to argue about low carb v ND re T2 remission as we have covered that topic ad nauseum already

 

[lucylocket61]

Another motivating factor for me is that I react weirdly to a lot of medications, so the fewer the better. If I can avoid needing meds for as long as possible, I can avoid finding myself needing meds, discovering I can't tolerate them, and ending up in a big mess medically.

 

[lucylocket61]

I thought of another one - I m saving the NHS a fortune in medication and treatment costs, and keeping out of hospitals and surgeries, giving more appointments and time for others.

(polishes halo and smiles smugly)

 

[Jak13]

do. If only it was that simple here! If the evil gate keepers decide I am ordering them 2 days too early I get a phone call saying I can't have them yet and that I can come in the day after I get back from hols. Not ideal when you think you may have jet lag that day. Then there's the farcical medication review whereby the doc can have reviewed my meds but not actually marked it as a medication review...

I have this a lot with my surgery, I’m on several medications which run out at all different times during the month, some are monthly and some I get two monthly, they make you feel like a drug addict begging for medication at my surgery it’s draining!

 

[Tannith]

I do. If only it was that simple here! If the evil gate keepers decide I am ordering them 2 days too early I get a phone call saying I can't have them yet and that I can come in the day after I get back from hols. Not ideal when you think you may have jet lag that day. Then there's the farcical medication review whereby the doc can have reviewed my meds but not actually marked it as a medication review...

I wouldn't like to suggest anything improper. But if that were me, I'd be tempted to tell them a great big porkie about my exact holiday dates.

 

[Lamont D]

@Tannith,

Maybe you didn't have insulin resistance or a imbalanced initial insulin response or a secondary insulin response to carbs. Or weight loss is to use the ND diet and this works for you, so it should work for everyone, just as the NHS guidelines put all T2s in the same box.

A lot of T2s have insulin resistance and have too much insulin, which is useless and if a patient with T2, who has this, is not aware of this state then the likely outcome is weight gain and hyperinsulinaemia, which leads to the cycle of too high glucose, (from carbs) excess useless insulin, increasing insulin resistance and on and on. Which means, a dietary regime is useless and injections of insulin is required as the body can't cope with the hormonal response to carbs!

What keeps motivating me, is I think I have cracked it so much, and my health is great.
And I repeat, I don't want to be ill!

 

[zand]

I wouldn't like to suggest anything improper. But if that were me, I'd be tempted to tell them a great big porkie about my exact holiday dates.

After this episode, during a routine appointment I asked my doctor to give me a prescription early to stop this happening. I now have 2 months spare, but this type of past incident still motivates me to try to get off of my one remaining tablet (for BP) so that I never have to go through that again. I have a tendency towards agoraphobia (which often manifests as a fear of people) although it's not severe, and I use this fear to help motivate me to look after myself. It's just another little technique I use to motivate myself in addition to the others I have mentioned.

 

[ickihun]

Wow @ickihun, you have certainly been through it, I would assume that the cocktail of meds you are taking certainly don't help you. One Tablet could effect your others and make the situation worse, happened to me, the dosage of my anti depressants, negated the effects of the beta blocker. I am now on my third drug and that is working. I was on 150mg sertraline. And the 100g was a different brand to each other and the make up of both tablets were different. I stopped the 50g. Much better now.

Well, having been misdiagnosed with T2, before they found I was RH.
I have been told that if my lifestyle choices changed, I could become T2 with RH.
I'm not going there!

Hope your able to get your back sorted and enough painkillers to help you cope with the discomfort.

My wife is disabled and she has been getting morphine patches that are effective for 72 hours. Most surgeries are very reluctant to prescribe, because of the cost.

Best wishes.

Thank you @Lamont D this really helps. Just seen it today, sorry.

 

[Lamont D]

After this episode, during a routine appointment I asked my doctor to give me a prescription early to stop this happening. I now have 2 months spare, but this type of past incident still motivates me to try to get off of my one remaining tablet (for BP) so that I never have to go through that again. I have a tendency towards agoraphobia (which often manifests as a fear of people) although it's not severe, and I use this fear to help motivate me to look after myself. It's just another little technique I use to motivate myself in addition to the others I have mentioned.

To me, I don't fear situations, I just don't like the idea of being there!!
It's not that I can't, I just choose not to be there..
Isn't that having a freedom of choice?
The bother to dress, wash, clean, put layer after layer on, make sure I have my cards, keys, wallet, bag, a list (the most important bit) and the likelihood of struggling to carry what you have bought because......
a, you are not a juggler.
b. A weightlifter
c. What your better half will disagree with what you have bought, especially if it's not for them.
d. You didn't make a cuppa before leaving the house.

Of course, using the online delivery service is preferable. Though, do not accept substitutes.

Stay safe, when you're out and about, don't talk to strangers even if you know them!!!!

 

[Lamont D]

Thank you @Lamont D this really helps. Just seen it today, sorry.

No worries, isn't this what we are here for?

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

Stay safe, when you're out and about, don't talk to strangers even if you know them!!!!

Also make sure you have clean underwear on just in case.

 

[Lamont D]

Don't need them! Got me thermals on already!

 

[ickihun]

I do. If only it was that simple here! If the evil gate keepers decide I am ordering them 2 days too early I get a phone call saying I can't have them yet and that I can come in the day after I get back from hols. Not ideal when you think you may have jet lag that day. Then there's the farcical medication review whereby the doc can have reviewed my meds but not actually marked it as a medication review...

I'm not even inform when I'm too early I just end up making 2 phone calls (one to my chemist and then back to a different receptionist who then processes (my opiods usually)) .

 

[Deleted member 543160]

My original motivation after diagnosis was to learn how to deal with my T2 to protect my eyesight, hands and feet. I also had a minor needle phobia so dreaded the thought on insulin injections which I had thought all diabetics needed! In fact my first question to doc was in the form of would I have to inject insulin.

I was initially told by both my GP and DN to cut down on sugar, but a bit of research taught me that my pancreas was no longer happy about any type of carbs I was consuming, so I cut down on starches as well, and reduced my T2 diagnostic HbA1c to pre-diabetic level by my first review 3 months later. I was initially a bit resentful that there were some things I should no longer eat, but in general was totally converted to my new style of eating, which I definitely prefer, and is closer to what I'd eaten previously for much of my life before I ended up through no choice of my own dining on far too many carbs... GP (who advised Atkins diet and has always supported me) took several years though to be quite sure my T2 was well under control by eating this way, and he then just ditched the metformin.

So by cleaning up my diet, not only do I manage to control my diabetes by diet and lose weight in the process, but my previous 5+ years worth of brain fog has disappeared, and having had life-long (from teens) chronic and debilitating migraines I discovered that low carbing has banished them as well... and I no longer suffer all summer sneezes as my hayfever's cleared up too.

So I'm in a win-win situation as a long term medication free pre-diabetic eating a diet I thoroughly enjoy, and together with all the other benefits I've discovered, this is more than enough motivation to continue.

(Only downer is that having been on BP medication for many years, I saw an improvement for a while on low carb, but it's currently up higher again - mainly through stress which is one thing my low carbing can't fix for me....)

 

[ianf0ster]

what is CAB?

Coronary Artery Bypass. All 3 of them well over 90% blocked yet for some reason my heart adapted and so I didn't actually have a heart attack.

 

[jessj]

I have a friend that was diagnosed T2 about 12 years ago & was prescribed Metformin. It seemed to me & other friends that it was a wonder drug, as her diet remained appalling. Used to take her shopping & she would try & hide cakes, biscuits & other things under healthy foods, if you said anything, they were for visitors, yeah, right! After a couple of years, she was switched to insulin injections. Still we couldn't get through to her to stop buying & eating the ****. Her Drs frustrated with her levels as she continues in her way.

I moved away a year or so ago & contact is just by phone. She is now housebound, with failing sight, heart failure & suppurating ulcers on both legs. In fact, she's drowning in her own fluid. Nurses go in every day to dress her legs, just as well, as one morning they went in & she was unconscious on the floor, laying in her pee. Back into hospital again & even after that, still she continues in the same way. She has found click & collect now, a kind neighbour collects it for her, can imagine what is in those bags. It is so very sad.

Anyway, when I got the call from my GP, I immediately thought of her, she was & is my motivation.

 

[Tannith]

I have a friend that was diagnosed T2 about 12 years ago & was prescribed Metformin. It seemed to me & other friends that it was a wonder drug, as her diet remained appalling. Used to take her shopping & she would try & hide cakes, biscuits & other things under healthy foods, if you said anything, they were for visitors, yeah, right! After a couple of years, she was switched to insulin injections. Still we couldn't get through to her to stop buying & eating the ****. Her Drs frustrated with her levels as she continues in her way.

I moved away a year or so ago & contact is just by phone. She is now housebound, with failing sight, heart failure & suppurating ulcers on both legs. In fact, she's drowning in her own fluid. Nurses go in every day to dress her legs, just as well, as one morning they went in & she was unconscious on the floor, laying in her pee. Back into hospital again & even after that, still she continues in the same way. She has found click & collect now, a kind neighbour collects it for her, can imagine what is in those bags. It is so very sad.

Anyway, when I got the call from my GP, I immediately thought of her, she was & is my motivation.

I chose diet because I knew of such sad cases, and I wanted to stop my T2 before my own health deteriorated. The person who lent me their meter, from which I first discovered my FBGs were in the 7.2s and 7.3s, told me stories of awful bathroom issues with metformin, so I wasn't keen to get lumbered with it myself. Luckily I had vague memories of reading a news article about some professor who had discovered a way of stopping T2 in it's tracks just with a diet, so I googled and found the Newcastle studies pretty quickly.

 

[jessj]

Yes, @Tannith, knowing someone suffering the worst side is a great motivator. I made changes from the get go (Dr did give me Metformin) , but thankfully the biggest & best came when I found this forum, luckily quite soon in my journey & with low carb, could really take control.

 

[Deediabetic]

@zand I echo that sentiment! The look on the medics faces when you do the exact opposite of what they tell you and you are able to reverse a condition that is progressive and only alleviated by increasing drug therapies. When I informed the practice nurse what I was going to do I was told that I would be killing myself if I didn't take the pills on offer and that I was not medically trained so what did I know!?!!! It was quite difficult at the next appointment with her not to say "obviously more than you do about type 2 diabetes".
My main reason now is how well I feel I have lost the excess weight and put my diabetes into remission.

My GP is very nice but absolutely clueless about diabetes it seems. I only went to him because we moved area and all the other GPs around us had closed books and weren't taking new patients. He was all I could see and I was desperate due to a diagnosis in the ED and needing a GP ASAP. The only advice he gave me was walk more, lose weight and take my meds. He only gave me a referral to a diabetes education service when I pushed for it and gave him the e-referral code for them. :/

I saw him on monday for my hba1c results and he was so happy and told me he's never seen someone go from a hba1c of 13.3% to 5.6% in four months. He still didn't ask me what I did to achieve that and almost acted like my results were a result of his 'advice' and care. He gave me bubkis to work with by way of advice and it makes me angry that I was left to my own devices to source a way of beating this. I'm a capable person and have some reasonable ability to be able to get the information I need and speak up for myself when I'm not being listened to. Others out there might not be able to do what I did and source help, advocate for themselves and find out what they need because they don't have the ability to. It makes me mad that a lot of his patients are missing out on valuable information regarding their health and diabetes management because he is nice but absolutely incompetent and ill equipped to help his patients beyond the obvious mantra of lose weight, take meds and walk more. Sadly, from what I'm understanding he is not the exception but rather the rule by way of medical professionals and advice!! Grrrrr

I'm still new to this and only four months in but my biggest motivation to get myself into non diabetic range, is because I want to get pregnant and have the safest and healthiest pregnancy for me and a child as I possibly can with my condition. I also want to be around for a long time for any child I have. Incidentally I'm feeling amazing and looking the best I ever have in my adult life and that, ironically is another motivation I wasn't anticipating at the beginning of this but it's a great motivation by way of personal self care.