Under 40's Type 2 Ladies???

I thought it would be nice to share experiences with type 2 females under 40... if there are any around... I have the feeling there will be more in the prediabetes section than the diabetic one, but still worth a try.

Any diet approach would be nice to hear about.

Angelkoala said:

I'm in my mid 30s and have type 2, my sugar levels go all over the place but seem to be normal for blood tests. I think the water I drink beforehand brings it down.

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Hey! Happy to hear about someone else on the same boat. Any particular diet approach? Water is good

Lexa_x said:

Im 27 with type 2. Big shock! There are a lot of diabetics in my family but I still wonder why I got it..
Doing the low carb high fat approach. Its really helping x

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Yeah, annoying isn't it?... I come from a long tradition of type 2 diabetics and although I wasn't surprised to get it, in a certain way I wasn't expecting it, neither I realised what I was going to feel with high blood sugars... I guess I didn't become one earlier due to the fact I was using metformin for being insulin resistant and I stopped eating sugar years ago.

Yeap, low carbing here to... all the way, it def does help.

Angelkoala said:

Not really got diet under control yet I also have PCOS which mean I was going to become diabetic eventually. Water is definitely good - lowers your blood sugar and raises you blood pressure if it's low.

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I have PCOS too, doesn't mean you needed to become diabetic, but increased your chances. I controlled my PCOS with low carbing many years ago, as I am insulin resistant it works.

I decided to start the thread because I think that our experiences might be slightly different than for example ladies that are going through the menopause and the likes.

As an example I've noticed my BG's increased slightly with my period, have you noticed anything like that?

I also have issues with high cholesterol and it runs in the family as well, but it is so high and knowing that the cholesterol numbers change but don't improve in conventional terms when low carbing, I need to make sure I get them under control because I can't be put on statins if I want to start a family. So I thought this might be a good way to share experiences and approaches from the feminine point of view.

Yeah, I have a strong believe that for people with a strong genetic component in their Diabetes (as when it runs in the family) as myself, the lifestyle is part of the problem, but certainly not the whole picture. Insulin resistance is in us since we are born I believe.

And It is so hard to lose weight on low calorie diets for me, that I always felt been blamed in an unjustified way for being overweight.

I think it should be addressed since you are a child, but I don't think anybody cares until we are in our mid twenties and bad stuff starts to flare up to surface, and messing up with our lives.

As far as I can remember I have always had problems with my weight and fat in my belly area. I have never been big on sweets of candies, or chocolates, I ate normally.

My biggest problem has always been carbs in the form of wheat and starches in general. But I can't say I abused them in the way I feel people imagine me eating... I just don't react well to them. As somebody has said in another thread, it pretty much is like an allergy.

I lost track of how many people can have pretty much the same amounts of carbs than me and not put a single pound on...

My PCOS started in my mid twenties and that's when I started taking metformin (missing periods, never had acne as a teenager... hirsutism), a few times I have managed to lose weight and keep it off for a while, and sometime when not being great with diet I've stopped metformin, but in general I've been on it for about 11 years and I believe that plus not eating sugar helped to reach my mid thirties without diagnosed diabetes.

But the last year has been a very stressful and complicated one for me and that plus another medicine that creates even more insulin resistance and weight gain ended up pushing my diabetes to the surface.

However I am thinking now I should have been treated like a diabetic from day one, pretty much since I was child. I suspect that if I would have had a glucose meter I would have been able to see the effects of food in my body and the story would be different... just a thought...

And of course once in the vicious circle of eating wheat products for example (bread) I find it hard to get out as I crave them and get very hungry.

At the mo, I am low carbing and trying to follow Dr. Bernstein's advice to keep constant BG's of around 4.6 - 5.6 all day long. And it has been working, those are non diabetic BG levels so I am happy about that.

It hasn't been difficult, it took me three weeks to get back into normal levels, until now, when I've been really wore down due to flu and an infection and I'm in the mid 5's...

My only concern, as I said, is the cholesterol levels and how to bring them down while eating low carb. As for so many people while they lose weight and improves all the other numbers, cholesterol goes up... and although it doesn't bother me, I feel concerned it will bother my GP and play havoc with my family plans... we will see...

Jaxx01 said:

I'm 34 been supposedly type 2 for 2 years. Low carb diet alone didn't help, metformin and gliclazide didn't work so I'm now on insulin basal/bolus routine x

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Oh that's not nice. Interesting to hear about it though. There seems to be so many different ways to manifest this condition... So do you eat a standard diet? Or do you do anything differently?

Jaxx01 said:

I eat lowish carb. I'm not overweight either...I could lose a few pounds bit not enough to make a difference and i believe I have little insulin resistance as proven by the metformin not working

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Ohhh... I see. Have you asked around in the forum to see if there is anyone in a similar situation? Maybe you have one of those variations of type 2?

I do low carb, but I am very radical with it and stay well below 50grms (trying to keep it around 25-30grms, but I know sometimes I'm much lower than that).

I read Dr. Bernstein's book and it made a lot of sense to me. Have you read it? He is type one and his diet is 25-30grms carbs a day but divided into specific portions as well as portioned protein (enough to keep you satisfied, no more, no less), what I have felt after adopting his suggestion of keeping the portions constant everyday is that it gives you certain control over BG variations which is encouraging and useful in my case.

And apart from being through and infection and the flu right now and having raised BG levels, I managed to normalize my BG from 24.6 to 4.7 in 3 weeks. I guess I'm lucky... as not everyone seems to do it as fast or as easily. I'm overweight at the moment though. And metformin does help me as I am IR. I also realized that activity levels do affect BG dramatically so moving a lot helps .

However, maybe a low calorie diet would help? Like the ND diet that people mentions in other threads that seems to help restore pancreatic function in some people. I personally think... whatever floats your boat is good for you as you keep yourself healthy. They seem to suggest that personal fat thresholds vary from person to person so although you are not fat maybe it might work for you?

The thing is, there are so many variables and individual circumstances to take into consideration that I think we all should be given choices and info about what is available, as sometime what works for one doesn't work for the other but is good to try and to get as much info as possible.

luceeloo said:

I'm Type 2 and 34. I was diagnosed nearly 2 years ago. It's a pain in the proverbial! Not really been successful at gaining good control yet. I low carb, I'm on metformin and dapagliflozin, but my blood sugar is slowly increasing day by day.
My nurse is pondering whether to put me on a Glp1 agonist injection.
But while she ponders this, I get to enjoy blood sugar constantly at 12 and above!

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I wonder how low is low carb for you?
I'm mostly under 30grms most of the time. I was given Gliclazide but I only took it for a 2 weeks cause I thought it was a terrible idea for me. When I stopped it my fasting BGs went finally down.

Lynmi said:

I'm type 2 and 41 but was diagnosed when I was 37. I'm levels are definitely higher when I have my period

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That's interesting to know, so definitely it affects BG's. And not only that, it has always been the case that the days before I crave more carbs than normally, I wonder...