Visit To Nurse Wasn’t Quite Expected...

Stick with us, keep testing, keep asking questions. I think you can get all the direction you need from this site

My success is virtually all down to this site, plus a tiny bit of help from a prescription of Metformin. Keep in touch here, carry on monitoring your carbs and blood sugars and you’re half way there. I don’t know if you have weight to lose too, but low carbing, blood sugar control and weight loss combined had a beneficial effect on my blood pressure. I was on two meds for it but have dropped one of them, hopefully the same will be for you

zand said:

Stick with us, keep testing, keep asking questions. I think you can get all the direction you need from this site

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I agree.

Rachox said:

My success is virtually all down to this site, plus a tiny bit of help from a prescription of Metformin. Keep in touch here, carry on monitoring your carbs and blood sugars and you’re half way there. I don’t know if you have weight to lose too, but low carbing, blood sugar control and weight loss combined had a beneficial effect on my blood pressure. I was on two meds for it but have dropped one of them, hopefully the same will be for you

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I don't need BP meds anymore either. Just down to moderate weight loss.

What @zand wrote.
Will go a long way to help you.
Welcome to the forum and good luck

It's going in the right direction, well done! Keep up the good work.

NikkieDuranie said:

Unfortunately high bp is something I’ve been left with after having eclampsia and temporary kidney failure. Even at an ok weight it’s bad, I still hope to be able to change it one day.

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You might be surprised.. BP often goes down on a very low carb diet and there are quite a few anecdotal tales of asthma getting better too

bulkbiker said:

You might be surprised.. BP often goes down on a very low carb diet and there are quite a few anecdotal tales of asthma getting better too

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I agree my asthma and osteoarthritis too have greatly improved

Hi @NikkieDuranie glad your appointment is out of the way, you can now concentrate on what you want to do. I agree with all the previous comments and like @Rachox i attribute a lot of my success to the advice and support I received from here.
re the BP, admittedly I didn’t have a problem before diagnosis however when I went for my recent check up it’s the lowest I’ve ever known it to be, I also suffered with pre eclampsia when I carried my first daughter but it did settle after delivery.
I recently asked the question here about asthma and low carb, a colleague suffers and in a conversation she mentioned she had eaten low carb meals for a couple of days and found that her asthma cough was lessened so it would seem that there is a link to improvements for some with this condition too.
My partners mum is a type 2 who hasn’t been very controlled, she also has other serious concerns, however after seeing my success she was interested in trying low carb for herself, she has taken small steps and reduced her carb intake, not too a very strict level but it’s working, she started in May and I ordered her a meter, she has lost about 10lbs but most importantly her BG has dropped dramatically, she requested a new HBA1C test as she needs an operation which they wouldn’t do because her levels were too high, she insisted on having the new test to prove that her previous result was now very out of date, she was all but laughed at when she asked for the repeat test but they have now agreed to arrange her surgery her levels have come down from the high 80s to 57.
I have often said here that although I would much prefer not to have been diagnosed as diabetic if I hadn’t been I wouldn’t be as healthy and fitter than I am today.

We will help and encourage you.
I came here 4 years ago as I was so ignorant about diabetes. I never ever thought I would get to where I am today without the great advice and help I get from everyone here.

I have my first DN appt on Friday and to be honest I’ve been expecting a meeting like you’ve had. My GP was ambivalent about testing and I only started after coming here.
The NHS doesn’t have a simple solution- there are millions with T2D and many won’t be managing it well.
I really think the key is following a low carb diet and listening to what works and doesn’t from people on here. Take medical advice from the professionals but ask challenging questions and be educated on your choices.
There’s going to be tough days - we’ll all support you and cheer you on the good days. I’m sure you’ll do the same for us.

@NikkieDuranie
No great surprises. Poster @rhubarb73 is spot on the money with the observation that the NHS ( NDSS out my way ) have no simple solution. With the number of T2s running in the millions there is simply not enough resources to design individualised programs for the entire country. I can't prove it but suspect this is the reason why we have guidelines that are as wide as a farm gate in an attempt to encompass all possible outcomes and neatly place all cases in the same wrapper.

Wishy-washy advice such as eat stuff in moderation and the numbers will come down is unfortunately as good as it gets. A far better option would be for the nurse to simply pass each patient a card with the address of this web resource on it.

Aside from that you seem to be working out what needs to be done. All fairly logical when you think about it. We all know that carbohydrates rapidly turn into sugar which we T2s cannot handle. Simple solution - stop eating them. Gee whizz, put me up for the Nobel Prize on rocket science next.

It is good that you are seeing about your feet. With high BP, dodgy kidneys and diabetes it could be any of these or combinations of them causing your legs to swell. You probably already know this so won't dwell on it but losing weight is of paramount importance. Glucose will be much easier to control with lower body weight. I've lost 18 kg in the last 9 months ( 106 -> 88 ) and I feel like I did 20 years ago. Blood sugar is now easy to manage. My knee doesn't hurt any more. I thought the sore knee was due to forever begging forgiveness from my long suffering wife but it turned out to be carting all the extra weight around. I picked up a 20kg bag of cement the other day and thought my old weight was like having this thing permanently strapped to my back. The really good thing is that reducing carbs makes the job of weight loss much easier as we remove the kJ heavy carbs from the dinner plate. At your weight you are likely to be consuming around 10,000 kJ a day. Knocking a couple of 1000 from that will see steady weight loss over the longer time frame.

The BP is a worry. It won't be doing your kidneys any favours but I guess you know that too. By the way, in your blood tests did they also do liver and kidney function. Keep an eye on the kidney eGFR and creatinine levels and look for any worsening trends over the next year or so. Having BP and diabetes at the same time puts these valuable organs at risk.

Take care,
Glenn