Wot? HBA1c = 119!!!

LionChild said:

Your journey seems very interesting. I wonder how you actually feel?

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Generally a lot better than I use to.

LionChild said:

You mention a nutritionist suggest low carbs - is that idea only a recent one then---I thought it was supposed to be major part of the answer, but you say you were diagnosed in 1997 --that is a long time ago.

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It must be over 6 years ago when I went to a nutritional therapist to see about losing some weight, above and beyond the less in/more out which clearly was not working for me. She suggested low carb and when I mentioned how my doctors had said not to lower my carbs, she just said try it for a few weeks, they won't know. Good plan, my BG dropped dramatically as did my total cholesterol, I threw out the Januvia and Gliclazide and as soon as I realised how much my TC dropped, out went the statin as well.

LionChild said:

I am wondering what the recommendations were then, how much they knew, and presuming they know more now about the best way to treat diabetes?

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The idea of lowering carbs has been around for well over 150 years and even I can remember mum cutting out bread and potatoes to lose weight back in the 1960s. When William Banting wrote his booklet "Letter on Corpulence" he had been advised by his physician who had been to lectures in Paris about treating diabetes. So, low carb isn't exactly new.

There are still plenty of consultants and GPs around who will tell people not to reduce carbs. Luckily my GP and practice nurse are well and truly on board with the idea of low carb. However, I recently attended a lecture on diabetes given by a local endocrinologist who when I questioned him about his lack of mentioning carbs in his talk would only say that low carb was a contentious issue. He was quite a portly gentleman but I wasn't so rude as to tell him he could do with losing a pound or two, and try low carb. LOL Maybe I shouldn't have been so polite.

Have you been back to the GP? If you have LADA then one of the side effects is potassium not being absorbed properly - because you have insufficient insulin. It's very dangerous and actually had the consultants in A&E jumping around more than my ketone levels when I was diagnosed. My legs at night in the run up to diagnosis were aching really badly.

You need that hba1c re-run and antibody blood tests IMO

Bluetit1802 said:

Where do you get the information that a medium tomato is over 6g of carbs? Is the fibre included in your total?
According to all the information I have, a raw tomato is 3% carb. Juiced tomatoes maybe a different matter.

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I Google and compare information from several sites before settling on the one that feels the more accurate.

aealexandrou said:

I Google and compare information from several sites before settling on the one that feels the more accurate.

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But is fibre included in that carb count? If the sites you looked at were American ones fibre certainly would be included. It has to be deducted to reach the actual carb amount. I still maintain that raw tomatoes are fine on a low carb and keto diet.

LionChild said:

Thank you for this suggestion. I am seeing gp tomorrow and will ask for both re-run and antibody test!

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Excellent. Let us know how it goes.

aealexandrou said:

One medium tomato represents just over 6g of carbs, most of which is sugar. If you are putting in more than one tomato than that might be an issue. Tomatoes are fruit and their sugar is in the form of fractose which is managed, poorly, by your liver, not your pancreas. If you regularly juice with tomatoes the fractose prevents the body from using up its far stores and defeats the object of a low carb diet. When eating a salad, rather than a juice it would be unusual to have more than one tomato at a time. If you are looking for something to sweeten the lettuce juice, try 1 small beetroot. It's similar to a tomato in nutrients but you don't need more than one in the blender to sweeten the lettuce and the carbs are processed by your gut and pancreas in the regular way and doesn't interfere with your low-carb regime.

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I always buy small tomatoes - and just one. I do grow my own sometimes and allow large numbers of fruits to develop so they are small in size.
The Nutribullet was used three times, I think - to make lower and lower carb drinks, but the effect was simply too high a spike.

LionChild said:

Further to this I want to ask for people's views on here because the doctor I saw earlier said that this was very likely he thought to be diabetes 1 and had been misdiagnosed now I've done some research since on my phone and find that often with this diabetic ketoacidosis its most often with diabetes one but may sometimes less frequently it's truth be diabetes too so now I'm thinking I hope they don't misdiagnose this and that in fact I am still diabetes 2 with the diabetic ketoacidosis cause of course with the diabetes one I will be receiving insulin for diabetes 2 it will be metformin so are they being biased in assuming again and assumption that im diabetes 1 can this be easily challenged and unravelled or am I going to meet with obstinacy here we'll see I just want to make sure they get the right diagnosis or I will be having the wrong medication

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I’m sorry to hear you’re in hospital and suffering dka but also relieved that you finally got someone taking your numbers seriously and you’ve come to no significant harm as a result of them being ignored. (I’d be considering making 111 aware of their potentially fatal error for them to use it as an education/learning curve). Hopefully the hospital drs will be doing the further tests to confirm for sure which type.

Glad to hear you're getting the right treatment now. The hospital will have taken blood to run anti body tests. If they are positive then I'm afraid it is late onset type 1. Even if they come back as negative you could still require insulin. Don't worry about mis diagnosis because you'll be under the care of the hospital diabetes team who won't prescribe insulin unless they are sure you need it.

@LionChild It is perfectly possible for a genuine Type 2 to have DKA. It is just less common than in T1s.
Make sure you get all the T1 tests - c-peptide and GAD antibodies.

Sending you hugs. (and beware of hospital food and all the carbs!!)

LionChild said:

Thank you yes that has already come up as an issue with supper tonight I did ask about it but they don't seem too concerned even giving me biscuits why are they not concerned about carbs the impression they give is it that is not important or even sugar. So do I even need to take responsibility for my well-being and health even here in hospital?

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As long as they are still testing you and giving you insulin to cover the carbs, all should be well in the short period of time you will be in hospital. Hospital food can be a nightmare for us all.

Bluetit1802 said:

@LionChild It is perfectly possible for a genuine Type 2 to have DKA. It is just less common than in T1s.
Make sure you get all the T1 tests - c-peptide and GAD antibodies.

Sending you hugs. (and beware of hospital food and all the carbs!!)

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I found the hospital food excellent during my recent stay........although perhaps I got spoilt because I also work there.....be sure that 'Diabetic Low Carb Diet' is on the whiteboard behind your bed and ask for the 'Alternative menu'.....you'll find vegan,halal and caribbean dishes on there that are tastier and healthier.....at the very least you'll be assured a vegetarian curry as an option?

Traceymac23 said:

I found the hospital food excellent during my recent stay........although perhaps I got spoilt because I also work there.....be sure that 'Diabetic Low Carb Diet' is on the whiteboard behind your bed and ask for the 'Alternative menu'.....you'll find vegan,halal and caribbean dishes on there that are tastier and healthier.....at the very least you'll be assured a vegetarian curry as an option?

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Not at the hospital I was at!