[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

not yet

IrishHomer wrote: »

Folks,

I was diagnosed type 2 a couple of months ago and I was given medication and a blood sugar meter.

I wasn't given any guidelines about taking readings but from Google it appears I should check at least daily and two hours after eating.

Is this correct?

Yesterday my reading was 5.2 and I felt great as if I am winning the battle to reverse it.

However today at midday I got 6.2 and later this evening I got a 9.2

Today was my worst readings since I started recording 6 weeks ago. Feeling very down tonight

From what I know most foods will raise it, Heavy white carbs will drive it really high. Maybe try ACV it helped me reduce the impact of big meals. Mine is 6.2ish in the morning but drops during the day or after exercise.

IrishHomer

not yet wrote: »

From what I know most foods will raise it, Heavy white carbs will drive it really high. Maybe try ACV it helped me reduce the impact of big meals. Mine is 6.2ish in the morning but drops during the day or after exercise.

I've been eating little or no carbs past two months. My only carbs per day is two or three ryvita

Doctor told me I'd reverse it if I lost three stone weight. So far I've lost one stone 7 pounds so half way. I'm 49yr old male 5'11 and now weigh 15 stone 7 pounds

CramCycle

IrishHomer wrote: »

I've been eating little or no carbs past two months. My only carbs per day is two or three ryvita

Doctor told me I'd reverse it if I lost three stone weight. So far I've lost one stone 7 pounds so half way. I'm 49yr old male 5'11 and now weigh 15 stone 7 pounds

Good job on the moving in the right direction, bloods and weight lost look good.

not yet

IrishHomer wrote: »

I've been eating little or no carbs past two months. My only carbs per day is two or three ryvita

Doctor told me I'd reverse it if I lost three stone weight. So far I've lost one stone 7 pounds so half way. I'm 49yr old male 5'11 and now weigh 15 stone 7 pounds

Sounds brilliant, don't get to caught up with numbers just now, Keep doing what your doing.

When you go back the doc he can tell what your bloods are doing over 6 months and get an average. My story is almost identical to yours, I was 7.3-7.2 on two fasting readings. No drugs,lost nearly 2 stone, very,very low carbs. Got a glucose meter from my dad. Reading now average 5.3-6.4...

CramCycle

IrishHomer wrote: »

I wasn't given any guidelines about taking readings but from Google it appears I should check at least daily and two hours after eating.

Is this correct?

Sorry, missed this, not really unless your doing a glucose tolerance test. Test it before eating, so lets say before brreakfast, lunch and dinner. Depending on the food, what else you have done etc. two hours it may be back in range, but for most people it won't be, even non diabetics, all it will do is add to worry for no reason.

Royal Legend

Got my Hb1ac result back today, down from 10+ in November, to 9.6 in January to 7.1 (54) now
Also weight down by about 4 stone over the same time period, first time in a long time in double digits instead of triple (98.6kg)

Still a bit to go, but doing it gradually and without doing anything excessive, just cutting out the rubbish and lots of exercise.

banie01

Fantastic results RL!
Really glad you are seeing such positive outcomes from the small changes.

johnnie T2

Hi All,

I Was diagnosed unexpectedly by my GP with Type 2 diabetes 2 weeks ago - was basically then given a leaflet book about diabetes, a prescription for Metformin and told I will receive a letter from Endocrinologist with appointment (I don't have private insurance). I am very concerned about not having any more information so went searching privately and think I have obtained an appointment for early august, but in the meantime still concerned with having no more information.

I am 31 years old, 72kgs and athletic build, heavily involved in sports and usually a T2 from what I read would be associated with needing to lose weight. Is it common for a GP to outright say to me I am T2 and be incorrect and that it's T1 or something else?

GP said that my reading for HbA1c was 55 and that it was on a level where almost I would not have to start on Metformin and that it would be safe enough for me to wait until my free medication card arrives in the post which I applied for. GP said I had very low testosterone and I should start Testosterone therapy.

- The initial/only symptom I went to the GP with was ED. I had gone to my GP two years previously about this and was just prescribed sildenafil without even doing any blood tests - this wasn't working so I returned hoping to find out it was testosterone related which could be treated. After being told about the diabetes, I am concerned that it is neuropathy or am I too early/young stage for this to be case - and testosterone treatment/getting blood sugar under control will help me? Does the Encrinologist start the testosterone therapy?

- I have recently had some uncomfort(without pain) in the left side of my pelvic region, just wondering is this anything commonly associated with diabetes? or might be just a different infection.

- in general I would have had a high carb diet, but this would mainly be bread roll/crisps for lunch and rice with dinner which I would generally work off in the gym. should I still look to go low carb if not trying to lose any weight?

- I would drink a lot of high caffeine energy drinks (no carb/no sugar) as well as soft drinks like diet coke/coke zero. I had thought that diabetes was related to too many carbs so are these ok to consume?

- I would drink quite a lot on weekends or weekends away etc but not on daily/midweek basis. should I even try switch this to zero carb like vodka/diet coke? I guess I am concerned there is some other problems such as kidneys etc would people with T1/T2 be commonly able to go out drinking? if I take that metformin when it arrives do I need to not drink at all whilst on it?

appreciate any help on above, just a bit worried without knowing what's actually going on
and its difficult to put life on hold if there is already planned trips etc coming up!

thanks!

gerrybbadd

johnnie T2 wrote: »

Hi All,

I Was diagnosed unexpectedly by my GP with Type 2 diabetes 2 weeks ago - was basically then given a leaflet book about diabetes, a prescription for Metformin and told I will receive a letter from Endocrinologist with appointment (I don't have private insurance). I am very concerned about not having any more information so went searching privately and think I have obtained an appointment for early august, but in the meantime still concerned with having no more information.

I am 31 years old, 72kgs and athletic build, heavily involved in sports and usually a T2 from what I read would be associated with needing to lose weight. Is it common for a GP to outright say to me I am T2 and be incorrect and that it's T1 or something else?

GP said that my reading for HbA1c was 55 and that it was on a level where almost I would not have to start on Metformin and that it would be safe enough for me to wait until my free medication card arrives in the post which I applied for. GP said I had very low testosterone and I should start Testosterone therapy.

- The initial/only symptom I went to the GP with was ED. I had gone to my GP two years previously about this and was just prescribed sildenafil without even doing any blood tests - this wasn't working so I returned hoping to find out it was testosterone related which could be treated. After being told about the diabetes, I am concerned that it is neuropathy or am I too early/young stage for this to be case - and testosterone treatment/getting blood sugar under control will help me? Does the Encrinologist start the testosterone therapy?

- I have recently had some uncomfort(without pain) in the left side of my pelvic region, just wondering is this anything commonly associated with diabetes? or might be just a different infection.

- in general I would have had a high carb diet, but this would mainly be bread roll/crisps for lunch and rice with dinner which I would generally work off in the gym. should I still look to go low carb if not trying to lose any weight?

- I would drink a lot of high caffeine energy drinks (no carb/no sugar) as well as soft drinks like diet coke/coke zero. I had thought that diabetes was related to too many carbs so are these ok to consume?

- I would drink quite a lot on weekends or weekends away etc but not on daily/midweek basis. should I even try switch this to zero carb like vodka/diet coke? I guess I am concerned there is some other problems such as kidneys etc would people with T1/T2 be commonly able to go out drinking? if I take that metformin when it arrives do I need to not drink at all whilst on it?

appreciate any help on above, just a bit worried without knowing what's actually going on
and its difficult to put life on hold if there is already planned trips etc coming up!

thanks!

Have you been given a blood glucose metre?

The HBA1C is pretty high. With regard to neuropathy, have you had any pain in your extremeties? Any tingling? When i was diagnosed about 10 years back, I had pretty bad pains from the waist down, lots of feeling like my legs were in boiling water. Had no ED, but had a lack of sensation, meaning it took me absolutely ages to finish. Used to have my poor wife worn out! (not a boast, it wasn't fun!).

With regard to the pain in your pelvis, this could be anything really.

Metformin will not prevent you from having a drink. Lager & Cider are quite high in carbs however, so they would have an effect on your blood sugars.

With regard to high carb diet, if your body is insulin resistant, which is a trait of T2, you won't burn off the carbs in the gym. You'll burn some off, not all.

The diet coke thing, i drink tonnes of the stuff myself, but its not meant to be good for you. The aspartame is poison.

johnnie T2

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Have you been given a blood glucose metre?

The HBA1C is pretty high. With regard to neuropathy, have you had any pain in your extremeties? Any tingling? When i was diagnosed about 10 years back, I had pretty bad pains from the waist down, lots of feeling like my legs were in boiling water. Had no ED, but had a lack of sensation, meaning it took me absolutely ages to finish. Used to have my poor wife worn out! (not a boast, it wasn't fun!).

With regard to the pain in your pelvis, this could be anything really.

Metformin will not prevent you from having a drink. Lager & Cider are quite high in carbs however, so they would have an effect on your blood sugars.

With regard to high carb diet, if your body is insulin resistant, which is a trait of T2, you won't burn off the carbs in the gym. You'll burn some off, not all.

The diet coke thing, i drink tonnes of the stuff myself, but its not meant to be good for you. The aspartame is poison.

No meter was given - basically given no further details after getting told I'd need to see specialist by the GP which is pretty alarming given what I read since. She said something to me like "I get people who come in with 100 HBA1C reading" as if I wasn't really a cause for immediate concern. i've been ringing around all week to try get private appointment. would like to have some further information before going on holidays which will be mainly eating/drinking.

not really any pain bar from football etc - I have started to notice a tingling in my big toe but I'm not sure if this is just me thinking it now after reading things. no general random pains in lower body. Hopefully this means its more so the testosterone thing - it must be pretty low as she was asking if I was able to grow facial hair etc!! when I started with sildafil originally it was working as well so i'm hoping getting the sugar and testosterone under control will help. the sildenafil was working mainly when I was on a holiday where wasn't eating much so maybe the carbs/sugar was lower.

The Carbs I know I need to cut down but just worried if its T1 given my body type. I just didn't want to start on metformin and collapse if end up on a Saturday night out! as I don't know enough about it. if I just went vodka and diet coke would this be better, I guess I am now worried ive all sorts of underlying problems with kidneys etc

I know the low calorie drinks aren't great but I drink loads and would struggle to come off them - once they haven't actually given me diabetes I don't mind! is the main thing to have little carbs?

ebbsy

Gel insoles in Aldi. Very cheap.

Fantastic for your feet.

gerrybbadd

I wouldn't think too much on the body type issue. There's a mindset that only fat lazy people get T2.

I was 9.5 stone when i was diagnosed with Diabetes. That being said, they've never fully diagnosed me correctly, as they tell me i display traits of both Type 1 and Type 2. I was started on just metformin, and that made no difference to my blood sugars alone, so I was then put on insulin as well

johnnie T2

gerrybbadd wrote: »

I wouldn't think too much on the body type issue. There's a mindset that only fat lazy people get T2.

I was 9.5 stone when i was diagnosed with Diabetes. That being said, they've never fully diagnosed me correctly, as they tell me i display traits of both Type 1 and Type 2. I was started on just metformin, and that made no difference to my blood sugars alone, so I was then put on insulin as well

GP basically diagnosed from that one 55 reading, would that be accurate enough to ascertain if T1/T2? should GP not have done some more blood tests etc?

MrMacPhisto

johnnie T2 wrote: »

GP basically diagnosed from that one 55 reading, would that be accurate enough to ascertain if T1/T2? should GP not have done some more blood tests etc?

Make a list of your concerns and questions. Go back to your GP, or maybe a different GP given your previous experience. You won't find all the answers and peace of mind here. Very hard to speculate on a one off result of 55.

With a bit of luck and good guidance around lifestyle/diet, you could control or reverse the condition (if its Type 2).

johnnie T2

MrMacPhisto wrote: »

Make a list of your concerns and questions. Go back to your GP, or maybe a different GP given your previous experience. You won't find all the answers and peace of mind here. Very hard to speculate on a one off result of 55.

With a bit of luck and good guidance around lifestyle/diet, you could control or reverse the condition (if its Type 2).

kind of concerned the GP doesn't have the knowledge to help, if sends me for blood tests etc again be another 2 weeks by which time it would be nearly my Endocrinology appointment. would it be ok enough to hang on until I see the specialist with my result?

jimf

your local chemist may be able to sort you a meter as they given out free by the company its the test strips they make their money on

I was of the opinion that you should not be diagnosed with a 1 off hba1c test but yours is really in the diabetic range

up to 42 is considered normal 42 to 48 prediabetic anything over is diabetes

main thing try not to get stressed about it diabetes loves stress

really no point getting tested again for about 2 months as its based on blood levels over the previous 60/90 days so any variation wont be much in the difference

johnnie T2

jimf wrote: »

your local chemist may be able to sort you a meter as they given out free by the company its the test strips they make their money on

I was of the opinion that you should not be diagnosed with a 1 off hba1c test but yours is really in the diabetic range

up to 42 is considered normal 42 to 48 prediabetic anything over is diabetes

main thing try not to get stressed about it diabetes loves stress

really no point getting tested again for about 2 months as its based on blood levels over the previous 60/90 days so any variation wont be much in the difference

How will the GP have decided i'm T2 and not T1 is what I am wondering?

Is this one of the meters you do your own blood test with? will it give me the same reading as discussed there Hba1C rating same as we were discussing above so I can check it against what it was?

Is it unusual that I am not feeling any effects as in my sporting performance etc is still very high at 55?

jimf

type 1 tends to come on very fast over a short period of time whereas type 2 gradually creeps up on you

the meter you will get will only give you a reading at that time whereas the hba1c is based on your average readings over a longer period

jimf

the thing with having the meter is you can check yourself after eating which will give you a good idea of what certain foods are doing to your sugar levels

Alanstrainor

johnnie T2 wrote: »

How will the GP have decided i'm T2 and not T1 is what I am wondering?

Is this one of the meters you do your own blood test with? will it give me the same reading as discussed there Hba1C rating same as we were discussing above so I can check it against what it was?

Is it unusual that I am not feeling any effects as in my sporting performance etc is still very high at 55?

The Hba1C reading is used to get an average reading of your blood glucose. The higher this figure is, the higher your average blood sugar. So it is used by doctors to get a fair idea of your glucose levels over a 6 to 8 week period.

The meters people are talking about are blood glucose meters. These will tell you what your current blood sugar is. For everyone this will vary somewhat, but for T2 diabetics you would expect to see significant rises post carbohydrate intake. But it is only a snapshot at a particular time.

You mention a relatively high carb diet, it would be wise to make changes here and to try and cut your carb intake as much as possible.

And as for determining T1 or T2, there are specific blood tests that can be done to find this out for certain. It is common for diabetics of your age to just immediately be given a T2 diagnosis without further checking. My mother got T1 at the age of 40 (about 2 years after I was diagnosed T1 at the age of 9), and she was diagnosed as T2 for quite a while before a correct diagnosis of T1 was determined. But from what you say, there's nothing too alarming that would point to T1 just yet.

Morby

I've gotten my blood sugar levels down from 33 to 25 over the past 9 months or so, I'm not fully au fait with blood sugar levels, but am I on the right track, am I doing OK?

wakka12

The vast majority(85%) of T2 diabetics are overweight or obese. But roughly 15% of them also have normal BMI, so despite that being a relatively small proportion it still equates to millions of normal weight people worldwide having diabetes. In a country the size of the U.S for instance, theres roughly 1 million people with normal body weight who are type 2 diabetic, and significantly more with prediabetes. It is just a risk factor, a very significant risk factor none the less, but nothing about biology is set in stone. Though admittedly given your relatively young age, athletic build and active lifestyle and presumably no family history(?), you are very unlucky to have developed diabetes.

Are you experiencing any significant and chronic emotional stress @johnnie? Just asking because stress can cause testosterone levels to plummet in men and also cause high blood sugar levels, both because of high and sustained levels of cortisol.Perhaps for that reason you should have thyroid function checked. In addition to that, high alcohol intake is also well known for lowering testosterone levels in men, if you were not aware.

Regardless though try not to get too stressed out about. Theres no need to rush, just relax,please try to ejoy your holiday! Its likely youve had it for a long period before this so its not going to kill you all of a sudden just because youre now aware of it. If your GP wasnt too worried its important to appreciate that. Theres lots of intelligent and highly knowledgable people on this board but your GP is a medical health professional , and despite you thinking she comes across as clueless she is still without a doubt highly trained and educated and has likely experienced successfully treating hundreds of diabetics in your local area over the course of her career, none of these people on baords have.So remember to always take that advice over strangers on the internet.

not yet

johnnie T2 wrote: »

GP basically diagnosed from that one 55 reading, would that be accurate enough to ascertain if T1/T2? should GP not have done some more blood tests etc?

1: Get on Keto

2: Change your GP.

Royal Legend

banie01 wrote: »

Fantastic results RL!
Really glad you are seeing such positive outcomes from the small changes.

Feeling very positive about it, the 100kg mark is a big one for me, plus I was guessing my Hb1Ac would be below 8, but it is nearly below 7.

its gotten to be a habit now, so will update again in 6 months, plus i will have my NAFLD test next January.

Main thing is that i have a realistic goal, one that is achievable and I am getting help from my GP on same when required. there may be an added bonus at the end, but my main goal is to get and keep fit.

Royal Legend

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Have you been given a blood glucose metre?

The HBA1C is pretty high. With regard to neuropathy, have you had any pain in your extremeties? Any tingling? When i was diagnosed about 10 years back, I had pretty bad pains from the waist down, lots of feeling like my legs were in boiling water. Had no ED, but had a lack of sensation, meaning it took me absolutely ages to finish. Used to have my poor wife worn out! (not a boast, it wasn't fun!).

With regard to the pain in your pelvis, this could be anything really.

Metformin will not prevent you from having a drink. Lager & Cider are quite high in carbs however, so they would have an effect on your blood sugars.

With regard to high carb diet, if your body is insulin resistant, which is a trait of T2, you won't burn off the carbs in the gym. You'll burn some off, not all.

The diet coke thing, i drink tonnes of the stuff myself, but its not meant to be good for you. The aspartame is poison.

The lack of sensation, is that linked to diabetes? have the same issue, thought it was just age. (although pretty active for an old(ish) fella )

banie01

IME fitness and weight makes a huge difference.

As you know I started the Newcastle diet in February, did 10weeks total rather than 8 as I took a bit of a break in the middle.

My main takeaway from it is that I'm now insulin free since March and my HbA1c in May was 47, 2 points lower than October's.

My BMI has gone from 29.5 down to 24.7.

My base fitness was always decent, a few sedentary years did it no favours but it has improved.
Unfortunately at the moment I'm laid up with an issue that means any longer than 15mins upright leaves me with fairly severe pain and reliant on opiates

The main takeaway for me from the NC diet and my current improvement...
Is this.
I am diagnosed since 2007, it's never ever too late to make small changes that can reap big improvements.

Best of luck with the liver come January RL!

Royal Legend

banie01 wrote: »

IME fitness and weight makes a huge difference.

As you know I started the Newcastle diet in February, did 10weeks total rather than 8 as I took a bit of a break in the middle.

My main takeaway from it is that I'm now insulin free since March and my HbA1c in May was 47, 2 points lower than October's.

My BMI has gone from 29.5 down to 24.7.

My base fitness was always decent, a few sedentary years did it no favours but it has improved.
Unfortunately at the moment I'm laid up with an issue that means any longer than 15mins upright leaves me with fairly severe pain and reliant on opiates

The main takeaway for me from the NC diet and my current improvement...
Is this.
I am diagnosed since 2007, it's never ever too late to make small changes that can reap big improvements.

Best of luck with the liver come January RL!

You are inspirational Banie, brilliant to see the changes the NC diet, hope you are back and going again soon.

P.S. What was your inspiration/goal at the beginning?

banie01

Royal Legend wrote: »

You are inspirational Banie, brilliant to see the changes the NC diet, hope you are back and going again soon.

P.S. What was your inspiration/goal at the beginning?

Retinopathy!
Years of my control being a range of under 7 and I found out that I had incipient retinopathy in both of my eyes.

TBH when I decided to give NC a go, my aim was drop some weight and hopefully improve my BP as that was the only other thing that I couldn't directly control that would affect my eyes.

It probably started as a little bit of a manic reaction to finding that no matter how good my control was, I couldn't stop the retinopathy.

Now it's not at a point where it has had any impact on my vision yet but I decided to see if I could push it off as long as I could.

My goals were to reduce my insulin dependence, as it makes it difficult to shift weight and then get under a 100kg if I could.
I managed to zero my insulin and dropped to @94kg, now I am just back from an all inclusive holiday so the weight has crept up but only to 98 and it will come off again

johnnie T2

wakka12 wrote: »

The vast majority(85%) of T2 diabetics are overweight or obese. But roughly 15% of them also have normal BMI, so despite that being a relatively small proportion it still equates to millions of normal weight people worldwide having diabetes. In a country the size of the U.S for instance, theres roughly 1 million people with normal body weight who are type 2 diabetic, and significantly more with prediabetes. It is just a risk factor, a very significant risk factor none the less, but nothing about biology is set in stone. Though admittedly given your relatively young age, athletic build and active lifestyle and presumably no family history(?), you are very unlucky to have developed diabetes.

Are you experiencing any significant and chronic emotional stress @johnnie? Just asking because stress can cause testosterone levels to plummet in men and also cause high blood sugar levels, both because of high and sustained levels of cortisol.Perhaps for that reason you should have thyroid function checked. In addition to that, high alcohol intake is also well known for lowering testosterone levels in men, if you were not aware.

Regardless though try not to get too stressed out about. Theres no need to rush, just relax,please try to ejoy your holiday! Its likely youve had it for a long period before this so its not going to kill you all of a sudden just because youre now aware of it. If your GP wasnt too worried its important to appreciate that. Theres lots of intelligent and highly knowledgable people on this board but your GP is a medical health professional , and despite you thinking she comes across as clueless she is still without a doubt highly trained and educated and has likely experienced successfully treating hundreds of diabetics in your local area over the course of her career, none of these people on baords have.So remember to always take that advice over strangers on the internet.

Yeah I've no family history of diabetes at all that I know of. The only excesses I'd say I have are lots of diet soft drinks and I drink a fair amount of beer at the weekends.

Possibly stress with work and family life (parents divorced over past few years)- can this be helped with the testosterone therapy? Can it be a case that I am just stressed and not diabetic?

It was more that the GP didn't know much more and was referring to Endocrinologist and then was pushed for time with people in waiting room - I also didn't know anything about the topic myself then so didn't really know what to ask! she did give me prescription for Metformin but I am unsure whether to start taking it.

I may try and get a meter in the pharmacy this evening, will it give me the reading I'm familiar with I.e 55 etc for blood sugar, I have seen people use a different metric.

MrMacPhisto

johnnie T2 wrote: »

Yeah I've no family history of diabetes at all that I know of. The only excesses I'd say I have are lots of diet soft drinks and I drink a fair amount of beer at the weekends.

Possibly stress with work and family life (parents divorced over past few years)- can this be helped with the testosterone therapy? Can it be a case that I am just stressed and not diabetic?

It was more that the GP didn't know much more and was referring to Endocrinologist and then was pushed for time with people in waiting room - I also didn't know anything about the topic myself then so didn't really know what to ask! she did give me prescription for Metformin but I am unsure whether to start taking it.

I may try and get a meter in the pharmacy this evening, will it give me the reading I'm familiar with I.e 55 etc for blood sugar, I have seen people use a different metric.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk

Lots of good information. I think you will find a lot of the answers you are looking for there.

You will see many different numbers used in reference to diabetes. The different units and meters are explained on that website too.

Try and develop your knowledge and prepare the questions you want answered by the Endo. They will be well able to answer your queries.

I would definitely consider changing GP. Diabetes is a serious condition but very treatable/manageable. In my opinion, a Doctors primary role is to reassure a patient and provide relevant information. I think he/she has failed you in this instance.