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Hello fellow DM folk, looking forward to your support and companionship

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Hi Dawn and welcome.

Have you been diagnosed long? Would you like to tell us a bit about how it came about, what your HbA1c (diagnostic reading) was and if you are on any medication for your diabetes?
Do you self monitor your BG (Blood Glucose) levels at home etc.?
Of course you are not obliged to give us any information so don't feel under pressure to answer any of the above but it helps us to know where you are with your diabetes management and tailor any advice we offer more to your particular situation.
If there is anything you don't understand (like what HbA1c is) or any other query you may have, then please ask. The forum is a great source of knowledge and experience as well as being a caring, friendly community. Make yourself at home here and we will do our best to help and support you.
 
Hi
rebrascora said:
Hi Dawn and welcome.

Have you been diagnosed long? Would you like to tell us a bit about how it came about, what your HbA1c (diagnostic reading) was and if you are on any medication for your diabetes?
Do you self monitor your BG (Blood Glucose) levels at home etc.?
Of course you are not obliged to give us any information so don't feel under pressure to answer any of the above but it helps us to know where you are with your diabetes management and tailor any advice we offer more to your particular situation.
If there is anything you don't understand (like what HbA1c is) or any other query you may have, then please ask. The forum is a great source of knowledge and experience as well as being a caring, friendly community. Make yourself at home here and we will do our best to help and support you.
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Hi Barbara

I was diagnosed in 2013 with a reading of 49 and have been struggling to control it with diet ever since and have mainly managed to keep my HbA1c under 48 but have struggled more since COVID and now have a reading of 54 and am going to try Metformin slow release b.d. for 3 months to see if I can restore control but am concerned as many other symptoms have developed and think the deterioration is affecting me on several levels. I don't do any home testing of bloods, do you think it is advisable to do so?
 
Absolutely advisable to get a cheap to use meter and strips and test after meals to see how they affect you. It can pinpoint foods which cause your blood glucose to spike.
Some people are told that they should, and can eat brown versions of carbs and are rather shocked to see that they can't - or like me, eating peas and beans causes a rise as though they have twice the carbs listed, probably down to an extra efficient gut.
 
Have you looked at what you eating, I have found over the years I have had to reevaluate what I eat many times and adjust.
 
grovesy said:
Have you looked at what you eating, I have found over the years I have had to reevaluate what I eat many times and adjust.
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I have been a veggie most of my adult life, (now in mid 60s) so eat lots of lentils, beans, fresh veg, eggs, too much cheese, too many carbs and even too many refined sugars when I have a comfort-eating binge :(
I am becoming very gluten intolerant (violent sneezing fits) which saddens me as I love bread but if this means I feel better and lose some weight it will be worth it if I can do it!
I have been adapting and adjusting my diet my whole life and it sometimes a pain when I think oh what the heck and binge on stuff I shouldn't. It is very hard being self-disciplined ALL the time!
 
Ah - vegetarian eating is a bit harder to adapt - lentils and beans really need to be tested after you've eaten them to see what impact they have, and likewise any grain products, we are just not designed for such foods and need to be aware of how we, as individuals react to them.
There are, however, recipes for low carb crackers to bake, so you could eat cheese with them. Many recipes are labelled KETO - I don't know why the capitals.
 
The great thing about having your own meter and self testing is that you can see what bad choices do to your levels and that can help you to steer clear of them as well as helping you find some surprises that you can perhaps get away with. It will be more difficult for you as a vegetarian to cut your carbs but there will be some easy eliminations. What I find helps is to find low carb snacks which I can eat knowing that they will have almost no effect on my BG levels, so that when I feel the need to comfort eat there are safe foods that I can hit instead of the stuff which spikes my levels. Things like boiled eggs with full fat mayonnaise, cheese (can't have too much cheese in my book!) a pot of olives or artichokes or a jar of asparagus spears or gherkins, a square of dark (75+% chocolate with a spoon of peanut butter), a couple of slices of halloumi fried with some mushrooms and I might have that with a big plate of salad and a good dollop of cheese coleslaw if I want to upgrade it to a meal. Creamy Greek natural Yoghurt with a few berries, a cup of coffee with real cream.... not sure how you feel about dairy. Raw veggie sticks with real sour cream and chive dip... not the stuff in a jar like Doritos.
Foods with more fat will help you to feel satisfied and less hungry. Fat has been given a lot of bad press over the past 70 years and it is now believed to have been based on flawed research. Many of us find, eating a low carbohydrate, higher fat diet, that we eat less, don't get hungry, even on just two meals a day, have more energy and lose weight and surprisingly our Cholesterol levels reduce..... and most importantly we enjoy our diet..... and amazingly, are no longer tempted by the foods that we used to crave.... That last bit is the thing which really blows my mind as I was a sugar addict, chocoholic and loved bread and potatoes pre diagnosis. I love that I have control and I no longer even feel tempted and certainly don't get the gnawing cravings for comfort food that I used to

Anyway, just some things for you to think about.
 
Thanks drummer am considering getting a monitor..
rebrascora said:
The great thing about having your own meter and self testing is that you can see what bad choices do to your levels and that can help you to steer clear of them as well as helping you find some surprises that you can perhaps get away with. It will be more difficult for you as a vegetarian to cut your carbs but there will be some easy eliminations. What I find helps is to find low carb snacks which I can eat knowing that they will have almost no effect on my BG levels, so that when I feel the need to comfort eat there are safe foods that I can hit instead of the stuff which spikes my levels. Things like boiled eggs with full fat mayonnaise, cheese (can't have too much cheese in my book!) a pot of olives or artichokes or a jar of asparagus spears or gherkins, a square of dark (75+% chocolate with a spoon of peanut butter), a couple of slices of halloumi fried with some mushrooms and I might have that with a big plate of salad and a good dollop of cheese coleslaw if I want to upgrade it to a meal. Creamy Greek natural Yoghurt with a few berries, a cup of coffee with real cream.... not sure how you feel about dairy. Raw veggie sticks with real sour cream and chive dip... not the stuff in a jar like Doritos.
Foods with more fat will help you to feel satisfied and less hungry. Fat has been given a lot of bad press over the past 70 years and it is now believed to have been based on flawed research. Many of us find, eating a low carbohydrate, higher fat diet, that we eat less, don't get hungry, even on just two meals a day, have more energy and lose weight and surprisingly our Cholesterol levels reduce..... and most importantly we enjoy our diet..... and amazingly, are no longer tempted by the foods that we used to crave.... That last bit is the thing which really blows my mind as I was a sugar addict, chocoholic and loved bread and potatoes pre diagnosis. I love that I have control and I no longer even feel tempted and certainly don't get the gnawing cravings for comfort food that I used to

Anyway, just some things for you to think about.
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Wow, this is great info, thanks very much, great news to hear about the cheese and yogurt. I can see I am going to have to be looking again at what helps and what harms and think maybe a meter will help me in the task. Thanks again, really helpful
 
A basic BG test kit is approx £15. That provides you with a meter and 10 test strips and 10 lancets. If you get either a SD Gluco Navii or a Spirit Heathcare Tee2 meter kit, additional pots of 50 test strips are £8. You would be wise to get at least 2 extra pots with your meter and a box of extra lancets and that should get you started for a couple of weeks. These 2 meters are tried and tested by members of the forum here who self fund, so we would recommend one of those as being reliable and economical if you do decide to go that route. I spent my birthday money on a monitoring system last year and it was the best thing I ever could have been given as a present as it helped me improve my health. Maybe you have family who don't know what to get you for Christmas and would contribute if you really can't afford it, but the way I looked at it was that I probably spent more than that on sweets and cakes and alcohol in a couple of weeks so it was just a reallocation of funds!

Of course only you will know what you can afford and I would not encourage anyone to get into debt.
 
rebrascora said:
A basic BG test kit is approx £15. That provides you with a meter and 10 test strips and 10 lancets. If you get either a SD Gluco Navii or a Spirit Heathcare Tee2 meter kit, additional pots of 50 test strips are £8. You would be wise to get at least 2 extra pots with your meter and a box of extra lancets and that should get you started for a couple of weeks. These 2 meters are tried and tested by members of the forum here who self fund, so we would recommend one of those as being reliable and economical if you do decide to go that route. I spent my birthday money on a monitoring system last year and it was the best thing I ever could have been given as a present as it helped me improve my health. Maybe you have family who don't know what to get you for Christmas and would contribute if you really can't afford it, but the way I looked at it was that I probably spent more than that on sweets and cakes and alcohol in a couple of weeks so it was just a reallocation of funds!

Of course only you will know what you can afford and I would not encourage anyone to get into debt.
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Thanks for the tips rebrascora, and for the smiles...I have ordered the Spirit and a box of strips this morning but didn't know about the lancets (these are the pricky bits I assume).
I have a copy of The Vegetarian Low Carb Diet which I really must read (or at least access some of the recipes as my dietary intake, whilst being mainly healthy has still included far too many carbs of most kind, since COVID - like so many others I've been self isolating since March and food has been one of my main comforts which is why my DM has deteriorated and I really now need to try and get a grip as I don't want to stay on metformin if I don't have to. Just need to get through the Xmas goodies in moderation but have already reduced bread intake and gone GF with it and am trying to stick to 2 meals a day which helps.
 
As regards lancets, they are supposed to be single use but many of us use them multiple times and in fact I change my lancet twice a year.... New Years Day and St Swithin's Day It is a bit of a joke here with the more experienced members about annual lancet change day being St Swithin's. Obviously you would not use the same lancet to test another person but mine just stays in the lancet device until the appropriate day of the year comes around or it starts to feel a bit blunt. My skin is pretty dry and tough but not blunted one yet and not had an infection from reusing. Obviously, it is a decision you need to make for yourself as to whether you are comfortable reusing the lancet. Just letting you know what most of us do.

Pleased you got a test kit. It really is an invaluable tool. I remember the night I ate a bag of Jacob's salt and vinegar crackers and by BG went up to 27 and I sat all night drinking water to try to flush all that glucose out and bring my levels down a bit.... probably should have headed to hospital as that level is dangerous.... but it cured me of any craving for such naughty things again. Being able to see what they do to your levels really brings it home to you that you are harming yourself by eating them. There are also some surprises of things which you think are going to be naughty but you can get away with occasionally.... @Vonny posted the other day about a caramel choux bun she had as a special treat (to celebrate getting into her size 10 jeans) and couldn't believe that it didn't send her BG levels into orbit, so she may continue to have the odd one as a special treat very occasionally from now on, without any guilt.
 
rebrascora said:
As regards lancets, they are supposed to be single use but many of us use them multiple times and in fact I change my lancet twice a year.... New Years Day and St Swithin's Day It is a bit of a joke here with the more experienced members about annual lancet change day being St Swithin's. Obviously you would not use the same lancet to test another person but mine just stays in the lancet device until the appropriate day of the year comes around or it starts to feel a bit blunt. My skin is pretty dry and tough but not blunted one yet and not had an infection from reusing. Obviously, it is a decision you need to make for yourself as to whether you are comfortable reusing the lancet. Just letting you know what most of us do.

Pleased you got a test kit. It really is an invaluable tool. I remember the night I ate a bag of Jacob's salt and vinegar crackers and by BG went up to 27 and I sat all night drinking water to try to flush all that glucose out and bring my levels down a bit.... probably should have headed to hospital as that level is dangerous.... but it cured me of any craving for such naughty things again. Being able to see what they do to your levels really brings it home to you that you are harming yourself by eating them. There are also some surprises of things which you think are going to be naughty but you can get away with occasionally.... @Vonny posted the other day about a caramel choux bun she had as a special treat (to celebrate getting into her size 10 jeans) and couldn't believe that it didn't send her BG levels into orbit, so she may continue to have the odd one as a special treat very occasionally from now on, without any guilt.
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Thanks again for this really helpful info, the manufacturers probably tell you to change it each time to a) cover their backs and b) make more money, so I will probably follow you all with my "if it ain't blunt, don't change it" policy! You'll have to remind me of the date of St Swithin's - is it some time in April?
As for the binge eating... I am sure I qualify for a doctorate in that!!! As I have a notoriously bad sleep pattern I often binge on carbs on purpose to have a hyper which allows me to sleep for at least 4 hours (perverse or what!) but at the same time I am still learning what carbs are, used to believing it is just the usual bread, spuds, wheat-based starchy foods but sad to understand it is much more than I thought it was and that there are carbs in many things I did not realise, but I shall try and focus on the "healthier" less loaded ones in future. My own capacity to devour the quantities of food I do on more than rare occasions is quite scary so think even just trying to reduce total intake would do me a lot of good! Self-discipline is a pig in these corona-times so I need to reset the message in my head quite sharpish if I want to survive all this stuff.
As for Vonny and her size 10s - so envious but awesome achievement, respect to that woman 🙂
Thanks again Barbara
 
If it is any consolation, I was a binge eater too and I would not like to document some of the shocking quantities as well as types of food I could and did, on more than infrequent occasions, put away. Like 4 slices of wholemeal toast with butter and a full tin of Heinz baked beans... and that would just be lunch! And there would be a multipack of Snickers in the kitchen to help see me through until the evening and it was rare I ever just ate one at a time. Lucky if I could stop at 3. Those are just some of the things I am prepared to admit too.... No one knows my deepest darkest food secrets!

I worked rotating shift for a lot of years and still find a regular sleep pattern difficult, but the last few weeks I have been doing better than I have for a long time, so I understand where you are at. What I can say is that eating more fat and cutting the carbs has revolutionized my relationship to food and at long last I am in control and it has been relatively easy to maintain over the past year and a half.... It is actually getting easier as I build up a bigger repertoire of low carb meals that I can throw together relatively easily but being free of the cravings is just bliss. It is like having an itch that you can't fully scratch for most of your life and now it's gone!
I hope you too can find a way to get control back and that the BG meter helps you in that quest.

If you get stuck with anything, just shout up. The meter can take a bit of practice to get used to and I still waste the odd strip when I am not fully paying attention to what I am doing, but it does become second nature. I use an app on my phone to record everything in a diary format... ie readings, what I ate, what exercise I did, how I feel etc. It plots graphs and gives me averages and all sorts of other clever stuff but just filling it in gives me some accountability and enables me to look back at things and learn from them.
 
dawn5 said:
Thanks Jenny, he seems to do a heck of a lot of testing and am not sure I could afford all the kit his regime requires but am getting closer to my decision about getting a kit. Thanks for the blog location 🙂
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Ah, well!! Alan Shanley may be a native Australian so gets his testing equipment courtesy of the Oz health service - BUT on discovering that so many T2s in the UK had to fund their own test strips, he wrote another chapter of the same Blog to help everyone entitled Testing on a budget -

Type 2 Diabetes - A Personal Journey: Search results for testing on a budget (loraldiabetes.blogspot.com)

So read what I have linked to, and click on the Link Alan provides in that page to 'Testing on a Budget ' Then if still interested, use the search bar on that site, (On the RHS if using a laptop not a phone, dunno where it appears if using a phone) to his chapter entitled 'Painless Pricks' - and then you will know 100% about it - far more than the vast majority of GP surgery nurses do!! - possibly the GPs too.

Come to think, more than most hospital nurses and nursing assistants too - anyone who doesn't do it frequently to themselves doesn't have the slightest idea how blooming painful it can be when some of them are let loose on the unsuspecting patients!
 
Nah, Lancet Changing Day falls annually on July 15th.

(In France I should imagine they change lancets on Bastille Day, that falling on 14th July annually :D )
 
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