Newly diagnosed

[Gucci69]

Hi
I’m really upset however motivated at the same time to put this Type 2 in remission. I didn’t know how serious it was until I researched it.

any tips or advice for diet/exercise.?

I have been on metaformin for 8 days and it’s rough, stomach feels sickly. Before medication I had a rapid heart beat which I put down to stress however I think it was my blood sugar levels.

thanks
.

 

[Drummer]

At least you are not having the full on 'I'm going to turn inside out before long' effects.
You might like to try getting a glucose meter and checking your blood glucose levels. I use a Tee 2 from Spirit Healthcare as it is cheap to use it.
By reducing carb intake many type twos can resolve the problems associated with high blood glucose and get normal numbers. Checking levels two hours after starting to eat can show both the effect of the meal and how well you are dealing with it.

 

[Gucci69]

Thank you for replying 🙂. What does the turn inside out effect feel like?

I will check out the glucose monitor.

I am really going to do everything I can to give me a fighting chance to get better numbers at my next check up.

I am waiting on nutritionist appointment at the hospital. Although I’m very tuned into healthy food , I know there will be food I wouldn’t connect to not helping diabetes.

Had a quick look on this site and some great food ideas. I will change to olive oil based spreads for one.

 

[Drummer]

Thank you for replying 🙂. What does the turn inside out effect feel like?
I will check out the glucose monitor.
I am really going to do everything I can to give me a fighting chance to get better numbers at my next check up.
I am waiting on nutritionist appointment at the hospital. Although I’m very tuned into healthy food , I know there will be food I wouldn’t connect to not helping diabetes.
Had a quick look on this site and some great food ideas. I will change to olive oil based spreads for one.

If someone has a really bad reaction to Metformin it can feel as though your guts are about to explode out through any orifice, or maybe just explode - most unpleasant.
Unfortunately most people will recomend carbohydrates as healthy foods, and those are the ones to avoid, dense starchy foods such as pasta, bread, potatoes, oats, rice - all will raise blood glucose levels - even in small amounts.
Butter is a good option - spreads have very little to be spread on, but a bit of butter added to veges after steaming, or cooking a stir fry in olive oil is good - just keep the heat fairly low so as not to scorch things brown.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Gucci69

Glad you’ve found us, and well done on your decision to tackle this head-on!

If you’ve not found it already, many new members here find Maggie Davey’s letter a useful overview of T2 diabetes

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/maggie-daveys-letter-to-newly-diagnosed-type-2s.61307/

And AlanS’s ‘test review adjust’ a simple, methodical way of measuring blood glucose outcomes around food and understanding how different carbohydrates affect each of us individually.


https://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

 

[Gucci69]

Thanks @everydayupsanddowns that has been an informative read

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Gucci and welcome from me too. Good to read that you have the right mentality to succeed with this.

I think we all felt pretty overwhelmed when we first got the diagnosis and it takes a bit of getting your head around, particularly learning how to eat low carb when you have spent all your life piling them onto your plate at every meal..... bread, potatoes, pasta, rice etc as well as the "naughty but nice" stuff like cakes biscuits and sweets and even healthy stuff like fruit needs to be selectively rationed to get BG under control.
The good news is that once you get your head around eating low carb and your body stops craving them, it can be quite a pleasant way to eat. If you need to lose weight then keeping your fat intake down at first will help, but once you reach a normal BMI, increasing fat intake to supply the calories that you are not getting from carbs makes it very pleasant. Fat takes longer for the body to break down so it keeps you feeling fuller for longer and releases a much smaller amount of glucose into the blood stream than carbs in a steady trickle so it works better than low GI carbs for providing slow release energy. Some of us start the day with cream in our coffee and a cheese and onion and mushroom omelette with a salad (no bread) works well for me if I have time. I have recently found a low carb Nuts and Seeds Granola in the Eat Natural range which is just 34g carbs per 100g (half the normal carb content of breakfast cereal or granola). I weigh out 50g and I have that with a few berries (usually raspberries which are one of the lowest carb fruits) and a couple of good dollops of Creamy Natural Greek Yoghurt (avoid low fat as it is always higher in carbs) which comes to less than 30g carbs and is very filling. Alternatively, Nature Valley do some Protein Bars which are under 10g carbs each and they make a great "grab and go" breakfast. The salted caramel variety is one that many of us here on the forum enjoy but the choc chip and peanut is good and the coconut and white chocolate I think.
I make sure I have plenty of low carb snacks like cheese and olives and nuts and boiled eggs and veggie sticks with sour cream and chive dips in the house so that if I do get the munchies I can indulge in things which I enjoy but will not send my BG rocketing. I even have the odd packet of pork scratchings as a treat instead of crisps.
Salads are good for lunch and I have them with cheese coleslaw. Homemade soup is also good but be careful with pea and ham or lentil or thick broth with potatoes and barley in it.
Evening meal is usually fish or meat with lots and lots of veggies. Leafy green veggies taste so much better with the addition of a knob of butter or a dollop of cream cheese or cooked in some bacon fat. Cauliflower is your friend as it is so versatile... cauliflower cheese is a big favourite on the forum here made with cream cheese and grated cheese rather than a cheese sauce with milk and flour which both contain carbs. It can also be mashed to replace potato and used as it is, with a spoon of mustard mixed in as well as cream cheese and used to top a cottage pie or finely chopped and cooked to replace rice or cous cous.
Hopefully the above will give you some ideas to get started. I found the hardest part was learning how to shop low carb.... reading nutritional labels is key . Once you figure out the right things to buy the rest is easier.

 

[rebrascora]

As regards exercise, a good brisk walk regularly is as good as anything. Set a pace that is faster than your normal walk so that you are breathing more deeply and if you can incorporate hills into it all the better. Even just 10 mins every day is better than nothing. It doesn't have to be anything overly exertive. But if you are into more social pursuits, a dance class or aquafit are both really good or cycling if you like that. Something which is more steady can be better than really exertive physical exercise for lowering your BG, so find something which you can commit to a regular routine, start low and build it up over the weeks and months..

 

[rebrascora]

..... Oh and do make sure to take your Metformin, mid meal with a substantial amount of food to mitigate the digestive upset it causes.

 

[Gucci69]

@rebrascora hi Barbara , thank you so much for the tips and guidance. Some really practical stuff that I can follow. Great tip about the Metformin, first night I took it I had horrendous time. Only one other since so I will try and sandwich it mid meal. I notice you went from type 2 to Type 1, I’m hoping I can control it at type 2 however I have a feeling I have been living with it a lot longer before diagnosis. Only found out through a wellwoman check however once I read up on T2 symptoms I had them however I put the symptoms down to other things ☹️

 

[rebrascora]

Hi again. Don't worry about progressing to Type 1.... it doesn't happen. I was misdiagnosed as Type 2 although the nurse always had doubts about the diagnosis. Diabetes is diagnosed when your HbA1c reading (which is the glucose stuck to the haemoglobin in your blood) reaches 48mmols (42-47 is the pre-diabetic range). There is no specific test for Type 2 but generally people are overweight to a greater or lesser extent and usually middle aged plus and often asymptomatic. Type 1 is generally believed to exhibit in children and young adults although that situation is now known to incorrect and is usually accompanied by sudden weight loss and frequent urination/thirst. There is specific testing (C-peptide and GAD antibody tests) which indicate Type 1 but they are expensive, so not routinely carried out. My diabetes came on literally overnight .... (I got a raging thirst and was drinking water and weeing all day and night and the weight started to drop) and I had had a normal blood test the previous year. I think one of the main things which threw them towards Type 2 was my age (55) and that I was a self confessed sugar addict.... in fact a really heavy user of the white stuff (although actually I preferred Demerara) as well as eating large amounts of bread and potatoes and pasta.... always wholemeal and porridge and fruit, but never the less I consumed a huge amount of carbs. The Type 2 medication had no effect whatsoever and despite cutting my carb consumption down to a very low level in the weeks following diagnosis and taking the oral meds (Metformin and Gliclazide) my HbA1c went even higher, indicating that my body was not producing insulin, whereas a Type 2 diabetic often produces too much insulin but the body is resistant to it, which is where the Metformin comes into it.... it helps to oil the locks on the doors of the cells so that the insulin can open the locks and the glucose can enter the cells to be metabolised.... all rather complicated but the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 is that the immune system of a Type 1 has attacked the insulin producing part of the pancreas and knocked out its ability to produce insulin anymore. Type 2s can produce insulin but the body is not able to utilise it.

Like you I was determined to control my diabetes via diet and exercise and was totally gutted when, despite very strict efforts for 6 weeks I had to start on insulin, but in that time I learned to eat low carb and although I could now eat normally and inject as much insulin as I need to cover it, I do not want to risk sliding back to my old carb addiction and I enjoy what I eat and I like how it feels to be the new slimmer me, too much to jeopardise that, so I stick to a low carb diet and use the minimal insulin I can get away with.

What symptoms were you experiencing and what was your HbA1c at diagnosis? Sorry if you already gave that info but at a quick glance I can't see it.

 

[Gucci69]

Thanks for that Barbara, it really gives some clarity.

It was 50. I’ve been experiencing increased urination, rapid heart beat, blurry vision, tingling toes, tiredness. I put some down to under active thyroid, being really busy at work , stress etc as well as having a cyst on my ovary. Now I feel I am falling apart however I’m pleased I have a diagnosis and this is probably why I have had them so hoping I can stop some of the symptoms with Metformin and low carb eating and upping my exercise.

 

[rebrascora]

50 is a very low diabetic reading to be experiencing symptoms. Not saying what you were experiencing is not related but it would be quite unusual. I was higher than 112 when I was having symptoms.
If you don't mind me suggesting it, menopause can certainly cause some of those symptoms, if that might apply in your case. I have just started HRT a couple of months ago and found a huge benefit with that. Even using insulin I was going to the loo a couple of times a night. Almost immediately after starting HRT, I sleep right through without a pit stop and feel so much more refreshed when I wake up as a result. Even though my BG is still rather erratic and I am into double figures quite often, I no longer need to visit the loo through the night or so frequently through the day so I am certain that the HRT is responsible for the change. Apologies if I am off the mark with the suggestion of menopause.... your profile does not show your age but I am guessing the 69 on your member name might be relevant.

 

[Gucci69]

Thanks Barbara, sometimes when a lot of things are going on at the same time, it’s difficult to understand the cause. That’s interesting around the 50 being a low diabetic reading, gives me more hope that I can make a difference

 

[rebrascora]

Oh absolutely. 50 is only just over the diabetic line which is 48. Some of us were more than double that. I know I am Type 1 so it is a bit different but @Anitram was over 100 at diagnosis and he is Type 2 and got it down into the normal range in a few months, so you have every chance of pushing yours into remission with a bit of effort and the right advice. I am quite surprised that they gave you Metformin straight off as you might well be able to push it back just with lifestyle changes and some GPs offer that option, but perhaps with you having symptoms, they wanted to hit it hard and see what happens.

 

[Felinia]

Did you mean your age was 50, or your HbA1c was 50? If it was your HbA1c I'm very surprised you were put straight on Metformin, for only just being in the diabetic range. My HbA1c was 57 and I was given 3 months to try and reduce my glucose levels by low carb diet and exercise alone, which is proving successful. It might be worth asking if there was a medical reason you were not given the opportunity to try diet and exercise first. I too had symptoms of weeing for England and feeling very tired all the time, but both have eased a bit. There is a slow release version of Metformin which I understand causes less side effects if you need to take it. I have also read that the side effects can reduce as your body adapts.

 

[Gucci69]

That’s really reassuring, I feel so much more positive now. Yes I think he prescribed the Metformin as I’d mentioned the symptoms and I was more than ready to try them to see if it eases them , after checking if I could manage my diet and exercise and if I managed to get numbers down that I could come off them with GP advice. ( I would rather take no medication).

I have made a few tweaks this week and tried some new recipes this weekend from the website and thoroughly enjoyed them.

I love how you are enjoying your new food lifestyle and I think I will too.

 

[rebrascora]

Yes some people do come off the medication once they get it in remission and maintain their success, so that is certainly a goal to aim for.

 

[SB2015]

That’s really reassuring, I feel so much more positive now. Yes I think he prescribed the Metformin as I’d mentioned the symptoms and I was more than ready to try them to see if it eases them , after checking if I could manage my diet and exercise and if I managed to get numbers down that I could come off them with GP advice. ( I would rather take no medication).

I have made a few tweaks this week and tried some new recipes this weekend from the website and thoroughly enjoyed them.

I love how you are enjoying your new food lifestyle and I think I will too.

Welcome to the forum. A place where you have already found that there is plenty of practical advice and support. Good to see that you are making some changes to tackle this. Keep asking questions. Nothing is considered silly on here.