Bored now

[tomcamish]

Hi All,

It's been about a year since i posted on here so thought I would get back into it.

Since my last post (https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/good-old-nhs.54500/#post-552250) I have lost nearly 5 stone, been put on the maximum does of Metformin, been given a new prescription alonside it of Sitagliptin, my HBA1C has gone up again (hence the new drug) and had another son!

However, I'm still being told by people in the medical "profession" that I'm too young (29) to have Type 2 and that I must be Type 1 - this includes the stupid nurse my wife had for her Gestational Diabetes (what a pair we are) who also said my wife must have been Type 1 before she fell pregnant as she didn't fit their stereotype of over-weight and older (she's short, skinny and 26), despite us pointing out that the results of her glucose tolerance tests with our first son came back fine.

My nurse is adamant that if i was type 1 the Metformin wouldn't have brought my HBA1C down at all (it dropped from 142 to 67, then went to 71, then 68, now 97), but has also said that as I'm about 15 to 20 years younger than most people who have Type 2 that probably by my late 30s i'll be on insulin. If not by then i'll definitely be on insulin at some point.

My faith in the NHS isn't much better after another bad experience when my son was born (my newbie post - https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/recently-diagnosed-type-2.54105/ - explains why i have no faith in them anyway).

So all in all i'm thoroughly bored of taking 5 tablets every day, being constantly hungry, and having to fork out more money for food as the healthier stuff is more expensive.

Can anyone recommend some tasty and not bird-food-like diabetic friendly snacks to stop me being so flamin hungry?

 

[Martin Canty]

Hi Tom, congratulations on the progress.

Can anyone recommend some tasty and not bird-food-like diabetic friendly snacks to stop me being so flamin hungry?

I tend to have cheese & deli meat if I snack.... Fat tend to sate the appetite rather better than any other kind of snack (though it's easier for me as I work from home), another great standby may be celery & natural Peanut Butter,

 

[Owen]

Pate, baby bells, yoghurt and strawberries, cooked meats, courgette crisps.

 

[grovesy]

There are few people on here who were initial diagnosed as Type 2 but have turned out to be what is know as slow onset Type 1! There journey in many ways echo's yours! I am sure they will be along shortly!

 

[Mini-Vicki]

There are few people on here who were initial diagnosed as Type 2 but have turned out to be what is know as slow onset Type 1! There journey in many ways echo's yours! I am sure they will be along shortly!

I'm one of these people 🙂
I was diagnosed with type 2 at 24 years old, despite a family history of type 1, and being a normal weight. Anyway, I controlled my diabetes with diet for the first couple of years (it was in fact, a near starvation diet, and I was miserable, despite being congratulated by the doctor) I started on Metformin which did initially bring my HbA1C down slightly, then gliclazide was added in, then stitagliptin, before I was finally referred to start insulin 5 years after the initial diagnosis. The DSN and the consultant have confirmed I am in fact type 1, albeit it slow onset, so labelled as type 1.5.
Being on insulin has transformed my life, so it's nothing to be wary of at all.
Do you test your own BG? As it may give you an indication of what your blood sugars are doing, and foods affect you.
It may be worth asking for a referral to a diabetes consultant for confirmation of what type you are. There are a couple of blood tests that can be done to confirm type also, but they are not absolute.
As for diet, I tend to follow a low carb, high fat diet which I find keeps me quite full for most of the day, as for snacks I generally stick with nuts, apples and berries. Not very exciting in afraid!

 

[Northerner]

My nurse is adamant that if i was type 1 the Metformin wouldn't have brought my HBA1C down at all (it dropped from 142 to 67, then went to 71, then 68, now 97), but has also said that as I'm about 15 to 20 years younger than most people who have Type 2 that probably by my late 30s i'll be on insulin. If not by then i'll definitely be on insulin at some point.

Hi Tom, I suspect that your HbA1c dropped initially by such a large amount because your diagnosis led to you making adaptations to your diet and activity levels, so she is right that metformin alone wouldn't have had such an impact. Age at diagnosis, for any type of diabetes, is pretty much irrelevant - certainly once you are an adult. Many healthcare professionals believe that only children get Type 1, yet we have members here who were diagnosed with in in their 60s and 70s (I was 49). The same can be true of Type 2, which can have a strong genetic component - 20% of Type 2s are not overweight at diagnosis, for example. Just because 'most' people fit neatly into a stereotypical presentation of one type or another doesn't mean you can only be one or the other based on a few simple criteria. The really tricky diagnosis to make is the one where people don't fit neatly. A slow-onset Type 1 can resemble Type 2 in many aspects, but is usually less controllable with the standard Type 2 oral medications. There are tests that can be done to determine whether your diabetes is autoimmune in origin, whether it is due to an insufficiency of insulin being produced by your pancreas, or if you are insulin-resistant - even then things aren't always clear!

So, it's good that they are questioning the possibility that you may not be Type 2, but if that's what they think then get them to do the tests! 🙂

 

[tomcamish]

Unfortunately it's never been my nurse who's queried that I'm type 2.

Throughout my wife's pregnancy she had to go to the antenatal clinic every two weeks. As this included a scan I went with her as often as I could (any excuse to see my son on the screen).

Quite often she saw someone different, as is typical with the NHS, who would always ask the same questions - this got so irritating that my wife asked them to write "read obstetric notes before seeing patient" on the front of her folder - this is because they always started with "so this is your first pregnancy and you're type 1?" to which we had to say "no, 2nd pregnancy and gestational", then go through them not only saying "oh you seem rather slim for gestational" (stereotyping again) but then asking how old our first son is, leading to us having to explain that we lost him when he was 18 months and that it was the hospital who were to blame - another story.

Anyway, despite being told to read the notes, most of them didn't, and when they asked if she knows anything about diabetes, she always said that her dad is type 1 and i'm type 2. At this point they'd look me up and down, ask how much I weigh and how old I am, and say I must be early onset type 1.

I've told my nurse about this on multiple occasions but she is convinced, the point of saying that i'm "definitely not type 1". My faith the NHS (or lack thereof) has made me ignore her assertions that I'm definitely Type 2 in preparation for being told "oops sorry we got that wrong too" when they finally decide I am type 1.

As for the tests - i've asked for them and was told there isn't any point because, you guessed it, I'm "definitely not type 1".

 

[Northerner]

I've told my nurse about this on multiple occasions but she is convinced, the point of saying that i'm "definitely not type 1". My faith the NHS (or lack thereof) has made me ignore her assertions that I'm definitely Type 2 in preparation for being told "oops sorry we got that wrong too" when they finally decide I am type 1.

As for the tests - i've asked for them and was told there isn't any point because, you guessed it, I'm "definitely not type 1".

Ah, sorry got the wrong end of the stick there. I'm afraid there are many similar stories to yours here Any chance of getting a different GP surgery?

 

[tomcamish]

Ah, sorry got the wrong end of the stick there. I'm afraid there are many similar stories to yours here Any chance of getting a different GP surgery?

Irritatingly I changed to this surgery due to lack of treatment at my previous one - my thread from last year explains why - https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/good-old-nhs.54500/.

I have thought about getting a second opinion but the only option to do that is to go to the local walk-in-centre, which is based at the surgery I moved away from.