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Can anyone help my 91 year old mum please?

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Does she eat eggs as that would give her some protein which seems quite lacking in her current diet. Does she have pulses as that would also be protein.
Some of the vegetarian sausages are quite nice, Cauldron are one brand and they are low carb.
It is quite hard for somebody to change a lifetime of eating a particular way. Other than fish she pretty well has a vegetarian diet.
My grandfather who lived to be 90 was a lifelong vegetarian but my Dad who also was, passed away at 48 so it just shows there is no telling what can happen.
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If you can find out what her HbA1C is and if she takes any medication for her diabetes then people will be able to suggest appropriate things.
As long as she is eating regularly as older people sometimes don't feel hungry and forget to eat. So more frequent small meals may be better for her and also making sure she drinks enough.
A favourite of mine is butternut squash, cauliflower and chickpea curry with panner cheese or hard boiled eggs.
 
Hi Leadinglights ☺️ She will occasionally eat eggs, two a week, again she won’t eat too many
because of her own personal health beliefs. She has plain chickpeas occasionally as a veg. She does eat regularly, or she has a dip in her blood sugar and feels quite ill. She has been quite down about her diet lately, lack of choices, that’s why I’m trying to help her.
 
Reallyneedinghelp22 said:
Ps. Her medication for Diabetes is Gliclozide
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That medication is one that encourages the pancreas to produce more insulin to cope with the carbohydrates in the diet but it is also a medication which can cause low blood glucose if people go too low on carbohydrates, but I have never seen anybody say what is too low. It could be the diabetic nurse felt that she was not having enough carb so suggested that she had a jacket potato to up her carbs a bit.
She also should have a blood glucose monitor so she can check her blood glucose especially if she feels unwell.
 
If she is slim and active and has always had a good diet and is on Gliclazide which suggests that her HbA1c has been quite high at some time, then I think there is a fair possiblity that she is actually a slow onset Type 1 diabetic and probably should be on insulin and eating a less restrictive diet, but quite how she would take to that and feel about it at her age is difficult to imagine. Being unusually tired suggests that her levels may be going quite high but at 91, it would not be unusual to get tired easily even without diabetes, so it really depends on your Mum as an individual and whether you feel the fatigue may be related to the diabetes in which case pushing for insulin might improve both her dietary options and her weariness.
 
As someone who was initially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes myself and set out to try to reverse or at least manage it to the best of my ability through diet, I was initially upset to be told I would need insulin after 6 weeks as I felt that I had failed, but when I was tested and found to be Type 1, it all became more acceptable to me. The fact of the matter is that no matter how strict you are with your diet, you cannot manage Type 1 diabetes through diet alone or even diet and medication, because your body simply cannot produce enough insulin of it's own. I believe the 2 consultants at my hospital used to have a bit of rivalry each year to see who could diagnose the oldest Type 1 diabetic and I believe they very occasionally had someone in their 80s, which would be about your mother's age at diagnosis. Unfortunately most GPs are of the misunderstanding that Type 1 only develops in children and young adults, so if you are a mature adult they assume it must be Type 2 and if you don't get referred to a specialist clinic, which most Type 2s do not, then you are never tested for Type 1.
There are many of us here on the forum who were diagnosed Type 1 in our 50s and 60s after initially being assumed Type 2.

Can you remember how her diabetes diagnosis first came about? Was it just identified through a routine blood test or was she symptomatic or possibly even admitted to hospital? I know it was 10 years ago so you may not remember, but those circumstances may well indicate if she is more likely to be Type 1 than Type 2. In particular if she lost weight suddenly?
 
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With her already restricted diet and age, i'd not worry about the diabetes and would just focus on eating more. An a1c being 'only slightly high' doesnt sound like too much concern around her blood sugar levels. Whatever she eats it sounds like due to her nature she wouldn't be overeating anyway. Would she eat anything like vegetarian sausages (the richmond frozen ones are quite nice), or a chilli made with vegetarian mince topped with a bit of cheese, cauliflower / broccoli cheese, roast veg (must be some kind of cheese of veggie protein you could do with that), an egg white omelette (you can get them in a carton in sainsburys) if its the yolks shes nervous about? Sounds like looking at some vegetarian protein options might be worthwhile given the ethical stance around meat.
 
I have a sneaky feeling that this lady may be underplaying her diabetes situation and her levels may be a bit more than just "slightly high" Being prescribed Gliclazide suggests her levels have been pretty high at some point and maybe her levels are more than slightly high which is why the nurse was being a bit "officious" about suggesting more dietary restriction.... and maybe why this lady is already being very strict with herself. She sounds like the sort of person who would underplay things, so as not to worry other people.
This is purely conjecture and without knowing the HbA1c it will likely continue to be so, but my gut feeling is that she may be fighting a losing battle with trying to manage it through diet, even with Gliclazide to help.

@Reallyneedinghelp22 Do you know what sort of BG levels she generally gets.... assuming that she does home test with being on Gliclazide or do you have any way of finding out..... Perhaps ask to use her meter to test yourself because there is a genetic element to diabetes, so it is not uncommon to test close relatives occasionally. Most meters record previous readings and you can back tab through them very easily. Of course this is an infringement of your mother's privacy, so I will leave it to you to decide if it is worth doing that to get a better indication of her actual diabetes situation.It may just be that she only tests when she is low and feels wobbly in which case it won't tell you anything useful, so you could maybe ask if she tests regularly or just when she feels low. Hopefully she does have a testing kit because being on Gliclazide, she should.
 
Hi everyone, and thank you again for your help and advice. My mum was diagnosed through a routine blood test - no symptoms at all. To emphasise how scared of anything medical, and private my mum is, she didn’t visit the GP from the age of 36, until she was in her 80’s! I dont think that the Surgery could believe it when she went with chest pain ( nothing found!). It was from this she was diagnosed with Type 2. She was on Metformin for a few years, but it really upset her stomach. She put up with this for a couple of years before she eventually told me. So I’m dealing with a very delicate situation. She has never ever been given anything to test her blood sugar, or been advised to do so. There is no way I thought I could suggest to her that she may have type one diabetes - she gets quite angry with me when I mention anything to do with her health. I have to try and find ways to help her without upsetting her.
 
Reallyneedinghelp22 said:
Because of her recurrent stomach upset on Metformin, the doctor changed her medication to Gliclozide a few years ago
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Metformin is well known for causing stomach upset but is the first medication that is prescribed, generally people find their stomach settles down or they have a slow release version which is kinder but some people never tolerate it so gliclazide will then be tried but it does work differently. There is no risk of low blood glucose with the metformin so a blood glucose monitor wouldn't normally be prescribed so people self fund them but with gliclazide where there is a potential for low blood glucose the GP is supposed to prescribe them with test strips so people can avoid the risk of low blood glucose.
Are you able to make things for her as there a low carb recipes for cakes and biscuits on the website sugarfreelondoner which she could have to supplement her meals but it does sound as if she needs a few more carbs to stop her level going to low.
I wonder if the dose of gliclazide is too high for the amount of carbs she is eating.
Is there any way you could speak to her diabetic nurse about your concern.
You are in a tricky position if she doesn't engage with you about her condition.
 
Thank you Leadinglights, I am indeed in a tricky situation! I could absolutely make some low carbs and cakes for her to freeze, thank you. I could speak to her nurse, but I won’t, as I think that would not feel comfortable to me. She would not be happy, and it is after all her choice to be as independent as possible, and I really do support her in this. I do appreciate your suggestion though. ijustwant her to Beas happy and healthy as she can be, and if I can help with meals etc., then I absolutely will. I love her very much! And nothing is too much trouble for me where she is concerned.
 
Yes, I appreciate you are in a very difficult situation, but there are a lot of possible scenarios and without knowing more info, we can only speculate and the advice we could give would be based on that speculation, which could be right or could be wrong, depending upon your mother's actual situation.
I think you either have to bite the bullet and ask her about it and/or if you can speak to the nurse about her results, or just accept that your mother is handling it in the best way she can.
 
Thank you Rebrascora, that makes lots of sense. I do appreciate all the food ideas etc., and I will do my best to help her with some changes. It’s hard to see someone I love so much struggling.
Thank you all for your help and support - and for giving me a chance to talk about something that I haven’t been able to do with anyone before x
 
I should say that it is lovely that you want to help her, even if she doesn't want help 🙄.... Some of us diabetics can be pretty independent and set in our ways. Part of the forum's role is to act as a sounding board to vent our concerns and frustrations about diabetes so do come back and talk some more if you feel it is helpful. As you will have seen from some of the replies, we don't always agree on the best approach, because diabetes can be highly individual and what works for one person may not work for another, but I think we all understand the need to let off steam or discuss our worries or concerns or just understand a little more about it, so that we know what to look out for if things are going astray, and what the options are for dealing with it.

Please feel welcome to come back any time and discuss it some more if you feel it is helpful. Sending (((HUGS))) because you are obviously in a challenging situation and love your mother very much.... and she is obviously a great lady to be so independent still at her age.
 
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