Doppler says no

[Hereford Matt]

Hello. Part time reader, full time type 2.. 49 years young .. had a bit of bad news today and felt like I needed to share.. had a Doppler test on my legs and have won myself some mild vascular disease.. which would explain why it feels I'm walking on Lego all the time. Rocking a Hb1c figure of 89 ... which I think is in the top 5%, at least I gone archived a A in something... looking for a diet that an idiot could follow. To be fair happy to eat dust at this point if it would work .. high in fat low in fat DUST!!!! Any ideas team. What is a diabetic super food ...

 

[Leadinglights]

Hello. Part time reader, full time type 2.. 49 years young .. had a bit of bad news today and felt like I needed to share.. had a Doppler test on my legs and have won myself some mild vascular disease.. which would explain why it feels I'm walking on Lego all the time. Rocking a Hb1c figure of 89 ... which I think is in the top 5%, at least I gone archived a A in something... looking for a diet that an idiot could follow. To be fair happy to eat dust at this point if it would work .. high in fat low in fat DUST!!!! Any ideas team. What is a diabetic super food ...

Welcome to the forum, perhaps if you could say what medication you are taking as that will have an impact on what dietary approach would be suitable.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful in reducing blood glucose but whether this is suitable for you would depend on any meds, however it would be worth reading the introduction to the Freshwell program as there is good explanation as well as some meal plans which may give you some ideas. It is based on the suggested no more than 130g carbohydrates per day which should be suitable if only taking metformin but may require caution if on other medication. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Hereford Matt

Congratulations on de-lurking! Glad to have you here.

Sorry to hear about your doppler results, and the discomfort in your legs and feet

Have you been living with T2 for a while?

Diabetes can be frustratingly individual. There’s. one diet that suits everyone, and whuch their metabolisms can cope with (alongside whatever meds they may be taking).

The food group which, generally speaking, will have the biggest upwards push on your BG levels, are the carbohydrates. That includes obvious sweet and sugary things like cakes, biscuits, chocolate, sugary drinks and all that, but it also includes starchy sources of carbohydrate like potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, grains, cereals etc.

That doesn’t mean you have to avoid all those things entirely, but getting the portion sizes right for you of those things can be a hugely powerful strategy.

 

[Drummer]

Hello. Part time reader, full time type 2.. 49 years young .. had a bit of bad news today and felt like I needed to share.. had a Doppler test on my legs and have won myself some mild vascular disease.. which would explain why it feels I'm walking on Lego all the time. Rocking a Hb1c figure of 89 ... which I think is in the top 5%, at least I gone archived a A in something... looking for a diet that an idiot could follow. To be fair happy to eat dust at this point if it would work .. high in fat low in fat DUST!!!! Any ideas team. What is a diabetic super food ...

I can suggest far better than dust - having started off with HbA1c of 91 eight years ago now, I basically did Atkins, low carb, no more than 50 gm of carbs a day, dropping to under 40 but that didn't seem to do much.
I eat twice a day and have two proper meals - tonight is chicken and mushrooms with a few peas.
It took 6 months to get down to HbA1c of 41, so it is pretty effective if done by a very ordinary type 2. I don't need any tablets.
When I had a Covid jab my legs and feet swelled and turned a really nasty colour, I had a fever and was very unwell - I did think the worst was about to happen.
When I could get to the bathroom I climbed in the bath and used hot and cold water from the shower to get the blood moving in my legs - it has a hand held option. With some massage, the swelling started to reduce but things have not been quite the same since - I went from using sticks and a mobility scooter to teaching morris dancing so something of an improvement. It might be something to try as circulation seems to be something we can improve with a bit of effort
My father's mother's family were midwives nurses and herbalists and were credited with a lot of cures and saving of bodyparts - in the South Yorkshire coal fields there were always lots of crush injuries. They used massage and proper hygiene quite a lot - these days I soak my feet before cutting my toenails and rub on an antiseptic ointment afterwards - I suspect one bout of cellulitis was down to cutting my nails and the pain from that is memorable.

 

[paultrose]

Protein green veg and salad is doing it for me

Im actually surprised how im enjoying it.......ommlete or soft boiled eggs for brekkie.......shake for dinner........chicken done in a variety of ways with either lots of salad or lots of green veg for tea

 

[BobbleHat]

Hello from a fellow 49 years young full time T2!
I'm sorry you've had to join us but glad that you have found us (if that makes sense).

As people have said, the tricky thing about diabetes is there is no one size fits all. Me, personally, I'm fully on the low carb train! Like Drummer, I eat two meals a day most days (I have hungry days where I have a third meal or an extra snack but they aren't the norm now). I don't do reduced portions - I needed to lose the carb cravings and I know from many, many, many years of failed diets that my self control would slip and the portions would go back to being bigger (and so would I!). So, I work with substitutes. If my family have potatoes, I use celeriac. For rice, I have cauliflower rice. For chips, I have halloumi fries.

The Freshwell app, as Leading Lights said, is a good place to start if you're interested in this approach. As people have said, best check with your diabetes person before doing this, if you are using meds.

Good luck. And, I hope with some changes to your diet, your foot pain is lessened.

 

[Bubbleblower]

What is a diabetic super food ...

You mean apart from spinach?
Raw cacao beans.

Unfortunately I am familiar with the problem with an ankle-brachial index of 0.09 after just one minute:


Also I qualify as an idiot.

 

[Eddy Edson]

My HbA1c was also 89 at diagnosis. By that point (and with the help of decades of enthusiastic heavy smoking) I'd managed to develop a hefty dose of peripheral artery disease - left superficial femoral blocked from groin to knee, just about, and 60% stenosis in the right.

I zapped the diabetes by losing weight & keeping it off, which also helped deal with high BP, another big factor in PAD.

Because having PAD means that probably all of your artery systems have a bunch of plaque & you're on the road to stroke, heart attack or heart failure if you keep accumulating it, getting lipids under control is also crucial. Take the damn statin if it's recommended.

Obviously, no smoking.

Eat a heart-healthy diet, of the kind recommended by every expert group. Ignore Internet dietary advice which isn't based on these expert recommendations. Mainly plants, limit sodium, limit saturated fat, lots of fibre.

Apart from that, my advice is to walk a lot, even if it's painful. It'll help in any case, and if you have a bit of luck, it'll help a lot, by forcing the growth of collateral vessels around the narrowing or blockage. I average 18K steps per day now, without much pain or discomfort, compared to 6+ years ago at diagnosis, when I would cramp up very painfully after 500m or less.

Doing all this should also improve the walking-on-Lego neuropathy thing. At least, it has for me. It's gone from annoying to hardly anything.

Good luck!

 

[Eddy Edson]

My HbA1c was also 89 at diagnosis. By that point (and with the help of decades of enthusiastic heavy smoking) I'd managed to develop a hefty dose of peripheral artery disease - left superficial femoral blocked from groin to knee, just about, and 60% stenosis in the right.

I zapped the diabetes by losing weight & keeping it off, which also helped deal with high BP, another big factor in PAD.

Because having PAD means that probably all of your artery systems have a bunch of plaque & if you're on the road to strole, heart attack or heart failure if you keep accumulating it, getting lipids under sontrol is also crucial. Take the damn statin if it's recommended.

Obviously, no smoking.

Eat a heart-healthy diet, iof the kind recommended by every expert group. Ignore Internet dietary advice which isn't based on these expert recommendations.

Apart from that, my advice is to walk a lot, even if it's painful. It'll help in any case, and if you have a bit of luck, it'll help a lot, by forcing the growth of collateral vessels around the narrowing or blockage. I average 18K steps per day now, without much pain or discomfort, compared to 6+ years ago at diagnosis, when I would cramp up very painfully after 500m or less.

Doing all this should also improve the walking-on-Lego neuropathy thing. At least, it has for me. It's gone from annoying to hardly anything.

Good luck!

Also, do you know what your Doppler reading was? This is the ABPI (ankle-brachial pressure index), ratio of BP measures at your ankle and at your upper arm. "Normal" is around 1; PAD of increasing severity likely as the reading drops below 1. I wa about 0.7 at DX, a "moderate" level. No back to about 1 with the growth of my collateral system.

 

[Bubbleblower]

While I am at it; it’s also important to get very good shoes and special soles that stimulate blood circulation.
These shoes must absorb shocks very well and “roll off” well.
The best walking advice with the best effect I found here, from Skinner 1967:

Exercise and Intermittent Claudication I. Effect of Repetition and Intensity of Exercise

Exercise and Intermittent Claudication II. Effect of Physical Training

Walk till 75% of a self imposed maximum, wait till your ankle pressure (AP) recovers and repeat.
This is motivating because it goes better each time. It is extra motivating if you measure the glucose each round and eventually see it go down more and more (but you’d need a CGM or many fingerpricks).
More recent studies have shown walking “pain free”gives much better results than to "near maximal pain”:
Supervised walking therapy in patients with intermittent claudication (sci-hub link).

The reason for the spinach and cacao beans is they raise nitric oxide, which helps blood circulation, which increases the amount of glucose uptake in the muscles, which decreases the bloodglucose.
They are also very rich in iron which directly and indirectly helps with the transport of oxygen.

For me this is all very important; I saw my uncle and my dad lose their legs, which is the worst thing that could happen, and with an ABPI of 0.09 the same is likely to happen to me. After a Doppler stress test my feet are completely white and the same is true every morning after I wake up so you bet I did and do a lot of studying on this, desk and field research.

 

[Hereford Matt]

Well thank you, remember i did say Idiot in my opener, i have T2 for many years but like a small child with new glasses i didn't want to own up to it, t2 was for fat people, and i just liked real ale, "All brought and paid for", i also loved a fat F*&ker Breakfast on the building site. 20 years running around scaffolding, but changed job and became an office sitter.

Sugar levels then rocketed. got a bit of Nadjer cancer and spend 8 months in bed during Covid. Chemo killed my veins and most of my brain space. but i need to grow up now and take control.... God i hate being an old man.... Grow up they said, Its fun they said, What a load of "Medical appointments"......... Im a snacky eater to be fair and love fruit, which i know is bad news ...

 

[Hereford Matt]

Ahh Medication,, Mmmmmm Medication,,, Medication its what you need!!!!!!!
Metformin
Fexofenadine
omeprazole
canagliflozin
Atorvastatin
Trulicity 75mg but they want me to try Mounjaro (tirzepatide)

Sertraline and CBD patches to cope with my own head....

 

[Hereford Matt]

latest states, Cholesterol 3.9
BMI 29.9
Kidney 56
Creatinine 120
Protein 1.8
Just tested blood and it 12.5 which is good for me normally between 15 and 18