Feeling a fraud

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Leeanne

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi diagnosed a couple of months ago after well woman check at GP with hba1c levels on 2 tests of over 100 had absolutely no other issues or symptoms.
GP rang to tell me results in a less than 10 minute phone call while I was at work at least 2 minutes of that were going to private room to take talk and where did I want to pick up drugs.
Been put on metformin 100 slow release and forgxia 5mg. Not given any testing advice just a couple of appointments with practice nurses not specifically diabetes nurses.
Not feeling any difference no side effects at all.
Just feel such a fraud gone from perfectly healthy on last routine test hba1c of 38 to full on diabetes
 
Hi Leanne and welcome. Please don’t feel a fraud, you had no reason to suspect anything was wrong, so how could you have known? Can I ask when was your last routine hba1c, or how much time elapsed between this and your recent over 100 results?
 
Had one before covid hit and was 38 had 2 last month with readings of 102 and 106.
I have no idea what has gone wrong with my body.
Not changed weight had no problem with eyes or anything else.
Just got placed on medication straight away by a doctor I have never seen in a short telephone call.
No chance to try and sort out by diet and exercise
 
Feel as if I should have known and been able to sort things out before it actually became diabetes and worried whst damage has been done already.
Eat reasonably well before tried to give up Ultra processed foods but probably too many cards as recommended to be a third of plate on eatwell guide.
 
Hi @Leeanne and welcome to the forum. Agree with the others...you are not a fraud and unless you have levels where you are getting symptoms...excessive urination, constant thirst and at times feeling really rough for no reason....you have no reason to suspect your blood glucose levels are higher than sensible.

Chances are that if your blood glucose levels have risen relatively recently then no damage has been done. If left there for long enough then the chances are that eventually some damage will be done. It is therefore sensible to take some medication immediately but more sensible for you to get an appointment where various things can be looked at and a decent plan for you to reduce your levels can be worked out.

In the mean time I suggest that you work on beginning to understand diabetes and this forum is a good place to start. It will allow a more productive conversation with your practice nurse. Read around the forum, ask questions (no question is considered silly), see what others are doing and begin to work out what approach might be best for you. It might be pills (GP's favourite), losing weight (internet gurus favourite), adjusting diet (forum favourite), doing more exercise, or a combination of things which suit you, your diabetes and your lifestyle.

There will be a way, you have just got to work it out......and there is no magic bullet!

PS. The GP should be getting another blood test done in about three months.
 
Hi, I was the same as you and had no symptoms at all. No family history, Only 8kg overweight. I adjusted my diet and all worked out well until I had Covid last year but that's another story. So you are not a fraud. It is hard to accept but you'll get there and this forum will help 🙂
 
With an HbA1C as high as you were the GP was really following the guidelines in prescribing medication, had you been lower than 55-60mmol/mol then an opportunity to tackle it by diet would have been alright. However looking at you diet is still needed. A couple of good suggestions above but another one here in this link for you to look at. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Thanks for all the information don't feel as alone now.
NHS website seems to promote brown and wholemeal foods so that's what I have been eating, no difference between fruits pictures of grapes and banana in the what is good to eat bit.
Will try to low carb but think as as on forgxia it says on leaflet inside to eat some carbs.
Taking my medication as ordered and got appointment for more blood tests next month to check how things are progressing.
Sure I will be back with more questions its all new to me having to change from what I thought was a good diet to a better one for me.(and my none diabetic husband)
 
Leeanne said:
Thanks for all the information don't feel as alone now.
NHS website seems to promote brown and wholemeal foods so that's what I have been eating, no difference between fruits pictures of grapes and banana in the what is good to eat bit.
Will try to low carb but think as as on forgxia it says on leaflet inside to eat some carbs.
Taking my medication as ordered and got appointment for more blood tests next month to check how things are progressing.
Sure I will be back with more questions its all new to me having to change from what I thought was a good diet to a better one for me.(and my none diabetic husband)
Click to expand...
Yes that is right you are advised not to go very low carb but around the suggested amount of 130g per day is generally OK for most people though some people seem fine with less especially if you are testing your blood glucose levels with a home monitor.
I'm afraid wholemeal and brown versions have just the same carbs as the white, they may convert into glucose slower and certainly grapes and bananas are high carb foods many avoid. Berries except blueberries are the lowest carb fruits with tropical fruits being highest and aplles, pears, oranges somewhere in the middle.
Sadly the NHS web site is a bit behind the current thinking that low carb can be as effective as medication for some people which is why the GP surgery developed this approach.https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Can do lower carbs if I can have occasional sandwich and a potato.
Got some frozen cauliflower rice so giving that a go.
Thanks everyone for your help looked on NHS website and thought that it was giving current advice when diagnosed obviously not totally right
 
Leeanne said:
Can do lower carbs if I can have occasional sandwich and a potato.
Got some frozen cauliflower rice so giving that a go.
Thanks everyone for your help looked on NHS website and thought that it was giving current advice when diagnosed obviously not totally right
Click to expand...
There are some lower carb breads available but if I have to have a bought sandwich when out I usually just leave the crusts as that help with the carbs. I occasionally have potato but would then not have any other higher carb veg at the same meal. I do sometimes make a potato salad with new potatoes and add mayo and chopped spring onions but still watch portion size.
If you read the intro to the Freshwell program there is a good explanation of why they found the NHS advice based on the Eat Well Plate was doing their patients no favours. It may be good advice for those not Type 2 as being a healthier way than what they do.
 
Leeanne said:
Feel as if I should have known and been able to sort things out before it actually became diabetes and worried whst damage has been done already.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum @Leeanne

Don’t be surprised by a wave of emotions and thoughts following your diagnosis. It can be like a form of grieving for some people, with a jumble of emotional states (anger, denial, bargaining, depression) that can make you think, feel and sometimes behave in quite unusual and unpredictable ways.

Don’t worry too much about any long-term consequences of your period of elevated glucose at this stage. Diabetes tends to be quite a slow moving foe much of the time - and certainly don’t allow yourself that it’s too late to make positive changes. Improvements have significant effects whenever they happen. It’s always worth doing what you can.
 
Leeanne said:
Just got placed on medication straight away by a doctor I have never seen in a short telephone call.
No chance to try and sort out by diet and exercise
Click to expand...
Leadinglights said:
With an HbA1C as high as you were the GP was really following the guidelines in prescribing medication, had you been lower than 55-60mmol/mol then an opportunity to tackle it by diet would have been alright.
Click to expand...

Therein lies the problem. Diet without medication can get your blood sugar down to normal in 7 days (Roy Taylor, conference talk 2023, Achieving T2D remission). So try that first if you can. If it works carry on dieting to get yourself back to normal. Else, medication may help.

Dr David Unwin threw out the rulebook 10 years ago (conference talk 2023: The nuts & bolts of drug free T2 diabetes remission). Over 150 patients in remission thanks to that. Repeat in every GP practice and up to 750,000 more people might be back to normal today.
 
So difficult had the fear of death put into me by doctor and nurse I eventually saw.
Do not stop taking the medication without consulting us or you will have dka you will be severly ill you will have heart attack etc.
NHS website says eat brown foods and lots of fruit even grapes and banana are shown on picture.
Most people on here say low carbs are way forward but on forgxia leaflets it says eat carbs.
All everyone seems to agree on is exercise and no smoking which is not really a problem for me
 
Leeanne said:
So difficult had the fear of death put into me by doctor and nurse I eventually saw.
Do not stop taking the medication without consulting us or you will have dka you will be severly ill you will have heart attack etc.
NHS website says eat brown foods and lots of fruit even grapes and banana are shown on picture.
Most people on here say low carbs are way forward but on forgxia leaflets it says eat carbs.
All everyone seems to agree on is exercise and no smoking which is not really a problem for me
Click to expand...

@Leeanne Low carb isn’t advised with Forxiga. Each individual should eat the diet that suits them. People here follow a variety of diets:

forum.diabetes.org.uk

A broad church - low carb is not the only way

Just a gentle reminder to members that our forum is supposed to be a friendly and supportive place, which encourages members to find their own way through the available options to find a diabetes management approach that meets their ambitions, and is appealing and sustainable for them. While...
forum.diabetes.org.uk forum.diabetes.org.uk

If you’re on Forxiga, you should ensure you eat sufficient carbs. Ask your nurse for guidance if in doubt.
 
Leeanne said:
So difficult had the fear of death put into me by doctor and nurse I eventually saw.
Do not stop taking the medication without consulting us or you will have dka you will be severly ill you will have heart attack etc.
Click to expand...
Leanne,
I was in the same boat. A phone call out and a diagnosis out of the blue 18 months ago. HbA1c 104 t- far too high, Type 2 a lifelong condition with nasty complications. Start taking Metformin at once. One look at the side effects started me looking for an alternative. Michael Mosley RIP gave me the answer on page 23 of his '8-week blood sugar diet book' that my wife happened to have on out kitchen shelf.

"... on the way you're going to have to embrace some radical ideas. I will introduce you to Professor Roy Taylor, the inspiration for this book. Professor Taylor is one of Europe's most respected diabetes reseatchers and he has shown, in several trials, that a very low calorie diet can, in just a few weeks, do what was once seen as impossible - reverse type 2 diabetes...."
I downloaded the Kindle edition of Professor Taylor's 'Life without diabetes', On day 1 of his first trial about 15 years ago his volunteers stopped their medication and started on specially formulated shakes. Much to everyone's surprise, by day 7 their blood glucose levels had come down from 9-10 mmol/l to around 6 mmol/l. The team now knew type 2 would be reversible on many cases. After 8 weeks the beta cells in the pancreas were recovering and insulin was normalising'. That was all I needed to know.

Have look at Roy Taylor, Achieving T2D remission (May 2023). He shows the 7 day graph and, at the end, he emphasies that any effective weight loss diet will do. I switched to a diet of protein and vegetables and between Christmas Eve and New Years eve my glucose came down to 5.8 just a shown on that graph.

Many members here have got their HbA1C down into the 30s, which means they have got rid of their excess fat.

Time to make a plan to discuss with your GPs.
 
Leeanne said:
So difficult had the fear of death put into me by doctor and nurse I eventually saw.
Do not stop taking the medication without consulting us or you will have dka you will be severly ill you will have heart attack etc.
NHS website says eat brown foods and lots of fruit even grapes and banana are shown on picture.
Most people on here say low carbs are way forward but on forgxia leaflets it says eat carbs.
All everyone seems to agree on is exercise and no smoking which is not really a problem for me
Click to expand...
Honestly - I do sometimes despair when reading how people are treated when they are - it seems - deliberately upset and mismanaged at diagnosis.
My HbA1c at diagnosis was 91, and after changing my diet I was no longer diabetic in 80 days nor prediabetic in 6 months. I gave up taking the tablets after a few weeks as it made me so very ill - but I obviously never needed them.
The NHS website contradicts the experience of many people.
The Forxiga works by preventing the reabsorption of glucose by the kidneys, so it is excreted. You will need to cope with that and make any changes very cautiously, but if the medication doesn't work for whatever reason, it is not the only possibility.
 
Leeanne said:
So difficult had the fear of death put into me by doctor and nurse I eventually saw.
Do not stop taking the medication without consulting us or you will have dka you will be severly ill you will have heart attack etc.
NHS website says eat brown foods and lots of fruit even grapes and banana are shown on picture.
Most people on here say low carbs are way forward but on forgxia leaflets it says eat carbs.
All everyone seems to agree on is exercise and no smoking which is not really a problem for me
Click to expand...
I eat wholemeal bread and oatibix everyday as I need the fibre as I dislike 95% of vegetables due to another condition I suffer with. I make it work within 130g carbs per day. Not saying it's easy though, lots of finger pricking required. I am on glicazide which apparently I am required to eat carbs. Only found that out recently on here. Pointless talking to GP as I know more than he does 🙂
 
Leeanne said:
Had one before covid hit and was 38 had 2 last month with readings of 102 and 106.
I have no idea what has gone wrong with my body.
Not changed weight had no problem with eyes or anything else.
Just got placed on medication straight away by a doctor I have never seen in a short telephone call.
No chance to try and sort out by diet and exercise
Click to expand...
Hi again, if youve no symptoms then you had no reason to suspect your hba1c had risen. Now that you know, you can start to work on this. I’m sorry your medics couldn’t take some more time to talk things through with you, but there is a wealth of resources on here, and if you have questions, do come and ask. There are many ways to tackle type 2 - you been started with some medication so it is important to follow the directions you’ve been given as you take these - but also do know medication may not be permanent. Take some time to get used to things and I’m sure you’ll find your way forward.
 
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