Hello everyone

[jill-mc]

I was diagnosed March (only found out as I moved house and registered with new doctor who gave me the usual welcome tests)and then we went into lockdown. The diagnosis came as a shock. I was fit and active and ate fairly healthily. I go out walking everyday. After following guidelines that I was given, about trying to manage my diabetes with changing what I ate - wholewheat pasta rice and bread, cutting down on root vegetables, eating berries rather than tropical fruits, as well as cutting out obvious sweet things, I stuck with this rigidly and was confidant my levels would come down. My next HbA1C was down to 49 (from 54) so thought all was going good. Now it has gone back up again. Decided to buy home test kit and test 6 to 8 times a day and keep food diary to see what foods are the culprit. It seems I cant eat any of the wholewheat carbs etc even porridge oats. I have lost 2 stone in weight which I didnt want to, now only 7 stone. Still trying to find a pattern so I know what I can eat. On my home test kit I am now 4.7 - 6.2 before meals. and go up to anywhere between 8 - 11.3 when I test again 1.5 hours afterwards. Should I wait until 2 hrs afterwards? When is the peak of the spike? This is all a bit overwhelming at the moment.

 

[aparsonsmoore]

Not sure what to suggest - seems that you are doing the right thing and you shouldn't beat yourself up over this. I guess this is a long term condition and as with anything, will require fine tuning. I was diagnosed in June and in a similar position position.

 

[Oblivious]

Hi @jill-mc, sounds like you are doing all the right things. have you tried experimenting with portion sizes? you might be able to have smaller amounts of the wholewheat carbs without your levels spiking too much.
sorry i can't offer any advice on the 2 hour after meal checks as i was not advised to do that. i was just told to have 30grams of carbs per meal so digital scales are my new best friend to work out the amounts in what i am eating.

 

[trophywench]

Yes 2 hours after although some combinations of foods cause the carbs in food (and there are even carbs in lettuce and cucumber!) to be digested and absorbed slower.

So let's say the salad has collectively 10g carb in it and that gets absorbed in 2 hours. Now add mayo or French dressing to the salad before eating it - that now gets absorbed slower - hence it isn't an exact science. With nearly 50 yrs of experimentation/err I mean clinical trials, the spike that occurs after I eat pizza is horrific after approx 4 to 5 hours.

But for the purpose of finding out generally what food does to our blood glucose - yes 2 hours!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Is the weight loss unintended and quite drastic... it sounds it. Does it look like you have lost muscle mass rather than just fat.... when I lost weight it was my arms and wrists that I most noticed.... I suppose because they are in front of you and not always covered by clothes like other parts of your body. 7stone sounds pretty skinny and I am just wondering if perhaps you have been misdiagnosed and are LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) rather than Type 2. LADA is actually a slow onset form of Type 1 and will mean that, if I am right, you will need insulin sooner or later. If you are spiking into double figures regularly after very low carb meals then I would be wanting more tests done.... C-peptide and GAD antibody tests because it sounds like your Beta cells might be spluttering to a halt.

In the mean time, you might try eating more fat. This will help to prevent you from losing more weight, make your diet more enjoyable and provide you with some slow release energy. I start my day with a coffee made with real cream, eat creamy Greek natural yoghurt and cheese and avocado and nuts to increase my fat intake and keep my weight stable on a low carb diet.

 

[Docb]

Hi @jill-mc and welcome to the forum. Are you very small, say 5' tall or less? If not then you are in danger of becoming underweight and that can be as big a problem as being overweight. That would put you in the "slim" diabetic category and I would suggest you go back to your GP for a further conversation on the subject of your diabetes and the best way of handling it because you would not fit the normal profile for a T2 and controlling it by carb reduction could do more harm than good if it results in further weight loss.

If you are small, then ignore my comment.

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @jill-mc Glad that you have found us.

You have already had loads of advice, so I will just add my encouragement for you to go back to the doc if you continue to lose weight, and levels are high. As @Inka has suggested you may be like quite a few of us on here and have late onset T1.

Keep in touch and let us know how you get on.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome to the forum Jill from a fellow T2.
You've already starting with what I'd suggest doing. The standard time that I see given is 2 hours after eating. Some things will be higher at 1 hour than 2. Others at 2 or longer.
Look at what foods make the biggest difference, from before to after eating. So whatever gets you a 11.3 will be first. (Breakfast ceriel?). Try an alternative. (Bacon and eggs for breakfast, though don't tell the nurse. HCP don't like bacon!)

 

[KARNAK]

Welcome to the forum @jill-mc glad to have you onboard.

As already stated you don`t fit the normal profile for T2 and your weight loss
is a bit worrying unless as @Docb say`s your height may determine your
weight. As has also been suggested a return to your GP for a talk about your
weight loss and the control of your Diabetes which under normal circumstances
would just need a bit of tweaking.

Also ask for them which would involve a nurse to measure your BMI which will
give you a better idea of what your weight should be, you can work it out for
yourself if you have a decent set of scales. Obviously a phone call from the GP
will follow so write down all your concerns so you don`t forget when you get a
call back, a HbA1c of 49 is just inside a D diagnosis but an increase needs to
be addressed so make that call and get an appointment and keep us informed
please. If you have a Diabetic nurse at the surgery it would be great to keep in
contact with her/him, take care we are here for you.

 

[jill-mc]

Welcome to the forum @jill-mc Glad that you have found us.

You have already had loads of advice, so I will just add my encouragement for you to go back to the doc if you continue to lose weight, and levels are high. As @Inka has suggested you may be like quite a few of us on here and have late onset T1.

Keep in touch and let us know how you get on.

 

[jill-mc]

Will do, thanks.

 

[jill-mc]

Welcome to the forum Jill from a fellow T2.
You've already starting with what I'd suggest doing. The standard time that I see given is 2 hours after eating. Some things will be higher at 1 hour than 2. Others at 2 or longer.
Look at what foods make the biggest difference, from before to after eating. So whatever gets you a 11.3 will be first. (Breakfast ceriel?). Try an alternative. (Bacon and eggs for breakfast, though don't tell the nurse. HCP don't like bacon!)

I dont eat meat, but I do eat fish. I have eggs sometimes for breakfast instead of oats, but then I cant have eggs for lunch! As suggested earlier by someone, I am cutting down portion size, as I do tend to eat big portions.

 

[jill-mc]

Welcome to the forum @jill-mc glad to have you onboard.

As already stated you don`t fit the normal profile for T2 and your weight loss
is a bit worrying unless as @Docb say`s your height may determine your
weight. As has also been suggested a return to your GP for a talk about your
weight loss and the control of your Diabetes which under normal circumstances
would just need a bit of tweaking.

Also ask for them which would involve a nurse to measure your BMI which will
give you a better idea of what your weight should be, you can work it out for
yourself if you have a decent set of scales. Obviously a phone call from the GP
will follow so write down all your concerns so you don`t forget when you get a
call back, a HbA1c of 49 is just inside a D diagnosis but an increase needs to
be addressed so make that call and get an appointment and keep us informed
please. If you have a Diabetic nurse at the surgery it would be great to keep in
contact with her/him, take care we are here for you.

My BMI was just inside the lower limit.

 

[jill-mc]

Hi and welcome

Is the weight loss unintended and quite drastic... it sounds it. Does it look like you have lost muscle mass rather than just fat.... when I lost weight it was my arms and wrists that I most noticed.... I suppose because they are in front of you and not always covered by clothes like other parts of your body. 7stone sounds pretty skinny and I am just wondering if perhaps you have been misdiagnosed and are LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults) rather than Type 2. LADA is actually a slow onset form of Type 1 and will mean that, if I am right, you will need insulin sooner or later. If you are spiking into double figures regularly after very low carb meals then I would be wanting more tests done.... C-peptide and GAD antibody tests because it sounds like your Beta cells might be spluttering to a halt.

In the mean time, you might try eating more fat. This will help to prevent you from losing more weight, make your diet more enjoyable and provide you with some slow release energy. I start my day with a coffee made with real cream, eat creamy Greek natural yoghurt and cheese and avocado and nuts to increase my fat intake and keep my weight stable on a low carb diet.

Hi, the weight loss is unintended and started when diagnosed with diabetes T2 when I started cutting down on carbs. I have started including more fats now so hopefully wont lose any more weight. I have read a bit about LADA, will certainly look into it. Thanks.

 

[jill-mc]

Hi @jill-mc and welcome to the forum. Are you very small, say 5' tall or less? If not then you are in danger of becoming underweight and that can be as big a problem as being overweight. That would put you in the "slim" diabetic category and I would suggest you go back to your GP for a further conversation on the subject of your diabetes and the best way of handling it because you would not fit the normal profile for a T2 and controlling it by carb reduction could do more harm than good if it results in further weight loss.

If you are small, then ignore my comment.

Hi, I am 5'4 so fairly small.

 

[rebrascora]

7st for someone who is 5'4" is underweight so do get some advice as losing that much weight should have put you into remission if you were Type 2. Make sure your health care professionals are aware of how low carb you are eating because your HbA1c will be lower significantly lower than it would be if you were eating a normal diet so that needs to be taken into consideration. If you start to see levels going higher and staying high (mid teens or above), then get some Ketostix to test your urine for ketones and get yourself to hospital if you get an appreciable reading (over 1) for ketones as things are likely coming to an end with your insulin production and you could go into DKA. Same if your breath starts to smell of pear drops and/or you get pains in your stomach or respiratory problems. It can get serious pretty quickly if you stop insulin production.

 

[trophywench]

I'm 5ft 3 or rather I was, shrinking gradually these days. 8st 2lbs was my ideal weight at senior school and just after. 7st 12 was magic - but only stayed there for about a week immediately before they carted me off to hospital with Type 1 diabetes. Right hacked off - always wanted to get into size 10s!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @jill-mc

When it comes to timing your BG checks, there are two basic approaches... one is to stick to 2hrs after eating and aiming for the recommended maximum BG of no higher than 8.5 (9 for T1s) while also aimng for a max difference before-after of 2-3. The other is to try different timings and aim to find the ‘spike time’ the timing of generally when you see your highest BG and limit the maximum rise.

Both ways are perfectly workable and will give you workable data - you could even use a combination of both if you get the feeling that 2hrs mostly works well for you, but that for particular meals earlier or later is more useful. 🙂

 

[Drummer]

The usual timing is two hours after starting to eat.
If you have been doing a different timing then maybe do a double check to see if the result is very different and maybe select the one you feel is most useful.
I have been having a ding dong on Twitter with a number of people who all claim different reasons for other people having diabetes or have opinions on how to cure it - the last one was certain that we only needed to lose weight (by which he meant fat) and all would be well.
Sigh.
Not one was prepared to come and help on a diabetes forum so - I suspect it was rather a wasted effort on my part.

I have been isolating for a while, and sometimes the cupboards are a bit bare.
I have had a cauliflower and seafood 'curry' where the steamed from frozen ingredients were mixed with mayonnaise into which curry powder was stirred then the result was left in the warm for ten minutes for the temperatures to even out from scalding hot to fridge cold.
I found a packet of kippers in the bottom of the freezer and made a sort of bready slice to put them on - I would have had low carb Livlife bread from Waitrose normally.
There was the white fish with cauliflower sort of kegeree, so there are alternatives to eggs if you have eggs for breakfast.
I think that type two diabetes can be different things which have got lumped together, but easy weight gain is far more usual with type two than being slender. I too think that you need to keep your GP on their toes just in case you are not the ordinary type two after all.

 

[Ralph-YK]

that we only needed to lose weight (by which he meant fat) and all would be well.

I've had people tell me that in RL 😡