Hi im Ruth, ive been diabetic type2 for a few years but this is my first time on here. Im looking for some advice. Ive been on alogliptin for yrs but recently my levels have gone up. Im dieting but still have fasting glucose of 10.1 this morning. My clinician put me. On Trulicity which made me very ill. I ended up in A&E with high ketones the doctor said not to risk taking them again. But now the clinician is trying to push me onto foxiga orjardiance which have the same side effects so i dont want them id rather have insulin. Has anyone else had this. What can i do. Shes given me a month to think again!
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Hi i need advice
- Thread starter Ruth W
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rebrascora
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Hi and welcome.
You have told us quite a bit about the medication you have tried but it would be useful to know what dietary/lifestyle changes you have made, because those can be as powerful if not more powerful than many oral meds.
Unfortunately the NHS dietary advice isn't always as helpful as it might be for Type 2 diabetes, so looking at your diet and perhaps instigating a simply exercise program like a daily walk if you are able may well alleviate the need for more medication and in fact there are people who have come off insulin and all other medication following a low carb higher fat way of eating and lost weight in the process.
The other successful option is to follow a very low calorie short term (8-12week) diet like the Newcastle or Fast 800, which usually involves meal replacement shakes, but can be done with regular food but takes a bit more planning and effort.
One of the things we recommend as really helpful in modifying your diet is using a BG meter to test your Blood Glucose levels just before and 2 hours after a meal so that you can see the effect that meal had on your body and then adjust the carb content of that meal next time you have it to reduce the impact if necessary. The easiest way to do this is to start with breakfast because that is a meal that many of us have the same thing every morning. Also our bodies are often more insulin resistant in the morning, so having a lower carb breakfast can have a much bigger impact than any other meal. Added to that, if your levels go high after breakfast, they are likely to stay high for most of the day, whereas if you can keep them in range you have a much better chance of good BG control throughout the day.
If you don't have a BG meter and test strips provided on prescription, then the two which are most often recommended on the forum for reliability and economy of use are the Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. Both are relatively inexpensive to purchase the meter kit (approx £15) but it is the ongoing cost of test strips which is the financial drain. These 2 meters have some of the cheapest test strips on the market at about £8 for a pot of 50. The meter kit comes with just 10 test strips and 10 lancets so you would be well advised to buy a couple of extra pots of strips and a box of lancets with the meter kit if you decide to get a meter as you go through test strips very quickly in the first few weeks of testing and working out which foods you need to avoid or reduce portion size and which you can get away with and this can be quite individual.
If you don't like the idea of testing we can give you an idea of the sort of low carb foods which should reduce your HbA1c particularly if you post an example of what you currently eat and drink on an average day.
If you have already done everything possible diet wise and are still seeing high levels then Gliclazide might be a possible option as an oral med before resorting to insulin. Both come with a risk of hypos though and will involve finger prick testing, so it can make things more complicated and life can need a bit more planning as a result, so worth exploring dietary options first if there is room for change there.
You have told us quite a bit about the medication you have tried but it would be useful to know what dietary/lifestyle changes you have made, because those can be as powerful if not more powerful than many oral meds.
Unfortunately the NHS dietary advice isn't always as helpful as it might be for Type 2 diabetes, so looking at your diet and perhaps instigating a simply exercise program like a daily walk if you are able may well alleviate the need for more medication and in fact there are people who have come off insulin and all other medication following a low carb higher fat way of eating and lost weight in the process.
The other successful option is to follow a very low calorie short term (8-12week) diet like the Newcastle or Fast 800, which usually involves meal replacement shakes, but can be done with regular food but takes a bit more planning and effort.
One of the things we recommend as really helpful in modifying your diet is using a BG meter to test your Blood Glucose levels just before and 2 hours after a meal so that you can see the effect that meal had on your body and then adjust the carb content of that meal next time you have it to reduce the impact if necessary. The easiest way to do this is to start with breakfast because that is a meal that many of us have the same thing every morning. Also our bodies are often more insulin resistant in the morning, so having a lower carb breakfast can have a much bigger impact than any other meal. Added to that, if your levels go high after breakfast, they are likely to stay high for most of the day, whereas if you can keep them in range you have a much better chance of good BG control throughout the day.
If you don't have a BG meter and test strips provided on prescription, then the two which are most often recommended on the forum for reliability and economy of use are the Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. Both are relatively inexpensive to purchase the meter kit (approx £15) but it is the ongoing cost of test strips which is the financial drain. These 2 meters have some of the cheapest test strips on the market at about £8 for a pot of 50. The meter kit comes with just 10 test strips and 10 lancets so you would be well advised to buy a couple of extra pots of strips and a box of lancets with the meter kit if you decide to get a meter as you go through test strips very quickly in the first few weeks of testing and working out which foods you need to avoid or reduce portion size and which you can get away with and this can be quite individual.
If you don't like the idea of testing we can give you an idea of the sort of low carb foods which should reduce your HbA1c particularly if you post an example of what you currently eat and drink on an average day.
If you have already done everything possible diet wise and are still seeing high levels then Gliclazide might be a possible option as an oral med before resorting to insulin. Both come with a risk of hypos though and will involve finger prick testing, so it can make things more complicated and life can need a bit more planning as a result, so worth exploring dietary options first if there is room for change there.
Thank you so much for the advice. I am 30 years a vegan but hit the junk food since shielding. I started doing nhs vegan meal planner but straight away my glucose went up so i came off it. Im starting the diabetes.Co.Uk vegan meal planner today instead. Its alot lower carb. I have a temporary supply of strips from the doctor so ill look at continuing with that and if i cant get levels down ill have a look at gliclazide. Im less worried about hypos than the ketoacidosis. Never want to go there again. Thanks x
I actually feel better now just for talking to someone who knows what they are talking about xx❤️
Leadinglights
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- Type 2
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You have been vegan almost before vegan was invented well not quite, my Dad was vegetarian when it was considered to be very odd and people thought it was just a funny religion and had nothing to do with what one ate. So when he became diabetic all the recommended foods were meat and fish which he obviously didn't eat so meals were basically cheese and eggs, veg and salads and some concoction called nut meat brawn which came in a tin or savourmix rissoles.
Being vegan is just a bit more difficult but with your long experience of eating that way I'm sure you can find some low carb alternatives to the standard foods. Edamame or black bean pasta, butternut squash, cauliflower rice. Some alternative milks and cheese are now available but looking carefully before you buy at the Total carb value will help you make some better choices.
Being vegan is just a bit more difficult but with your long experience of eating that way I'm sure you can find some low carb alternatives to the standard foods. Edamame or black bean pasta, butternut squash, cauliflower rice. Some alternative milks and cheese are now available but looking carefully before you buy at the Total carb value will help you make some better choices.
Sos mix was my staple back in the beginning. Wish i could still hsve it but probably full of carbs and fat. Never heard of black bean pasta. I'll have to look into that xx
You want fat! When cutting back hard enough on carbs, unless you want to starve yourself you need to increase both Protein and Fat intake!
Protein and Fat are the only 2 essential macro nutrients (meaning you must eat them in order to live), but you body can make enough carbohydrate by gluconeogenesis i.e. the liver making glucose from protein or fat.
Windy
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- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi, I used to love sosmix, I'm gutted it's got so much rusk/carbs in!
I'm a veggie, rather than vegan, but you could have Linda McCartney sausages only have 1g of carbs per sausage, tofu's good too, 2.9g of carbs per 100g, also Quorn do vegan variants.
I also have TVP mince and use it to make veggie spag bol, with either edamame bean spaghetti, or courgettes cut into strips. And veggie curries, or tray baked curry paste covered broccoli (put florets in a lunchbox, with a spoon of Patak's paste, and shake to distribute the paste over the florets, then roast), or roasted veggies, chick pea curries etc.
Sarah
I'm a veggie, rather than vegan, but you could have Linda McCartney sausages only have 1g of carbs per sausage, tofu's good too, 2.9g of carbs per 100g, also Quorn do vegan variants.
I also have TVP mince and use it to make veggie spag bol, with either edamame bean spaghetti, or courgettes cut into strips. And veggie curries, or tray baked curry paste covered broccoli (put florets in a lunchbox, with a spoon of Patak's paste, and shake to distribute the paste over the florets, then roast), or roasted veggies, chick pea curries etc.
Sarah
Thanks Windy some good tips here. You make ot sound so easy. Where do i get edname bean spagetti?
Your stats are impressive and your initial ones are similar to mine. Gives me some hope. Wish id come here years ago. Xx
Yup im still getting my head around the good fat bad fat thing x
Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I got mine from Holland and Barratt, but they do it on Amazon also.
It wasn't at the start, I had no idea what to eat. I've settled into a routine now. I bulk cook soups/curry/chilli/bolognaise with TVP and freeze them in portions.
I bought a few diabetes cookbooks, but there's loads of meaty/fish recipes, and the veggie/vegan ones are thin on the ground. If you can substitute quorn/soya/seitan/tofu for the meaty parts, they're sort of doable.
You've made the decision to join us now, and look at your diabetes, that's all that matters. Harness your motivation, make a plan and look at what you can improve in your diet. It doesn't need to happen all at once, tackle a meal at a time and it gets easier. I have index cards with recipes written on them that I use, makes it easier and stops me putting extra in as I have no concept of portion control!
You can do it! Sarah
- Relationship to Diabetes
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Welcome to the forum @Ruth W
Good luck with your follow-up appointment.
I wish there wasn’t this sense in T2 that insulin was some sort of dreadful fate, to be avoided and delayed at all costs. You don’t get any of that nonsense with T1 - insulin is just a medication that you body needs to work properly. No judgement, stigma or ‘threats’.
Part of me wishes it was just another option for T2s, that was discussed at various points, rather than being framed as a sort of end point.
Hope you can find a balance between your menu, and whichever meds work for you.
Good luck with your follow-up appointment.
I wish there wasn’t this sense in T2 that insulin was some sort of dreadful fate, to be avoided and delayed at all costs. You don’t get any of that nonsense with T1 - insulin is just a medication that you body needs to work properly. No judgement, stigma or ‘threats’.
Part of me wishes it was just another option for T2s, that was discussed at various points, rather than being framed as a sort of end point.
Hope you can find a balance between your menu, and whichever meds work for you.
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