Hi Everyone, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in mid January 21, my HbA1c was 68, my fasting glucose was 18.9 so not very good. It came as a bit of a shock although I had an inkling that something was wrong for a while. I'd put on around a stone and a half over 10 years taking me to 16 stone even though I was active and fit teaching and training in martial arts 7 days a week 3-5 hours a day, although the rest of my day could get very sedentary running my business and home-schooling my eldest and my meals were (although mostly good) sporadic and with late night binges... wine also became a stress reliever but I was still taking in far less calories than I was expending (I had between 1200-3000 calories per day but was using between 3000-5000). Ultimately I was working 14 hour days and not looking out for myself the way I should at 50 years old.
So I was put on metformin 500mg 1 tablet twice per day and told (this is literal) to eat less and exercise more and we'll have another blood test in 3 - 4 months. I immediately cut out all sugars and processed food which wasn't a big deal because my diet didn't have much of it in anyway (apart from the binges). I suffered from lack of energy which was a problem with my work so was told by my doctor to eat more carbs (although he couldn't tell me how many), so that's what I did through steel cut oats and fruit. I was taking in 100 - 200g of carbs, 70 - 80gs of fat and 90 - 120g protein and between 1600 and 2200 calories. I was still tired and my mood was affected, I was checking my blood sugar as of February (although my doctor didn't want me to) which was always around 11 - 13 through February and March and when I mentioned this to my doctor I was told to wait for my next blood test, it then went up to 15 - 18 all through April, I also lost 3 stone in this time without any good reason, I was worried but my doctor again fobbed it off as a good thing that I was losing the weight even if it was so quickly. I also started to cut down on carbs through April and increase fat: Carbs 60-90g, fat 100-120g protein 100-120g.
Sorry this long winded... so at the end of April feeling ill for a while and not being able to speak to my doctor for another week I phoned 111 and went to A&E with Blood sugar of 15.5 and ketones 2.9, I was dehydrated so was given fluids and sent home because other than the above I wasn't dying. When I did manage to speak to my doctor I was put onto a higher dose of metformin 500mg 2 x 2 per day. After 5 days I hadn't had any changes to my blood sugar and was then put onto Jardiance which had an immediate effect of dropping my blood sugar to a range of between 6 to 8. And so from May, through June and July my diet was: carbs 40-60g, fats 100-130g and protein 100-130g and I have felt a lot better, although it did take until the end of July before I started to feel anything like I did before my diagnosis. Unfortunately I seem unable to have more than 20 - 30g carbs per meal, only 20g of wholemeal bread, or some fruit affects me negatively, I also only really feel normal when I haven't eaten for a while. My blood sugar in the mornings is always high 7 - 9 (even though this is when I feel the best) but tends to be lower 2 hours after breakfast (even though I will sometimes feel wiped out after it). My blood test on 21st of July 21 came back with a HbA1c of 51, so much better even if I still don't feel very good.
Last week I paid to see a diabetic specialist to see if I could get some of the questions that I have answered, questions that my doctor just ignored or fobbed off and so I'm having more blood tests to see if I'm producing enough insulin, which is where I am today. My Blood sugar is still too high and my ketones are quite high too.
The specialist took me off of Jardiance due to my low carb diet and the risk of ketoacidosis and my blood sugar immediately jumped to 9-12 the next day and so I am now starting on Gliclazide 40mg 1 tablet per day, (my first day today so will see how it goes).
Beyond that I'm waiting on the test results and checking my blood sugar more regularly to see what foods affect me and if my exercise regime is affecting my blood sugar.
I'm a pretty positive person and my aim is to beat this (if I can) or have it as a part of my life that I can control a little better, so I guess my questions to you wonderful people are: is my story normal? Are these the kinds of struggles most of you have gone through and what worked for you?
So I was put on metformin 500mg 1 tablet twice per day and told (this is literal) to eat less and exercise more and we'll have another blood test in 3 - 4 months. I immediately cut out all sugars and processed food which wasn't a big deal because my diet didn't have much of it in anyway (apart from the binges). I suffered from lack of energy which was a problem with my work so was told by my doctor to eat more carbs (although he couldn't tell me how many), so that's what I did through steel cut oats and fruit. I was taking in 100 - 200g of carbs, 70 - 80gs of fat and 90 - 120g protein and between 1600 and 2200 calories. I was still tired and my mood was affected, I was checking my blood sugar as of February (although my doctor didn't want me to) which was always around 11 - 13 through February and March and when I mentioned this to my doctor I was told to wait for my next blood test, it then went up to 15 - 18 all through April, I also lost 3 stone in this time without any good reason, I was worried but my doctor again fobbed it off as a good thing that I was losing the weight even if it was so quickly. I also started to cut down on carbs through April and increase fat: Carbs 60-90g, fat 100-120g protein 100-120g.
Sorry this long winded... so at the end of April feeling ill for a while and not being able to speak to my doctor for another week I phoned 111 and went to A&E with Blood sugar of 15.5 and ketones 2.9, I was dehydrated so was given fluids and sent home because other than the above I wasn't dying. When I did manage to speak to my doctor I was put onto a higher dose of metformin 500mg 2 x 2 per day. After 5 days I hadn't had any changes to my blood sugar and was then put onto Jardiance which had an immediate effect of dropping my blood sugar to a range of between 6 to 8. And so from May, through June and July my diet was: carbs 40-60g, fats 100-130g and protein 100-130g and I have felt a lot better, although it did take until the end of July before I started to feel anything like I did before my diagnosis. Unfortunately I seem unable to have more than 20 - 30g carbs per meal, only 20g of wholemeal bread, or some fruit affects me negatively, I also only really feel normal when I haven't eaten for a while. My blood sugar in the mornings is always high 7 - 9 (even though this is when I feel the best) but tends to be lower 2 hours after breakfast (even though I will sometimes feel wiped out after it). My blood test on 21st of July 21 came back with a HbA1c of 51, so much better even if I still don't feel very good.
Last week I paid to see a diabetic specialist to see if I could get some of the questions that I have answered, questions that my doctor just ignored or fobbed off and so I'm having more blood tests to see if I'm producing enough insulin, which is where I am today. My Blood sugar is still too high and my ketones are quite high too.
The specialist took me off of Jardiance due to my low carb diet and the risk of ketoacidosis and my blood sugar immediately jumped to 9-12 the next day and so I am now starting on Gliclazide 40mg 1 tablet per day, (my first day today so will see how it goes).
Beyond that I'm waiting on the test results and checking my blood sugar more regularly to see what foods affect me and if my exercise regime is affecting my blood sugar.
I'm a pretty positive person and my aim is to beat this (if I can) or have it as a part of my life that I can control a little better, so I guess my questions to you wonderful people are: is my story normal? Are these the kinds of struggles most of you have gone through and what worked for you?
