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edeaston

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi there

Had my blood test results come back at 53, last year was in the early 40s and the previous year a little lower so have been diabetic now somewhere under a year. Waiting to do second test next week but I'm not kidding myself. Have been through some of the stages of grief quite quickly and now determined to address the situation. I'm 52 and overweight, bordering obese. Quit alcohol 6 years ago and don't smoke so luckily don't have those to deal with as well. I'm hoping not to have to take meds at this point, intending to go down the Newcastle diet route. My diet is good and bad. I eat lots of the right things and lots of the wrong things! I've started to address that but not going crazy until I've seen the doctor. Interested to hear what GPs have suggested to people in similar situation to me.
 
edeaston said:
Hi there

Had my blood test results come back at 53, last year was in the early 40s and the previous year a little lower so have been diabetic now somewhere under a year. Waiting to do second test next week but I'm not kidding myself. Have been through some of the stages of grief quite quickly and now determined to address the situation. I'm 52 and overweight, bordering obese. Quit alcohol 6 years ago and don't smoke so luckily don't have those to deal with as well. I'm hoping not to have to take meds at this point, intending to go down the Newcastle diet route. My diet is good and bad. I eat lots of the right things and lots of the wrong things! I've started to address that but not going crazy until I've seen the doctor. Interested to hear what GPs have suggested to people in similar situation to me.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum
At least it has now been picked up that you have slipped through into the diabetic zone but it is indicating that your body is starting to struggle with the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, however it does seem to have increase quite a bit over the course of a year so you may have to make some significant changes to your diet and try to get a bit more exercise if you can.
53mmol/mol is not too far into the diabetic zone but not so high that you can't pull it back by making those changes but you need to be committed to doing that and if so then your GP hopefully will give you the opportunity for 3 months before prescribing medication.
You may think you are eating 'good' things but often they are not so good if diabetic. Have a look at this link for some ideas as to how you can change your dietary regime to one which should help reduce blood glucose but still give you plenty that you can eat. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
There is lots of good information and it may help you prepare any questions for when you see your GP though sometimes they are a bit behind the times in recognising how powerful diet can be.
There are other alternatives which people try low calorie or soups and shakes to give them a kick start but whatever you choose has to be enjoyable otherwise it will not be sustainable.
 
Leadinglights said:
Welcome to the forum
At least it has now been picked up that you have slipped through into the diabetic zone but it is indicating that your body is starting to struggle with the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, however it does seem to have increase quite a bit over the course of a year so you may have to make some significant changes to your diet and try to get a bit more exercise if you can.
53mmol/mol is not too far into the diabetic zone but not so high that you can't pull it back by making those changes but you need to be committed to doing that and if so then your GP hopefully will give you the opportunity for 3 months before prescribing medication.
You may think you are eating 'good' things but often they are not so good if diabetic. Have a look at this link for some ideas as to how you can change your dietary regime to one which should help reduce blood glucose but still give you plenty that you can eat. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
There is lots of good information and it may help you prepare any questions for when you see your GP though sometimes they are a bit behind the times in recognising how powerful diet can be.
There are other alternatives which people try low calorie or soups and shakes to give them a kick start but whatever you choose has to be enjoyable otherwise it will not be sustainable.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your feedback. I just checked and it was 46 last year so it's jumped. I've been trying to address things in the last 6 months committing to 7000 steps a day and doing some bike riding and I think I've lost about a stone but unfortunately its been too little too late but at least I've got a 'running' start. You're right about the carbohydrates and that's really where I've got to make the changes. I like cooking and exploring new recipes so I'm up for the challenge. In the first instance I think the soup and shake diet for 12 weeks is necessary
 
edeaston said:
Thanks for your feedback. I just checked and it was 46 last year so it's jumped. I've been trying to address things in the last 6 months committing to 7000 steps a day and doing some bike riding and I think I've lost about a stone but unfortunately its been too little too late but at least I've got a 'running' start. You're right about the carbohydrates and that's really where I've got to make the changes. I like cooking and exploring new recipes so I'm up for the challenge. In the first instance I think the soup and shake diet for 12 weeks is necessary
Click to expand...
Hopefully your GP will support you in that and there are some threads here by people who have found that a successful impetus to start on a new way of eating after the initial 12 weeks.
If you are into cooking there are plenty of resources for low carb meals in the Freshwell program and books like The Diabetes Weight Loss Cookbook by Caldesi or in the food forum here or on the website sugarfreelondoner.
Your weight loss is fantastic and it sounds as if you have grasped the exercise so well done there.
 
edeaston said:
Thanks for your feedback. I just checked and it was 46 last year so it's jumped. I've been trying to address things in the last 6 months committing to 7000 steps a day and doing some bike riding and I think I've lost about a stone but unfortunately its been too little too late but at least I've got a 'running' start. You're right about the carbohydrates and that's really where I've got to make the changes. I like cooking and exploring new recipes so I'm up for the challenge. In the first instance I think the soup and shake diet for 12 weeks is necessary
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum @edeaston

Hope you get on well with the NHS Soup and Shake programme. Many members on the forum have found it really useful, and have seen it giving both their metabolism and their relationship to food something of a reset.

Sounds like you have made some good progress already with your weight loss and increased step-count.

There are some threads discussing experiences of Oviva, Newcastle, and Fast 800 programmes here, which may be interesting

forum.diabetes.org.uk

Community - Chat with People about Remission

forum.diabetes.org.uk forum.diabetes.org.uk

Let us know how things go 🙂
 
I had my follow up hba1c results today which were lower at 51. They were 53, 3 weeks ago. Not sure how significant that is but I've made some changes in diet and exercise. Anyway its still a diabetic diagnosis and will be invited into the gps. Glad the blood sugar is going down not up anyway! Dont want to go on meds, confident I can get into remission with diet and exercise.
 
edeaston said:
Hi there

Had my blood test results come back at 53, last year was in the early 40s and the previous year a little lower so have been diabetic now somewhere under a year. Waiting to do second test next week but I'm not kidding myself. Have been through some of the stages of grief quite quickly and now determined to address the situation. I'm 52 and overweight, bordering obese. Quit alcohol 6 years ago and don't smoke so luckily don't have those to deal with as well. I'm hoping not to have to take meds at this point, intending to go down the Newcastle diet route. My diet is good and bad. I eat lots of the right things and lots of the wrong things! I've started to address that but not going crazy until I've seen the doctor. Interested to hear what GPs have suggested to people in similar situation to me.
Click to expand...
Sounds a lot like me. I made some good food choices, but far too many bad (the junk foods and the sweet stuff).
A lot of folks have turned their results around by focussing on dietary and lifestyle changes, so that seems like a viable solution.
Two points down and 1 stone gone is a good start, well done!
 
edeaston said:
I had my follow up hba1c results today which were lower at 51. They were 53, 3 weeks ago. Not sure how significant that is but I've made some changes in diet and exercise. Anyway its still a diabetic diagnosis and will be invited into the gps. Glad the blood sugar is going down not up anyway! Dont want to go on meds, confident I can get into remission with diet and exercise.
Click to expand...
Hopefully continuing with those dietary changes will show a much lower result after 3 months. An HbA1C after only 3 weeks is usually a confirmatory test as the HbA1C represents the previous 3 months so after only 3 weeks you would not expect much, if any change unless medication was prescribed. But if you are committed to dietary changes then there is no reason why that should work for you.
The Freshwell program is one I found successful as have many.
 
Leadinglights said:
Hopefully continuing with those dietary changes will show a much lower result after 3 months. An HbA1C after only 3 weeks is usually a confirmatory test as the HbA1C represents the previous 3 months so after only 3 weeks you would not expect much, if any change unless medication was prescribed. But if you are committed to dietary changes then there is no reason why that should work for you.
The Freshwell program is one I found successful as have many.
Click to expand...
I wonder why I dropped 2 points in 3 weeks. I was just coming off of antibiotics the first time round. I read an information sheet from NHS in Exeter which said a lower follow up reading was quite common. Didn't explain why but happier with 51 than 53. Which it was 47 however!
 
edeaston said:
I wonder why I dropped 2 points in 3 weeks. I was just coming off of antibiotics the first time round. I read an information sheet from NHS in Exeter which said a lower follow up reading was quite common. Didn't explain why but happier with 51 than 53. Which it was 47 however!
Click to expand...
You’re expecting too much accuracy if you’re expecting identical results on different samples of blood. Plus in that 3 weeks your been starting to make changes to lower it.
 
edeaston said:
I wonder why I dropped 2 points in 3 weeks. I was just coming off of antibiotics the first time round. I read an information sheet from NHS in Exeter which said a lower follow up reading was quite common. Didn't explain why but happier with 51 than 53. Which it was 47 however!
Click to expand...
Likely the second test was confirmatory as illness and indeed antibiotics can cause elevated blood glucose and the results of the test use an algorithm which weights the more recent weeks when you would have been unwell.
Keep up with your dietary changes and hopefully it will be 47 next time
 
Ah well, you see - the HbA1c test isn't actually an average over the last 3 months, whatsoever. Over half of the result figure reflects the unused glucose that stuck to your red blood cells in the 4 ish weeks prior to the blood being drawn, over half of the remainder, the 4 ish weeks prior to that and the least, the furthest 4 ish weeks back. It's so disproportionate it sounds silly, like 60%, 25% and 15% - but I can't now remember the figures cos it's been so long ago I saw them quoted, though they were quoted somewhere truly believable, by the European consortium of medical expertise on diabetes or some other body - definitely not some single random source.
 
edeaston said:
I wonder why I dropped 2 points in 3 weeks. I was just coming off of antibiotics the first time round. I read an information sheet from NHS in Exeter which said a lower follow up reading was quite common. Didn't explain why but happier with 51 than 53. Which it was 47 however!
Click to expand...

If you change diet and have a test two weeks later, it could easily be lower as the hba1c is loaded heavily towards what has been going on during the last few weeks before the test.
 
Welcome to the forum. Your numbers are similar to mine. I'm obese (not remotely borderline!). I was 42 for the two years before my diagnosis. 56 at my 1st hba1c in June and then 52 in July (3 week retest). I'm diet controlling at present - low carb is my choice of management, 22lbs down to date.

I hope you get support for the Soups and Shakes.
 
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