• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Lots On Here With Dramatic HBA1C Drop......But

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
J

Jon

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have been there before and have had the huge drop too after being first diagnosed.That lasted for a few years.Always being very strict as to what I ate.
But do you know what,after having to cut out all the things I loved I often found myself questioning my quality of life.We are only here for a very short time really and to spend a lot of it being miserable and not being able to enjoy the things I loved has made me question whether I should say,to hell with it"fill your boots" and enjoy life no matter the consequences.Do I want to spend another 20 years feeling awful(i'm 60) or have 7 or 8 good years eating and drinking what I like.Having had a shock the other day about my eyesight I am back on the strict regime again but I am feeling like s++t again.Really struggling to eat stuff I don't really like and feeling hungry all the time.Anyone else ever have these down periods.
 
Depression and diabetes are heavily linked lots of us have been there feeling down and like what the heck it only comes back and bites us on the backside though. Can't get complacent to many times with this condition.. although I'm only 34 but my last HbA1c back in March was 10.1 that's c**p but I gotta keep at it.
 
My last 3 HBA1C's have stayed at a steady 80 which equates to 9.5.Cannot seem to get away from this figure no matter what.Gets me really down at times.
 
Jon said:
My last 3 HBA1C's have stayed at a steady 80 which equates to 9.5.Cannot seem to get away from this figure no matter what.Gets me really down at times.
Click to expand...
Ditto Jon I'm same mate . Trying my best and now I've been put on insulin I stupidly thought it would be like a magic potion but alas I gotta put the work in to still silly me.
 
I'm a newbie and only 4 months in but I understand where you are coming from. 2 years ago I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and it was a huge shock and shook me to the core. While waiting for biopsy results I tried not to think why me but why not me. I knew deep down what the results were and I was practically planning my funeral. I had lost my mother and sister to cancer within a month of diagnosis so I was at a very low point.

Then a year after finishing treatment I went to the GP because my daughter told me to get tested for diabetes. I wasn't prepared for the phone call 2 days later with my results, especially as there was no family history of diabetes. Once again I felt that crushing despair and panic. I had all weekend to muse over the GPs phone call till my appointment on Monday with the DN. During that time I found this site and made a start on reducing carbs. Since then I've severely restricted my carbs and had some lows. The anger and frustration when Supermarket shopping as I don't know what to buy. I'm not a huge fan of meat and don't touch fish. Then there are lunches in work, not easy. Add to this the high meter readings that Pee me off. But oh the joy of a minus 5!! It's a roller coasters and one that I'm on for my future. I've lost confidence in my health, I feel old and vulnerable but I want to live and have a decent quality of life so I have to press on.

I'm not really sure what I am saying but I am acknowledging that what you feel is real and something we are all vulnerable to.
 
It is not easy, you have to find what works for you and you can maintain most of the time. I was strict at diagnosis but could not maintain it. I don't do low carb, I have reduced the amount of carbs i eat and the portions of food in general. I have found for me this works and has done for last 3+ years.
i do fall off the wagon at times and aim to be more on than off.
 
I think the trick is to allow oneself a bit of what you fancy all the time. That way, you never feel like you're 'missing out'.

It does depend on the circumstances how much "a little bit" actually turns out to be though.

Up to now (8 years post diagnosis) I have been able to apply this principle without a problem. Well, so far, HbA1c results coming up tomorrow. 🙂
 
Well of course quality of life needs to be maintained - however would a T1 survive to ripe old age without it? But - of course if we don't toe the line at all, we'll either no longer have any life or that which we do have will be absolutely orrible because of all the complications we've brought on ourselves by having raging high BG all the while. Mind you I feel B awful with high BG for half an hour so I can't contemplate the thought of having it for longer.

Are you actually serious saying you don't like eating protein (ie meat fish eggs cheese) or most veg, or things like strawberries and raspberries, or fresh cream?
 
I think most of us try extra hard after diagnosis and many sadly can't keep up the very extreme rules we set ourselves. I get what you're saying Jon. You sound a bit like me in that there are certain foods you love and don't want to reduce or give up completely. The healthy stuff is ok but it's those yummy restricted foods it's so hard to limit.
At times I feel like saying did it I'm going to have whatever I want and enjoy life. However once the diabetic complications set in life won't be enjoyable. So that's why I keep trying and don't just go for it when I want to. Well sometimes I do but I try to resist.
 
I do understand what you're saying, managing diabetes is relentless,thankless hard work but the rewards are priceless and the alternative is just not worth contemplating.

As someone living with serious complications I think the idea of getting 'x' good years, enjoying what you want just doesn't happen in reality. It's not an either or - not where diabetes is concerned. Complications don't all happen at the same time after you've had your years filling your boots, they're incremental and all of a sudden the carefree days of doing as you please transform into days spent worrying yourself sick in retinopathy, renal ,foot ulcer clinics etc fearing the worst and back pedalling like mad to try and control the damage and get some quality of life. Nothing is worth that risk. Diabetes is hard, diabetes plus complications moves into a different orbit 🙄

I hope things settle for you and you can find some things you really miss and work them into you diet occasionally to break the monotony. 🙂
 
Hi Jon, I bet there isn't a single person here doesn't understand what you're saying, me included! Sometimes I feel totally fed up and resentful about it. Limitations at 'life's feast' isn't easy and doesn't seem fair but there's a different way of looking at it. It maybe 6/7 years of unlimited pleasure foods but the price to pay would then be too high and nobody wants to be reaping the damage of food carnage into their late 60's. Seen too many of them!

Finding alternatives and allowing smaller amounts of 'pleasure foods' (for want of a better word) is the answer.

I write on a cancer site and the first thing the newly diagnosed ask is, 'what can I do to halt, slow, protect myself from this galloping ahead or turning nasty'. And the reality is....bugger all! Yes a healthy lifestyle prepares well for chemo time but it doesn't fundamentally change the cancer progression.
When type 2 newbies (in particular), come on here they're essentially asking the same question but the answer is quite different. Yes there is SO much they can do in terms of food choices, exercise, portion control etc. People can not only control this but turn it round and all but eliminate diabetic complications. That's one hell of an opportunity in the health lottery.

I know other things will probably get me first in the scheme of things but I'm not giving diabetes a head start to reduce my chances further. Yes I cheat and sometimes I despair but like you, in the end I think nothing tastes as good as good eyesight and working limbs feels.

I hope you can get into a mind frame where you can incorporate this into your life rather than bitterly fight against it. We totally get it! Best wishes.
 
trophywench said:
Well of course quality of life needs to be maintained - however would a T1 survive to ripe old age without it? But - of course if we don't toe the line at all, we'll either no longer have any life or that which we do have will be absolutely orrible because of all the complications we've brought on ourselves by having raging high BG all the while. Mind you I feel B awful with high BG for half an hour so I can't contemplate the thought of having it for longer.

Are you actually serious saying you don't like eating protein (ie meat fish eggs cheese) or most veg, or things like strawberries and raspberries, or fresh cream?
Click to expand...

I really do like the foods you have mentioned,i like eggs,fish but thought cheese was too high in fat and red meat should be avoided.Truth is,i don't really know what I can eat.
Were can I get advice on what to eat.
 
Jon said:
I really do like the foods you have mentioned,i like eggs,fish but thought cheese was too high in fat and red meat should be avoided.Truth is,i don't really know what I can eat.
Were can I get advice on what to eat.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately everybody seems to be different at what and how much of various food they can tolerate without pushing blood sugar up. It is a case of trying and testing and adjusting, or avoiding .
 
'Eat to your meter' Jon!

If you are trying to lose weight then obviously don't overdose on fat - but as far as D's concerned - it's only carbohydrates - ie 'sugars' and 'starches' that all our bodies have difficulty with. It doesn't matter whether the sugar is presented inside fruit (fructose) or a Tate & Lyle bag marked 'granulated' - your body needs to treat it exactly the same. It matters not whether the starch is a bag of flour (and therefore anything made with flour eg bread cake pasta) or in rice (no matter what colour the rice is) or in spuds or in root veg - all of it is carbohydrate and needs insulin to get processed inside our digestive system.

Doesn't necessarily mean you just have to give em all up instantly - you need to test before you eat, eat, then test after. What did it do to your BG ? Sent it into the stratosphere? Oh dear - is it feasible/reasonable to try and avoid it completely? Or - could I try eating half that amount, and see what that might do?

Have a read of this - http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html - and see what you think ....
 
I totally get where you are coming from I too am struggling at the moment. I am keeping at it but certainly can't sustain very low carb I just don't enjoy it. I try to eat to my meter most of the time and that is the best I can manage x
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top