New complications and agrivating cholesterol?

[BisphamGirl]

So im a couple of months along the line now and stumbling along.
I made dramatic changes to my diet, but know there is further room for improvement.
Still not doing any purposeful exercise other than walking round my classroom in circles!
Taking Metformin isn't causing any noticeable side effects as long as I take it in the middle of a meal.

One thing im finding confusing is the dramatic differences in my BG reading first thing in a morning before I have eaten. It varies from 8.2 up to 13.5 and is never consistently up or down!
Any ideas as to what I can look at for what might be causing this?

Also, my cholesterol was at 9 when I first got my Type 2 diagnosis, I really haven't focused on trying to get this down and to honest I don't know where to start with tackling this along side trying to low-carb. I don't eat high fat foods anyway, so am unsure what to cut out and also be able to control my BG readings at the same time.

My final worry is that I have developed some numbness in the toes of my right foot, do I urgently need to go and see my GP or can it wait until I see the diabetic nurse in July?

Thanks in advance of any advice offered.

 

[Martin9]

So im a couple of months along the line now and stumbling along.
I made dramatic changes to my diet, but know there is further room for improvement.
Still not doing any purposeful exercise other than walking round my classroom in circles!
Taking Metformin isn't causing any noticeable side effects as long as I take it in the middle of a meal.

One thing im finding confusing is the dramatic differences in my BG reading first thing in a morning before I have eaten. It varies from 8.2 up to 13.5 and is never consistently up or down!
Any ideas as to what I can look at for what might be causing this?

Also, my cholesterol was at 9 when I first got my Type 2 diagnosis, I really haven't focused on trying to get this down and to honest I don't know where to start with tackling this along side trying to low-carb. I don't eat high fat foods anyway, so am unsure what to cut out and also be able to control my BG readings at the same time.

My final worry is that I have developed some numbness in the toes of my right foot, do I urgently need to go and see my GP or can it wait until I see the diabetic nurse in July?

Thanks in advance of any advice offered.

Hi
Your BG results seem a little high if you're following a low carb diet, it could be you're needing more Metformin. I'm on Metformin 500mg x3 daily and my BG results are between 4.5 - 6.0 in the morning.
So I would suggest you may wish to discuss your results, with your GP, and your numbness at an early opportunity rather than wait until July.

 

[Martin9]

Your higher morning BG readings may be due to what's called the 'dawn phenomenon' when the body releases glucose from the liver to prepare us for the day ahead so don't be too worried, but it's still worth discussing with GP..

 

[BisphamGirl]

Thanks for the advice, I will ring the DN in the morning.

 

[Mark Parrott]

Welcome to the forum. This may sound bizarre, considering what we have all been told over years, but fat has only a small effect on our overall cholesterol, so following a low carb high fat diet should actually lower your cholesterol. But also, the total figure is meaningless. It's all about the ratios (LDL/HDL/Trigs). My total cholesterol is high, but my ratios are perfect, meaning I have very little chance of a stroke or heart attack. LCHF tends to improve the ratios (LDL down, Trigs down, HDL up) so the total figure may come down a bit but not as much as the GP's would like. Exercise has a big impact on lowering cholesterol too. I watched a programme a few months back featuring Michael Mosely who tested coconut oil on people (which is 80% saturated fat) to see what affect it had on their cholesterol. In all cases, it got lower.

 

[BisphamGirl]

Purposeful exercise is the one thing I am not doing yet.
I will ask about the ratios at my next appointment, I know I was told but it went in one ear and out the other!!

 

[Maz2]

would just like to reiterate what Mark has said about cholesterol. I was pre-diabetic, got back to normal, but back up again. My GP did quite a lot of other tests with the hba1c including cholesterol. Mine over the last 8 years has been 4, 4.3, 4.4 and, this time, it was 4.7. I said to my GP "oh no, not the cholesterol going up as well!!!.. He said they are not interested anymore in the "overall" cholesterol only ratios and the good cholesterol. My good cholesterol had gone up, bad cholesterol down and ratio good to bad had gone up in favour of good.

I too saw the programme about coconut oil as my friend's daughter uses loads of it. I was horrified when I found out and I said I would not touch it with the amount of sat fat but I changed my mind after Michael Moseley's programme and have been using it for a few months. I am also following a higher fat low carb diet although I am not going mad with sat fat. I am a cheese addict though.

I do believe there is no link with cholesterol and fat in the diet because I have two friends whose cholesterol is very high and neither of them have high fat diets. In fact, one of my friends has hardly any fat and hers will not come down.

 

[chaoticcar]

My cholesterol levels came down when I changed to low carb higher fat .I eat lots of full fat yoghurt double cream and lots of cheese ,but I am a skinny type 2 I don't know how this would effect someone who needed to lose weight but it certainly. doesn't effect cholesterol
Carol

 

[BisphamGirl]

Im going to stick with low-carb and see what the next test results are.
I too eat a lot of cheese, but am not a butter fan, we rarely eat fried food.
Do you just use the coconut oil like you would any oil?