New member T2 for 19 years

[The_Azzuri]

Hi everyone, finally decided to join up after keeping to myself for 19 years. I was in self-denial for about 14 years and only really started taking care of myself more at that point. Managed to get bloodlevels down to 6.5 but lockdown etc has ruined it. Now probably onto insulin injections in the next 3 months and really bothered about that

 

[Leadinglights]

Welcome to the forum, you will get some good suggestions and ideas from people with a good deal of experience of managing their condition.
When you say your blood glucose levels are ruined, I assume you have had a recent HbA1C test, knowing what that is and how you are trying to manage your blood glucose levels, are you taking any medication, will help people make appropriate comments.
I don't think you should assume you will need insulin if you take some measures now to your lifestyle in particular your dietary regime.
However if insulin is deemed to be the best option then as long as you are prescribed a suitable regime for you then it is better than uncontrolled levels which then could lead to serious complications.
Do you have a home testing blood glucose monitor as many people find this is key to managing their blood glucose levels?.

 

[The_Azzuri]

Welcome to the forum, you will get some good suggestions and ideas from people with a good deal of experience of managing their condition.
When you say your blood glucose levels are ruined, I assume you have had a recent HbA1C test, knowing what that is and how you are trying to manage your blood glucose levels, are you taking any medication, will help people make appropriate comments.
I don't think you should assume you will need insulin if you take some measures now to your lifestyle in particular your dietary regime.
However if insulin is deemed to be the best option then as long as you are prescribed a suitable regime for you then it is better than uncontrolled levels which then could lead to serious complications.
Do you have a home testing blood glucose monitor as many people find this is key to managing their blood glucose levels?.

I fell off the good wagon during lock-down due stress I suppose. 3 recent HbA1C results are 15.1 (end of lock-downs) then 13.4 and last one last week 12.1 but not coming down enough - I have a very healthy diet and am very active at gym 4-5 times a week. Had meeting with my nurse and diabetic specialist this week and they are recommending insulin. Current medication - Metformin, Sitagliptin, Ramipril, Aspirin, Simvastatin and dapagliflozin

 

[Leadinglights]

I fell off the good wagon during lock-down due stress I suppose. 3 recent HbA1C results are 15.1 (end of lock-downs) then 13.4 and last one last week 12.1 but not coming down enough - I have a very healthy diet and am very active at gym 4-5 times a week. Had meeting with my nurse and diabetic specialist this week and they are recommending insulin. Current medication - Metformin, Sitagliptin, Ramipril, Aspirin, Simvastatin and dapagliflozin

I assume the numbers you quote are % which are the old units but just over 12% converts to just over 100mmol/mol which is pretty high given you are on multiple meds and are active with a healthy diet.
I would question your diagnosis as Type 2 and your situation could well be explained if you are in fact Type 1 or LADA so you might be advised to request the specific tests for Type 1 which would be C-peptide and GAD antibody tests.
If that is then the case then insulin would almost certainly be indicated but may in any case help with your management of blood glucose.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

It doesn't sound like you are a typical Type 2 diabetic so I wonder if you might be a slow onset Type 1 usually referred to as LADA (Latent Autoimmmune Diabetes in Adults) It can take months or years to fully manifest itself and unfortunately many people with it get diagnosed and treated as Type 2 without getting the appropriate tests. That said, if you are LADA you will need insulin but it can be important to get the right insulin regime and testing to show that you have autoimmune diabetes.... This would be a GAD antibody test and together with a C-peptide test to show how much insulin you are able to produce would be the basis of a proper diagnosis.

As regards you having a "healthy diet" that can be a bit confusing for people with Type 2 diabetes because the NHS advice is very caught up in the "Eat Well" plate which encourages wholegrain products and fruit which many Type 2 diabetics can't actually cope with. Here on the forum we encourage people to get themselves a Blood Glucose monitor and test their BG before and 2 hours after a meal to see how their body coped with that food and make appropriate changes to that meal if it caused their BG to spike by more than 2-3 mmols by reducing the size of the carbohydrate portion. It sounds complicated but you soon get into the swing of it and it is very motivating to see your levels start to reduce so significantly.

If you can give us an idea of the things you typically eat at the moment for breakfast lunch and evening meal, we can suggest lower carb alternatives.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @The_Azzuri and welcome to the forum.
As has been already said, you may not actually be a Type 2. So pester your GP for the tests for Type 1.

However if you are Type 2 and have been so for 19yrs, then unless you have changed what you eat completely since the early years, I very much doubt that you are eating healthily for a Type 2 - because it's almost the opposite of what's considered healthy for a healthy person!

I have always been slim and I blame the 'Eatwell Plate' and '5 A Day' for giving me Type 2 diabetes in the first place. I was constantly being told things like 'eat lots of whole grains' - but they turn into glucose when you eat them just like refined grains do! I was told 'eat lots of fruit and veg' - well I happened to like fruit (particularly banana and mango) and fruit juice and my favourite veg was carrots and parsnips so I said 'Yum, I can eat more like 7 or 8 a day of those'. All of which my Blood Glucose meter now tells me are very bad for me. Fruit juice is like liquid sugar, tropical fruit has lots of sugar, carrots and parsnips are both starchy and sweet both of which are more sugar after they hit the digestive system!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @The_Azzuri

Sorry to hear you’ve been having a tough time with your diabetes recently, and that you struggled with denial to begin with.

Do you have diabetes in your family. 19 years would be a long time to have been misclassified, but it may be worth asking the question if you think parts of your diagnosis seem atypical.

It sounds like you’ve had success in managing your BG levels in the past to get an HbA1c at 6.5% (48mmol/mol). Can you remember how you managed that, and any strategies that were particularly effective?

 

[The_Azzuri]

Welcome to the forum @The_Azzuri

Sorry to hear you’ve been having a tough time with your diabetes recently, and that you struggled with denial to begin with.

Do you have diabetes in your family. 19 years would be a long time to have been misclassified, but it may be worth asking the question if you think parts of your diagnosis seem atypical.

It sounds like you’ve had success in managing your BG levels in the past to get an HbA1c at 6.5% (48mmol/mol). Can you remember how you managed that, and any strategies that were particularly effective?

Hi thanks for your answer. There is not a history of diabetes in my family as far as I know. My maternal Grandmother developed Diabetes type 2 in her late 70s. One of my cousins is Type 1, but this was a result of chemo from Hodgkinson's disease. Other than that there is no-one. I know nowadays, it is tended to be you have history of diabetes in your family if one person has had it, seems a bit OTT to me.

Getting down to 6.5 was cutting out most carbs. Replacing rice with cauli rice, noodles with butternut squash noodles, spaghetti with courgetti. Stopping eating pastry and potatoes (except some new potatoes). I tried quite a lot of Keto recipes which were very useful. Ate a lot of fish, mackerel etc. I also work out at the gym a lot minimum 4 times a week and I dance (a very energetic type of dance). I also used replacement milks with no added sugar i.e. Almond or Coconut

 

[The_Azzuri]

Hi and welcome.

It doesn't sound like you are a typical Type 2 diabetic so I wonder if you might be a slow onset Type 1 usually referred to as LADA (Latent Autoimmmune Diabetes in Adults) It can take months or years to fully manifest itself and unfortunately many people with it get diagnosed and treated as Type 2 without getting the appropriate tests. That said, if you are LADA you will need insulin but it can be important to get the right insulin regime and testing to show that you have autoimmune diabetes.... This would be a GAD antibody test and together with a C-peptide test to show how much insulin you are able to produce would be the basis of a proper diagnosis.

As regards you having a "healthy diet" that can be a bit confusing for people with Type 2 diabetes because the NHS advice is very caught up in the "Eat Well" plate which encourages wholegrain products and fruit which many Type 2 diabetics can't actually cope with. Here on the forum we encourage people to get themselves a Blood Glucose monitor and test their BG before and 2 hours after a meal to see how their body coped with that food and make appropriate changes to that meal if it caused their BG to spike by more than 2-3 mmols by reducing the size of the carbohydrate portion. It sounds complicated but you soon get into the swing of it and it is very motivating to see your levels start to reduce so significantly.

If you can give us an idea of the things you typically eat at the moment for breakfast lunch and evening meal, we can suggest lower carb alternatives.

Hello Barbara
I think I will certainly ask GP for checks as to whether I am LADA. That said, when diagnosed in 2003, my doctor then was the Diabetes co-ordinator/expert? for east midlands. I have had night-sweats in the early days and temper swings, poor vision. These were all rectified when went on to tablets. Even they I said I was in denial for about 13/14 years, I did still take medications but that was all as I was unfit and overweight. I have never knowingly suffered a hypo or been hyper fortunately

 

[The_Azzuri]

Hi @The_Azzuri and welcome to the forum.
As has been already said, you may not actually be a Type 2. So pester your GP for the tests for Type 1.

However if you are Type 2 and have been so for 19yrs, then unless you have changed what you eat completely since the early years, I very much doubt that you are eating healthily for a Type 2 - because it's almost the opposite of what's considered healthy for a healthy person!

I have always been slim and I blame the 'Eatwell Plate' and '5 A Day' for giving me Type 2 diabetes in the first place. I was constantly being told things like 'eat lots of whole grains' - but they turn into glucose when you eat them just like refined grains do! I was told 'eat lots of fruit and veg' - well I happened to like fruit (particularly banana and mango) and fruit juice and my favourite veg was carrots and parsnips so I said 'Yum, I can eat more like 7 or 8 a day of those'. All of which my Blood Glucose meter now tells me are very bad for me. Fruit juice is like liquid sugar, tropical fruit has lots of sugar, carrots and parsnips are both starchy and sweet both of which are more sugar after they hit the digestive system!

Hi Ian
I will be asking my GP for test re Type 1 or LADA for sure
The changes in my diet have been really since March2020 start of 'Lockdown', it's been a very stressful 2 years and I suppose/know that i comfort ate unfortunately. However, it seems so difficult now to get back to where I was 2 years ago and so frustrating. I did fall into the same thing as you re fruit and vegetables. I remember years ago seeing my diabetic nurse and I had a small bottle of Tropicana Orange juice (as I thought I was being healthy!) she soon put me right about that 🙂