New member today

[Athena]

Hi all, I've just joined this forum today, have been type 2 diabetic for 15 years now following previous bouts of gestational diabetes, my mother and uncle were diabetics so always knew it was highly likely I'd develop it at some point, my sister is type 2 as well, and 1 of my brothers is pre-diabetic, although both of them are younger and are not yet on the same amount of medication, anyway, I've been on metformin and diet control for years, then 2 years ago was put on gliclazide as well, but recently my blood tests were showing hba1c as extremely high so now I've been put on trulicity weekly injections as well, am 4 weeks into them and my blood sugar levels are wildly different every day no matter what I do, fluctuating between extremely low one day then extremely high the next, have spoken to diabetic nurse and they're increasing the dose as from next injection. Just wondered if anybody else has/had the same problem with trulicity and may have any advice ? TIA x

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome to the forum Athena. Could it be dependent on eating different things? Have you been keeping a food diary?

 

[Toucan]

Hello @Athena
Welcome to the forum
You certainly seem to be going through a bad time with your diabetes.
I don't personally have any knowledge regarding using trulicity, but there are many people on the forum with lots of different knowledge, so hopefully somebody may be along that has some experience of this.

You mention that you have been controlling by diet as well as medication. What sort of diet guidelines do you follow, and have you been given any advice on this by your medical team? It could be that changes to this may be helpful.

 

[Athena]

Hi guys, thanks for replies, I dont keep a food diary usually but maybe should start for a while, I've been years on a low carb diet, I.e. wholemeal bread instead of white, very few potatoes, pasta, rice etc, eat plenty of protein and fruit and veg, I do have the occasional cake or bit of choc but have lived with knowledge of a diabetic diet since I was a child due to my mum being diabetic so cant really see what I may be doing wrong,, nurse doesnt understand it either, they have said for years that I may eventually have to take insulin as my mother did, but am trying to prevent that for as long as possible, have never heard of trulicity injections before so am guessing it's a fairly new treatment, just wondered if anybody else had any info on it

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Athena

Sorry to hear that things have been a bit wobbly recently.
Have you been keeping a food diary of the carbohydrates that you are eating. This can help you to identify any changes that you can make to your diet. The different quantities and sources of carbs may be accounting for your variations in your glucose levels. With a diary of this you may be able to identify patterns in this and then make appropriate adjustments.

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome to the forum @Athena 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Presumably since you're on Gliclazide, you test your blood at home? In which case do you follow the sort of guidelines contained in this https://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

If not - I urge you to try it and see what you can discover, as some of your food choices will most likely prove to be not as suitable as you think. Bread still has the same amount of carbs in it although those may be released slower when they're wholemeal than if they were white, they are still carbs which our bodies still have the same difficulty with.

Anyway, try it.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hello @Athena

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear that you’ve been having such a runaround with your diabetes, and that your levels are fluctuating from day-to-day, that must make things very difficult for you, and I expect it makes you feel pretty grim

I wonder whether one of the challenges (in a funny sort of way) might be your level of experience and history with T2D. Perhaps you are relying on old advice and approaches that don't suit your particular individual diabetes today.

While there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will be wanting to cut back on, I wonder if you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including supposedly healthy whole grain versions of rice, pasta, bread, pastry, grains, cereals, plus many fruits.

The really tricky thing is that blood glucose responses to food are highly individual, and it can be impossible to say which forms and amounts of carbohydrate will ‘spike’ your BG without checking for yourself with a BG meter.

Fortunately you should have a supply of strips because of the meds you are on, and I think it would be a very useful and interesting exercise to check the foods and meals you are currently eating with before-and-after checks, them aim to modify and tweak them, reducing or replacing carbs until the meals only raise your BG by 2-3mmol/L after 2 hours.

The numbers themselves don’t matter in the early stages, as much as the before-after rise. If you can get that down to as small as possible and stabilise your BGs, then the overall levels will come down gently over time, which is much easier on the blood vessels.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

You have been given great advice above. I would also add that even healthy pulses like beans and lentils are high in carbs and can spike your BG as well as many fruits and some vegetables and any products make from grains and grain flour including porridge. Some of us choose to avoid all these foods to stabilise our BG and it works well. Testing before and 2 hours after eating will tell you which foods you can get away with and which are too carby for your system to cope.

It may seem like that doesn't leave a lot that you can eat, but it is actually a surprisingly enjoyable diet once your learn what to buy and how to cook it. I am no longer tempted by cakes and biscuits and sweets and I was a sugar addict pre-diagnosis, as long as I have plenty of cheese and nuts and olives and eggs to munch on. As a Type 1 diabetic, I could easily eat those high carb foods and inject insulin to cover them but it makes it easier for me to manage my diabetes if I avoid them. Can't remember the last time I had bread, rice or pasta. I do have a small portion of potato or sweet potato once or twice a week but there are so many other good things to eat like cauliflower cheese or cabbage cooked in butter or ratatouille in lots of lovely olive oil that I don't miss them.

 

[Athena]

Thank you all for some great advice, I dont eat a lot of carbs even the 'healthy' ones, like bread maybe twice a week, or potatoes once or twice, actually prefer things like sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli etc, and rarely have pasta or rice as I prefer cabbage or leeks with bolognese etc, but maybe I am a bit outdated in my knowledge of a diabetic diet so I will start a food diary and try testing before and after meals as suggested, luckily I have a meter and can get test strips on prescription as I have other medical issues that entitle me to free prescriptions so lucky in that respect, again thank you all for the advice xx

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thank you all for some great advice, I dont eat a lot of carbs even the 'healthy' ones, like bread maybe twice a week, or potatoes once or twice, actually prefer things like sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli etc, and rarely have pasta or rice as I prefer cabbage or leeks with bolognese etc, but maybe I am a bit outdated in my knowledge of a diabetic diet so I will start a food diary and try testing before and after meals as suggested, luckily I have a meter and can get test strips on prescription as I have other medical issues that entitle me to free prescriptions so lucky in that respect, again thank you all for the advice xx

Sounds like pretty BG-friendly choices @Athena , but there’s nothing quite like checking it out by checking a few strips at it, and tweaking and wobbles by ‘eating to your meter’ 🙂