Newbie with query

[Clay]

Your UC, @Clay, albeit in remission for the last 3 years, does introduce a rationale that you could be T2 with T3c connotations - so not necessarily a "standard" T2. Are you on any medication for your UC? The UC and certain meds could in themselves bring about elevated BG.

My UC was diagnosed c.2000 and I achieved remission from that by diet and lifestyle in the next 3 years, confirmed all clear by mid 2004. I was determined to not be taking tablets for the rest of my life (I didn't know then that pancreatic cancer and hence diabetes was still ahead of me!).

Thanks. Yes UC is looking like an aspect that can't be discounted - as I said in another reply I wasn't even aware of T3c let alone the possibility it could be a factor. It's a possibility I'll nudge the GP to take into consideration at least.

No I'm not any ongoing medication. I've only ever been on medications for UC during flare-ups. I was also diagnosed c. 2000 but I'm fairly fortunate in that it has been nowhere near as severe for me as it gets for many with only a few flare-ups since. Again though the fact that UC meds can raise blood glucose is something else I didn't know that I've learned on here, . One to bear in mind going forward. It's also encouraging to know you tackled UC with diet and lifestyle.

 

[Clay]

The same applies with bread. Wholemeal has very few carbs less than white, so as with all these high carb foods, reducing your portion size and frequency of eating is much more effective than swapping to brown wholemeal, although extra fibre is usually a good option for gut health, but reducing the portion size and frequency of those high carb foods is what will give you better results with your BG levels.
Basically anything made from grains or grain flour is likely to be high carb.... so wheat, rice, barley, oats and corn and anything made from them. Plus potatoes both sweet and normal and other root veg like casava and parsnips/carrots/beetroot to a slightly lesser extent. Interestingly the vinegar in pickled beetroot can make that a better option for some of us even though there is sugar added in the pickling process. I can eat pickled beetroot from the jar until my mouth turns numb and barely see any movement of my BG levels, but a fresh boiled beetroot will give me a rise. Being able to test and see your own body's reactions to food should really help you to fine tune your diet.

Thanks again. I eat a bread called Hi Lo which is sold as being high protein and low carb, though that's all I know about it. I try to limit bread intake generally but find it's so often a good option for accompanying eggs or oily fish or whatever. I've avoided potatoes by and large since being diagnosed prediabetic and have learned to become wary of grain-based foods, though I won't pretend that to date I've closely targeted them. I've kept bran flakes in my diet as they seem to promote 'regularity' which is important to me with the possibility of UC flare-ups always there.
I think though from what you say I have some way to go to get a more precise handle on the effect of what I'm eating, rather than a broad approach based on the general info which I've followed so far.

 

[Clay]

Hi @Clay and welcome to the forum 🙂 . As you can see already this is a great place to get information/advice based on members own thoughts and experiences. I definitely agree that a monitor would be so useful for you to see how the food you're eating affect the BG. Personally I limit the amount of fruit I eat as the natural sugars really elevate my glucose levels even fruit like bananas. I hope your follow-up appointment with GP to discuss blood test results goes well

Thank you yes I expected there would some relevant personal experience I could draw from on here but the breadth and depth of knowledge in the very quick and thorough responses has surprised me and I didn't expect so many possible nuances and twists to be put to me that I just hadn't come across when looking into things online.

Yes before I was diagnosed prediabetic in November I was definitely eating too much fruit despite having cut out most of the more obvious sugary foods. I ate it a lot, way over the 5 a day recommendation. I was seeing a lot of advice to the effect that eating fruit is OK, that the fibre in whole fruit slows the release of sugar (fructose?) in such a way that it will not contribute to insulin resistance. I even argued this point with a friend who said he thought I was eating too much.

Anyway over the last 3 months I've cut it right down and shifted away from the bananas, grapes, apples and pears and so on towards berries, in more measured amounts. This and several other changes I made is one of the reasons I was so very surprised not only to not see any improvement in recent blood test results, but quite a negative down(up?)turn.

 

[Clay]

Great advice above, so I'll not repeat it.
Really check what you are eating, as many foods thought to be helpful, can actually be high carb, which if you are T2, you will want to reduce or remove, eg: below ground root veg, and lots of fruit are high carb, bananas and any exotic fruits, pineapple, etc. Good luck with it and keep us updated, cheers

Thanks yes I'm noting down key points to take away and this seems to be one of them - focus more sharply on what I'm eating rather than shifting towards broad categories. And I at some point start using a BG meter.

 

[Clay]

Welcome to the forum @Clay

Sorry to hear your follow-up HbA1c didn’t show the reduction you might have expected given the effort you had put in, and the weight you had lost.

I think it’s perfectly natural to be a little confused, and a bit miffed about it to be honest. Try not to be discouraged - you’ve seen positive impact on your BP, and losing weight is beneficial in reducing risks of many things, so keep going, and hopefully you’ll get some clarity over your exact diabetes type, and the best management approach for you over the coming weeks and months.

Let us know how the chat with your GP goes.

Thank you, the advice I've been getting on here has lifted my mood as well as giving me new insights and practical suggestions. You're absolutely right 'miffed' sums it up - it was a case of 'I've done what they told me, where's the improvement I was promised?'. But yes looking on the bright side I've put myself in a better position to get on with dealing with whatever type I'm ultimately diagnosed with.

 

[rebrascora]

I find that psyllium husk and chia seeds are far more effective at keeping the bowel healthy than grain based fibre like bran and oats and have almost no carbs. Psyllium husk is the active ingredient in Fibogel which is often prescribed by GPs to keep bowel movement healthy and regular. Chia seeds are also a bit of a super food in respect of Omega 3 fatty acids (contain more per weight than salmon I believe) as well as high in soluble fibre, so the combo of psyllium and chia soaked in a flavoured water work wonders for my bowel health, cholesterol and Omega 3 intake as I am not a huge fan of fish. Chia seeds are relatively easy to obtain in many supermarkets these days too, although I have to buy my psyllium husk online. My bowel health has improved enormously since going low carb and obtaining soluble fibre from these two low carb sources instead of from grains. You can also add them to soups and stews to thicken them instead of flour (carbs of course) and add to yoghurt too if you don't fancy them in a drink although personally I think it is important to take them with plenty of fluid as they absorb water readily, so having them as a drink ensures that they have absorbed that water and started to form a gel before they get into my digestive system. My bowel movements have never been so good since I was a child following this regime.

I tend to have eggs in the form of an omelette these days as it doesn't beg something to soak up the yolk but occasionally I will have a fried egg with bacon and sausages and mushrooms but I cook a few shredded leaves of cabbage with a knob of butter in the microwave for 2.5 mins and serve my egg on that to catch the yolk and make my fry up more healthy. Cabbage goes really well with bacon too, so it works well. It took me a long time to learn to live without bread because it has been such a staple part of our diet all our lives and used to carry so many different foods but once you stop relying on it and start to think outside the box, you can find all sorts of veggies and stuff to replace bread and pasta and rice and a lot of it more tasty than the beige carbs. I now have chilli with cheese coleslaw and a salad instead of rice and curry on a beg of cooked shredded cabbage and bolognaise sauce on cooked courgettes or aubergines and cottage pie topped with mashed cauliflower and cheese of course. No peeling spuds and cooks and mashes quicker. Add a dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of wholegrain mustard and as I said, top with grated cheese and brown in the oven and it is delicious. Can also be used for fish pie I believe. Cauli mash or cauliflower cheese also goes really well with high meat content sausages (cheap sausages contain rusk which is carbs) or with gammon. Some people use grated cauli instead of rice, again cooks far quicker, so saves on gas/electric. Easy cauliflower cheese is made by par boiling the cauli then coating with cream cheese and then grated cheese and browning off in the oven (regular cheese sauce is of course made with flour and milk both of which add carbs) Oh and let's not forget the ugly duckling of veg, celeriac, which makes really tasty low carb chips to go with a steak and mushrooms and salad and coleslaw. Yum! Or can be roasted or mashed too to go with a variety of dishes. For me it has been really interesting finding new foods and ways of cooking them to make up for the carb rich foods I now very rarely eat, and my food is now actually tastier and more varied than it was before.

 

[Clay]

As mentioned testing your glucose levels will be a great help in determining what is happening in your body when eating various foods. To save money, initially, rather than buying a blood glucose testing monitor, you could try to get a free trial of the FreeStyle Libre+, which will give you 15 days of continuous glucose levels, so you can see what’s happening throughout the day and overnight.

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott

Claim your 15 day free sensor if you have diabetes and have not tried the FreeStyle Libre 2 plus sensor before

www.freestyle.abbott

Thanks. Interesting. I'll definitely check that out. Continuous levels over a relatively sustained period are something I would find useful.

 

[rebrascora]

Whilst I absolutely love Libre and it can be really helpful in identifying foods which spike your levels, it does have limitations and I would not recommend using it unless you also have a BG meter to verify some of the data it gives you, so I wouldn't recommend it until you have got a BG meter and get familiar with using it and understanding the data. No harm in applying for the free trial now, and putting it to one side for a few weeks, but it can throw up some red herrings which can potentially even cause diagnostic issues if you are not able to verify some of the values it gives and just take them at face value. We have certainly seen people join the forum who where panicking and eating sweets through the night because Libre was waking them up with a low alarm and telling them they were hypo when in reality they had most likely just been lying on the sensor and causing a false compression low. The irony of a bit of technology supposedly to help people manage their diabetes causing someone to unnecessarily eat sugary sweets and biscuits during the night, because it is incorrectly telling them they are dangerously low. And the same people potentially telling their GP that they were having hypos during the night when they most likely were not is somewhat ironic, so I do think it is important to know the limitations of the technology and be able to double check with an alternative and more reliable device when necessary.

 

[Clay]

I find that psyllium husk and chia seeds are far more effective at keeping the bowel healthy than grain based fibre like bran and oats and have almost no carbs. Psyllium husk is the active ingredient in Fibogel which is often prescribed by GPs to keep bowel movement healthy and regular. Chia seeds are also a bit of a super food in respect of Omega 3 fatty acids (contain more per weight than salmon I believe) as well as high in soluble fibre, so the combo of psyllium and chia soaked in a flavoured water work wonders for my bowel health, cholesterol and Omega 3 intake as I am not a huge fan of fish. Chia seeds are relatively easy to obtain in many supermarkets these days too, although I have to buy my psyllium husk online. My bowel health has improved enormously since going low carb and obtaining soluble fibre from these two low carb sources instead of from grains. You can also add them to soups and stews to thicken them instead of flour (carbs of course) and add to yoghurt too if you don't fancy them in a drink although personally I think it is important to take them with plenty of fluid as they absorb water readily, so having them as a drink ensures that they have absorbed that water and started to form a gel before they get into my digestive system. My bowel movements have never been so good since I was a child following this regime.

I tend to have eggs in the form of an omelette these days as it doesn't beg something to soak up the yolk but occasionally I will have a fried egg with bacon and sausages and mushrooms but I cook a few shredded leaves of cabbage with a knob of butter in the microwave for 2.5 mins and serve my egg on that to catch the yolk and make my fry up more healthy. Cabbage goes really well with bacon too, so it works well. It took me a long time to learn to live without bread because it has been such a staple part of our diet all our lives and used to carry so many different foods but once you stop relying on it and start to think outside the box, you can find all sorts of veggies and stuff to replace bread and pasta and rice and a lot of it more tasty than the beige carbs. I now have chilli with cheese coleslaw and a salad instead of rice and curry on a beg of cooked shredded cabbage and bolognaise sauce on cooked courgettes or aubergines and cottage pie topped with mashed cauliflower and cheese of course. No peeling spuds and cooks and mashes quicker. Add a dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of wholegrain mustard and as I said, top with grated cheese and brown in the oven and it is delicious. Can also be used for fish pie I believe. Cauli mash or cauliflower cheese also goes really well with high meat content sausages (cheap sausages contain rusk which is carbs) or with gammon. Some people use grated cauli instead of rice, again cooks far quicker, so saves on gas/electric. Easy cauliflower cheese is made by par boiling the cauli then coating with cream cheese and then grated cheese and browning off in the oven (regular cheese sauce is of course made with flour and milk both of which add carbs) Oh and let's not forget the ugly duckling of veg, celeriac, which makes really tasty low carb chips to go with a steak and mushrooms and salad and coleslaw. Yum! Or can be roasted or mashed too to go with a variety of dishes. For me it has been really interesting finding new foods and ways of cooking them to make up for the carb rich foods I now very rarely eat, and my food is now actually tastier and more varied than it was before.

Thanks again. I'd never heard of psyllium husk (which surprises me as I seem to be forever clicking on dietary suggestions online). Another one to add to the list of new things to check out, particularly from a bowel health aspect.

Yes I have been eating chia seeds regularly for some time and sprinkling them on various things like yoghurt and salads, mixed in with linseeds and pumpkin seeds and some sesame seeds.

All those things in your second paragraph sound like the kind of things I could happily eat without feeling I was missing out on something. Fry ups and sausages have been limited to very occasional treats for me, particularly during a weight loss diet, so I'll seize on any excuse to reinstate them.

 

[Clay]

Whilst I absolutely love Libre and it can be really helpful in identifying foods which spike your levels, it does have limitations and I would not recommend using it unless you also have a BG meter to verify some of the data it gives you, so I wouldn't recommend it until you have got a BG meter and get familiar with using it and understanding the data. No harm in applying for the free trial now, and putting it to one side for a few weeks, but it can throw up some red herrings which can potentially even cause diagnostic issues if you are not able to verify some of the values it gives and just take them at face value. We have certainly seen people join the forum who where panicking and eating sweets through the night because Libre was waking them up with a low alarm and telling them they were hypo when in reality they had most likely just been lying on the sensor and causing a false compression low. The irony of a bit of technology supposedly to help people manage their diabetes causing someone to unnecessarily eat sugary sweets and biscuits during the night, because it is incorrectly telling them they are dangerously low. And the same people potentially telling their GP that they were having hypos during the night when they most likely were not is somewhat ironic, so I do think it is important to know the limitations of the technology and be able to double check with an alternative and more reliable device when necessary.

Thanks again and duly noted. It's all new to me anyway and I'll be having a look into the options before I get anything.

 

[Clay]

Pleased some of my thoughts have been helpful in broadening your approach with respect to your GP.
We have a relatively new member (joined just before Christmas I think) who also has ulcerative colitis and is not a standard Type 2 and in fact was suspected to be a Type 1 but testing for that has surprisingly come back negative. I think his UC is somewhat further down the road than yours as he has an ileostomy but perhaps might be useful to connect with each other and compare notes, so will tag @dannybgoode.

Thanks again. I'll bear that in mind, it might be useful to touch base with this user once I've heard what the doctor has to say.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thank you, the advice I've been getting on here has lifted my mood as well as giving me new insights and practical suggestions. You're absolutely right 'miffed' sums it up - it was a case of 'I've done what they told me, where's the improvement I was promised?'. But yes looking on the bright side I've put myself in a better position to get on with dealing with whatever type I'm ultimately diagnosed with.

Great to hear, and a great way of looking at things 🙂

 

[Clay]

I posted the query at the top of this thread on 27 February having just received an HbA1c test result of 52 (tested by a private provider at a walk-in clinic) which was a surprising rise from only 43 (in a routine NHS test) three months previously and so pretty worrying - especially as I had managed to lose about 20% of body weight in the intervening 3 months. So, while I waited to get a GP appointment, I came on here to get advice on how a sudden rise like that might be explained. I immediately got some great information from experienced posters about possible explanations (as well as related issues like diet and so on).

Though I am of course unqualified, looking through that advice and other online info it seemed to me more and more that the test result might just be plain wrong, So I followed it up over the next couple of weeks by having another private test and then an NHS one. Both results showed that my HbA1c had not gone up at all, but in fact had fallen from 43 to 38 and 36 in those tests respectively, below the prediabetic level. That's a signifcant discrepancy for which I will be seeking an explanation from the testing company.

So it seems to have been a false alarm but I didn't want to just disappear from here without saying thanks to those who responded. And I don't think I wasted my time posting as I learned a lot about different types of diabetes and its management. More importantly, I got a real lift, when I felt pretty down, from the willingness of people to share the considerable knowledge they'd gained through dealing with the condition themselves. I also took on board dietary advice.

Thanks again.

 

[rebrascora]

Many congrats on your new, normal range HbA1c results and pleased that you can now see that the hard work you put into losing weight has in fact paid off for you after all.
A salient reminder that test results should not always be taken at face value and to keep in mind that errors can happen when interpreting results.
Very best of luck for the future and thanks for updating us.

 

[harbottle]

I have a tablespoon of chia seeds every morning, and my movements are so regular the speaking clock uses me to make sure it's correct. And let's put it this way, I sometimes need a lumberjack to cut the results down to size before they'll fit down the U-Bend.

 

[rebrascora]

That made me laugh out loud @harbottle!! Chia seeds definitely work well for me too.

 

[JITR]

Very good news. Your actions are a copybook example of what Professor Taylor discoverd back in 2008.

You may be interested in his superb Claude Bertrand lecture last year which explains a lot.

Well done.

 

[Drummer]

I posted the query at the top of this thread on 27 February having just received an HbA1c test result of 52 (tested by a private provider at a walk-in clinic) which was a surprising rise from only 43 (in a routine NHS test) three months previously and so pretty worrying - especially as I had managed to lose about 20% of body weight in the intervening 3 months. So, while I waited to get a GP appointment, I came on here to get advice on how a sudden rise like that might be explained. I immediately got some great information from experienced posters about possible explanations (as well as related issues like diet and so on).

Though I am of course unqualified, looking through that advice and other online info it seemed to me more and more that the test result might just be plain wrong, So I followed it up over the next couple of weeks by having another private test and then an NHS one. Both results showed that my HbA1c had not gone up at all, but in fact had fallen from 43 to 38 and 36 in those tests respectively, below the prediabetic level. That's a signifcant discrepancy for which I will be seeking an explanation from the testing company.

So it seems to have been a false alarm but I didn't want to just disappear from here without saying thanks to those who responded. And I don't think I wasted my time posting as I learned a lot about different types of diabetes and its management. More importantly, I got a real lift, when I felt pretty down, from the willingness of people to share the considerable knowledge they'd gained through dealing with the condition themselves. I also took on board dietary advice.

Thanks again.

I wonder if the high test might have been using a rapid result tester.
My blood clots well - which is good as I am allergic to the stick'um stuff on plasters and micropore tape. When I have a blood test or minor jag it seals up very quickly.
Recently I explained that to the phlebotomist when my thyroid levels needed testing after adjustment of medication levels and she mentioned that rapid coagulation could distort the result to be higher than it ought to be.