Newly diagnosed completely at a loss.

[Jamie%]

After being recently diagnosed I'm a little lost.
I have been overloaded with loads of info/science by very knowledgeable health care professionals, but I'm struggling with food/diet not helped by the fact I'm Gluten and lactose intolerant.
I'm not over weight in fact I'm the opposite, I do a very physical job and as a result I'm a bit of a carb monster, if I don't eat I can feel weak/nauseous.
If I starve and feel rubbish my blood sugar levels stick around the mid 11's if I eat any thing like what I feel my body needs it can rise into the 20's.
I'm constantly hungry and utterly miserable.

 

[Leadinglights]

After being recently diagnosed I'm a little lost.
I have been overloaded with loads of info/science by very knowledgeable health care professionals, but I'm struggling with food/diet not helped by the fact I'm Gluten and lactose intolerant.
I'm not over weight in fact I'm the opposite, I do a very physical job and as a result I'm a bit of a carb monster, if I don't eat I can feel weak/nauseous.
If I starve and feel rubbish my blood sugar levels stick around the mid 11's if I eat any thing like what I feel my body needs it can rise into the 20's.
I'm constantly hungry and utterly miserable.

Welcome to the forum. It is always challenging to have to juggle multiple conditions but as you probably realise diet is the most important thing in managing to reduce your blood glucose. If you are not overweight then replacing the carbs with plenty of protein and healthy fats is important.
Depending on what your HbA1C is you may only need to make some modest changes to your diet in reducing the carbs.
You would benefit from having a home testing blood glucose monitor as you could then check out the meals you can have to see how well you are tolerating them by testing immediately before you eat and after 2 hours when you would be looking for no more than a 3mmol/l increase.
There will be some thing like pasta which is gluten free which is pretty good as it is low carb, I use edamame bean as it is low carb and just happens to be gluten free.
You may find some suitable meals in the link for a low carb approach https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
You should be able to substitute for gluten and lactose free in the recipes.
A couple of monitors which have the cheaper test strips are the GlucoNavii, TEE2 and Contour Blue available on line cheaper than the pharmacy.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Jamie% 🙂 Sorry to hear how miserable you are. You say you’re the opposite of overweight: are you underweight and have you lost weight recently? I ask in case you might be Type 1, which is often assumed to be Type 2 in adulthood.

 

[Jamie%]

Thanks for the reply I have a monitor.
I haven't a clue what my hbA1c is.
St this moment all I know is whatever I eat no matter how little it jumps massively.
I have started using sugar substitutes in tea and cut down on my carbs tried mixing carbs with protein at breakfast eating less fruit.
I'm waiting to see a dietitian it's all a bit overwhelming atm.

 

[Drummer]

After being recently diagnosed I'm a little lost.
I have been overloaded with loads of info/science by very knowledgeable health care professionals, but I'm struggling with food/diet not helped by the fact I'm Gluten and lactose intolerant.
I'm not over weight in fact I'm the opposite, I do a very physical job and as a result I'm a bit of a carb monster, if I don't eat I can feel weak/nauseous.
If I starve and feel rubbish my blood sugar levels stick around the mid 11's if I eat any thing like what I feel my body needs it can rise into the 20's.
I'm constantly hungry and utterly miserable.

Usually a type 2 finds it all too easy to put on weight, but I suspect that there might well be a number of different conditions which are lumped together as type 2, plus many HCPs do not think adults become type 1's, even though it is not uncommon.
The usual way to control type 2 by diet is to eat low carb, and include fats, and the good thing about that is there is always something you can eat, even better is that it tends to be nourishing and that reduces hunger. Once your body switches from burning glucose the metabolism alters for the better for many people.

 

[Jamie%]

Welcome @Jamie% 🙂 Sorry to hear how miserable you are. You say you’re the opposite of overweight: are you underweight and have you lost weight recently? I ask in case you might be Type 1, which is often assumed to be Type 2 in adulthood.

Being treated as if I'm type 2 atm. I've always been slim and usually need to eat well to maintain weight as I burn calories for fun.
I've adapted to a restricted diet to help an auto immune disease and Gluten and lactose free certainly helped that. This however is causing me serious anxiety as I can't sem to get a handle on it.

 

[Drummer]

Being treated as if I'm type 2 atm. I've always been slim and usually need to eat well to maintain weight as I burn calories for fun.
I've adapted to a restricted diet to help an auto immune disease and Gluten and lactose free certainly helped that. This however is causing me serious anxiety as I can't sem to get a handle on it.

Perhaps the main problem is thinking that we need carbohydrate.
The essential food groups are proteins and fats.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thanks for the reply I have a monitor.
I haven't a clue what my hbA1c is.
St this moment all I know is whatever I eat no matter how little it jumps massively.
I have started using sugar substitutes in tea and cut down on my carbs tried mixing carbs with protein at breakfast eating less fruit.
I'm waiting to see a dietitian it's all a bit overwhelming atm.

When are you testing after you eat as everybody's blood glucose will go up, what is important is that it comes down in a timely manner. What readings are you getting?
The increase will be due to the carbs that you eat, but by getting the carbs for your meal at an amount your body can tolerate is the tricky bit.
Recognising what are high carb foods will help you make some better choices. Many find that they are less tolerant of carbs at breakfast so will opt for Greek yoghurt and berries or eggs in any form with bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms or similar.
The book or app Carbs and Cals is useful for giving carb values of a whole range of foods.

 

[Jamie%]

Testing first thing, before lunch, before tea and before bed.
11's are my lowest readings 24 are my highest.
I've always relied on slow release complex carbs to keep me going over long physical days at work, always felt I had a pretty balanced diet prior to this.
It's OK I'll wait to see what the dietitian says/advises.
Thankyou though.

 

[Drummer]

Testing first thing, before lunch, before tea and before bed.
11's are my lowest readings 24 are my highest.
I've always relied on slow release complex carbs to keep me going over long physical days at work, always felt I had a pretty balanced diet prior to this.
It's OK I'll wait to see what the dietitian says/advises.
Thankyou though.

Those are rather high numbers for before meal tests.
When I was assessing my diet, I never found a slow release carb - from a test done at school, at age 11 I know that starches begin to be broken down as soon as they are chewed - it was one of the first experiments done in the Biology lab at my new school. I was adjusting my carb intake to get below 8mmol/l wo hours AFTER starting to eat.
You might well not be a type 2 at all, certainly you do not seem to be a plain ordinary one.

 

[snowball12]

After being recently diagnosed I'm a little lost.
I have been overloaded with loads of info/science by very knowledgeable health care professionals, but I'm struggling with food/diet not helped by the fact I'm Gluten and lactose intolerant.
I'm not over weight in fact I'm the opposite, I do a very physical job and as a result I'm a bit of a carb monster, if I don't eat I can feel weak/nauseous.
If I starve and feel rubbish my blood sugar levels stick around the mid 11's if I eat any thing like what I feel my body needs it can rise into the 20's.
I'm constantly hungry and utterly miserable.

Hi, I too am gluten/lactose intolerant and find low carb really hard to do!! What are you eating on a normal day. Remember it's low carb not no carb!!! Look for a book called Carbs and Calories, it has a gluten free section and has helped me a lot as I hate most veggies and salad too.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Jamie%

My radar is twitching a little from what you have posted…

1. Normal weight / underweight
2. Levels remaining stubbornly high even with low carb menu
3. Existing autoimmune condition

I’m just wondering quite what factors led them to diagnose T2. 50% of cases of T1 are diagnosed in adulthood, and autoimmune conditions do have a tendency to cluster together.

Seems like some additional investigation to rule out T1 / LADA would be worthwhile?

 

[Jamie%]

No idea what LADA is, I should find out definitively which type I am this week bloods were a little slow coming back for typing.
I'm almost scared to eat atm.
I'm sure I'll pick it up, I think I'm a bit OVD and don't like unknowns and indefinite in life. Lol

 

[Jamie%]

Hi, I too am gluten/lactose intolerant and find low carb really hard to do!! What are you eating on a normal day. Remember it's low carb not no carb!!! Look for a book called Carbs and Calories, it has a gluten free section and has helped me a lot as I hate most veggies and salad too.

Don't mind my veggies and salad it just doesn't fill me up.
I'd been around 11 all day yesterday had a small portion of lasagne for tea with a few chips and nothing else. Bang 23 2 hour later.
It's soul destroying.

 

[Inka]

Being treated as if I'm type 2 atm. I've always been slim and usually need to eat well to maintain weight as I burn calories for fun.
I've adapted to a restricted diet to help an auto immune disease and Gluten and lactose free certainly helped that. This however is causing me serious anxiety as I can't sem to get a handle on it.

@Jamie% If you already have an auto-immune condition, then it makes even more sense to see if you’re actually Type 1. If you are, that would explain why you can’t get a handle on things - because you’ve been misdiagnosed. If you were to be Type 1, with insulin you’d be able to eat a pretty normal diet and get good blood sugar results.

You mention you have had some tests to determine your diabetes type. That’s excellent. Do keep an eye on things though as if you were to be Type 1, things can change quickly. It might be worth your while getting a tub of Ketostix (urine dipsticks) to test for ketones.

 

[Leadinglights]

Don't mind my veggies and salad it just doesn't fill me up.
I'd been around 11 all day yesterday had a small portion of lasagne for tea with a few chips and nothing else. Bang 23 2 hour later.
It's soul destroying.

It might be less disheartening if you test at 2 hours rather than 1 but non the less you had 2 quite high carb foods.
Incidentally what lasagne sheets do you use that are gluten free, I can only find the edamame bean pasta as fettuccini.
Veg with the lasagne rather than chips would be better.

 

[rebrascora]

Lasagne and chips is not a great choice. 2 carb rich foods on the same plate. The lasagne with a big plate of salad and a big dollop of creamy coleslaw would be a better choice. Eating more fat with less carbs will give you slow release energy and help you feel full without increasing your BG levels.
My guess is that you are probably Type 1 too from the circumstances you have outlined. The tests for Type 1 are the C-peptide and antibody tests, so do ask if those tests have been done. The latter usually take about 6 weeks for results to come back, so it can leave you waiting quite a while, but I was started on insulin before I was even tested for Type 1, after 6 weeks of oral (Type 2) meds didn't work.

 

[Jamie%]

@Jamie% If you already have an auto-immune condition, then it makes even more sense to see if you’re actually Type 1. If you are, that would explain why you can’t get a handle on things - because you’ve been misdiagnosed. If you were to be Type 1, with insulin you’d be able to eat a pretty normal diet and get good blood sugar results.

You mention you have had some tests to determine your diabetes type. That’s excellent. Do keep an eye on things though as if you were to be Type 1, things can change quickly. It might be worth your while getting a tub of Ketostix (urine dipsticks) to test for ketones.

Thanks I can only go on what the Doctors and diabetic nurses are telling me atm.
I might get more info this week.

 

[Dragonheart]

Thanks I can only go on what the Doctors and diabetic nurses are telling me atm.
I might get more info this week.

You are allowed, and should be encouraged, to ask questions to understand fully your condition.

When you talk to them ask for your hba1c number (always an important number with ongoing management whichever type), the names of the tests that have been done and if they include those to identify type 1.

 

[Jamie%]

I have been tested for all types the results of those hadn't come back at my last appointment. Everything else apart from blood sugar came back normal.
They are really good but tend to bombard me with lots of acronyms, apps and science stuff and I get overloaded.
Everytime I tried to talk about my diet they shut me down and said carry on eating what you normally eat for now, which I dont think helps.
It's fine only a few days and I can get some more answers and info.