Newly diagnosed type 2 saying hello

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Goobster

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Type 2
Hello. I have recently been diagnosed as type 2. Lots of blood tests to fully confirm this. It’s been quite a manic few weeks but I think things are finally calming down a little for me. So much to take in and complete lifestyle & diet changes. At the beginning I did not feel that supported. I had been for blood tests as I had tingling/numbness in my feet and hands and initially it was thought it was due to low Vitamin D levels. I was put on a high dose tablet. Then further test results showed my HbA1c at 133 and Glucose at 17.8 (26/2/24) I was immediately put on Metformin 500g (2 tablets twice a day) and Gliclazide 40mg (1tablet with breakfast). Also I was told to use the blood glucose monitor provided in case of having a hypo because the tablets I was about to take could make my blood sugars drop really low which could lead to me becoming unconscious and not to drive if it drops below 5. This was all done over the phone, had never met the GP and it was all pretty scary. No advice given on diet so lots of googling was done and lots of conflicting advice on everything. I was feeling anxious and jittery most of the time, slightly in shock. I was sent for more blood tests and a different GP picked up the results and asked to have an appointment with me (12/3/24) He was quite shocked at the results and wanted to discuss them face to face. He sent referrals to the hospital, arranged more blood tests to rule out type 1 and got me to see the nurse for a full diabetes health check. It was such a relief to talk to people who seemed to actually be concerned. It’s been such an emotional time.
The latest blood tests showed my HbA1c at 114 (18/3/24) - which is quite a drop already considering it’s only been a couple of weeks and really they should be done 3 months apart. Type 1 test came back negative. Had to have an ECG as my blood pressure was ridiculously high (white coat syndrome) and that’s all come back normal. Also my cholesterol was high but hoping that will come down with cutting out the rubbish food. My blood glucose readings with the monitor have all been under 10, pretty much averaging 6 and thankfully only 1 low of 3.8. Trying to be more active starting with getting back to doing 10000 steps a day. I’m only slightly over weight so hopefully shifting a few pounds will also help - BMI is 26. I have another appointment with my GP next week to discuss the latest results and how to continue so things are feeling quite a lot more positive.
My feet and hands are still tingling and having some numbness, quite often worse at night. Hoping that in time this will ease. Initially the medication upset my stomach terribly but after a few days that thankfully settled down. I’m finding food quite difficult but this forum is an amazing source of information. I’ve really cut down on carbs and sugars which is so hard as I love pasta, potatoes, white bread, cakes, crisps, chocolate - the list goes on and on…. Trying to up my protein intake which I find quite tricky as a vegetarian.
Sorry for such a long rambling message but somehow it’s made me feel a little better writing it all down. Any advice gratefully received.
 
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Nuts are my regular snack as they're low carb and protein rich. Although nuts are mostly fat it's predominantly unsaturated (the 'good' fat) and low in saturated (the 'bad' fat). The only downside, if you're counting calories, is that they're quite high in kCals - a handful of my peanuts, for example, is 200 calories but you do get 10g of protein and the fat is 92% unsaturated.
 
Welcome to the forum @Goobster

Glad it helped to have a bit of a ‘brain dump’ and good to hear you are making good progress already.

Part of the secret will be finding a menu that you can tailor and balance with your tastebuds, get your weight where you want it, and steer your BG levels in the right direction too.

Good to know you have a BG meter to check results around meals and carb portions. Keeping a brutally honest food diary, alongside BG results before and 2hrs after meals can help you to tweak your menu to aim for more time in range.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
 
Hello and welcome. So glad to read you got to see a real person who took you seriously and did all the tests, including the elimination of Type 1. Your HbA1c was high but hopefully with your changes, will continue to drop. You can find substitutes for pasta - I use edamame bean pasta, which I find I actually prefer. For potatoes and rice I eat a lot of cauliflower, and squash wedges (roast with a sprinkling of paprika). There are low carb breads, and your monitor should tell you it you are really intolerant of ordinary bread. From having 2 doorstops I manage now with one medium slice of wholemeal from a Warburtons no added sugar 400gm loaf.
To up my protein and fibre I have quite a lot of beans - butter, haricot, cannellini (and there's always kidney beans which I don't like). I make a lot of vegetable soups, adding the beans. I also got an app which measures calories and carbs. I plan at the start of each day, aiming to keep my daily carbs less then 130gm. In fact I aim for 75-90gm a day, but that's what I found suited me best. Everyone's body is different so you will need to find what suits you best. There is no hard and fast rules about what you can and can't eat, as you have found. As a vegetarian, I don't know if you eat eggs, but if you do, they are a good source of protein for breakfast or lunch, boiled, poached, omelette, with lots of veggies.
Over time I found I have lost my taste for sweet things - even milk in tea tastes sweet to me now. I have a lot of unsweetened almond milk. I too have white coat syndrome, so I bought a home monitoring arm band (Boots) at the suggestion of the GP practise. Now I test twice a year over a 3 week period, taking 2 readings each morning and evening, then averaging the 84 readings over the period. These I submit to the GP. I refuse to have my BP taken in surgery since the time I was rushed into surgery after the brisk 10 min walk to the surgery, had the armband slapped on and had questions fired at me at the same time. Needless to say the reading was astronomical, panic all round and I had to lie down for 20 minutes. Before I left home I was normal!
There are many people who have started their diabetes journey at similar levels to you, have successfully reduced their HbA1c, and maintain.
These are just a few suggestions which I hope may help. Do ask any questions you may have - nothing is silly (I probably asked them myself when first diagnosed). Best wishes
 
Martin.A said:
Nuts are my regular snack as they're low carb and protein rich. Although nuts are mostly fat it's predominantly unsaturated (the 'good' fat) and low in saturated (the 'bad' fat). The only downside, if you're counting calories, is that they're quite high in kCals - a handful of my peanuts, for example, is 200 calories but you do get 10g of protein and the fat is 92% unsaturated.
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Thanks for your response. I snack on almonds - they are my easy to carry around snack
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Goobster

Glad it helped to have a bit of a ‘brain dump’ and good to hear you are making good progress already.

Part of the secret will be finding a menu that you can tailor and balance with your tastebuds, get your weight where you want it, and steer your BG levels in the right direction too.

Good to know you have a BG meter to check results around meals and carb portions. Keeping a brutally honest food diary, alongside BG results before and 2hrs after meals can help you to tweak your menu to aim for more time in range.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
Click to expand...
Thank you for the welcome It definitely helps to know I’m not alone. I haven’t got as far as keeping a proper food diary alongside my BG results so that is something else I will start to do. I’ve been testing in the morning, before I drive, in the evening and then in the day if I don’t feel quite right. Now that things feel a little more settled I’ll start doing readings around my meals to see how foods affect my sugars.
 
Felinia said:
Hello and welcome. So glad to read you got to see a real person who took you seriously and did all the tests, including the elimination of Type 1. Your HbA1c was high but hopefully with your changes, will continue to drop. You can find substitutes for pasta - I use edamame bean pasta, which I find I actually prefer. For potatoes and rice I eat a lot of cauliflower, and squash wedges (roast with a sprinkling of paprika). There are low carb breads, and your monitor should tell you it you are really intolerant of ordinary bread. From having 2 doorstops I manage now with one medium slice of wholemeal from a Warburtons no added sugar 400gm loaf.
To up my protein and fibre I have quite a lot of beans - butter, haricot, cannellini (and there's always kidney beans which I don't like). I make a lot of vegetable soups, adding the beans. I also got an app which measures calories and carbs. I plan at the start of each day, aiming to keep my daily carbs less then 130gm. In fact I aim for 75-90gm a day, but that's what I found suited me best. Everyone's body is different so you will need to find what suits you best. There is no hard and fast rules about what you can and can't eat, as you have found. As a vegetarian, I don't know if you eat eggs, but if you do, they are a good source of protein for breakfast or lunch, boiled, poached, omelette, with lots of veggies.
Over time I found I have lost my taste for sweet things - even milk in tea tastes sweet to me now. I have a lot of unsweetened almond milk. I too have white coat syndrome, so I bought a home monitoring arm band (Boots) at the suggestion of the GP practise. Now I test twice a year over a 3 week period, taking 2 readings each morning and evening, then averaging the 84 readings over the period. These I submit to the GP. I refuse to have my BP taken in surgery since the time I was rushed into surgery after the brisk 10 min walk to the surgery, had the armband slapped on and had questions fired at me at the same time. Needless to say the reading was astronomical, panic all round and I had to lie down for 20 minutes. Before I left home I was normal!
There are many people who have started their diabetes journey at similar levels to you, have successfully reduced their HbA1c, and maintain.
These are just a few suggestions which I hope may help. Do ask any questions you may have - nothing is silly (I probably asked them myself when first diagnosed). Best wishes
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your reply with a lot of helpful advice. It’s much appreciated. Never heard of the edamame bean pasta so will look into that. I also am not a fan of kidney beans, don’t know why & I’m fine with all the others
I do eat eggs but can’t face eating them a lot but I know they are a good and easy source of protein.
I had to do a weeks worth of home BP readings (am and pm) and take them to the nurse. Readings were all fine. As soon as I walk into the surgery I can feel my heart racing and the bp reading just goes crazy. It’s completely silly but I can’t control it. Years ago I was put on a 24hr monitor and that was all fine.
After the last few weeks I am definitely beginning to feel more normal again, so feel really hopeful I will get the levels down and improve my wellbeing. This forum has been a real help
 
Goobster said:
Thank you so much for your reply with a lot of helpful advice. It’s much appreciated. Never heard of the edamame bean pasta so will look into that. I also am not a fan of kidney beans, don’t know why & I’m fine with all the others
I do eat eggs but can’t face eating them a lot but I know they are a good and easy source of protein.
I had to do a weeks worth of home BP readings (am and pm) and take them to the nurse. Readings were all fine. As soon as I walk into the surgery I can feel my heart racing and the bp reading just goes crazy. It’s completely silly but I can’t control it. Years ago I was put on a 24hr monitor and that was all fine.
After the last few weeks I am definitely beginning to feel more normal again, so feel really hopeful I will get the levels down and improve my wellbeing. This forum has been a real help
Click to expand...
Sounds like you had a similar white coat syndrome journey to me - exactly the same reactions! I order my bean pasta on Amazon, so I don't know if supermarkets stock it. Maybe someone else will come up with other suggestions. There are other varieties, like mung bean and lentil pastas (spaghetti, fettucini) available.
The app I use is NutraCheck, which I think is about £36 a year. They are always having different offers, and I think offer a 7 day free trial. It's the best way I've found to keep my carbs and portion sizes in check. I didn't mention exercise before. I go to the pool twice a week for aquafit (there are evening classes for workers) and my DN suggested things like yoga and Pilates rather than pounding away in a gym. I know someone who cycles several times a week.
 
I have lost nearly 2 stone since diagnosis and bmi is now 23.7 so no longer overweight.
My latest HbA1c is 48 (10/6/24) This is just over 3 months after my initial diagnosis when it was 133 (25/2/24)
Results have only just come through so haven’t spoken to the GP about them yet. All seems to be going in the right direction but I think I feel worse than I did before diagnosis. I just feel quite fed up, energy levels are low. Everything seems such an effort. I still have the tingling/numbness in my feet, legs and hands (also some short sharp pains in my legs) which is very uncomfortable at night and interferes with my sleep. I have had a series of 6 vitamin B12 injections as my levels were low and it’s thought that the metformin can stop your body absorbing B12 and maybe that was causing the tingling but it doesn’t seem to have eased - not sure how long the B12 might take to work but thought something would have kicked in by now. The tingling in my legs and hands comes and goes goes but with my feet it’s continuous. Could my feet be permanently damaged?
I’m wondering if my body is still adjusting to all the changes, when will I feel my normal self again? Could the medication be affecting how I feel? It sounds strange but it feels as though I have no control over my body anymore.
 
Goobster said:
I have lost nearly 2 stone since diagnosis and bmi is now 23.7 so no longer overweight.
My latest HbA1c is 48 (10/6/24) This is just over 3 months after my initial diagnosis when it was 133 (25/2/24)
Results have only just come through so haven’t spoken to the GP about them yet. All seems to be going in the right direction but I think I feel worse than I did before diagnosis. I just feel quite fed up, energy levels are low. Everything seems such an effort. I still have the tingling/numbness in my feet, legs and hands (also some short sharp pains in my legs) which is very uncomfortable at night and interferes with my sleep. I have had a series of 6 vitamin B12 injections as my levels were low and it’s thought that the metformin can stop your body absorbing B12 and maybe that was causing the tingling but it doesn’t seem to have eased - not sure how long the B12 might take to work but thought something would have kicked in by now. The tingling in my legs and hands comes and goes goes but with my feet it’s continuous. Could my feet be permanently damaged?
I’m wondering if my body is still adjusting to all the changes, when will I feel my normal self again? Could the medication be affecting how I feel? It sounds strange but it feels as though I have no control over my body anymore.
Click to expand...
That is probably the case that your body is adjusting as you have had quite a rapid drop in HbA1C which can happen when people have both made some substantial dietary changes and medication. That rapid drop can cause issues with eyes and nerves in some people.
It is usually long term use of metformin that will affect absorption of B12 from foods so injections are needed.
There are some medications that can help with your tingling sensations so you should speak to your GP.
There are plenty of vegetarian meal that are suitable but you do need to be careful of going too low carb because of the gliclazide but you may find some of the recipes in the veggie meal plan in this link https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
But you have done amazingly well to bring your HbA1C down, but you must feel a bit let down if you are not feeling the benefit.
 
Very good HbA1c and weight loss results. As it's a sort of average over three months when it dropped from 114 to 48, you are doing better than 48. On that basis I think you should consult your GP about coming off metformin and gliclazide until the next HbA1c test, and at the same time ask to be referred to a specialist about possible neuropathy.
 
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Goobster said:
My latest HbA1c is 48 (10/6/24) This is just over 3 months after my initial diagnosis when it was 133 (25/2/24)
Results have only just come through so haven’t spoken to the GP about them yet. All seems to be going in the right direction but I think I feel worse than I did before diagnosis. I just feel quite fed up, energy levels are low. Everything seems such an effort.
Click to expand...
That sounds like you dropped your a1c too fast rather than making gradual changes as is usually advised. Speak to the GP about how you’re feeling but it may be just that changing too much too fast can cause damage and so more time is needed to recover from the fast drop.
 
Leadinglights said:
That is probably the case that your body is adjusting as you have had quite a rapid drop in HbA1C which can happen when people have both made some substantial dietary changes and medication. That rapid drop can cause issues with eyes and nerves in some people.
It is usually long term use of metformin that will affect absorption of B12 from foods so injections are needed.
There are some medications that can help with your tingling sensations so you should speak to your GP.
There are plenty of vegetarian meal that are suitable but you do need to be careful of going too low carb because of the gliclazide but you may find some of the recipes in the veggie meal plan in this link https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
But you have done amazingly well to bring your HbA1C down, but you must feel a bit let down if you are not feeling the benefit.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply and saying how well I have done so far. I think you are completely right in saying I feel let down as I’m not feeling the benefit. It’s a complete lifestyle change and I’m sure I will start feeling better soon.
The GP, like you, also said it’s usually long term use of the metformin that affects the absorption, but sent me for blood tests, they came back low and he put me on a course of B12 injections. We did discuss other medications to help with the tingling but we were both keen not to start even more medication if it could be helped but maybe it’s time to discuss them again in more depth. Apparently some people feel the benefits of the B12 immediately but it can depend on what your levels were before and maybe I’m being too impatient. The shots did help my nails grow nicely so that has been a plus moment
 
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JITR said:
Very good HbA1c and weight loss results. As it's a sort of average over three months when it dropped from 114 to 48, you are doing better than 48. On that basis I think you should consult your GP about coming off metformin and gliclazide until the next HbA1c test, and at the same time ask to be referred to a specialist about possible neuropathy.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I did have another blood test between those results (76 - 19/4/24) and at that time the GP mentioned if it carried on like that we could consider stopping the gliclazide. I do feel lucky that I eventually got a really good GP who seems to care. Seems as though a lot of people on here haven’t been so fortunate.
 
Lucyr said:
That sounds like you dropped your a1c too fast rather than making gradual changes as is usually advised. Speak to the GP about how you’re feeling but it may be just that changing too much too fast can cause damage and so more time is needed to recover from the fast drop.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your response. You could be right, I guess it’s a lot of changes for my body to cope with and it just needs time to get used to it all.
 
Goobster said:
Thank you for your response. You could be right, I guess it’s a lot of changes for my body to cope with and it just needs time to get used to it all.
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You said you had this numbness and tingling before you started Metformin and made lifestyle changes, so I can't see how lowering BG and Metformin induced B12 deficiency can be the cause.

Ask you GP about this:

www.nhs.uk

Peripheral neuropathy

Find out about peripheral neuropathy, a term for a group of conditions in which the peripheral nervous system is damaged.
www.nhs.uk www.nhs.uk

It's also possible to be deficient in B12 due to diet.
 
harbottle said:
You said you had this numbness and tingling before you started Metformin and made lifestyle changes, so I can't see how lowering BG and Metformin induced B12 deficiency can be the cause.

Ask you GP about this:

www.nhs.uk

Peripheral neuropathy

Find out about peripheral neuropathy, a term for a group of conditions in which the peripheral nervous system is damaged.
www.nhs.uk www.nhs.uk

It's also possible to be deficient in B12 due to diet.
Click to expand...
You are right about me having the tingling before I started medication. It was the reason I first went to the doctors. It has got worse since I was diagnosed. Originally it was just in my feet and hands but it’s gradually got worse and has spread up my legs. Will definitely discuss this again with my GP at my next appointment. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
 
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