One year ago today, I was meeting up with my Dad and sister in London and only got as far as Paddington station where I had to ask for help when I 'came over all funny'.
An ambulance was called and my BG was in the 20's, ketones were present and I was admitted to St Mary's Hospital where I was diagnosed type 2. They also identified a problem with my liver (non-alcoholic induced fatty liver). Basically, I was in a bit of a mess physically!
At that time I weighed 17st 10lbs and that highlighted another problem because the last time I'd weighed myself I was nearer 19st. I was losing weight hand over fist and was not even aware of it. No wonder I was feeling pretty grotty.
I was released from hospital on the 20th and made changes to my lifestyle there and then. I set myself a target weight and decided on a weekly loss of 0.9lbs. This seems a bit of a random rate, but was set after a couple of months when I looked at how much weight I'd lost over that time. So I knew that it was achievable. I didn't want to set something like 3lbs per week which would have been impossible for me. I would have lost heart very quickly!
I started to exercise every day, but it was difficult at first. Often, on the way back home, I felt weak and light headed. I think it was the false hypo symptoms kicking in. But over time those feelings receded. I bought myself a rowing machine and slowly built up the sessions from just doing 1km (4-5mins) to doing 10min sessions, then 3 10min sessions separated with a rest, 30min sessions up to my more recent 10km sessions (~36mins). I've even tried a 1hr session (but that was too boring!).
My diet has completely changed too. Before diagnosis I frequently missed meals and when I did eat it was usually a huge plateful of all the 'wrong' things. Now, I regularly eat three meals a day and usually incorporate more than 5 portions of fruit and veg every day. The size of the meals has also been reduced.
Now before anyone thinks that I'm a saint (You didn't? Oh, all right then! 😉), I have had times when I've eaten the wrong thing or over-indulged (e.g. the time when I ate three bowls of fruit and fibre cereal and had a bg reading of 19!). But what I didn't do is beat myself up about it. I just put it behind me and got back to the job of getting myself sorted.
Pretty quickly, it became apparent that my glucose levels levelling out and at the start of February, with the agreement of my GP, I stopped taking the metformin and haven't taken it since. The weight loss was crucial in achieving that. Anyway, as of two days ago, I reached my target weight and have now set my final target.
<Note that metformin does have a useful side-effect in that it can protect against heart disease. Something that diabetics can be more prone too. So stopping taking it, has to be balanced against that.>
The weight loss has also meant that my liver problem has been largely 'reversed'. The indicators in my blood/urine (can't remember off-hand which one!) have disappeared. I've another ultra-sound scan coming up soon which will hopefully show that an obvious physical improvement has been made.
So, to summarise (At Diagnosis --> Now) ....
HbA1c : 13.3 --> 5.9
Weight : 17st 10lbs --> 14st 2lbs
Blood Pressure : 140/85 --> 124/80
Resting Heart Rate : >80 --> <60
Cholesterol : (I won't mention that 🙄)
How I feel : Rubbish --> Almost Brilliant
So, thanks to everyone here who has supported me and made me feel welcome. There are three people especially who I'd like to mention by name, Northerner, Steffie and Lucy123. You've all helped me turn myself around!
Andy 🙂
An ambulance was called and my BG was in the 20's, ketones were present and I was admitted to St Mary's Hospital where I was diagnosed type 2. They also identified a problem with my liver (non-alcoholic induced fatty liver). Basically, I was in a bit of a mess physically!
At that time I weighed 17st 10lbs and that highlighted another problem because the last time I'd weighed myself I was nearer 19st. I was losing weight hand over fist and was not even aware of it. No wonder I was feeling pretty grotty.
I was released from hospital on the 20th and made changes to my lifestyle there and then. I set myself a target weight and decided on a weekly loss of 0.9lbs. This seems a bit of a random rate, but was set after a couple of months when I looked at how much weight I'd lost over that time. So I knew that it was achievable. I didn't want to set something like 3lbs per week which would have been impossible for me. I would have lost heart very quickly!
I started to exercise every day, but it was difficult at first. Often, on the way back home, I felt weak and light headed. I think it was the false hypo symptoms kicking in. But over time those feelings receded. I bought myself a rowing machine and slowly built up the sessions from just doing 1km (4-5mins) to doing 10min sessions, then 3 10min sessions separated with a rest, 30min sessions up to my more recent 10km sessions (~36mins). I've even tried a 1hr session (but that was too boring!).
My diet has completely changed too. Before diagnosis I frequently missed meals and when I did eat it was usually a huge plateful of all the 'wrong' things. Now, I regularly eat three meals a day and usually incorporate more than 5 portions of fruit and veg every day. The size of the meals has also been reduced.
Now before anyone thinks that I'm a saint (You didn't? Oh, all right then! 😉), I have had times when I've eaten the wrong thing or over-indulged (e.g. the time when I ate three bowls of fruit and fibre cereal and had a bg reading of 19!). But what I didn't do is beat myself up about it. I just put it behind me and got back to the job of getting myself sorted.
Pretty quickly, it became apparent that my glucose levels levelling out and at the start of February, with the agreement of my GP, I stopped taking the metformin and haven't taken it since. The weight loss was crucial in achieving that. Anyway, as of two days ago, I reached my target weight and have now set my final target.
<Note that metformin does have a useful side-effect in that it can protect against heart disease. Something that diabetics can be more prone too. So stopping taking it, has to be balanced against that.>
The weight loss has also meant that my liver problem has been largely 'reversed'. The indicators in my blood/urine (can't remember off-hand which one!) have disappeared. I've another ultra-sound scan coming up soon which will hopefully show that an obvious physical improvement has been made.
So, to summarise (At Diagnosis --> Now) ....
HbA1c : 13.3 --> 5.9
Weight : 17st 10lbs --> 14st 2lbs
Blood Pressure : 140/85 --> 124/80
Resting Heart Rate : >80 --> <60
Cholesterol : (I won't mention that 🙄)
How I feel : Rubbish --> Almost Brilliant
So, thanks to everyone here who has supported me and made me feel welcome. There are three people especially who I'd like to mention by name, Northerner, Steffie and Lucy123. You've all helped me turn myself around!
Andy 🙂
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