Please help me see the bright side

[VelvetPaw]

I’m in a panic. My blood sugar is through the roof because I totally lost the plot for about 6 months and now I’m terrified.

I was diagnosed as type 2 in March last year just after I turned 48, although in retrospect I’d had symptoms for a couple of years. Horrified, I set about being the perfect diabetes patient - 10k+ steps a day, carb light diet, 4 x daily blood tests, meal spacing, perfectly timed medication. Gradually I lost a stone and I got my bloods into target range. I felt stressed, depressed and in chronic pain but the diabetes was back in its box.

Christmas came and I let go - and it’s been downhill ever since. Weight back on, no testing, dodging medical appointments and blood sugar running wild.

I’ve made it through a very stressful house move and improved the chronic pain, so I’m feeling in a better place to tackle the diabetes challenge again. But what damage have I done in the meantime? I’m overwhelmed by fear. I’m dreading the judgement of the diabetes team. It feels like a mountain to climb and I’m scared of obsessing over it again and driving myself crazy with constant vigilance and self restraint. But I’m equally fearful of complications. Are they even avoidable?

Does anyone else feel like this? How do you find a balance between monitoring diabetes and living without constant self scrutiny? Had anyone tried any approaches that have helped them to come to terms with this?

For me I think it’s about more than food per se, it’s also about feeling bossed about, preached at, restricted and constrained. I feel deeply ashamed to have developed diabetes and more shame for having fallen off the (sugar) wagon.

Am I the only one? Does anyone else struggle with doing what it takes? Does everyone? I desperately need some hope that it’s possible to get back on track and sustain this without driving myself insane - and that it’s not too late to avoid lasting damage.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi.

Sorry to hear you have been struggling the last 6 months after a brilliant start to managing your diabetes. It sounds like you have been going through a pretty rough patch with a house move and chronic pain so cut yourself some slack. Of course it is not too late to avoid lasting damage.... as you mention, you were probably diabetic for quite a while before diagnosis and hopefully nothing has dropped off or stopped working properly yet. Of course it is important to get back on the wagon but you need to find a way to make that sustainable. For me it has been finding low carb treats that I enjoy, so that I can still indulge but just in different things to the high carb options I used to scarf! 🙄 Increasing my fat intake helped enormously because it stopped the hunger pangs and cravings, along with cutting right back on the carbs. For me a treat is now a pot of olives with feta or a chunk of really nice cheese or a packet of pork scratchings, or an Aldi Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt nut bar, or a couple of sticks of celery with peanut butter and a tiny few sultanas, or a half a square of dark 70%+ chocolate with a spoon of peanut butter or some peppadew peppers stuffed with cream cheese, or a few fresh raspberries with a dollop of natural creamy Greek Yoghurt or some salami crisps.... thin slices of salami nuked in the microwave between 2 sheets of kitchen paper for a minute or so until crispy. It isn't by accident that most of these things are high in fat or a combination of fat and protein, because those macro nutrients are slow to digest and provide slow release energy and help to stop the BG rollercoaster which causes the cravings. You might not like these things but there will be some low carb treats which you do like, you just have to find them.

Exercise will also help both with your BG levels but also with the hunger and cravings.

Anyway, I just wanted to reach out and say, don't beat yourself up, just start making the changes that you know you need to do but try to find some little treats which won't cause you BG upheaval, so that you don't feel deprived.

The other option is to go the Newcastle diet/Fast 800, very low calorie route to try to reverse your diabetes by rapid weight loss, but you do have to figure out a way to sustain the weight loss long term after that and it sounds like that is your issue. I have Yo-Yo dieted several times during my past 58yrs and for me, following a low carb higher fat way of eating is more sustainable.... but I do have an occasional splurge every once in a while, but only for one day and then back on the wagon. You have to figure out what will work for you long term

 

[Leadinglights]

Finding a way of eating that you enjoy and is sustainable means you are less likely to go back to 'old' ways even in times of stress and pain because that way is just the new normal.
Many find as you did before, that a low carb approach can be successful in reducing weight and blood glucose levels. You may find this link helpful in finding a way to have a new look at your dietary regime. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/

Maybe going back to basics and making a food diary of everything you eat and drink and estimate the carbs you are having to see how far away you are from the suggested 130g per day max Total carbs, you can than look at some reductions in portion size or cutting out some of the big hitters or some substitutions for the high carb foods.
The sooner you tackle this the less likely you are to develop complications. You CAN do this for yourself and your family.

 

[Nayshiftin]

I feel a bit the same. Hormones, age , job , lifestyle all are in the game as well as a million other things. They tell you reach out and you do but at the end of the day . We have to be honest and fair to ourselves

 

[trophywench]

Why are you even entertaining the thought of Guilt? Have you ever in your whole life, seen anyone actually morbidly obese - cos you have to wonder why every single such person in the world, does not automatically also have diabetes - but, they don't. But - you were one of the ones who inherited a slightly wonky gene, which always predisposed your body towards not being able to cope with carbohydrate as well as the majority of people. So a belated welcome to the Club no-one ever actually wanted to join! - despite that, I have to say, you can meet some very nice people here!

No point whatever using time and effort pondering why, or who, happened to give your body this predisposition - it's a complete waste of time for any of us cos now we know we drew the short straw - time and effort is far better invested in tackling the road in front of us - not the one we've already walked down.

And - ALWAYS remember that if you find yourself in a position where you need to eat a whole elephant - the only possible way to do it, is to divide the beast into bite-sized pieces - that's where you find yourself now - so which small piece of elephant are you going to choose to eat first ? Keep us posted!