Mark O'Neill
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Good afternoon all, I am new to this forum but unfortunately not new to living with Type 2 Diabetes. I am in my 17th year as a serving Police Officer and after undergoing a quite intensive medical to join the job back in 2001 it came as a massive shock to the system to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2004 after a routine check up upon joining a new medical centre. My initial reaction was WHY ME?? and I was quite angry with the world as I was a 32 year old fit and healthy (so I thought) active individual. I blamed myself no end for my earlier lifestyle as at the age of 21 I went to live and work in Texas and was immediately consumed by the American way of living and after 12 months I had gone from a steady 82kg (13 stone) to 98kg (15.5 stone). Once the guilt had subsided I entered the denial stage and remained there until my latest HbA1c test in January. I adopted the just take my medication attitude and everything will be fine as if with my job I would not allow the thought of my condition being an issue. Year upon year my blood levels would gradually rise so my GP would up my intake and then pop in another tablet (being Gliclizide). Getting back to Januarys test, all I can say is it was the biggest and best slap in the face/kick up the rear I could have received. HbA1c test showed my 8 week blood level as 80 which I imagined was very high and very bad and my fasting blood sugars as 16.8. These results then led me to an hour long telling off/reality check with the most amazing diabetic specialist I could have wished to meet. I left that meeting with a new plan and on Tuesday 20th March I will return to see my diabetes saviour with a new attitude and more importantly a vastly improved functioning Pancreas. I promised her that I will endeavour to get my HbA1c down to 50 or below and so began my research into my condition. After much internet trawling I came across Dr Michael Moseley's 8 week blood sugar diet. I bought the book and immediately new that this was my shot at being medication free. I spoke to my wife and son and explained what and why I was about to undertake and their help and support (as well as the ultimate goal) has been my motivation to keep on going. The book comes with a diet plan including menus and after further research I decided on combining Dr Moseley's diet with a Ketogenic diet (800 calorie a day max food intake and absolutely no Carbs). Although very hard at first the thought of the ultimate goal is more than enough incentive. This leads me to today exactly 3 weeks in. My starting weight was 84kg (13.2 stone) and my fasting blood on the first day was 16.7. I have just undergone my annual works medical and my weight is now 74.8kg (11.7 stone) with a 7.9% total body fat but most importantly my fasting blood was 8.0. This drop of 8.7 in just 3 weeks has giving me such a boost in my journey in trying to achieve a fasting blood level of under 5 and has given me even more drive to see this through. At the start of my research into living with type 2 I signed up to Diatribe and read quite a few posts but felt scared to comment. Earlier today Diatribe published a study carried out by an American medical company which gave the results of patients both type 1 & 2 undertaking a Ketogenic diet over 1 year. Although the results are very impressive what is even more impressive is the medical company are charging a cool $370 per month to partake!! Whilst pounding away on the treadmill earlier the thought of this company charging so much (although providing a service to people in a position to afford it) was the springboard for me to share my situation and as the saying goes this has been better late than never in my case and I really do hope my story (although far from over) can give somebody a fresh perspective of not only living with type 2 diabetes but also a way of beating/reversing this condition.
