Shocked - Type 2

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mark5699

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
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My thoughts: Shocked to learn that i have Diabetes. I was told in a phone call by my GP. I didn't know i had symptoms, I wasn't complaining to my GP. They said it was a health check after an opticians appointment/sight test. I'd always been fit healthy and mentally with it. I'm not obese, lazy, or a layabout. I don't want to be ill. I'm certainly not here to make a fuss, find an excuse, or say i'm special !

How am i feeling? shocked, surprised, devastated, gutted. This feels like a life sentence, a debilitating and life shortening illness. I'm not after medical advice, or sympathy. I am devastated to be honest. I'm a single parent, widower, full time at work. I've been dropping kids at school and eating on the drive into work. I've very little time to exercise. I'm the 24/7 childcare. There is no healthy living and no fall back position. To some extent, I know I've used up my health to raise my children after bereavement.

What I've done so far, I immediately stopped eating! Why? Because everything i eat is on the banned list. It's like a sick joke. No ham sandwich, No sausages, sausage rolls, bacon, bread, pasta, rice, noodles, potatoes or chips. That's processed meat and carbohydrates out! No Treats, cake, biscuits, sweets, fruit juice, pastries, etc. No takeaways ! No ready meals. So w t f do i eat?

For breakfast? Well here it is, No Cereal, No toast, No jam. Ok so it's yoghurt and berries and nuts. which doesn't fill me up. So I'm in meetings feeling hungry. Lunch, No bread, so it's chicken wrap, salad, berries and nuts. Dinner, no idea really. Chicken/tuna/mackerel salad every night!

Yes, now i think about it i do have some symptoms: frequent urination, permanently thirst, tingles in legs and arms, red face & cold hands, itching armpit, thrush, tiredness. Ok, but I've had these all my adult life. If i'm tired, I put kids to bed and go to bed myself. I have a stressful job, but no more than anyone.

I was marginally above my BMI at 26 weighing 14stone 7lbs. Now i'm at 13 stone 7lbs and a BMI of 24.3. 6ft 2ins and muscular. No beer belly! Ok, so I'm taking more exercise. I haven't really worked out what to eat. So pretty much nothing at the moment.

What do i want, well i'd like to meet other people in the same position and find out more. Personally, I'd like to avoid medication and reverse it obviously.
What will i do? Gather the information, assess what needs doing, set the best course and embrace the diabetic life style.

Anyone in a similar position?

Kind Regards
MARK (bit angry)
 
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Welcome @mark5699 🙂 Think of this as lucky - yes, really, because it was spotted on a random health check. You can now do something about it. You could have gone on for years with it and without realising.

You don’t have to give up all carbs. Low carb is anything under 130g per day. You should find a sustainable way of eating that works for you as an individual.

Important question - do you know what your HbA1C is? That will show how far into the diabetes zone you are and give an indication of how big changes you need to make.
 
As @Inka has said, you can still have carbs but you'll just need to have fewer of them, less than 130g day instead of the more than double that in most people's diets, and many of us have been eating a sustainable low carb diet for years.

For the record there is no 'banned list' - it's just a case of figuring out what works for you - and your HbA1c will determine whether you need to just tweak your diet or make big changes.
 
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis and bereavement.

You can eat perfectly well with T2 diabetes by making changes to your diet. I still eat potato, just smaller portions, and don't restrict some fruits like berries and eat a lot of vegetables, nuts and fish.

I bought this book when diagnosed:


And after using the recipes for 3 months, my levels came back to normal.

What was your hba1c?
 
Welcome to the forum
A diagnosis can come as a shock but at the same time can be a relief as it can explain symptoms that people have been having and the imagination can lead people to conclude something far worse than what is a manageable condition. It is easy to feel sorry for yourself but you have the motivation to tackle this head on to be there for your children for a long time to come without the fear they will lose another parent.
It is not the end of nice meals but it may need a bit more effort that just ordering up a take away. By making more quantity of meals and freezing you can have homemade ready meals.
Many do find it an impetus to learn how to cook healthy meals which would benefit all the family.
The Caldesi cook books are highly recommended as are the Pinch of Nom Quick and Easy where there are recipes. You could take the opportunity to get your children involved in cooking.
There are all sorts of recipes for cakes, biscuits as well as savoury dishes which are low carb on the website sugarfreelondoner.
I found following the principals in this link for a low carb approach was very manageable and I do not feel deprived of anything as it is based on real food.
lowcarbfreshwell.com

Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home

lowcarbfreshwell.com lowcarbfreshwell.com
 
Hi Mark and welcome to the forum!

as others have mentioned, you don't have to instantly get rid of everything starving yourself as it could lead to different problems, especially with your active and stressful lifestyle. You already have a lot on your plate (no pun intended), so look into where you can make long-lasting changes for yourself, something that wouldn't feel like a punishment. It will be difficult, a lot of trial and error until you find what works for you, but that's what it has to do - work for you. There's no golden rule to these things as people's bodies can sometimes react to different foods differently, so just watch yourself and if you're able to test your sugars in order to 'experiment' a bit - do that.
As you can tell, there's a lot of different things that our Users have found helpful, so have a look at them and simply start somewhere. The changes don't have to be drastic and all at once. You're doing it for yourself and your family, so keep at it and please let us know if you'll have any questions or will need any support.
 
It's OK to be angry. I know you know that - most of us who have been through a significant, close bereavement know it.
And this ... this is not like losing someone we love. I'm not going to pretend that the devastation I felt after my diagnosis was like the devastation I felt when my daughter died. BUT ... the diagnosis is a sort of grief as a little bit of who we were before our diagnosis is gone now. So, yes, feel angry but don't let the anger and devastation stop you from doing what you need to do to manage this.

Because, diabetes is chronic and lifelong but its one of the most manageable chronic conditions because T2 responds well to quite small changes. It's doesn't have to be life limiting or life shortening because, for some, remission is a reasonable aim. And, even if remission isn't an end point for all, the changes we make trying to achieve it can help stave off complications.

There is A LOT to get your head around. And you'll find some of it is contradictory which is why discovering what works for you and your metabolism is vital.

I chose low carb with increased protein/fat (I'm also trying to manage my cholesterol but hey how- one big lifestyle tweak at a time). Low carb, as others have said, is not no carbs.
I actually love how I eat now - lots of 'proper dinners'. I still bake, just with alternatives to wheat flour. And once you get the handle on increasing the portions of protein etc, you can knock those hunger pangs on the head. I can honestly say that eating to fullness twice a day (no brekkie) whilst doing a demanding job, I haven't unmanageable hunger - just a sense of 'oh, I'm ready to eat something now' as I approach a mealtime. I'm a mum so I understand the need to balance what you eat with what your kids eat. Mine still have their carbs - pasta, bread, potatoes so we can share meals. I just swap out my carb portion for something less carby (or, if I've tested and know my blood sugars can cope, I have a small portion of the noodles etc.)
I will say that this forum and the Freshwell app have been totally invaluable in the two months since my diagnosis and I hope that you feel welcomed and supported here too.
 
I find that I need to be really low carb to stay at the top end on normal HbA1c, but I have steak and mushrooms for breakfast, or a chop and stirfry - I don't need to eat at lunch time after that.
As a rule I eat any meat or fish, eggs, cheese, full fat dairy. I do boil bacon for a minute before sieving it out and frying it - it gets rid of the soluble preservatives.
I avoid seed oils, also grain, potatoes and other high carb veges, and high sugar fruits so stick to berries.
There really is quite a lot that we can eat which will not elevate glucose levels.
I spent decades trying to follow the usual advice on diet and ended up hugely overweight an full on diabetic - so I decided that it was just never going to work and went back to Dr Atkins advice on how to eat and feel pretty brilliant on it - plus since no longer using seed oils I don't burn in the sun. I actually get a bit of a tan rather than turning lobster pink in 15 minutes.
 
JITR said:
Turn your anger into determination to reverse your condition and get back to normal.
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Just to remind members that Diabetes UK (and other expert bodies including the ADA) prefer the term ‘remission’ to ‘reversal’.

There’s more information about this, and why ‘remission’ is preferred here:

Can you reverse type 2 diabetes?

We don’t call it type 2 diabetes reversal, because this might sound like it's permanent, and there’s no guarantee that your diabetes has gone forever. But yes, it may be possible to put your type 2 diabetes into remission.
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
mark5699 said:
Personally, I'd like to avoid medication and reverse it obviously.
MARK (bit angry)
Click to expand...
JITR said:
I was [very angry too]. Turn your anger into determination to reverse your condition and get back to normal.
Click to expand...
everydayupsanddowns said:
Just to remind members that Diabetes UK (and other expert bodies including the ADA) prefer the term ‘remission’ to ‘reversal’.

There’s more information about this, and why ‘remission’ is preferred here:

Can you reverse type 2 diabetes?

We don’t call it type 2 diabetes reversal, because this might sound like it's permanent, and there’s no guarantee that your diabetes has gone forever. But yes, it may be possible to put your type 2 diabetes into remission.
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
Click to expand...

@everydayupsanddowns
Thanks, for the reminder.

Please note, as quoted above, my post was merely echoing Mark's aim to 'reverse it'.

My own aim after diagnosis of T2 and hemochromatosis in December 2022 was to put my T2D into remission, without taking medication, while reversing my fatty liver by diet. This was the treatment recommended by the radiologist who did the ultrasound scan on my liver. I took what she said as confirmation of Prof. Roy Taylor's advice in his book, Life without Diabetes, Type 2. My target was HbA1c less than 39. Luckily my liver fat and blood glucose levels were both normal after 3 months.
 
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I would definitely describe the 6 months between HbA1c of 91 and 41 the time I was reversing my situation. It is a definite process and a complex one which is - I think - worthy of the title, and more study as things changed a lot for me during that time.
My blood glucose levels had reduced in the first couple of weeks, but that certainly was not the end of it.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Just to remind members that Diabetes UK (and other expert bodies including the ADA) prefer the term ‘remission’ to ‘reversal’.

There’s more information about this, and why ‘remission’ is preferred here:

Can you reverse type 2 diabetes?

We don’t call it type 2 diabetes reversal, because this might sound like it's permanent, and there’s no guarantee that your diabetes has gone forever. But yes, it may be possible to put your type 2 diabetes into remission.
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
Click to expand...
Please can you also make it clear that it is impossible in the current state of knowledge for a Type 2 to 'get back to normal' as was suggested in the post you quoted. Type 2 Diabetes is unremitting and unforgiving.
 
I'll just chuck n my usual two penneth - labels can at times be unhelpful especially when they are interchangeable. Reversal, remission, control it really does not matter which label you apply, the object of the exercise is to get blood glucose levels that are high enough to have a high risk of complications to levels where there is a low risk of complications.

@Burylancs, saying "Type 2 Diabetes is unremitting and unforgiving" is a bit of an extreme way of expressing things. Would you not agree that for that large cohort whose blood glucose can be returned to low risk levels by weight loss and dietary changes, things are to all intents and purposes are returned to "normal" and will stay there provided the lower weight and dietary changes are maintained?
 
Burylancs said:
Please can you also make it clear that it is impossible in the current state of knowledge for a Type 2 to 'get back to normal' as was suggested in the post you quoted. Type 2 Diabetes is unremitting and unforgiving.
Click to expand...
I try to emphasise that I am lucky to be a perfectly ordinary unexciting and uninteresting type 2.
To control it I eat a maximum of 40 gm of carbs a day, and chose to avoid seed oils.
My meals used to be at 12 hourly intervals for years. I have changed to one restricted meal a day and a Tesco shake - to see what happens. Dangerous when bored describes me to a tee.
However - apart from the tests and checks, diabetes just has no impact at all.
Zero, nicht, zilch.
 
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