Told yesterday i need to start insulin

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Cosmosmam

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Hi, I have been T2 for about 10 years but was told yesterday that i need to start insulin, bit of a shock and trying to get my head around it.
From the information on this site, it appears that I did to stop driving and complete a form for the DVLA Driving is part of my job.
Has anyone started insulin recently and can give me some advice?
Thanks
 
This is the basic information @Cosmosmam :

www.gov.uk

Diabetes and driving

You may need to tell DVLA if you have diabetes, depending on the treatment you're getting
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

Do you know what insulin you’ll be taking? It will take you a little while to get used to it so it would be best to avoid driving anyway.

Welcome to the forum 🙂
 
The info says, if you need to start insulin, you must stop driving immediately, I am working this weekend and should be driving tomorrow. Obviously I don't want to invalidate my insurance/lose my licence.
 
Cosmosmam said:
The info says, if you need to start insulin, you must stop driving immediately, I am working this weekend and should be driving tomorrow. Obviously I don't want to invalidate my insurance/lose my licence.
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If you drive anything large for work then yes as soon as you start insulin you need to stop driving and inform the dvla. The rules vary depending on what you drive and can be found on the dvla site
 
Thanks, I'm aware once I've started insulin that I will be subject to the DA rules but the wording on this site is what has made me concerned.
 
Cosmosmam said:
The info says, if you need to start insulin, you must stop driving immediately, I am working this weekend and should be driving tomorrow. Obviously I don't want to invalidate my insurance/lose my licence.
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That applies to when you start it, not when you’re told to start it, if that’s what you’re asking @Cosmosmam . You’ll also need to tell your insurance company and your employer.
 
If you’re able to take time off work to get used to the insulin, that would help you. It’s a big change and you’re being put onto a basal/bolus regime straightaway, so you’ll have a lot to think about and monitor.
 
Inka said:
That applies to when you start it, not when you’re told to start it, if that’s what you’re asking @Cosmosmam . You’ll also need to tell your insurance company and your employer.
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I had assumed that, it's the wording below from this site, that confused me!

"It’s really important that you follow these rules as soon as they start applying to you. For example, you should stop driving and contact the DVLA as soon as you find out you have to take insulin for the long term or if you start to develop complications. If you don’t, you’re breaking the law"
 
Inka said:
If you’re able to take time off work to get used to the insulin, that would help you. It’s a big change and you’re being put onto a basal/bolus regime straightaway, so you’ll have a lot to think about and monitor.
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Thank you.
I think I will, there's a lot to get my head around as it has happened very quickly, my diabetes has been relatively well controlled. Unfortunately I have suddenly not tolerated medication and I have no alternative orals that I can take.
 
I see what you mean 🙂 However, as you’re not yet on insulin then you’d be ok to drive, presuming you don’t have any other problems. It means when you start the insulin, as it’s the ‘taking insulin’ bit that’s the issue not the ‘being told you have to take it next week’.

Think of it like alcohol. You don’t drink alcohol and drive. However, if you’re planning to have a drink after work tonight, that doesn’t mean you can’t drive for work.
 
There will be a lot to get your head around it the first few weeks but don't forget you are not on your own and your diabetic team should be on hand to help and there will always be people here who will do their best to help you through and answer any questions you have.
If there is anything you feel you need to talk through re the DVLA or your employment the DUK helpline is there as well.
 
Cosmosmam said:
I had assumed that, it's the wording below from this site, that confused me!
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Thanks for flagging this @Cosmosmam

I’ll send your query to the DUK website content team to see if they can make the wording on that page a little clearer.

I hope your start on insulin therapy goes smoothly, and your work isn’t interrupted too significantly. We have had forum members who drive larger vehicles who have needed to build up the required number of months of BG checks to meet DVLA requirements, so it can be prudent to contact the DVLA to chat things through, or scour their website to find out exactly how the law applies in your situation.
 
Diet could still be an alternative. Some people, who had tried everything in vain, succeeded they heard abour Professor Roy Taylor's Counterpoint study and the Newcastle Diet. One week on its soups and shakes with green veg to top up can bring blood sugar down to normal in a week. You can only tell by trying. So if I were you I discuss that with my GP and hold the insulin over for a couple of weeks or so. If your blood sugat does come I'd suggest you switch to a proven weight loss diet. I'll add some links to this post later so that you and you GP can discuss the possibility.

Roy Taylor, Achieving T2D remission (May 2023):
An excellent presentation of the results of the Counterpoint study and more recent trials.

Roy Taylor's Information for Doctors (Jan 2023):
A short explanation of Achieving T2D remission

Newcastle Diet leaflet: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/media/wwwnclacuk/newcastlemagneticresonancecentre/files/201809 Sample Recipes & meal plans.pdf
Details the soups and shakes you can get from the supermarket. Check you get the right ones. Products can change their names. In my experience 800 cals per day is too restrictive after the first 1-4 weeks for a DIY diet. That's why I'd switch to Unwin or Harcombe as below.

The nuts & bolts of drug free T2 diabetes remission by Dr David Unwin: 

Patients at David Unwin's surgery has been very successful in getting their bloods down.
He describes how they did in this entertaing vid.

David Unwin's diet sheet:
phcuk.org/wp-content/uploads/A_5_page_low_carb_diet_leaflet_Unwin_2021-converted.pdf
Short and simple, nutritious real food.

Harcombe diet:
Harcombe Diet article (scroll down to 7 added links to handy summaries and guides:


The Harcombe Diet: How to eat your favourite foods and still lose weight

The Harcombe Diet: How to eat your favourite foods and still lose weight By Prima Team PUBLISHED: 21 APRIL 2016 Do you dream of a weight l...
diabetes-type2-remission.blogspot.com diabetes-type2-remission.blogspot.com
Also based on nutritious real food. Very much like David Unwin but separates fat meals and carb meals: eggs and bacon, steak and veg, cheese are OK (as much as you need to feel full); steak and chips, bread and cheese are out.

I have found Harcombes rules, and the reasons for them, helpful for weight maintenance after loss.

The Freshwell Low Carb project is also good.

P.S. Just in case it comes up again, please note Harcombe has had a bad press on this forum from members who have been misled by this and Slipp Digby. An interesting diversion best ignored.
 
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JITR said:
P.S. Just in case it comes up again, please note Harcombe has had a bad press on this forum from members
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I’m not sure it is fair to say ‘misled’? Zoe Harcome is something of a controversial figure who goes against mainstream evidence-based advice in a number of areas. Often openly saying “because everything you thought you knew about weight loss is wrong” (I think that was the strapline of her blog/website when I first read pieces by her, interestingly that was also before the content of her site went behind a £52/year paywall). I think it’s that rather confrontational style that she uses to almost deliberately place herself outside the mainstream that raises questions for several forum members, and the clinical / research community in general.

There are people who have success following Harcombe’s approach, just as there people who have success following more mainsteam energy-balance dietary advice. To my mind that doesn’t make one approach wrong and the other right, it just suggests that human beings and their metabolisms and genetics are complex, as is the interaction between menu, macronutrients, and weight.

As far as I’m concerned it just means there are more options. And if someone has always struggled following one sort of dietary approach I think it’s a good thing that there are other options that can be tried.
 
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everydayupsanddowns said:
I’m not sure it is fair to say ‘misled’? Zoe Harcome is something of a controversial figure who goes against mainstream evidence-based advice in a number of areas. Often openly saying “because everything you thought you knew about weight loss is wrong” (I think that was the strapline of her blog/website when I first read pieces by her, interestingly that was also before the content of her site went behind a £52/year paywall). I think it’s that rather confrontational style that she uses to almost deliberately place herself outside the mainstream that raises questions for several forum members, and the clinical / research community in general.

There are people who have success following Harcombe’s approach, just as there people who have success following more mainsteam energy-balance dietary advice. To my mind that doesn’t make one approach wrong and the other right, it just suggests that human beings and their metabolisms and genetics are complex, as is the interaction between menu, macronutrients, and weight.

As far as I’m concerned it just means there are more options. And if someone has always struggled following one sort of dietary approach I think it’s a good thing that there are other options that can be tried.
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I agree with you in general. In particular, her 'rather confrontational style ... that raises questions for several forum members, and the clinical / research community ...'.

Her style certainly put my hackles up when I read her comments about the DiRECT. They totally failed to acknowledge the diet's original purpose as a research tool for the Counterpoint clinical research study which preceded DiRECT. Having got myself back to normal following advice in Roy Taylor's 'Living without Diabetes' I recognise the huge significance of the Newcastle team's work. Ironically I have since learnt that Roy Taylor recommended a portion controlled diet to those who wrote to him after the results of the CounterPoint study were announced, not the shakes used in the 8 week study. I imagine Roy Taylor and Zoe Harcombe would agree with each other about most things in conversation.

I think her books could do with a good editor to present the key points of her diet without this baggage. Notably, our need for satiety achieved by eating proper meals of nutritious foods, the combination of fat and carbs causing cravings, and the role of insulin and glucagon in weight loss and maintenance.

Her diet is based on principles set out by experts like Professor Jonathan Brostoff. In short there is no reason for any forum member to disrespect Zoe Harcombe or any other forum member who mentions her name. The Harcombe Diet may be just what someone is looking for, especially someone who does not know where to turn next.
 
So I looked up the Harcombe diet and I am confused already.
What can you eat on the Harcombe diet?


"You're allowed to eat unlimited unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, salads and vegetables, apart from potatoes and mushrooms. Mushrooms feed Candida albicans, while potatoes are very high in carbohydrate so they encourage Candida albicans and hypoglycaemia."

I would have said potatoes cause Hyoercalcamia?
 
Nayshiftin said:
Hyoercalcamia
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Was that autocorrected, and meant to say hyperglycaemia?

I’ve no idea what candida albicans are, but I eat loads of mushrooms and they don’t appear to affect BG levels.

Potatoes, however would cause BG increases, not hypos!?
 
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