Trouble getting my head around this

[MickW]

I was diagnosed with T2 6 months ago and despite taking all the advice from others on the forum about what to read and how to move forward I am still having trouble getting my head around how serious Diabetes can be.

Because I feel fit and reasonably healthy for a 62 year old I just can't get to grips with doing exercise and eating correctly.
I have cut down on the carbs but have days when I just forget and have bread etc. I know that if I do not take this disease seriously I could end up with troubles in the future but sometimes I just seem to forget about it and carry on as normal.
I really want to beat this but am feeling quite low at the moment.
I guess Tomorrow is another day and I just have to keep telling myself that I CAN do this.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Mick

Sorry to hear you are struggling to get your head around it all. It is a bit of an odd condition because there are sometimes no obvious symptoms but they can develop slowly and insidiously over time without you realising until it is too late to do anything to change them, so it is easy to be in denial until you get hit with a hard reality like retinopathy or neuropathy.

I read through some of your previous posts and it looks like you have a BG meter to test your blood. Have you used that to see if you can actually cope with eating bread occasionally without it affect your BG levels too drastically?
Many people don't have to totally give up on starchy foods, just limit their portion size. So the odd slice of bread or a couple of small potatoes or a small Yorkshire pudding once in a while is not going to cause them a problem. That is the benefit of using a BG meter, so that you can see what you can get away with and the foods that you need to limit the portion size of and the things which should really only be kept as a very special treat for birthdays and Christmas.

It also helps to eat more fat which provides slow release energy in place of the carbs you have cut back on, it makes you feel more satisfied with the food that you eat and usually tastes good so you don't feel deprived.
Things like having double cream in my morning coffee and a chunk of cheese whenever I fancy it and the odd packet of pork scratchings. These are all low carb ways of compensating me for the other stuff that disrupts my BG levels which I have had to give up eating. I always find it hard to complain about my diet if I start the day with a coffee and real cream and I end it with a small glass of red wine and a chunk of nice cheese..... these are just the things that I like and make my diet enjoyable. You may not like them but finding things that you do like and make you feel content but don't cause your BG levels too much disruption is as important as cutting out the stuff that does. Hope that makes sense. Try to spend some time finding those treats that you can eat without a problem by reading labels and using your BG meter rather than using it in a negative way to rule out foods.

For me eating more fat was the big step forward in making my diet enjoyable. It was a bit of a leap of faith as the NHS advice is to follow a low fat diet and I am not a natural rebel, but you cannot eat low fat and low carb over the long term and since I can see via my BG meter that carbs cause me problems, it makes more sense to eat fat.
If it helps at all, there is a growing school of thought that the research on which the low fat advice was based 70 years ago was seriously flawed, but there is such a huge food industry geared to low fat products now that it is impossible to turn the thing around. It is even believed that the low fat advice may in part be responsible for the obesity and diabetes epidemic we are now seeing. Fat takes longer to digest and keeps you feeling full. Without fat we eat more carbs and carbs are addictive. The more you eat the more you want. Fat is self limiting. If you eat too much you feel sick. Now that I eat more fat and much less carbs I only eat half of the amount of food I used to eat, I am slimmer and fitter than I have been for years and my BG levels are more stable... and my cholesterol levels have reduced slightly.... all the opposite of what the low fat brigade will tell you will happen.

Anyway, sorry I didn't mean to get up on my soap box, but hope some of what I have written helps you a little to move forward with your diabetes management.

 

[grovesy]

Why don't you make small manageable changes at first then build up on them. Exercise, it is no use trying to do despise, how about walking a bit more.

 

[Inka]

@rebrascora has it spot on with the slow, insidious damage. It can happen as we skip on blissfully unaware. That’s why it’s important to keep good control and to go for regular tests to identify early signs of damage. If you need some motivation, look at the statistics eg around half of people registered blind are blind because of diabetes. There are similar statistics about kidney failure.

Read that, then carefully but persistently work towards good control.

Do you test your blood sugar? I find that the best motivator as you have targets to stay in range and it’s something concrete and checkable.

 

[trophywench]

The amount of diabetics having amputations is also scary.

I still do not understand why they are prepared to accept that cost whilst only allowing 10 minute consultations with the GP who delivers the diagnosis and then you have to wait at least weeks if not currently far longer before they even have another conversation with you.

The major thing this no longer happens with is cancer. When you return to the hospital which did your biopsy for your result and there's already a Macmillan Nurse in the room, you already know what the consultant is going to tell you, just not the finer details. But - you come away from there with shedloads of info and phone numbers to access your team as and when you need them, leaflets about the charities who can help you, etc. You are no longer left completely on your own and it's made perfectly clear at the outset that you need to always ask, ask, ASK!! - if you don't want huge complications to ensue and wreck you.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you are having a tricky time of things.

It’s a weird time to be getting used to a diabetes diagnosis, and many of the usual rhythms that might have given you benchmarks over the last 6 months to update you - like regular HbA1c and clinic appointments - have been put on hold.

I think there has been a sort of ethereal unworldly feeling for many people, almost like this year hasn’t really been happening at allm because so I guess it’s hardly surprising that things are slipping your mind from time to time.

But importantly, you recognise the potential seriousness of a diabetes diagnosis, and how important it is to find management strategies that work for you.

 

[Drummer]

I was diagnosed at 65 and now feel like a 40 year old (not managed to catch one yet though)
I am quite surprised t have been so active in the last few years, and even, in the warmer weather, was trying out jigs in the local park with individual dancers, even demonstrating a few steps between playing the music.
I really enjoy the low carb foods - perhaps because we ate fairly low carb when I was at home. Nothing says 'home' to me more than a roast chicken with four different veges on the table. Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

 

[trophywench]

Yes @Drummer, so did we - so it was an alien concept becoming T1 and suddenly needing to eat more carb daily every day of my life instead of only if I fancied it that day - or we were on holiday so consuming more things like ice creams and churros or pasties, cream teas, freshly baked croissants etc and good crusty bread.

 

[Drummer]

Well - I can still do the ice dream. My grandmother used to make 'forget me not' ice cream for their shop in Youlgreave, Derbyshire, though we don't have the hens in the garden nor the local herd of prize winning jersey cows. Pasties we did not have, but I have been going to Sidmouth every year for the folk festival and I find that 'fat head' pizza dough makes a good substitute if cooked separately from the filling. Scones and bread don't feature now, but I was able to make them all during my time working for Allied Lyons when visitors came. They were always amazed when I told them they were all made using Lyons mixes. I ought to have got commission.
This run up to Christmas has made me feel really nostalgic this year - maybe it is an antidote to the present situation, as well as memories coming back to me after the brush with dementia the Atorvastatin gave me.