This is a very long and late reply to a post I made a few years back. the thread is now closed but can be found here:
http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=314
I am truly very sorry for posting & never returning to thank everyone who read my post & offered advice.
I have an update though, almost 5 years on and I would like to share my experience of what happened next in my life, for what it's worth.
I remember posting the above message very clearly. I was in a very bad place at the time. I didn't know this (or want to know) but I weighed just over 28 stone. I found that fact out when I took that first visit to the doctors. I also found out very quickly afterwards that I had Type 2 diabetes, as I thought. This sent me into an emotional roller coaster to say the least. I had some very bad days where I felt like my world was crashing down on me, quite literally I mean, where I was close to collapsing. Other days I would slip in to very deep sleeps and I put my partner through a lot of stress during this time. However the metaformin I was prescribed really did help settle me back into a bit of normality.
After the wake up call off the doctor I tried to lose weight, I really did, but it seemed like a mission impossible. Walking was quite painful and one day I stood on a footbridge about 2 miles from my house almost crying as I thought I would not be able to walk back home as my shins were feeling like they were made of lead.
The doctor was quite good and not patronising though they wanted me to commit to all these meetings but I admit the idea of these stressed me. I did my best and the metorformin kept on helping. This was early & mid 2009.
By 2010 I had lost about 4 stone & my symptoms eventually sort of cleared up in the main and after a while I stopped taking metorformin. This was a mainly because the doctor cancelled my repeat prescription and wanted to see me again, but I thought I would use up my remaining medication and try without it. Now this is not advisable at all. But in all honesty I did feel ok. I sort of felt like I was over my symptoms.
Then in late 2012 I realised I had put some weight back on again & I got some flash backs of that day I was told I had type 2 diabetes. I sort of panicked again and although I had none of the symptoms (and hadn't for a long time) I decided I really had to do something this time BEFORE it happened again. I felt like I had been given a second chance and I was wasting it.
So I changed my diet again, this time I kept a food diary and made a lot of generally good choices. I planned out a weekly meal plan and stuck to it. I cut out all the bad foods & replaced with good choices. Critically for me this time was that I was able to walk without pains, so I did. Every evening after work I walked 4 or 5 miles. This time the weight dropped off me, thankfully. After a few months of this I started running (I found something called the C25K program, and it got me into running). This was the life changing point really as now there was no going back. Eating well was making me lose weight and running took that further. I had never run before this but I sort of got a bit addicted to it.
That was last November. I have now lost over 11 stone in total and I'm currently just under 17 stone. Sounds heavy I guess, but not to me, I look normal now as I am very tall, and I feel fitter and stronger than ever, and well and truly on my way to being "normal" weight/bmi.
I am running 4 times a week, proper running I mean, I've ran in local 5k races, 10k races, and soon to be running in a half marathon.
So my story turned out to be very positive in the end, but it did come down to me sorting my weight & fitness levels out.... But before that, the trip to the doctor I dreaded so much proved to be vital, as like you guys told me above I needed to be helped.
I only remembered this thread on here as I recently moved house & I had to re-register with a new doctor to see about a ear problem I had. The nurse inducted me in and I told her about the diabetes. She agreed with me I probably didn't have it any more but sent me for a blood test.
I was given the all clear today and I've vowed to myself I will never again allow that to happen to me again.
Thank you for reading and the support I was offered at the time, but I was too scared to even use an anonymous message board as I just wanted to bury my head in the sand as much as possible really.
To anyone reading this going through similar feelings as I had in my first post (like I did when I registered on here and read others experiences), all I can add to what was said to me is you
HAVE to seek medical advice, the doctors will be able to help & the medication they give will be the start of getting better, or at least getting it all under control. I got my life back on track but only with the help of the tablets & advice I was given. I know many people with diabetes are not overweight, but lets be honest obesity is a massive reason for many people with type 2 diabetes. I never thought I could lose this sort of weight but I did, but not even doctors telling me I HAD to actually got me to do it. Something just clicked last year for me and I got my head down and went for it.
I am glad I did now though. Having the nurse telling me that my blood glucose levels, my cholesterol and my blood pressure are all fine and healthy felt amazing to be honest. That's a very negative chapter of my life behind me.
All the best and sorry for a massive post, I wanted to explain what happened, and sorry for taking so long to update. Good luck to anyone who has to drop some serious weight, it really can be done.
🙂
