Very Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic

[Burble62]

I've read through this thread and hope I didn't miss something. With an HbA1c of 48mmol/mol you are just in the diabetic range, as others have said. So if you are told to take Metformin, while still smiling sweetly(!!), I suggest you politely ask for 3 months to see if further dietary changes work in reducing your glucose (I gather you are already following a plan). To help you monitor your daily carbs, do you have an app? I find mine invaluable.

Thank you for your suggestions, I don’t currently have an app to monitor my carbs, I would be grateful if you could let me know which one do you use? Thanks

 

[Burble62]

Welcome to the forum @Burble62

I’ve taken the liberty of removing the extra @ from the front of your username, as it will make it easier for members to ‘tag’ you in posts (you can get a notification any time you are mentioned)?

Sorry you had rather a bleak summary from your practice nurse, that left you feeling worse than when you went in. Glad some of the shared experiences on the forum have been more optimistic and encouraging.

Diabetes is a serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy. Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, as @rebrascora says, many people on the forum later reflect that their diagnosis became a sort of catalyst which prompted them to make positive changes towards a healthier and more active life. Perhaps changes that they had been intending to make for years!

One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. Finding the right balance of carbs (no too low which can increase insulin resistance, but with reduced portion sizes to help your metabolism process the food you are eating properly) can be a hugely effective strategy.

Thank you for the helpful information & sorting out the @

 

[Felinia]

Thank you for your suggestions, I don’t currently have an app to monitor my carbs, I would be grateful if you could let me know which one do you use? Thanks

I use NutraCheck which is UK based. It covers thousands of foods, including all the UK supermarkets and food stores. I just renewed for a year at the cost of around £29. The other popular app is MyFitnessPal, which is free but USA based. There are others I believe. What the app taught me was portion control of my carbs. Initially although I cut down my carbs, my portion sizes were still far too large. Now I have far more vegetables to bulk up my plate. This will be tonight's dinner. It looks enormous but is on a 10" dessert plate and is mostly vegetables. Home made sausage casserole consisting of 1 standard high meat sausage in a mushroom tomato and onion sauce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and swede mash. Its 579 calories and 25.9gm carbs according to the app. Half my daily calories and a third of my daily carbs.

 

[Burble62]

Thank you

 

[Burylancs]

Yes I must admit I could not figure out where she got the 50% information from. Thanks for adding to more positive comments from the others. Very much appreciated

Type 2 Diabetics have generally had the condition for 5 or 10 years before diagnosis with the beta cells thrashing themselves out trying to keep a grip on the Insulin Resistance and embroiled in the Metabolic Syndrome. The pancreas on average hoists the white flag when 50% of the beta cells have gone and a formal diagnosis of Type 2 follows. Thereafter, once steps have been taken to control the diabetes, the beta cells head south at an average rate of 2% per annum of what's left. So a Type 2 will never run out of beta cells but will probably never have enough to do a proper job ( that's why the Dafne programme is never relevant to T2s- T2s still have irregular and intermittent insulin and so can't calculate Carb Ratios). And the Chicago Cadavres research showed that beta cell loss in T2s was pretty steady and only correlated with the duration of diabetes, nothing else.
So that's the standard position, the average Type 2, that your Nurse was coming from.

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

Hello @Burble62 this is how my diabetes journey started off:

Type 2 Diagnosed in January 2019 with HbA1c of 67
Prescribed Metformin 500mg once a day and took it for 3 months.
Also prescribed Beta Blockers - 40mg once a day and 10mg as required
Immediately went on to very low carb high fat diet i.e. keto
2nd HbA1c - 55 - came off Metformin as I wasn't eating enough carbs to justify it.
3rd HbA1c - 42 - came off Beta Blockers - gradually reducing dose
4th HbA1c - 42 and blood pressure high end of normal.

I have kept my blood sugars in the normal range ever since by dietary changes and over the last couple of years I have added more exercise to the mix. I had uterine cancer last year and managed to get my blood sugars down to an HbA1C of 38 during that situation. Apart from the cancer (which I think would have happened even without the diabetes) I have had no health implications from type 2 diabetes at all. Everything - eyes, circulatory system, liver, feet etc etc all absolutely fine.

As mentioned earlier by another member here the diabetes diagnosis was a beneficial thing for me and led to my improving my health in every way and learning how to create and cook very low carb versions of my favourite foods. I have been very lucky and mostly enjoyed having diabetes.

I got a blood glucose monitor fairly early on ( the lancet and a test strip variety) and I have been careful to keep myself within good boundaries by eating very low carb most of the time and exercising after any meal where I may have gone a little bit beyond the level of carbs that would trigger a raise in my levels.

You will be fine once you learn a bit more about what suits your body and after a while you will be managing as second nature. Nice to 'meet' you and welcome to a wonderful supportive and knowledgeable community - I don't know how I would have managed without this forum - so many helpful people who are kind and encouraging.

 

[Burble62]

Hello @Burble62 this is how my diabetes journey started off:

Type 2 Diagnosed in January 2019 with HbA1c of 67
Prescribed Metformin 500mg once a day and took it for 3 months.
Also prescribed Beta Blockers - 40mg once a day and 10mg as required
Immediately went on to very low carb high fat diet i.e. keto
2nd HbA1c - 55 - came off Metformin as I wasn't eating enough carbs to justify it.
3rd HbA1c - 42 - came off Beta Blockers - gradually reducing dose
4th HbA1c - 42 and blood pressure high end of normal.

I have kept my blood sugars in the normal range ever since by dietary changes and over the last couple of years I have added more exercise to the mix. I had uterine cancer last year and managed to get my blood sugars down to an HbA1C of 38 during that situation. Apart from the cancer (which I think would have happened even without the diabetes) I have had no health implications from type 2 diabetes at all. Everything - eyes, circulatory system, liver, feet etc etc all absolutely fine.

As mentioned earlier by another member here the diabetes diagnosis was a beneficial thing for me and led to my improving my health in every way and learning how to create and cook very low carb versions of my favourite foods. I have been very lucky and mostly enjoyed having diabetes.

I got a blood glucose monitor fairly early on ( the lancet and a test strip variety) and I have been careful to keep myself within good boundaries by eating very low carb most of the time and exercising after any meal where I may have gone a little bit beyond the level of carbs that would trigger a raise in my levels.

You will be fine once you learn a bit more about what suits your body and after a while you will be managing as second nature. Nice to 'meet' you and welcome to a wonderful supportive and knowledgeable community - I don't know how I would have managed without this forum - so many helpful people who are kind and encouraging.

Thanks, I am already finding this community of support so valuable and feel so much more settled about what is happening and ideas about how I can start to manage this in the future. Thank you for the warm welcome

 

[Burble62]

Thanks for claryifying as I was puzzled how she had arrived at this figure and what it actually meant.

Type 2 Diabetics have generally had the condition for 5 or 10 years before diagnosis with the beta cells thrashing themselves out trying to keep a grip on the Insulin Resistance and embroiled in the Metabolic Syndrome. The pancreas on average hoists the white flag when 50% of the beta cells have gone and a formal diagnosis of Type 2 follows. Thereafter, once steps have been taken to control the diabetes, the beta cells head south at an average rate of 2% per annum of what's left. So a Type 2 will never run out of beta cells but will probably never have enough to do a proper job ( that's why the Dafne programme is never relevant to T2s- T2s still have irregular and intermittent insulin and so can't calculate Carb Ratios). And the Chicago Cadavres research showed that beta cell loss in T2s was pretty steady and only correlated with the duration of diabetes, nothing else.
So that's the standard position, the average Type 2, that your Nurse was coming from.

Type 2 Diabetics have generally had the condition for 5 or 10 years before diagnosis with the beta cells thrashing themselves out trying to keep a grip on the Insulin Resistance and embroiled in the Metabolic Syndrome. The pancreas on average hoists the white flag when 50% of the beta cells have gone and a formal diagnosis of Type 2 follows. Thereafter, once steps have been taken to control the diabetes, the beta cells head south at an average rate of 2% per annum of what's left. So a Type 2 will never run out of beta cells but will probably never have enough to do a proper job ( that's why the Dafne programme is never relevant to T2s- T2s still have irregular and intermittent insulin and so can't calculate Carb Ratios). And the Chicago Cadavres research showed that beta cell loss in T2s was pretty steady and only correlated with the duration of diabetes, nothing else.
So that's the standard position, the average Type 2, that your Nurse was coming from.

 

[Burble62]

OMG what a way to talk to you when you are only just over the diagnostic threshold so some modest changes to you diet should be all that is needed. To encourage you I made some dietary changes following the principals in this link and reduced my HbA1C from 50mmol/mol to 42 in 3 months and to below 40 in another 6 which is where I am 3 years on.
https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/ That approach is now my normal way of eating. I don't feel deprived in any way.
However it is good you have been offered checks of eyes and feet as that is important.
There is every chance that by taking action now that you will be able to do the same, put those negative thoughts out of your head. Your nurse seems to be behind the times about how powerful dietary changes can be.

Thank you for suggesting the freshwell app, after years of yo-yo dieting, I’m finding this app really useful and easy to use, far better than any others I’ve used over the years. My eating habits have already changed & it’s making a difference.