Type 2 diabetes

[Bakebeansrule]

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes back in May and I’m really struggling recently. I’ve lost nearly 4 stone in weight and started eating a low carb diet which has seen my HbA1c come down from 56 to 38 my diabetic nurse is really happy and told me I’ve reversed the condition and I just need to keep the weight off and carry on doing what I’m doing but I’m scared. I constantly worry have I eaten too many carbs? Is my sugar high? I’m I damaging myself?

I’ve tried to research as much as possible but all I keep seeing is I’ve lowered my life expectancy by 10 years and that because I’ve been diagnosed quite young (34) I’m more likely to die sooner because of complications. I look at my little girl and my heart breaks at the thought of leaving her and my family. I know it’s not healthy thinking like this but it’s never far from my mind.

My HbA1c was 56 and my diet wasn’t good I ate a lot of carbs so I try and be realistic that even now if a meal is a little carb heavier than I think even if I just halved my carbs my HbA1c would still reduce (maybe not as much as it has low carbing) but the odd potato or spoonful
Of rice is probably ok, then I feel awful for even thinking it.

Christmas is on its way and I feel I don’t deserve to enjoy being with my family and having a good time. I’m so ashamed with myself for letting this happen. My nurse said that as both parents are type 2 and it runs in the family i had a 50% chance of developing it anyway but that doesn’t help how I feel

I’m sorry for the long post and I’m not even sure this is the right place to post this. I don’t want to bother my dr and feel like even more of a failure

[BackRoads]

I'm with you man. I got diagnosed 7 months ago. Immediately went low carb, and now I am also back in the normal range. Keep doing what you are doing. If you keep your blood sugars in normal range, there is no reason to expect to have complications. I worry too, but I am starting to look at it logically. If high blood sugars are what causes the damage, then do all you can to stay away from that and chances are you will be fine.....and that is very doable.

[ErinKC]

I totally understand how something like this can become consuming and stress inducing, but you've done an absolutely incredible job!! You've lost nearly 60 pounds (if Google properly converted stones for my American self), changed your diet, and reversed your type 2 diabetes in a matter of six months!! That's remarkable! I'm no expert, but you've reversed the condition, so you are not currently at risk of experiencing any complications of a disease you don't have!

It may be worth speaking with the nurse or even going to a third party dietician to help you put together a plan that is sustainable but will help you avoid becoming totally overwhelmed by maintaining perfection.

[Bakebeansrule]

Thank you for your replies. I’ve tried over the last few days to take a step back and not worry as much as I have been. I think one of the major problems for me is I’ve worked so hard to reverse the condition and now I’ve been left on my own to carry on. I’ve not got another appointment for 6 months and im scared things will change over that time that I’m not aware of.

I’ve got a horrible aching in my chest which I know is anxiety and the only thing I can put it down to is this. It’s real the diabetes isn’t my mind playing tricks on me this time. I’m always going to have to think about it and it’s feeling quite overwhelming

[ankietyjoe]

Diabetes does not run in families, eating habits run in families. People tend to eat the diet they grew up with, and most of us over the last 30-40 years learned to eat a pretty unhealthy diet. Medicine is fond of looking at correlation as proof as much as causation, because correlation is easier (and cheaper) to study.

If you're 34 and have reversed your diabetes, first of all well done, second of all just keep the new lifestyle of eating in mind for the rest of your life, and third of all enjoy a bit of food over Christmas.

And stop researching worst case scenarios on the internet. Deal with where you are today, which is a much better place than you were before. Your body will heal itself fully if you give it the chance.

[Pamplemousse]

Thank you for your replies. I’ve tried over the last few days to take a step back and not worry as much as I have been. I think one of the major problems for me is I’ve worked so hard to reverse the condition and now I’ve been left on my own to carry on. I’ve not got another appointment for 6 months and im scared things will change over that time that I’m not aware of.

Type 2 diabetes simply doesn't work like that. As I've pointed out on other threads, it's a 'slow burner'. Most stuff takes years to happen - the scary things like the retinopathy/nephropathy/neuropathy. I was very surprised yesterday on my six-monthly visit to the clinic to be told that even with a slightly-raised HbA1c of 57 (up from 54 ) that they are happy enough with all my blood/urine results to say "see you next Christmas" - so I'm now only to be examined annually. This is what we're dealing with; it's slow.

A lot of the scary stuff only happens when you've been undiagnosed for a very long time.

As for diet - yes, it has to change and as a hat-tip to @ankietyjoe, the nurse did suggest "low carb good, old methods bad". So I might look into the less outrageous low-carb diets sooner rather than later. Which is a pity, as I do love Indian and Italian cookery (and have just bought a copy of the Italian food bible, Il cucchiaio d'argento)

[ankietyjoe]

There are loads of ways I've found of eating low carb 'bigger picture' diet. I still have pizza sometimes, I still have bread sometimes, but rarely have pasta. I use the alternatives from Explore Cuisine instead and both me and the misses actually prefer their edamame fettuccine to regular pasta now, although we'll still have normal lasagne sheets if I make a lasagne. The thing is, I'll only eat carbs like that once a day, and not every day. Couple of times a week now you're 'fixed' isn't going to hurt. The rest of my meals are low carb, the carbs I do eat are complex carbs (fibre buffers the insulin response) and I also fast 16-18 hours a day (don't even think about it any more) AND...I rarely eat many carbs at all for lunch.

The issue with the 'standard' diets is that they have you eating bad carbs for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacking between meals. This often means high levels of insulin from 7am-midnight and it's this that causes the issues. Not the odd spike here and there.

[Bakebeansrule]

I try to eat low carb. I start the morning with 3 slices of livlife toast (4g of carbs per slice) with peanut butter snack is a almond and pumpkin seed cereal bar (8g) or yogurt and lunch is salad and maybe a packet of popcorn once or twice a week.

I’ve changed rice for cauliflower rice which I quite enjoy and mash is now cauliflower mash or swede and carrot. When I make lasagne I only use 4 sheets of pasta between 2 people and often split the meal into 3 so I’m not eating to much of it.

I’ve started roasting carrots in the oven which I really enjoy but was told on a diabetes forum these were not good as they are high carb.

I slipped up last week and had a McDonald’s wrap and chips I tested my bg 2 hours after and it was 11.4 which worried me I was back down to 7 an hour after I tested,again I was told on a diabetic forum this was not good.

[Pamplemousse]

I slipped up last week and had a McDonald’s wrap and chips I tested my bg 2 hours after and it was 11.4 which worried me I was back down to 7 an hour after I tested,again I was told on a diabetic forum this was not good.

What on Earth are you doing testing yourself?! From what you've told us, you don't need to. Chuck your tester in a WEEE skip - I've been T2 for five years now and not once have I been advised to have a glucose monitoring kit. If you really want to know how you're doing, ask your GP if you can have an OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test).

[ankietyjoe]

Yeah you're overthinking it still.

This needs to be a bigger picture observation, not a catastrophic response to one 'slip up'.

Everything you've done has got you to a much better place and there's no need to test your BG every time you eat a meal that WILL spike it. You know it's going to spike it, so just be mindful of how often you spike it.

Have you considered not having breakfast and doing the intermittent fasting thing? That'll make a huge difference overall.