Will I die if I don't change?

[hadntbeen]

I'm a 30 year old female. Full disclosure - my eating is out of control. Full of carbs, sugar and I drink a lot, and I mean a lot of semi skimmed milk which is just full of sugar. I am 5 foot 4 and weigh around 15 stone.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes around 2 years ago when I started to become very sleepy throughout the day.

My hba1c results in October were 8.0 so not too bad, however, I hadn't been taking the 2000 mg metformin that was prescribed to me. I was honest with my doctor about this and so she told me to just take 500 mg and we would do another test in January.

I didn't do that - I honestly don't have any other reason for it other than the tablets make me feel sick and I don't like swallowing them. I've noticed over the last month that I have been urinating a lot more. I just got my hba1c results back and they are now 9.6.

I'm quite worried by these results as my diet hasn't changed since my last results in October but still my sugar levels aren't even staying the same they are just rising.

I'm scared to talk to my doctor. My plan from today is to start taking my one tablet 500 mg of metformin and to cut out the milk. I literally drink about 2 litres a day.

Is it reversible still at this point? If I continue the way I am, what can I expect going forward?

Every part of my life is going so well, I just can't quite get a grip of this.

I guess I need some horror stories/cold, hard facts to shock me into action.

I think it probably is a little bit of self harm. To be absolutely honest, 3 years ago I was badly addicted to alcohol, I got support for this and stopped drinking but that is when I gained all my weight. I feel like I replaced one addiction for the other, food gives me pleasure. Milk I honestly just love the taste of and it's comforts me. I haven't told anyone in real life that as I find the amount I drink really embarrassing.

I'd think about it this way. The reason for your drinking still existed. You were no longer dealing ("self-medicating") with alcohol, but the underlying reasons were still there. So, you turn to something else to deal with them.
You see this all of the time - smoking, shopping, workaholic, drinking, sugar, risky sex, gym-addiction, cocaine, scrolling social media... most of us have a strategy that works in the short term but is ultimately unhealthy and damaging in the long term.

Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for starting this thread. I am over-weight and piling on the pounds. I am relying on sugar to deal with my feelings like boredom and tiredness etc. Your thread has encouraged me to continue making changes.

I can't give any advice on diet as I'm currently bigger than you and have not long started working with a PT on a meal and excercise plan.

What I can advise is to ask for slow-release metformin and take it in the middle of your biggest meal. I found taking it just before or after eating made me feel sick but in the middle was fine.

Also, I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke. Fine in terms of calories, but the sweeteners etc in it are bad, and didn't help with how I felt.
Now I allow myself 1 can most days, but only if I've drunk 1.5ltrs of water. I use it as my reward, and it's worked pretty well (and drinking water makes me fuller, more awake and more energetic so it's a win win).

Lastly, remember at one point you decided you were worth giving up the alcohol for. You faced that very scary challenge head on and handled it.
You deserve to do that now too.

@hadntbeen I’m shorter than you and weighed more than you 11 months ago.

Started at 16 stone, bmi was 40, had high blood pressure (was 1 more high reading away from medication) didn’t have bloods done for cholesterol or diabetes as she tried to book me in but I was too mortified so went home and started a diet and told the nurse if I can’t make this the last time I start a diet and stick to it I’ll book back in for the bloods,

I’m down to 12 stone up to now (with 2 or 3 more to lose) so 4stone loss so far, my blood pressure is now normal (has been since last July) I go to the gym 4 times a week, doing cardio and weight training, have lost 8 inches just off my waist.

Also a binge eater (all or nothing mindset, I’m either 100% on my diet or 100% not) if I’m 100% not I eat anything in sight. Still trying to sort that, but I am buzzing I’ve lost the weight I have. Eating lots better, no take aways, lots of fruit veg and chicken mince, high protein etc.

I haven’t done any specific diet, I get bored so swap and change between intermittent fasting and calorie counting (nutra check) this week I’m doing intermittent fasting last week it was nutra check, I lose slowly (average out it’s less than 1lb a week) I don’t have any loose skin so far and my body is LOTS smaller.

Im reading a book atm (the binge code, and also the obesity code)

Not chicken mince, I meant chicken and mince.

Sorry I have not RTFT but I wanted to encourage you to read the research on diabetic remission for yourself, article and links here www.diabetes.org.uk/research/research-round-up/research-spotlight/research-spotlight-low-calorie-liquid-diet You are 30 years old which is incredibly young to be diagnosed with type 2. You should be looking forward to maybe another half century of healthy life ahead of you, not facing a future of chronic metabolic disease, blindness and amputation leading to a premature death. If this is not a massive wake up call I don’t know what is, so use that all or nothing mindset of yours to radically change what you are doing. My husband was diagnosed during lockdown with HBA1C of 60 and has got himself into remission without medication - the best shot at doing that is in the period immediately after diagnosis. There are two elements - losing around 2 stone or 15% body weight rapidly to get rid of the visceral fat and then maintaining with low carb diet - he has maintained non-diabetic HBA1C for 2 years by not eating bread, pasta, potatoes, rice or sugar. He has a low carb rather than keto diet and eats about 50-80g carbs a day. He’s not cured, if he eats any white carbs his blood sugar shoots up, but he can maintain normal blood sugar levels without meds and there had been no progression in the retinal damage he had at diagnosis. Useful resources I’d recommend are Michael Moseley Fast 800, Caldesi diabetes cookbooks, Jason Fung the diabetes code. If we had relied on the NHS he would be on metformin and worse than ever because the support was non-existent. He was not even told remission was possible.
It’s a pretty stark choice.

Precisely. Cutting just the milk will make little difference.

That's what I mean - people do know how to eat well, as you say - you have the knowledge. As do I. But of course it is easier said than done!

What I didn't know, and I am still learning, is how combining foods in certain ways is beneficial for people managing diabetes and (in my case) pre-diabetes. And that is not quite the same as a healthy diet for the general population who don't have that issue to contend with.

The majority of the course I'm on is about what is going on in your head, what your emotional triggers are, how to manage them, changing routines and looking at your daily habits and so on. Even things like getting enough sleep and your stress levels. So you learn about how to change your daily habits in a positive way, which then makes it easier to stick to eating the right things at the right time. Sorry, rambling a bit, hope that makes sense.

Your GP surgery needs to step up and help you more.

Incidence of serious complications in T2D in the first year after diagnosis is 50% - that is stroke, heart failure, retinopathy, kidney failure, hypertension etc. Little tweaks are not going to cut it when OPs HBA1C is already way into the danger zone. A lot of people already have permanent damage by the time they are diagnosed.

Oh. No ignore me. It was 43. mmol not %. That'll teach me to go dabbling in biochemistry!

I am very similar to you in your mindset, an all or nothing person, and also like you this was the year I decided enough was enough, after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and a fatty liver, my HbA1C was 80, it is now 46 in 6 months by using Nutra check to log my intake each day, 1200 Cals, 130g carbs, lots of protein and water. I went from BMI od 36 to 23 and a size 24 to 10/12 losing over 4 stone. I have to make this work for me for ever now though as I am scared of the consequences if I don't, I am lucky that my eyes and feet are fine but I know people can have serious issues so will eat this way for ever, maybe increase my calories occasionally but the basis of what I eat will be this for ever. I am losing 1/2 to 2 pounds each week, although in week 1 I lost 9 pounds! I believe that was the massive difference in what I ate before to now.

I still eat a lot but pile my plate with protein and veg instead of eating lots of bread, pasta, rice etc. I was never a sweet tooth person but I would enjoy lots of toast as a snack which didn't help me, I worked out I typically ate 3500 - 4000 cals a day before.

I am nearly 58 and was struggling to move around, breathless going up stairs now I love to dance and bound up the stairs.

Hi,

Can you buy yourself a little slimming world measure bottle from Etsy - wearn yourself of the milk.

I like Raspberry Ripple milk with my weetabix loaded with berry fruits but I know drinking a litre of this milk each day even is a no go. Whether diabetic or not.

Often, when people ask what we can do to help the NHS, I say that we need to take some more responsibility for our own health. This is a prime example. You categorically KNOW that what you are doing is rapidly declining your health, but for some
reason you don’t change this. You were prescribed medication to help control your diabetes & the reason you don’t take it is “cause it makes you feel sick”? You’ll feel a good bit sicker when you’re having to check your blood sugars multiple times a day & inject yourself with insulin, or when you’re having a leg amputated because that tiny cut on your foot wouldn’t heal. Get a grip & look after yourself, you’re an adult!

Fasting until afternoon is bingeing behaviour. It's not a healthy approach to food. It's like a punishment.

You need to have breakfast. A protein based breakfast would be appropriate.

Did you get help with your drinking at all?

I would actually advise you to go to Overeaters Anonymous to deal with the addictive element of the eating.

Was your mum very proscriptive about food?

Join a slimming group.
stop poisoning your kidneys , eyes , heart , feet .
you know what happened to diabetic people before there was medicines for it ? Premature death.
but
you are well informed , bright and want to turn this around .
you can .

I disagree.

If you're 15 stone and consuming 2 litres of milk a day, a small tweak to get rid of the milk removes a LOT of calories. That in itself would make a huge impact on OP's health.

She does not have to starve herself on a 1000-calorie fad diet to make huge changes to her health. In fact, that would be absolutely detrimental as she will not stick to it, will become demotivated and won't make any lasting change at all.

Fasting is actually really good for you and I already do it till afternoon. What is the point in forcing a breakfast down if I'm not hungry? When I eat breakfast I actually feel worse off for the day.

But you are overweight or obese and can’t stop gorging on food and masses of milk - so how is fasting until afternoon actually working for you?

Your idea of what is good for you is completely messed up.

I also can’t eat breakfast early and so have some porridge at 10 at work which by then I’m hungry.

You don’t need to force yourself to eat if it makes you ill but you may find not eating until the afternoon is your problem of why you have these issues.

I completely agree with @snowlolo

There doesn’t need to be any massive changes or crash diets because you’re less likely to be able to keep them up and then you’ll end up putting on more weight.

Keep things as they are and tackle the milk situation.

Then once the milk situation is sorted then you can think about your diet.

By dropping most of the milk you will lose weight or at least stop gaining it.

Is there any trauma in your past? Any hurtful feelings you feel you cannot deal with? There's a theory that all addiction is a coping mechanism, to distract you from something painful you are refusing to process. The fact you swapped alcohol with food shows that you treated the symptoms, but not the root cause of this disordered behaviours.

Unless and until you get to the bottom of the psychological issue that is causing you to act out this way you won't have peace, every diet will eventually fail. It's not that you don’t know what to do, it's that you can't do it because you're not ready to give up the comfort that food provides you with. You need therapy. Nothing else will work in the long run.

Look up Gabor Mate's work on addiction. Lots of great content on YouTube.

So sorry to hear this. Food addiction is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. It isn’t just about what you eat but why. I’ve found a Solution for myself through foodaddicts.org

its a 12 step group for food addicts who want to stop eating addictrly. I’ve been in it for 5 months and it has changed my life. I’ve stopped eating flour and sugar and all my cravings for them have gone. I eatwell, three times a day and have lost three stone. I’m so much happier. You have a serious food addiction and it’s making life unmanageable. This disease is progressive. Food addicts is entirely free - no cost at all to you. Please consider attending a meeting to learn more. I’ve bene there - I am 5ft 2 and was 15 stone at my highest.

This thread makes for very hard reading. You have to take responsibility here. You should be engaging with GP, health professionals, but I can't figure out why you aren't. Ask for a blood glucose monitor. Ask for some counselling. There is loads you could do yourself.

Get blood glucose monitor, a friend got one that you put in your arm and it links to an app. She found it life changing as she could see instantly the effects certain foods had on her blood glucose spiking also eating at certain time of the day was better than others. She could then see how changing her diet would affect the spikes in glucose and how it improved so it motivated her to keep going. She has lost over 2 stone and her blood glucose is now in the pre diabetes range.

Just want to say, OP, so much of this is down to mindset. You know what to do but somehow can’t do it and it is emotional in nature. Have a look at Rebelfit on Facebook, it might be helpful for you. It was for me.

Fasting and eating within a shorter window has good evidence for reducing insulin spikes.

Along with others on this thread I suspect the OP is craving milk because her high blood sugar is making her thirsty.

Eating within a smaller window, increasing her protein intake and reducing her carbs could help. As will taking medication that works for her.