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.

First poster nails it.

I am sure someone said this, but some people find Overeaters anonymous really helpful. They are friendly, and you don’t have to get into the god stuff, they also run endless online meetings so it’s 24/7 free support.

Chasing Cupcakes, Sharoo Izardi’s
the last Diet and Ranjan Chaterjee’s Lose Weight Feel Great are all good on the psychology of food (none of them are actually diet books)

It will take time to change your mindset so do one small thing at a time.

Sorry, Ive hijacked my niece's account. Im further along on the road you are travelling. I am very good at talking the talk but terrible at walking the walk. It is too late for me. I weigh 19 stone post double amputation.
Don't deny yourself anything or you will crave it. Moderation is key. Take it one day at a time and diabetes UK is a great resource. I've seen people follow my advice and have amazing results. I wish I followed my own advice.

hadntbeen
I'm sorry you are battling at such a young age. I think you'll make a decision on how to deal with your diet and then do really well. I get this feeling about you from your posts!
So far, and by pure good luck because I don't deserve to, I have avoided having diabetes, or any very bad weight gain although I could do with losing a stone or two. I too adore milk and was stupidly telling myself it is good for me. I have managed now to get my milk drinking down to a pint a day at bed time, plus milk in tea and coffee.
I was very pleased with the way you stood up for yourself when Bestcatmum · Monday 15:10 said,
"Those aren't your HBA1C results, if they were 8 you would be unconscious, they are your CBG results (finger prick blood test) and they aren't great."
and you said;
"Nope, they are my HBA1C results and are 9.6. I get every three months and it gives me the average that my blood sugar level has been the past 3 months. I know the difference between getting a finger prick test and my HBA1C. I HATE when people come on here and spout in-factual information with such conviction. It's really patronising." [I added the bold, - I'm going to learn from you!]
Because I've been undeservedly lucky and haven't had diabetes so far, I didn't know the terminology or correct blood sugar levels etc, so before seeing Bestcatmum's bossy reply I had looked them up and knew she wasn't saying what I had learned.

Just in case it helps anyone else [not you, hadntbeen], I'll put what I read on here:

What is HbA1c?
The term HbA1c refers to glycated haemoglobin. It develops when haemoglobin, a protein within red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout your body, joins with glucose in the blood, becoming ‘glycated’.

By measuring glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), clinicians are able to get an overall picture of what our average blood sugar levels have been over a period of weeks/months.

For people with diabetes this is important as the higher the HbA1c, the greater the risk of developing diabetes-related complications.

HbA1c is also referred to as haemoglobin A1c or simply A1c

Definition of HbA1c
HbA1c refers to glycated haemoglobin (A1c) , which identifies average plasma glucose concentration
How does haemoglobin A1c return an accurate average measurement of average blood glucose?
When the body processes sugar, glucose in the bloodstream naturally attaches to haemoglobin.

The amount of glucose that combines with this protein is directly proportional to the total amount of sugar that is in your system at that time.

Because red blood cells in the human body survive for 8-12 weeks before renewal, measuring glycated haemoglobin (or HbA1c) can be used to reflect average blood glucose levels over that duration, providing a useful longer-term gauge of blood glucose control.

If your blood sugar levels have been high in recent weeks, your HbA1c will also be greater.

HbA1c targets
The HbA1c target for people with diabetes to aim for is:

48 mmol/mol (6.5%)
Note that this is a general target and people with diabetes should be given an individual target to aim towards by their health team.

An individual HbA1c should take into account your ability to achieve the target based on your day to day life and whether you are at risk of having regular or severe hypos.
....................

Good luck hadntbeen, I have confidence in you!

This life I think you can take or leave. Some people find this life easier than others, are more privileged than others, and there is more to cling onto than others. My eating is much like yours, only I feel very indifferent about living. I do feel better when I exercise, but I take great comfort in food. As much as I want to say to you I don't think anyone will tell you what to do, its up to you to be bothered (or not) by the choices you make. Some will call them unwise but if there is little anchoring you to this life, why be stressed over choices in the short term? For me this life is pretty miserable and clocking it early would be a blessing with a few more pizzas under my belt

Type 2 diabetes is no joke. My husband had to make some drastic changes. People lose limbs, lose their eyesight the lost goes on. Pls pls try and get help and help yourself

My husband has had type 2 diabetes for about ten years. He suffers from a mental health problem and before we met his sugar was out of control and he wasn’t looking at his diet or taking his meds properly. We’ve been together 5 years and when we met and got involved I familiarised myself with type 2 diabetes because I recognised a problem and wanted to help him. His sugar levels were 24 when I got to it. He was getting up in the night to pee around 4-5 times, sleeping a lot and experiencing nausea. His blood tests were constantly a cause for concern and the diabetic clinic were worried about the load on his kidneys. He ended up losing a leg - blood glucose levels had been too high for too long and he ended up with gangrene in his toe. That was amputated, but the gangrene had spread and he had to have two further amputations - below and above knee - to stop the spread.

Within a couple of months we had his diet under control, we’d cut out sugar, eliminated alcohol and limited his carbs. We made sure he took his metformin regularly and his subsequent HbA1c test showed his average levels had come down significantly. He’s now well under control.

My husband is 64 - 59 at the time and is now fine. If you’ve been diagnosed with type 2 before you were thirty it suggests you’ve been out of control with your diet and weight, and if this carries on now you’ve been diagnosed as type 2, you’re going to be in trouble, so you need to get help with your mental attitude because it sounds as though you haven’t accepted things as they are.

You need to start taking your meds, and if they’re not suitable, Metformin isn’t the only drug that will treat type 2. Ask about Linlagliptin or Gliclizide as an alternative. You need to cut out sugar, limit your carbs and lose weight so that you’re within your BMI range. It’s hard, but you need to do something now because if you don’t, you’re risking organ damage, heart disease, vascular problems, amputation, blindness. Sorry to be so blunt but the answer to your post is yes, if you don’t change you will die.

Do you have type 2 diabetes, because if not, you have no business giving this kind of advice.

There is a brilliant podcast about breaking bad habits and making better ones. It’s an episode of Diary of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett and it came out just after Christmas. I strongly recommend it for helping to understand why we get stuck in negative cycles and strategies for helping to break them.

But the likelihood is you won’t just suddenly drop dead of a heart attack one day. It will be a slow, painful deterioration over years that will make you a lot more miserable than you feel now!

Both you & the OP sound like you need to talk to your GP or a mental health charity.

Hello IWishIHadNotDoneIt,
I just saw your message and had to say what a kind Aunty/lady you are! I'm so sorry you've had such a rough time with this. Bless you for encouraging the young girls and helping them.
I love too the advice of Luredbyapomegranate ·and LaLuz7. It's a mental fight where food is concerned. Having a support group is a great help. Also not having time on your hands or when cravings occupy your mind. I gave up smoking by every time I got a craving for a cigarette I laughed to myself and said in my head, "Oh I forgot, I don't smoke." That was simply ages ago over 40 yrs now!! [Some of us mums are old...].

Good luck all of you trying to improve your eating habits. I really must try and eat sensibly too. I'm alone, widowed, and disabled now and don't have the heart to make meals.... God bless you all in your resolve to get better from this nagging poor-diet problem.

@louiselouiselouise is there something wrong with you? Do you know what happens if you ignore diabetes?

louiselouiselouise
Nowdontmakeamess is right. Her advice may sound a bit harsh but she is being kind in telling you it doesn't work out how you imagine.
I'm so sorry you are depressed. I suffer from it too. Please get some help. I don't know your age, but if you can get out and about and if you are a bit over weight maybe joining Slimming World might be good for the company as well as any other benefit. Also if your Doctor suggests tablets, I can say that they have helped me a lot and pulled me out of a hole I simply could not climb out of on my own.

You're not alone. Loads of people feel miserable, especially now the world has so many problems. But there are wonderful caring people around. Look how kind and wise people are here on MN. Just ignore the odd ratty ones! There are many, many more kind people.

Type 2 is possible to reverse but you will have to change your lifestyle dramatically. I am not going to lecture you as I’m going down the same path (5ft 8 and 16stone). But diabetes needs to be the kick you need to change. Just start making small changes to your diet gradually. I’m surprised your doctor hasn’t recommended an eating plan for you.

I thought this, but the general way of thinking now is that there is no recommended eating plan for type 2. My husbands’ diabetic nurse said it’s fairly simple - moderation in everything. Avoid added sugar in everything, fresh fruit is better than juices and for a man eating around 2000 calories a day, the maximum daily amount of carbs should be 145g. And her advice was to limit alcohol to a couple of glasses of wine or the equivalent, no more than a couple of times a week.

Oh, and exercise helps to stop your body storing unused carbs as sugar.

My husband has type 2 diabetes diagnosed about 20 years ago he now has ulcerated feet, with the risk of amputation. The effects may not be immediate but they are serious.

I had my wake up call in the summer of last year. I’m T2 diabetic, had an eye test and they said that my deterioration in my eyesight had been quite quick over 2 years. Went to my diabetic check up, hadn’t been over lockdown. My blood pressure was high and my blood sugar levels were high too.

I had reached the point where I was in the right mindset to make changes and accept help.

The Nurse got me registered on both an online diet and health management (although this started in October when I registered in July) and gave me a 12 week voucher for Slimming World. They moved my medication from sitagliptin back to metformin plus I have a semaglutide injection every week. This injection can cause reflux if you overeat or an upset stomach (well, it did for me once, so I am now very careful)

I’ve lost 3.5 stone since July. I think I am on my final stone to lose. I’m going to stay with Slimming World. My Hbac1 went from 54 mmol to 46 mmol in 4 months.

I went to an exercise class last week for the first time in many years and I could join in with lots of the exercises and I didn’t even feel like it was too onerous. I accompany my husband to parkrun. I only do 2 of the 3 laps but I am getting faster and there is far less strain on my legs now. If you can get into the right frame of mind, you will go far. Please don’t let yourself get into a downward spiral of ill health. I really wish you the best of luck.

None of us has a (infallible) crystal ball @hadntbeen , but of course obesity increases your risk of a wide range of health conditions.

Has your doctor suggested Orlistat or anything?

I'm sure you know deep down that the answer is yes, but you need to look at this disease holistically, yes your diet is poor, yes you don't take the meds but you need to address these issues its not as simple as taking the metformin and all is fixed, your meds will just escalate until you've exhausted all of your options and diabetes has so many risks to your body. You are young and have a whole life ahead of you, you can do so much to help yourself but you need the tools to do so.

The Metformin will be instrumental in controlling the blood sugar, so she needs to take it. Yes, type 2 needs to be treated holistically but not taking the meds is a recipe for disaster.

Look, as the parent of a type 1 diabetic I can assure you that the carbs in milk do indeed cause a blood sugar response (because we have to give my daughter insulin proportionate to the volume of milk she drinks). This is because lactose (not lactase - lactase is an enzyme) is a disaccharide sugar.

So arguing that the carbohydrates in milk are not in any way harmful to a diabetic is very simply incorrect.

OP at your age, weight and with Type 2 there are drugs the GP can prescribe to help you lose weight, but I take it you realise you qualify for bariatric surgery on the NHS? You'll get free counselling with that too but the waiting list is long in most areas. My H was type 2 he had the surgery after being on high dose insulin for a few years, and he was in remission within days. Its basically saved his life which is of course what its meant to for in the first place. You will still need to learn to control your eating, psychological hunger they call it, but this might be what you need to do. BTW before you have the surgery you go on a milk diet, and you are allowed to repeat that every so often, that might suit you!

Watch this:

keto diet all the way - you can reverse your diabetes : www.dietdoctor.com/watch-the-magic-pill-on-netflix

me & husband lost 4 stone between us….never feel hungry. But you have to really stick to it.

best of luck x

Most folks have to have a bmi of 40 before this surgery and done all the diets too plus all the meds before they entertain you. It’s still very much a post code lottery with these surgeries, but most state 40 bmi and one other condition before being added to the list.

Most universities offer free or subsidised counselling so I’d look into that. CBT might also work well.