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.

Shocking? Get over yourself. You’re not even correct yourself. Are you trained in diabetic care?

That much milk increases risk kidney stones. Maybe the pain of forcing one of those through your urethra will kick you up the arse to make changes.

Lactose is the type of sugar in milk.
Lactase is the enzyme your body produces to digest it.

Increasing fibre in your diet will help reduce your cravings. Try a swap, when you crave the milk, eat an apple (including the peel), and give yourself 30 minutes before you cave to the craving (but try not to).
The kind of gut bacteria that thrive in the tummy a high carb high sugar diet person cause cravings. You are literally manipulated by your gut bacteria.
If you can increase your fibre (ideally by swapping for sugar and carbs) this will help change the gut biome and reduce your cravings.

You need therapy, you have an addictive personality. You are stuck between addictions and need to find a new way of dealing with day to day stresses and emotions than leaning on these for comfort.

There's a book called 'Dompaine nation' you might find useful.

You're not going to die, but you do need to act now. You need to take your addictive behaviour seriously in order to change your outlook. You need this motivation to change.

Nope. You are wrong and your ideas are dangerous.

In the nicest possible way, you need to get a serious grip!

If being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in your 20s isn't enough of a kick up the arse to change it might be a good idea to get some counselling. There are some who specialise in eating habits. Honestly, that diagnosis at 28 is quite unheard of and really quite shocking.

My cousins little boy has type 1 and was diagnosed at 2. She fights every day to keep him alive, he's been injecting himself daily since he was a toddler. If he can do that you can swallow a few tablets. Type 1 is different in the sense that it's not caused by lifestyle choices. The type 2 diagnosis you've been given is entirely your own fault yet you still seem reluctant to do much about it.

A friend of mine was diagnosed with Type 2 at 38. At the time I remember thinking how young it was to have that diagnosis. She completely changed her lifestyle, went vegan and lost a fair amount of weight. She managed to reverse her diagnosis is no longer diabetic.

If you don't make changes then yes, you are absolutely on track for prematurely dying. You're also at risk of going blind and having limbs amputated. Aside from diabetes, being overweight will be putting you at risk of heart attack amd strokes.

You know fine well you need to change and no one is going to do it for you.

I reversed my gestational diabetes with diet alone. I literally cut down my carbs massively and lost a good amount of weight with it too. I'd never been healthier and I genuinely believe this is how to control type 2 diabetes, not with medication unless absolutely necessary.

The consultant was amazed as he said he'd never seen people who had controlled it with diet alone, most pregnant women were on medication. I honestly believe it is a question of diet alone, as diet was the cause in the first place.

As per PP, milk in itself isn't harmful, it's the excessive quantities that are. Too much of anything is bad for you, even water.

You'll probably be more likely to die of diabetes complications like blindness and or Sepsis from gangrenous leg wounds, amputations.

If this is cold then it's because I watched a grand-parent kill themselves with diabetes and everything they went through was 100% preventable. My mum has familial T2DM. She has been such a sticker for the rules and is fully compliant. She is still going blind at age 59.

Please get help. This disease is progressive and is only "reversible" in the very early stages.

You really need to go back to the GP and be completely honest with them. Tell them exactly what you have written here. You could even print out the post you wrote and let them read it if you find it hard to say.
They cannot help if you are not honest.
I would also tell them you have an addictive personality as you've already had an alcohol addiction and you kicked that! Well done! You maybe need some counselling to get to the bottom of this.

I normally try to be kind on these threads but since you asked. Yes, you are killing yourself with this. My father died of a massive heart attack in his sleep at 74. There was no prior warning. However, it was a disaster waiting to happen to be honest. He had Type 2 diabetes and started off quite well trying to stick to a proper eating regime but soon ended up back on the chocolates, carbs and junk food. His mother was the same. She died at a similar age of heart problems. She hadn't been diagnosed as diabetic but back then I think there wasn't the awareness of it and I wouldn't be surprised if she had it too.

So there's the danger of sudden heart attacks (his GP later told me that sometimes diabetics aren't even aware of the warning pains of a heart attack because of neuropathy - losing feeling in the nerves, and basically becoming numb to sensations).
Which leads me on to neuropathy in your feet. The dangers of small cuts on feet being missed and infections setting in. Poor circulation to the extremities - amputations are often needed. Retinal neuropathy - damage to the blood vessels in the eyes with increasing blindness.
Do you need more? It's a horrible illness which some people don't take seriously enough, even after a diagnosis. Yes, you might die - but you might also have to live with horrible symptoms - my Dad had the most horrendous ulcers on his legs which were in fact very painful and he had to have constant treatment for them. You might lost limbs and go blind.

Please go back to your GP and do something about it immediately.
In fact I would suggest you phone today and try to get an appointment. And then say, today I am not going to eat any junk. And I'm going to have just two glasses of milk for the rest of the day plus some kind of sensible meal.

Please start today OP. You are too young for this to be allowed to ruin the rest of your life.

OP, some of the feedback you are getting on here is inkeeping with the tone of your post and it's all very dramatic.

The facts are that you are 30 and your BMI is too high. Well, about half of adults in the UK are in a similar position. Sorry you have had the diabetes diagnosis as well, that's a blow, however as others have said, you might reverse it if you make a change.

I think you are blowing this out of proportion in your mind somewhat and dramatising it a bit, and it's overwhelming you.

All you need to do is make small changes. Start taking your meds, move a bit more even if just a short walk once a day. Eat a bit less, even if just cutting out the milk as you say. If you can drink 1 litre a day rather than 2, that's going to save a lot of calories.

Just try not to worry so much and take the small, practical steps you know you need to take. You are overwhelming yourself with all this talk of premature death. You can easily get on top of this, just scale it down a bit and do what you can. You have to enjoy your life in the meantime or you will drive yourself mad with worry.

I don't know why you're surprised the results are worse - you know you have a condition, you're doing nothing to manage it, so it's going to get worse not better by itself.

Go to the GP, be honest, take a bit of a telling off and take your pills when you're meant to.
With all due respect, at 30 you shouldn't need to be told this - you have a serious medical condition and need to get a grip on your diet and your medicine to help it.

The minimising tone of this comment is dangerous. And factually wrong. OP will not drop dead tomorrow, but she in on the way to creating a very painful very debilitating life-limiting future for herself. It does her no favours to coddle her and tell her not to worry.

Being overweight might not be an issue but uncontrolled diabetes absolutely is.

Are you in 12 step recovery for alcoholism? Can you apply the same to your dietary consumption OP?

Not dramatic.

OP you can choose to take control.
You can reduce your risks of complications
You can improve your diet and feel better
You can exercise and feel healthier
You can get help for your addictions and self esteem.
You can get help to manage your diabetes better - it is possible for some people to send it into remission. That's the dramatic conclusion you need.

I just think that catastrophising about premature death is not doing OP any favours.

In order to make lifestyle change feel manageable, you have to break it down into small actions that you can actually do, rather than thinking about the mammoth task in front of you as 'omg I'm going to die if I don't climb this huge mountain'. That's not a helpful way of thinking about weight loss. Overwhelm leads to inaction and depression.

OP, just think about doing a couple of small things. It doesn't have to be life or death, don't think that way - just make small changes and see how you go.

A kick up the Arse you can have but only you can change the mind set here

I’m type 2 diabetic and went and researched it but I got burn out from it and went of the rails for 2 years now back to it

I went lowish carb for it as in under 130g carbs a day

I’ve also been on
metaformin both kinds never ever again
dapagliflozin I had to keep the carbs low or I’d end up with UTI and or thrush
Gliclazide (sp) hypos a lot and horrendous weight gains
insulin when pregnant 31 years ago before they really knew a lot about T2s really. I had a baby at nearly 10lbs too

why did I get a handle on it my eyes that’s what I didn’t want to go blind thanks

take it a day at a time. If reaching for the milk curtail what you actually have in the house and have one glass then a glass of water maybe with juice through it for taste if you can’t stomach plain water.

Plan your menu for the day and put it on the fridge
get a diabetic machine to do you own blood Amazon sell then very cheaply
do before meals and 2 hours after.
I found this very very helpful

check carb levels not just the sugar levels try for no more than 15g of carbs per item.
I found if went higher I’d trigger high sugars.

full fat milk is better than semi skimmed in moderation by the way I hate that term because that moderation killed my mother whilst they continued to up her insulin as she never took it seriously.

she thought instead of 4 bottles of fizzy was better than 5 or the 3 packets of biscuits was being good cos she didn’t have the 4th.

whilst her sugars spiked all the time and she’d add more and more insulin to counter it which made it all the more worse

a stroke killed her through a diabetic coma no chance of survival sadly.

find a forum of diabetics and ask on there for help they’ll be there in spades.

Exactly this.

Watch out for hidden carbs, it's really not just refined sugars and products that do the harm. It's people thinking this that hinders the reversal of diabetes.

We recently had a family member diagnosed in his teens with type 1 (quite different from type 2) so had to look at carb value of every single thing.

Me and my husband are type 2. It's eye opening where the carbs are. Even a sachet of tomato sauce can tip the balance. Latte was a surprise as it's so high with (lactose) milk sugar.

Eat from the GI scale. Eat freely from green column, a little from amber and not from the red. It's available free on line.

You can go into remission with careful eating and/or tablets. We have both reversed ours.

The good news is that your diabetes is completely reversible. The "bad" news is that the way to do it is by losing weight. Your drinking milk is probably partly feeling thirsty because of your poorly managed condition, and also the lactose content (lactose is a sugar).
You really need some support here as you try to manage your health. There are online groups and resources for low-carb dieting for diabetes - look up Michael Moseley for example.
I know you probably feel helpless and depressed, but you've already taken the first huge step in posting here - that's something to thank yourself for. Do something small every day for your health. Walk a little further, do five minutes of stretching, have a nice long bath, get plenty of sleep and then build on it. You can't do this alone though - reach out to groups, forums, your doctor... you can do this.
I personally know three people who completely reversed type 2 simply by losing weight. Two of them aren't thin, but a lot thinner than they were. All of them are off medication and feel a hundred times better.
Wishing you all the best.

I don't want to scare you, but yes, complications from not taking control of your condition will not end well. My friends cousin died before Christmas aged 33 from not taking her diabetes seriously. She spent the majority of last year in hospital and finally her body just gave in. My grandfather was another one who was blasé about it...he took his meds, but continued eating crap. He had his feet amputated because they were no longer getting any bloody supply and died about a year later.

I'm on metformin for PCOS/Insulin resistance. I know the craic about dodgy tummies and feeling a bit sick. But, I would rather that than the whole host of issues i'd experience if I didn't take it. You need to take ownership of your health, love.

the type 2 diagnosis you've been given is entirely your own fault yet you still seem reluctant to do much about it
That is not necessarily true, Im type 2 and was told by the doctors in hospital in my case it was genetic.
My diet really wasnt that bad but went straight onto insulin. I went straight onto 500mg prolonged release metformin.
I changed my diet by keeping to under 25g sugar a day and keeping to wholemeal wherever possible. I make my own yoghurt and also have unsweetened almond milk in my porridge or on my cereal. My next Ha1BC was 39 and got told off for being too good!
I had a really horrible reaction to the normal metformin when i was in the hospital and refused to take it , so they put me on the prolonged release instead and i have very few , so ask if you can have prolonged release instead.

Also meant to say my insulin dosage has almoset halved as well. I was on 32 units a day , now on 18.

Yes, you risk doing irreversible harm. Not just through diabetes which if unmanaged is devastating to the body.

You’re also more likely to have heart disease and you’re increasing your cancer risk as well as the inevitable damage you’re doing to your back and joints.

I just think that catastrophising about premature death is not doing OP any favours

It's not catastrophising if it's the truth. OP specifically asked for the truth of how bad diabetes can be.

Would you placate an alcoholic with similar advice? "Oh just cut down a bit, small steps, you'll be alright".

This is an addiction scenario and OP obviously knows herself better than anyone else. Listen.

You need to go back to GP and be honest - you are not getting on with the type of insulin prescribed so need to try something else.

Weight loss - can help reverse some of type 2 diabetes - but if you can't manage that look for some support - some weight loss group. Walking and exercise can also help here.

I'd also look at diabetic charites - I think my parents have found there information very helpful - cookbooks research information.

My parent manged to control the blood sugars well though not the weight - it took about 25 year to seriously catch up with them but that probably good control and lucky with genetics and TBH the last few years haven't been great for either of my parents.

So go back and talk with your GP and seek more RL support with the weight and management.