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.

2 litres of milk at £2.20 per day is £66 per month.

Stop buying the milk and spend that on a therapy session per month to help you unpick your aproach to food and health.

Honestly, spend the money on making things better, not worse

What sort of support helped you with your addiction to alcohol @hadntbeen ?

Thanks so much, this was very helpful and informative. Well done on the changes you have made and continue to make! Yes that would be brilliant if you are sure? I will DM you. Thank you 😊

Your last part is rubbish

it doesn’t matter what stage your at you can go into remission with good results. Have you read Dr Jason Fung books or Roy Taylor

It's not so much the dying prematurely that you need to have a realistic picture of (and you will die prematurely if you continue like this) - it's the years leading up to your premature death that will be the problem.

Blindness
Infections/Sepsis
Ulcers on your feet wearing through to the bones or on your body that will never heal, even with repeat applications of medicinal maggots
Numbness of your feet meaning you can't feel them (or walk)
Limb amputations
Gangrene
Nerve pain that cannot be treated with painkillers
Heart attack
Stroke (includes being locked in and unable to speak, breathe or move, loss of mental function, bladder control, care home until death, etc)
Kidney damage and kidney failure, possibly needing transplantation
Gum disease leading to extreme pain and the loss of all your teeth
Cancer
Absence of sexual function

It's your decision one way or the other. But do you actually want to be one of those people whose become an anecdote online involving your toes coming off in your socks and not noticing for a week?

You could have a nice, easy agonising heart attack. But there's a universe of suffering and mortification you could experience instead which would make a fatal heart attack your lucky day.

Or you could stop running away and hiding in food, complying in taking your medication, keeping the appointments and doing as they advise all of the time and avoid the vast majority of the suffering you're putting into place for the slowest, most painful, most humiliating and traumatic death by your own fork.

Have you looked at diabetes.org.uk @hadntbeen? I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and high blood pressure in November. Her words were 'you can't do anything about your genes (mum and gran were type 2 diabetes) or your age but you can do something about your weight' My GP advised me to lose 5% of my weight to bring down the blood pressure and 10% should help with the pre diabetes.

So I went to diabetes.org.uk on her recommendation and looked up their version of low carb. There's no definition of low carb btw. Some say keto (50gm or under each day) - which I tried and lost weight with some years back but found it very hard long term. Some (like my GP and diabetes UK) say 130gm a day. That's what I started working with.

I now have porridge instead of toast - a measure 30grms (still carbs but slower release than bread so less cravings) with almond milk for breakfast. I still have cows milk in tea/coffee. 200mls cows milk is 9.6gms according to the packet of which sugars are 9.6gms. Almond milk is 0.4grms for 200mls and sugars are negligible if you go unsweetened.

I'll have a salad instead of a sandwich, ham and eggs or an omelette now and then or a nice piece of chicken/fish with veg for lunch (no carbs in meat or fish).

I have cauliflower mash and cauliflower rice instead of the usual as the carbs are much less - so roughly the same amount of rice is about 30grms (that's based on the white rice we have at home) and cauliflower rice is just over 4gms.

I still have roast potatoes but cut down the amount and it's probably once a fortnight at most.

I have oven chips but I count out 10. That's all. 10 chips. But with a nice piece of fresh fish (no batter) and plenty of veg I feel like I have had fish and chips. Because I have - just not a huge plateful of chips!

Same with pasta. I make a pasta dish for the family. They have pasta, I have about a third of their pasta portion (weighed and carb checked) and add veg to my plate. That way I stay within the 130gm carb or less each day without all the faff of different meals (apart from the cauliflower rice - which I buy from Tesco and the cauliflower mash which I make in bulk and freeze).

I make curries and chilli - all carb checked. I have a small spreadsheet that I've set up with all the carbs counted so I just cut and paste 'the usual suspects' in every day to keep a check on my carbs.

If we go out I don't carb count. Life is too short to count every carb on a birthday meal out for example. If I ate out every week that would be different.

Since November I've lost 9lb - I've stalled because of Christmas and a big birthday which entailed a few meals out. But I'm back on the carb wagon now. My blood pressure is now normal. I've got a blood test for diabetes coming up in February as the GP wants it monitored to see if the weight reduction is helping to keep it pre instead of full blown diabetes.

I use a 'desk cycle' - an exercise bike without the handlebars. I sit and watch a favourite programme for an hour each day and pedal! Better than sitting still!

BTW I noticed, at the weekend, when I decided to have toast, just how tired and hungry I felt within an hour of eating bread. Potatoes don't do that to me, nor does cereal so to me that's proof that I need to avoid bread where possible. My sister's kids are coeliac so maybe it's a gluten thing with me - but I do overeat if I have bread.

Make sure you speak to your GP about the Metformin and also speak to them about any diet changes you plan. Your GP can help you and support you on your diet. S/he want to keep you healthy but can only do that if you're honest with him or her.

Good luck - do make sure you get to the GP. Oh and stories...my mum developed vascular dementia which is known to be linked to diabetes and my gran lost her sight directly because of diabetes. I plan to keep it at bay as long as I can, if I can.

Please take better care of yourself OP. You don't want your diabetes to progress.

Diabetes runs in my dad's side of the family and my uncle who had it eventually had to amputate his toes, then his foot, then his leg from below the knee when they got infected and did not respond well to treatment. He had to spend his later years in a wheelchair and his overall health also suffered. My cousin who's only in his 40s has also lost 2 of his toes and has difficulty with his balance.

it doesn’t matter what stage your at you can go into remission with good results

This is so ignorant. I bet you wouldn't say that to my terminally ill friend on the kidney transplant list. There's literally nothing more she can do, has been following the best evidenced advice for 20 years, and it's absolutely down to fate whether she'll die before she reaches the top of the list.

You can do this! By writing down the truth you are admitting it to yourself. One step at a time. Please go and talk to the nurse, they will do they can to help you. You are not alone. All is not lost; you can live a long live, but you do need to make changes. I wish you the very best of luck on your journey. If you would like a diet buddy to check in with every day, if that would help, please DM me. I am more than happy to try and help you on a daily basis. I have been in a similar situation.

You will definitely die, we all do.

But worse for you, you will very likely be living an uncomfortable life with lots of health problems and disabilities long before you actually die.

In general people who live a long healthy life are not significantly over-weight. Lots of diseases like cancer and heart disease are more likely to occur if you are significantly overweight and therefore you will be more likely to die younger if you stay at this weight or more.

Have you had any help from your doctors about how to lose weight? Do you think support from a group like WW would help? Or therapy and a PT?

If I were you I would think to myself:

You need to own your choices. You could repeat to yourself positive affirmations such as that you “choose to make a good choice in this moment” to help start changing your habits. Start small and build up.

Get to therapy. It really sounds like you need it (and that’s ok! I do too!)

Get to the gym every day and start walking on a treadmill and using the weights/start a weightlifting routine. Don’t do a massive workout everyday, some days just walk and some days do a full routine. Just get in the habit of making exercise part of your daily routine. Do it to focus on empowering your body to accomplish day to day tasks rather than weighing yourself. If you need more motivation invest in a personal trainer.

Choose to invest in yourself!

What you say here suggests to me that the milk isn’t the place to start. Focus on something where there is less emotional connection. Even if it’s one less biscuit in a portion or throwing away ten percent of your dinner before you sit down to eat it. Save the milk drinking for when you are stronger.

I'm not an expert in diabetes, but I know a lot about living as a fat person, and that can be inconvenient enough at times without bringing in a potentially life ending medical condition. I totally get the out of control eating, and I believe that I keep letting myself put weight back on as a form of unconscious self-harm, do you think you may have a similar issue?
You do need to tackle this while you are still young. Find a few carb balanced meals that you like and don't mind eating often. Diabetes UK have loads of balanced recipes on their website if you need a bit of inspiration (there's also a link on there at the moment to diabetes-friendly Mindful Chef recipe boxes. I suspect they aren't cheap but it may be a good way to learn about proportions and portion sizes while you adjust to making your own meals). You will also find support forums:
www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/recipes

Be honest with you GP, I know it's not easy but they need to know in order to give you the correct advice and treatment.

It is hard OP, but without sounding harsh the first step is taking responsibility and acknowledging that it's bloody hard. There is support out there and you owe it to yourself to try and secure a healthier future for yourself, no one else.

How about joining Diabetes UK? Knowledge is power. Or a local support group? My friend belongs to one run at her GP practice. She learnt all she could and changed her diet drastically when she was diagnosed with Type 2 and has stayed healthy for the last 12 years or so since diagnosis.

This is all good advice, as is PP's advice to go back to the GP. I'd make an appointment right now for as soon as you can get it. Be honest and tell her about the nausea and that you haven't been taking the metformin. She will be able to prescribe something more suitable.

What support did you use to stop drinking? If it's AA are you still going to meetings? If you don't deal with whatever got you drinking, you'll simply switch one addiction for another- very common amongst addicts. If you're doing AA I'd suggest you get back into going to meetings and I would suggest OA as well. You can do both online if that's easier.

You say that you know how to eat healthy because you were 9 stone when you were 25. But you are confusing slim with being healthy , and they are sometimes not the same thing.

You were probably eating an unhealthy diet at 25 which was affecting your pancreas and it’s now not coping . If you were drinking a lot of alcohol you would have been consuming loads of carbs.

So I’m afraid it’s unlikely that you can go back to eating like you did at and expect everything to be ok.

” Going on a diet “ is not going to fix things. you need a whole new way of eating which you need to stick to for the rest of your life. Sorry I know you don’t want to hear that but you said you wanted honesty.

Now therapy and counselling are great. But they take time and you don’t have time. every single day your levels are so high you are damaging your body. you need to phone up your Gp practice TODAY , get an appointment this week, tell her the truth and do EXACTLY as she tell you.

Yes it’s embarrassing but not half as bad as getting some of the problems other posters have told you about.

There is no easy way to change your entire lifestyle, but you don’t have a choice.

Either you do it now because you choose to.

or diabetes will do it for you.

I suspect that you are WAY past the stage of tinkering around the edges of your problem. Trying to cut down a little or going for a 30 min walk isn’t going to cut the ice here. You are rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

Between today and your Gp appointment do your own research on some of the excellent suggestions made by other poster about new ways of eating, such as Fast 800 and LCHF. See which one you think will work for your for the rest of your life and talk to you GP about it.

Accept that it will be tough to change. Yes you may feel weird / dizzy / sick / tired / nauseous for days or even weeks into it. You are withdrawing from a drug which is carbs, of course you are going to have side effects.

You will have to manage your meds around your diet and your blood sugar levels, which is why it’s CRUCIAL that you have a good and honest relationship with your health care provider - your Gp or diabetic nurse.

Find an online support Group - there’s plenty here on Mn and elsewhere on the www. Even better if you find one in person too, some Gp practices have one. But don’t let the lack of a RL one give you an excuse to not start this now.

Please go and phone your Gp and come back and let us know how you got on. Sorry to be so bossy but this is important.

amd don’t even THINK about saying your can’t do this, it’s too tough. You have already quit alcohol, that’s a huge achievement.

You say you are successful in the rest of your life, I guess you mean your job . So yes you do have the skills to do this.

Also remember food is wasted as soon as you’re full. Whether you eat it or chuck it in the bin, it’s surplus to requirements and therefore wasted. So don’t carry on eating, throw it away.

If you’re concerned about wasting food in the long term then make yourself smaller portions and use items of vegetables or fruits as snacks as these offer easy portion control (eg one carrot = one portion).

Your HbA1c is misleading. It’s an old way of giving a number to your blood results.
A crude way to see the modern result is to times your HbA1c by 11.
Anything above about 40 is of concern and yours is much higher.
Basically your body isn’t working as it should. The metformin is the first step in helping your body to maintain glucose levels. Diabetes is a progressive disease and even with treatment you will eventually require more intervention. If you don’t care enough about yourself then yes, you will shorten your life, could go blind or lose toes/feet/legs before dying. Neuropathy preceding amputations can be very painful.
I’m the same height as you and weigh 5 stone less.
If you take your meds you should lose weight and might even be prescribed meds for both diabetes and weight loss.
Join Diabetes UK for research based info and community forum for support. They also have a telephone helpline for advice.
I would urge you to take your health seriously.

We are all going to die, but you might die a lot earlier than necessary, and before that happens your quality of life is going to be severely affected.

my DH was 3 stone overweight and had a reading of 57 over 48 is diabetic and 42-47 is prediabetic, he went on a drastic weight loss diet cutting most sugars no snacks 3 meals a day as every snack spikes your insulin he lost 3 stone is about 4 months his BMI is now 24.7 and his level has gone from 57 to 37 ie totally normal, it can be done but it is a permanent life style change not a diet
he eats slightly more carbs now and sticks to 3 meals a day instead of constant snacking and eats more veg both lunch and dinner are 50% veg

it sounds like you may have an addictive personality and find moderation difficult hence going from excess alcohol to excess milk you need some help to overcome this so you don't swap milk for another thing that maybe good in moderation but is actually bad in excess

Semi-skimmed milk is not your problem as long as those calories are taken into account. I am 50, half your weight (due to a medical condition) and drink the same amount of milk per day because it's the only thing I can drink. I also desperately need those extra calories.
You seem to think milk is to blame but you know what you should be doing to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If you can't do this ask for help from a professional.

You did ask.

A friend's brother has just had his leg amputated at the knee because he developed gangrene in his toes from uncrontrolled diabetes.

Another friend has peripheral neuropathy in her feet and is now on insulin for her type 2 diabetes. She has to take blood tests every time she drives and has to stop every two hours on long drives to check her blood sugars. She is on more medication than my DH who has had a stroke and cancer.

Other long term effects of uncontrolled diabetes:

Eye problems (retinopathy) ...
Heart attack and stroke. ...
Kidney problems (nephropathy) ...
Gum disease and other mouth problems. ...
Related conditions, like cancer.

A doctor (diabetes specialist) friend once told me that changing your diet can make 70% of people with type 2 diabetes symptom free. They will never be cured, but they won't have the symptoms.

What you really need is psychological help to change your diet, not scare tactics.

You can do this!

I was told in October that I’m pre-diabetic, I’m also obese.

I made the decision to help my self so straight away started low carbing. One of the reasons is I wanted to feel better and I knew if I carried on I would get sicker. I also began to feel embarrassed to ask for help if I wasn’t doing what I could to help myself.
I’ve lost 40lbs, have another 60lbs or so to go but I was ready to start helping myself.