Diabetes type 2. I can't do it without meds

[ohsuzannah]

Just after Christmas I became extremely ill, constant headache, high blood pressure and vomiting. My GP ordered a blood test and it came back positive for type 2 diabetes. I bought a blood glucose meter and my first sample was 16.5
I was thoroughly shocked, so embarked on a lifestyle change. No sugar ( or diet drinks) , low carbs, and lots of protein and salad. I have lost about 1/2 stone so far , despite not being able to exercise due to chronic arthritis.
Yesterday I had a call from the diabetes nurse to say she wants to see me urgently. The blood test I had done last week has come back ever higher, I'm really shocked
So I'm guessing she's going to put me on Metformin now, which I was trying to avoid .
Sorry for the long post!

Not sure @ohsuzannah but you could get this moved to diabetes board for info?

Are they sure it is type 2 and not type 1? It is worth asking your diabetes nurse. Maybe keep a food diary so you can see what you are actually eating in terms of carbs and sugar. I use myfitnesspal to track.

I use Nutracheck app. You can trial it for free. Its a UK app so you can scan some food. It breaks down all you eat into each food group. And you can see if there are areas that you're going over the recommended amount. It used by NHS choice.

Sneaky thing are low fat yoghurts, they have 12/13g of sugar roughly. Baked beans are also high in sugar. But you can buy ones that are reduced salt and sugar that taste just as good. If you eat a lot of fruit that can also push your numbers up bananas are one of the worst.

Good luck with your appointment.

Book review here but might not be appropriate.
www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/15/how-to-cure-type-2-diabetes-without-medication

I got my blood glucose down to normal levels on my A1C tests for the last couple of years. I'm still on metformin and intend to remain on it. It's a fairly benign drug which is being studied for its effects on ageing and cancer.

The first few weeks on metformin can be savage especially if you are not started on the slow release format.

Sorry you’re having a difficult time.

Have you tried intermittently fasting? ‘The Diabetes Code’ is a great book with lots of sound advice. You may need to lose more weight than half a stone to see a difference - carb and sugar free with an eating window of 4 hours a day might help. However, once you’re on meds, you’ll need to do anything like that only after discussion with your doctor.

Thank you all for your replies, I'm sorry I haven't been back, we had a crisis at home!
I had cut out all my sugar, but was eating fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. I've just checked the sugar content and it's 12g per 100g, is that bad?
I also didn't know about bananas. I love them!
I will try nutracheck.
@LovelaceBiggWither thanks for the warning about metformin!

OP If you also have insulin resistancy then fruit and dairy is the worst for breakfast. Before anyone jumps on me and telling me it's a load of old crap I'm trying to follow a very specific IR diet which is bloody hard. As a first step I now completely avoid bananas, grapes, watermelon and honey.

I was diagnosed T2 in December. I’m on 4 metformin tablets per day. At diagnosis my Hb1c was 76 and after three months it was 53. I’m hoping to get it even lower next time.

I’ve swapped my fat free greek yogurt for 10% fat greek yogurt (it’s lower carb)
Unsweetened almond milk in my coffee (skimmed milk was sending my bg too high)
I only eat sourdough bread that I make. Again this doesn’t spike my bg.
Gin and slim tonic instead of wine
Tend to only have bread, potatoes, rice or pasta for one meal. If i’m having bolognaise in the evening i’ll have some eggs or hummus and veg for lunch.

I’ve kept the swaps simple and so far it is working. It’s not easy but I would say give Metformin a go. Stomach cramps and upset stomach stop after a few weeks.

12 carbs is not extremely bad but it depends on how many carbs you are eating each day. What kind of fruit are you eating? I can tolerate strawberries and blueberries and a small amount of citrus but I don't combine with that with yoghurt. It's definitely not crap that fruit has carbs and that it's not wonderful for diabetes. I miss grapes savagely.

Cream is lower carbs than milk so I use that in coffee,

Are you using a blood glucose meter? That is the single most useful thing you can do. Test before eating and 2 hours after eating and track what is spiking you. I cannot eat rice without a major spike but half a 'low carb' potato is OK. It doesn't matter if I only eat rice or pasta for one meal a day, the spike is higher than I want to see.

Fruit and yoghurt really isn’t a great breakfast choice if you’re needing to limit sugar, and especially not bananas!

If you’ve been low carbing and your fasting bloods are still coming back that high then I agree with a PP that you need to make sure you do have Type 2 and not Type 1 and then take things from there.

If it’s still raising when you’re reducing carbs (not just sugar) it doesn’t sound like type 2.

@ursuslemonade thank you! I will cut out the fruit
It just seems that I'm losing everything I enjoy. I was a big baker, bread every other day for my adult dd and I . I can't do that anymore either.
I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself at the moment!

It all seems to be coming to a head. I've got weird things happening with my feet, my arms are going dead at night and waking me up. I feel really sick and dizzy all the time and my blood pressure was very high last night. I'm quite scared really

Hi @ohsuzannah. For breakfast you can have something like wheatabix and add strawberries/blueberries/raspberries. Then used skimmed milk and it's a low sugar breakfast.

Use whole wheat pasta.
Instead of bread use wraps or flat breads.

Look out for yoghurt with no added fat or sugar. I know activia do them.

I wouldn't advise any kind of fasting when your blood sugars are unstable. It's not a safe method.

Good snacks can be ryvita. Or get waffles and cook them in a toaster.

I'd highly recommend nutracheck. You can set it so you monitor your sugar. It will show sugar from fruit/veg and refined sugar.