Diabetes under control ...

As some know, I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes a few months ago with
fasting Blood Sugar levels of 11.7, where 'normal' people should have
BS at 4.5 to 6.5 ish. Went (cycled 4 miles) to the doctors yesterday,
after a blood test last week, to discuss the result. He explained that
after this amount of time they'd expect me to be between about 8 and 9
with a target of 6.8 or less within a year or so.

I was 7.2 ...

I'm quite pleased about that result .. especially as it was supposed to
have been a fasting blood test and (without realising) I'd eaten a
Chinese late meal the night before and in the morning had some toast,
drank tea and had a couple of custard cream biscuits about an hour
before hand.

Down to more exercise, I now walk or cycle everywhere for journeys less
than 10 or so miles, mostly now 'cos I want to rather than simply for
exercise, a better diet, cut out sugar, eating more fruit and veg and
generally living a more healthy lifestyle. I've lost 10 Kgs weight and
my tablets have been reduced now, phasing them down slowly and
monitoring sugar levels and I'm now on the lowest dosage available,
which also seems good.

Just had to say something.

 

Nice one. Do the docs think that you may be able to control it
completely without drugs in the future?

 

That's the aim ..

 

Nice one

 

My uncle was diagnosed with Type II diabetes fairly well on into life,
and he really couldn't be having with an overly restricted diet so he
just worked out how much more exercise he had to do to keep it under
control. On one occasion having had a fairly big meal out in France he
got back to his son's house by swimming there in the adjacent river
rather than walking.

He eventually passed away from a heart attack at the age of 78 while
swimming some distance to shore having just dived off a yacht he was
holidaying on. Struck as all as one of the better ways to go for an
active sort.

Pete.

 

Great to hear.

Selfishly, I (we?) need to hear some good news these days. Otherwise
it seems to be a drumfire of depression.
I guess that we have to make our own good news.

 

Congrats dear boy, keep it up,

 

Nice one Paul... reminder to me to get my ass on the tred mill!

 

I was on tablets and then insulin for about adecade but I'm finally off
insulin after a couple of years of a strict regime of exercise and,
incredibly, Indian 'Ayurvedic' herbal medicine.

Now my starvation blood sugar is 5.8 in the morning rising to 10 after
meals.

 

Good show. Similarly, I've been shedding the pounds during and after the
arse-kicking-into-gear-you-stupid-bastard I got from the GP. Nearly 20kg
lost since summer 2009. I find watching the blood sugar level is a
useful daily reminder to not pig out.

It won't do you any good, you know; you'll still die sooner or later.

 

Cnut ...

 

They're only sugar mongs because of their diet.

It's a bit like the ones that whinge about their cholesterol level
being too high, get some fucking exercise and stop worrying.

 

Mine was mostly down to getting a job with a company car and credit
card and living in hotels all week for about 10 years.

Quite.

Thing is, I've hardly noticed the changes I've made, the only awkward
thing is remembering to buy low sugar foods, but our lass sees to that,
mostly.

I have 'normal' portion sizes at meals instead of large, with extra
veg, I have more snacks, but they're now fruit rather than a choc bar,
and have cut out sugar and butter. Basically I eat better quality,
smaller quantities more often through the day, and make sure I start
with a reasonable breakfast.

The exercise I do isn't _that_ much more than I used to do, other than
I now walk or cycle for small jobs, trip to the post office, doctors
etc I had always been fit and strong, but went to fat and flabby when
I used the car for everything. Changing jobs to being a caretaker has
helped as I now walk more than 16000 steps a day on average (Free
pedometer from hospital!) where in the past it'd likely only be in the
high hundreds, low thousands.

Minor changes altogether seem to have made a vast improvement, but
probably of more worth than the pure numbers is my feeling of
well-being and satisfied smugness ...

 

But hopefully "with", not "of".

It's how I intend things to be.

Well done and keep it up too Paul.

 

Excellent news Paul, well done. My dad's diabetic and is going through a
similar struggle at the moment. His Parkinsons doesn't help!

 

Don't be afraid of the tablets. The complications of Diabetes are a
lot less favourable. If you have been carrying a lot of weight for a
long time, then the reality is that by dropping the weight off, you
might get a bit of respite, but the condition will manifest itself
again.

There is a new train of thought in Diabetes care to medicate
adequately and early to reduce the load on the pancreas and as a
result extend it insulin producing ability (and avoid the day when you
need to start injecting) . I would be very wary about coming off
metformin knowing what I know now about the condition.

When you are not insulin dependent, they consider that daily testing
is not of value and just creates unnecessary anxiety for the sufferer.
Try a Thai coconut curry if you want to see how high your sugars can
really go. One of those can hold my sugar levels up for 24 hours and
had me spike at the same level of the glucose tolerance test.

The bi-annual HBa1C is the one they determine the level of medication
you will be put on as a non injecting diabetic. You don't feel the
sugars are high, you only feel the lows and comparative changes.

I had a practice nurse tell me once that I could not go hypo on
Metformin - she wasn't with me when I did 10 miles into a ride on an
empty stomach a couple of years ago so take with a pinch of salt what
they tell you unless they have had specific training in the field ;o)

 

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And let me join my voice to the chorus of bravo. Happy to hear it, sir,
and long may it continue.


- --
Guy Chapman, http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.
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That's great news. Seriously well done.

 

I am also T2 diabetic diagnosed 15 months ago. My glycated heamoglobin
was measured by the diabetic nurse at 5.7 just last week.

You mention visiting your GP for a Bg test result ... If your GP
hasn't issued you with a simple Blood Glucose Meter I suggest you buy
one off EBAY for about £7.50 including a starter kit of test slips.
There is funding in the NHS for meters + test supplies for diabetics.

I found it took a few months to use up my body's reserves of sugar,
after that it became much easier and I could even take the occasional
liberty with my diet.

The toast and bikkies are good (or rather bad) for about 1 mmol/L

I've found the following oddities ...

A proper meal such as a traditional Sunday dinner(Or a Chinese) - does
not put my blood sugar up appreciably, but carbohydrates such as a
piece of cake or a couple of slices of white bread (brown is no
better) send it through the roof.

PS. A medium sized apple and a piece of cheese or ham with pickles
(Acetic acid slows down the absorbtion of carbohydrates)would be an
altogether better snack for you than.

Commercial breakfast cereals are all much the same (bad).

I work for a medical instrumentation company and we have 4 tame
doctors on the staff. The party line here is that if you can keep your
blood sugar between 4 and 8 mmol/L you will avoid long term health
consequences. It's easy to better that. Personally I found it to be
necessary to first deplete the stores of sugar in my liver after which
it became easier to keep my Bg low and I can now even take the
occasional liberty with my diet.

Congratulations: It looks like you're out of the woods.

Derek G

 

Many of the manufacturers of the test strips will beat a path to your
door if you use their strips - actually what they do is give you a BG
meter. The test strips are ludicrously expensive. Many have free s/w
for PC use that enables tracking of your BG. Unfortunately - as I
found out - there is currently only one that speaks to a Mac and it is
not free. It costs about £20-ish. It's the Bayer Contour USB meter.

No personal interest in these gadgets (yet?) but my father in law has
been a T2 diabetic for 30+ years. He normally doesn't talk about it
and has a better understanding of his condition and how to manage it
than the diabetic clinic. However, he's quite happy to discuss it
with me because we are only talking about it from a mechanical point
of view - little about how it affects him personally - and how the Mac
can be exploited for record keeping purposes.

BOL

Richard