My Story

[Rhiannon]

I really have enjoyed reading these individual stories.  I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in March 2015.  However, for at least a year before that, my feet (especially my left foot) started bothering me.  If I lay down, they would tingle painfully and had a pins and needles sensation.  I took to hanging my foot over the edge of the mattress at night to little relief.  The skin on the front of my calves became reddened.  Those were the only outward symptoms I recall.  My doctor had warned me I was pre diabetic (which means I was diabetic), but sure of myself, I simply tried to cut down on candy. 

My BG  numbers were in the 7% range.  I got the same unhelpful advice re how to eat.  I bought low carb oatmeal, still thought I could down a glass of apple or orange juice, and so on.  But thankfully I also went online and searched around for diabetes forums.  Like Shanny, what frightened me most was the possibility I could lose my eyesight.  I found the forum before this one.  All of you experts were wonderful!  I gained so much knowledge.

I began eating LCHF.  My attitude is more about the fabulous foods I can enjoy, not on what I "can't" have.  I happen to like bacon, eggs, cheese, celery, homemade tuna pie with cucumber dressing, and fat bombs.  I also allow the occasional yummy treat of fresh strawberries or watermelon.  I really don't miss conventional sugar.

Now, my Ac1 is in the 5% range.  I've slowly lost his over 40 pounds and want to keep losing, even it it's only a pound a month.

Adding:  I take 500 mg Metformin once a day.

[ShottleBop]

This is a short history I posted (in Diabetes Forums, IIRC) back in April, 2011, shortly after the three-year mark:

I was diagnosed as the result of a routine physical, in February, 2008. My fast BG was 127, and my A1c was 6.5. The ADA had not yet issued its recommendation that people with A1cs of 6.5 or more be diagnosed as diabetic; at the time, diagnoses on the basis of FBG required two measurements of 126 or higher. My doctor called me up and asked me to come in for a second test, telling me that, if it were 126 or higher, I would be diabetic, and would have to make drastic changes in my lifestyle. For the next week, then, I started cutting out sugar and the like. My second test came in at 123. That made me "prediabetic," instead of diabetic.

My doctor wrote me a prescription for a meter and strips, and had me go to a prediabetes class, which addressed basic nutrition using the food pyramid approach. My doctor, however, had also told me that I would have to cut out fruits and other things that raised my BGs. I ate to my meter, but didn't count carbs or cut out bread--I mostly cut out desserts, most fruits, and white bread, and experimented with wholegrain and Ezekiel breads. I also ate low-fat, cutting out cheese (and hamburger) almost entirely. I used my meter to eat to the AACE's recommendation that BGs not exceed 140 two hours after eating. I started walking for half an hour or so most days.

Over the first three months, my average FBG settled in to the 110-115 range, and my A1c came down to 6.0. I lost 30 pounds. After Passover, though (a week in which I ate almost no grain), I discovered the difference that grain products made in my post-prandial readings. I had not yet bought any books about dealing with diabetes; I finally ordered Gretchen Becker's book, The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes, on Amazon, which informed me that many people who bought that book also bought Dr. Richard Bernstein's book The Diabetes Solution. I found Jenny Ruhl's website, Blood Sugar 101. I started eating to keep my post-prandial readings below 120. (For me, that peak can come any time from 90 minutes or so to three hours after a meal; only if I eat something with an unexpected load of sugar to I spike in the first hour.)

I found that limiting carbs, in the manner generally recommended by Dr. Bernstein, worked for me. I dropped another 35 pounds over the next six months, bottoming out at 155. (Since then, I've started using the stairs from and to the 24th floor on my way to and from lunch on a daily basis, and riding a stationary bike for 25 minutes or so 4 or 5 times a week, and I've added back some muscle. I've been at 180 for well over a year, now.) My average BGs immediately dropped into the 100 range. After another year, they dropped to where they are now: my average monthly BGs for 12 of the past 15 months have been 90 or less.

These days, I probably eat in the range of 40-60 grams of carbs a day. I eat a lot of fish-sardines, salmon, or smoked herring on a regular basis, as well as a range of other proteins and fats. Generally, I eat whatever I'm hungry for, but avoid sugar and most non-veggie carbs. Breakfast is almost always an avocado, a Trader Joe's chicken sausage, and coffee with cream. I have a cup of decaf with coconut oil many days for a midmorning coffee break; sometimes I have a scant handful of almonds. Lunch is often a Cobb salad or an omelet, or a bunless burger with steamed veggies or a side salad; sometimes grilled salmon over a salad. Nuts, or a half-ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate, as a mid-afternoon snack. I have homemade low-carb ice cream, based on coconut cream, almost daily. Dr. Helen Hilts's description is apt: "No roots, no fruits, no grains, no milk."

In retrospect, I more or less backed into this whole thing, having been prescribed a blood glucose meter and attended one two-hour class on prediabetes, then let loose to control my blood sugars. Best to keep our minds open, so that our expectations don't become limitations.

[Grammabear]

Your story is interesting and the progress you made in just a short time is encouraging.

[Sweety]

My forum name is Sweety. It is also my pet name as most people call me that. I am 41 years old and a mother to a school going daughter aged 12 years. My husband and I are both accountants and work in private firms. We have a small comfortable house in the outer suburbs of Mumbai.

Since my early age I have been having issues with my menstrual cycle and have also been diagnosed with PCOS. After the birth of my daughter I have been overweight and have not been able to reduce my weight. 3 years ago I started having recurring UTI problems. My doctor ordered a Blood Sugar test and the random number turned out to be 137. I was labelled a prediabetic and given some dietary advice to reduce oils and fats in food. Later I got the lab tests done which showed my numbers as 97 morning and 146 two hours after food (PP).

Skb advised me to join the forum and read from this site. Most of the knowledgeable members told me that there was no such thing as a prediabetic. I read the Blood Sugar 101 site for which I got guidance from here, and started to believe that I should cut down my carbohydrates and start some exercise. I started walking everyday approximately 4-5 kms and watched my food very carefully. As predicted I lost a lot of weight and my blood sugar stabilised at 2 digits in the fasting mode. I confess that most of my UTI and menstrual problems simply went away.

I continued this way for more than 2 years without any major health issues. Somewhere down the line lethargy or I think boredom of eating same food took a toll and I became careless and pretty much gave up the good advice I got here. I would say, mine was a classic "Getting off the band wagon" case. The result is, I've got all my weight back, my heath issues are troubling me again and my Blood Sugar is 140+ fasting.

Now that I am all shaken up, some good sense has prevailed and I have started going back to the good ways slowly but surely. Hopefully, it will not take a long time for me to recover my good health. I am worried about my only child, my daughter and I need to do everything so that she can have a good comfortable life. Taking care of myself is one of those things that I can do and I will do.

I read the thread on Cheat Days and thought that I should write this article for anyone who chooses my path and is warned early not to do so. Cheat Days have a way of becoming Cheat Weeks and then months. Later, it is very difficult to break the bad habits and come online again. So please, don't give up, work on health, exercise and be happy.

[Rhiannon]

I just posted a re-introduction and I see that I mistakenly said my diabetes diagnosis was in 2014.  It was actually March 2015, so I've been diagnosed as type II diabetic for 5 years now. 

Like Sweety (post just above me), I sort of drifted off the straight and narrow around late 2016 and into 2018.  My mother had been having health issues for a long time and after my son graduated high school, I moved in with her and an older sister, to help care for her.  My mother passed away in December 2016, my son was off in the Marines, and my youngest sister was going through the early stages of dementia.  A lot of difficult life stressors and I found myself going through the drive-thru window of fast food restaurants on a semi-regular basis.  My youngest sister passed away a year ago, and I renewed my focus on taking care of myself.  I'm eating much better, I've begun to lose some more weight, I sleep better at night - all good things. 

[bigskygal]

So sorry for you losses Rhiannon. Nice to see you back.

[Grammabear]

Rhiannon, so sorry for your losses.  Stress leads us to do things that we know are not particularly good for us.  I'm glad things are looking up for you.

[skb]

I renewed my focus on taking care of myself.  I'm eating much better, I've begun to lose some more weight, I sleep better at night - all good things. 

That is great. we all drift away from our goals sometime or the other. Finding the way back is tough. Keep it up and more good things will follow.