[Guest]

Hi, my name is Shelly and I was diagnosed with Type 2 June 10, 2011 after suffering from DKA. Talk about a scary situation. My body was shutting down. I was in pain, my kidneys hurt, my stomach hurt, I was so weak I could not stand for longer than 3 minutes (if that), I had severe acid reflux, I was drinking everything in sight, going to the bathroom like a race horse, totally. Constipated (TMI), had a yeast infection that would not quit (again TMI), my calf muscle locked up on me, I was starting to vomit...lemme tell ya, I was in bad shape. In the beginning I thought I was just having acid reflux and tummy troubles. Went to my primary dr who gave me meds for constipation and sent me on my way, went to my Gino who gave me creams & suggested I see a gastro dr for my stomach issues. Went to gastro dr who sent me for immediate lab work and colonoscopy. colonoscopy sent me further downhill, but gastro dr found my issue once he received lab work back and told me my BS was 460. This was after days of not eating because I was so I'll, then also because of the prep necessary for the colonoscopy where you can't eat. I'm thankful for my gastro dr who basically saved my life. I was the first patient he had ever had to diagnose with diabetes. I.received a call from him a 9:30pm telling be about my lab work and high BS number and wondered if I was suffering from DKA. I had no idea what that was. He quickly filled me in and said that he would be making an emergency appt for with my my primary dr the next morning. Well the next morning is when I could hardly move and was vomiting and my husband took me to the hospital.mI'm glad he did too. I was pretty out of it and that morning. I'm pretty sure I was 1-2 days away from checking out, but pulled through and glad to be here today. When I was in the hospital my A1C was over 13% and 2 months later it was 10% and 4 months later it was 6.3%. I was so proud of myself for taking on the lifestyle change head on and getting off all insulin (left hospital taking 8 units of Novolog and 34 units of Lantus), no more Glyburide, on only taking Metformin now. I've lost about 45lbs since June, I eat healthy, and serious about not letting Diabetes take me down. My numbers tend to stay in the high 90s to low 100s. I feel great, look great, and my nurse (l am no longer with old primary dr who did not think to do labs and who I would call to give my #s to when I had more lows in 40s than anything else and would not return my calls) says I am going a great job and my #s look great too. I am anxious to hear what my A1C is after my appt yesterday. I have been doing awesome, but since being taken off Lantus my #s are slightly higher than they used to be, but nothing crazy and I don't have to snack as much between meals to keep my #s up which helps in my weight loss. Diabetes Although the experience of Diabetic Ketoasidosis was is horrible and super scary, diabetes was a blessing in disguise. I miss candy & slurpees though.

 

[Guest]

Hi, my name is Shelly and I was diagnosed with Type 2 June 10, 2011 after suffering from DKA. Talk about a scary situation. My body was shutting down. I was in pain, my kidneys hurt, my stomach hurt, I was so weak I could not stand for longer than 3 minutes (if that), I had severe acid reflux, I was drinking everything in sight, going to the bathroom like a race horse, totally. Constipated (TMI), had a yeast infection that would not quit (again TMI), my calf muscle locked up on me, I was starting to vomit...lemme tell ya, I was in bad shape. In the beginning I thought I was just having acid reflux and tummy troubles. Went to my primary dr who gave me meds for constipation and sent me on my way, went to my Gino who gave me creams & suggested I see a gastro dr for my stomach issues. Went to gastro dr who sent me for immediate lab work and colonoscopy. colonoscopy sent me further downhill, but gastro dr found my issue once he received lab work back and told me my BS was 460. This was after days of not eating because I was so I'll, then also because of the prep necessary for the colonoscopy where you can't eat. I'm thankful for my gastro dr who basically saved my life. I was the first patient he had ever had to diagnose with diabetes. I.received a call from him a 9:30pm telling be about my lab work and high BS number and wondered if I was suffering from DKA. I had no idea what that was. He quickly filled me in and said that he would be making an emergency appt for with my my primary dr the next morning. Well the next morning is when I could hardly move and was vomiting and my husband took me to the hospital.mI'm glad he did too. I was pretty out of it and that morning. I'm pretty sure I was 1-2 days away from checking out, but pulled through and glad to be here today. When I was in the hospital my A1C was over 13% and 2 months later it was 10% and 4 months later it was 6.3%. I was so proud of myself for taking on the lifestyle change head on and getting off all insulin (left hospital taking 8 units of Novolog and 34 units of Lantus), no more Glyburide, on only taking Metformin now. I've lost about 45lbs since June, I eat healthy, and serious about not letting Diabetes take me down. My numbers tend to stay in the high 90s to low 100s. I feel great, look great, and my nurse (l am no longer with old primary dr who did not think to do labs and who I would call to give my #s to when I had more lows in 40s than anything else and would not return my calls) says I am going a great job and my #s look great too. I am anxious to hear what my A1C is after my appt yesterday. I have been doing awesome, but since being taken off Lantus my #s are slightly higher than they used to be, but nothing crazy and I don't have to snack as much between meals to keep my #s up which helps in my weight loss. Diabetes Although the experience of Diabetic Ketoasidosis was is horrible and super scary, diabetes was a blessing in disguise. I miss candy & slurpees though.

Opps sorry for the typos!!

 

[ThoseBackPages]

Welcome to the machine imi!

 

[tony0611]

Hey Shelly, welcome on the forum. Congrats on the super duper achievements !!! Keep posting here often.

Whats the kind of diet you are following...

Tony


.

 

[Guest]

Hey Shelly, welcome on the forum. Congrats on the super duper achievements !!! Keep posting here often.

Whats the kind of diet you are following...

Tony

.

Thank you! My diets is low carbs, wheat everything, high fiber, lots of fruits and veggies. I have a small bowl of cereal (honey nut cheerios w/ 1% milk) in the w/ about a cup of strawberries or grapes. PB&J for lunch in a pinch or leftover dinner and chicken or ground turkey dish with lots of veggies for dinner. Taco salad for dinner with ground turkey is my fave dinner/lunch and does not affect my b/s much at all. I love to cook and have been able to make my meals taste great with lots no salt seasonings. Fruit is my new candy! A little splenda never hurts when I really need to feel like I'm getting a sugar fix.

 

[Shalynne]

Welcome, Shelly! :welcome:

My story starts out pretty much the way yours did, TMI included. But your achievements are stellar!

You'll find lots of info and support here, and I have a feeling you'll provide some of your own, too.

As for missing stuff, you may want to check out our Recipes board. You can also do a search on, say, "candy" and see if you can find diabetes-friendly versions of some old friends.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

Thank you! My diets is low carbs, wheat everything, high fiber, lots of fruits and veggies. I have a small bowl of cereal (honey nut cheerios w/ 1% milk) in the w/ about a cup of strawberries or grapes. PB&J for lunch in a pinch or leftover dinner and chicken or ground turkey dish with lots of veggies for dinner. Taco salad for dinner with ground turkey is my fave dinner/lunch and does not affect my b/s much at all. I love to cook and have been able to make my meals taste great with lots no salt seasonings. Fruit is my new candy! A little splenda never hurts when I really need to feel like I'm getting a sugar fix.

Fruit has PLENTY of sugar in it, be careful.

 

[tony0611]

Thank you! My diets is low carbs, wheat everything, high fiber, lots of fruits and veggies. I have a small bowl of cereal (honey nut cheerios w/ 1% milk) in the w/ about a cup of strawberries or grapes. PB&J for lunch in a pinch or leftover dinner and chicken or ground turkey dish with lots of veggies for dinner. Taco salad for dinner with ground turkey is my fave dinner/lunch and does not affect my b/s much at all. I love to cook and have been able to make my meals taste great with lots no salt seasonings. Fruit is my new candy! A little splenda never hurts when I really need to feel like I'm getting a sugar fix.

Great that this working for you. Everybody's body is different and reactions to foods are different. I am sure even with the wheat and fruits you eat you would have still dropped your carb consumption significantly and your body has responded so well.

Whats your approach on fat ? It seems you are keeping your fat low too. Is that right ?

I have to follow a more restricted version of low carbs for a similar level of control and weight loss. Lucky you !

Great to have you on the forum !

 

[jwags]

Welcome to DF. Has your doctor taken you off all insulin , now? Your bgs will probably go up if you are still eating carbs like wheat and fruit. Many of us have had to give up all fruit and cereals, especially wheat or oat cereals. Milk is another big offender if you are eating cereal with milk. We have all found alternatives that don't raise our bgs like unsweet almond, soy or coconut milk. Also many of us find we don't need to avoid fats but the fats actually help keep bg low. The trick with diabetes is to keep bg stable, that is no highs or lows.

 

[Shalynne]

I might have misread. I thought the OP meant she gave up the wheat. Some of us can eat moderate amounts of fruit, many of us cannot. Frequent testing is a must, especially when meds have changed.

I try to keep my levels at 75-100, and to keep below 140 at all costs.

 

[David Burke]

Remember to find a diet/exercise regimen that works for you. You will hear lots of suggestions and advice about what to do on this forum, some good, some bad. Just remember, what works for one may not work for another. Find what works and for you and stick with it.

And by all means, have fun!!

 

[moon]

Hi Shelly - welcome to the forum. You've done great - congrats!

I'm with jwags in urging you to look at your wheat, cereal, fruit and milk consumption if your numbers don't stay where you want them. I can't include those things in my diet in more than a cursory way or my numbers will tick up. It's amazing what one can get used to though. I keep a bowl of Reece's Cup Bites out for mom who likes to have a few/day, and don't see them anymore. There is =no way= before going low-carb that I could've walked by or ignored them. I think those of us who were extremely sick at dx have an advantage - it's an extra-special wakeup call!

Crossing my fingers for a great A1C for you, though luck has nothing to do with it - you've earned some good news.

 

[jwags]

The hardest thing for me to give up was wheat bread and fruit. So many people tell you how healthy they are. Initially my doctor told me testing was optional for type 2's, but when I started to test 2 hours after eating wheat I realised what it did to my bgs. Also giving up wheat has really helped me with weight loss. I was not really overweight around 148 but now I am 120 and have been there for almost 2 years. Before I came to online forums I thought I was eating a low carb diet but I was fooling myself. I was also not eating enough fat. Lowering the carbs to about 30 and upping the fat really helped my diabetes.

 

[Shanny]

Hello and welcome, Shelly. Will be keeping fingers crossed for your A1c . . . you've done a marvelous job so far. If you find you're disappointed in your numbers, you can always back off the cereal grains, milk & fruit - those foods are often the villains in raising our blood sugars. Processed food like low-fat & fat-free products are never a good choice, because the food industry additives & carby thickeners/stabilizers make them less healthy all the way around. Better to use moderate amounts of the real full-fat versions, than risk processed foods with their unknown ingredients.

The advice & suggestions you get here have been tried and found to work for some of us, but no one thing will work for everyone, so you have to be conscientious about testing one hour after meals to determine which foods spike your blood sugars. If certain foods bump your BG up over 140 (7.7) at any time, then it's good to restrict or avoid those foods.

Congrats on the weight loss! Take care and visit often!

 

[Guest]

Great that this working for you. Everybody's body is different and reactions to foods are different. I am sure even with the wheat and fruits you eat you would have still dropped your carb consumption significantly and your body has responded so well.

Whats your approach on fat ? It seems you are keeping your fat low too. Is that right ?

I have to follow a more restricted version of low carbs for a similar level of control and weight loss. Lucky you !

Great to have you on the forum !

I wish I could go crazy with the fruit, but I don't. I usually only have fruit with breakfast and sometimes an apple later in the day. The fat in my diet is very low fat. Can't do skim milk, but down to 1% from 2%. i pretty much eat the same food everyday, which gets kind of boring. So dinner is usually when I switch things up. I had problems with frequent lows and doing much better now that I no longer take insulin.

 

[Guest]

I think I may have lead everyone to believe that I only eat wheat and fruit...lol. In moderation I do. I think I was meaning to say that I choose wheat over reg white bread and pasta. I try to eat a lot of raw veggies even when I dont really want to. I am no longer on insulin and did notice that my numbers did increase after, but not by much. I was slowly being taken off of it and in the end I was only taking 2 units of Lantus before bed. My numbers have since come back down and stay within a pretty good range.

 

[Shalynne]

Many of us who low-carb also do high fat. Real cream (not milk), cheese, butter, mayo, eggs and the like. Fats do not raise blood sugar, and they fill us up when we drop the carbs. (Plus, they don't make you fat!) Foods labeled low- and non-fat are often made that way by adding carbs and sugars, and removing nutrients. Besides, going low-carb and low-fat doesn't leave much to eat.

There are (roughly) a kazillion posts on the Forum, with links and references, that discuss details about high-fat. You may also want to check out Blood Sugar 101 and the articles about fat on Dr. Bernstein's site.