Just been diagnosed

Hi there Lynne

Diabetes is a nasty thing isnt it? I've had for 15/20 years. I treated with disdain...bad bad decision! Now I cant even stand on tippy toes (childhood reversion again 😀) because of numb feet etc. Now much more sensible 😬

Fancy having that with all your other woes. Woe is you, indeed, but hope you can keep on smiling please... don't be depressed (easier said than done)!

Good luck as always

Miles

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Hi Lynne, welcome to the world of type 2 diabetes. It is important to see the big picture here and to understand what is causing your particular type of diabetes as one cap doesn't fit all.

I too contracted type 2 diabetes due to liver damage. In my case alcohol was causing harm to both my liver and my pancreas. But the damage was also caused by me being put on the wrong type of diabetes medication. When l was first diagnosed with diabetes, my then GP referred me first to the practise nurse and then to a local diabetes centre. I was also advised to attend to a course on diabetes run by a group called DESMONDS. Here is where the danger happened. When ever l asked why l had contracted diabetes after all these years and all of a sudden, l was told the same thing, "oh, it's your Pancreas not producing enough insulin". I was put on Gliclazide and off l went, and didn't think any more about it.

Some six months later after reading up and learning a lot more about the liver. I discovered for myself what exactly was going on. At this time l had started to develope tumours on my liver. Then, just by chance l happened to read of the possible side effects of taking Gliclazide, there was the warning which no one had told me about. Warning, not to be taken if you suffer from any liver or kidney problems. So here l was taking a drug that could in effect cause even more damage to my already damaged liver. Here the the original diabetes nurse who had proscribed this drug, was trying to just treat the condition without looking at the cause. What was really happening was two things. Firstly my liver had in fact become insulin resistant. So, the signal in the insulin that tells the liver to stop dumping sugar wasn't getting through. To me, this made a lot more sense.

The other factor that should have been considered is the quality of the insulin that the pancreas produces. Because over the years of alcohol abuse, the pancreas can become damaged, and thus the insulin produced is either damaged or is of a poor quality so once again the signal doesn't get through to the liver or the CRTC2 switch gene, to tell it when there's enough sugar in the blood.

I just thought I'd try and illustrate my experience to others and sound a note of caution. I believe it's always better to try and understand our bodies a little more. When it comes to type 2 diabetes one cap doesn't fit all.

Good luck Lynne.

I also have a swollen fatty liver from diabetes and drinking 15 cokes a day years before my diagnosis. High fructose causes the fatty liver too. I hope you're doing well. If dietary changes do not help to lower your sugar levels, please do not be afraid of taking meds. I had a fasting BG of 200 the other day and 15 units of fast acting insulin fixed it to 90 in 2 hours. You have to have all of the proper tools to combat this disease. Welcome to the group.

Richard, I went straight to insulin. I am on blood thinners and they are known to have adverse reactions with sulfa drugs. So, I just went right to good ole insulin and now have an A1C of 5.3, down from 7.1 in 2014. I eat regular foods though, but only one meal a day with insulin and use 18 hours a day of fasting along with Metformin to control my fasting BG levels. So far it is working and I just drink coffee during the day. I only eat a small snack before work on my three work days, but it is mostly just a protein. I know this method is quite drastic as my doc thinks it is, but I never liked breakfast and now skip lunch as well. I didn't know about alcohol consumption causing diabetes, but I guess it is almost the same as drinking 15 sodas a day.

Alchahol consumption definitely increases blood sugar level at any cost