Diabetic misery

No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get my sugars down to an acceptable level. This in turns causes me depression. My last hba1c was 6.8 but my doctor wants it below 6.5. I don't want my life revolving around my blood glucose levels.

[radd]

Riley,

Welcome to our thyroid forum.

Unfortunately good health does revolve around keeping blood sugar levels balanced and some need a little more help than others. My husband is diabetic and has always found eating protein at every meal helps to keep glucose balanced and this diet has helped with my adrenal issues last year.

You might find more answers on a diabetic forum .

.

United Diabetis

healthunlocked.com/united-d...

.

Diabetes Research & Wellness

healthunlocked.com/drwfdiab...

[Kathyhandis in reply to radd]

My husband has diabetes and he finds that if he eats things that are "hard" to digest, such as proteins and low GI foods and fat (yes, fat) it slows down the rate of absorption of sugars. I don't know what it does to his hba1c though. Watch out for fruit, and things like raisins in cereals. Exercise is always good.

[mrsm49 in reply to radd]

My mum was diagnosed with LADA diabetes (latent autoimmune type 1 diabetes) last summer.She struggles wuth her levels injections etc as its been a steep learning curve fir her in her seventies. I was wondering if you knew which of the sites you recommended might be more suitable for info for her

[Ebs73]

Unfortunately it all comes down to diet. And before there were drugs for diabetes they used low carbohydrate diets. Limiting foods such as bread, pasta, cereal, cakes, sweets, legumes etc is the only way to lower bloods considerably. I was diagnosed pre diabetic in my early 20's I tried the diets my gp's dietician set me & got worse after a load of false info I finally did my own research and found out fat is your biggest friend! The exact oppersite of what I was being told. Grains are your enemy the exact oppersite of what I was being told! So I ditched my 23 years of low fat vegetarianism and started eating fatty fish, chicken stews skin and bone and all included. I ate lamb and beef avoiding lean cuts. I smothered my greens in goats butter. I use tonnes of coconut oil in cooking and baking. There are great paleo recipes using non grain flours so you can still eat your favourite things. For breakfast I'll have boiled eggs, a veg omelette or even heated up dinner. When I did my research I came across many good books supporting what I'd found out. I have also helped my mum reverse her type 2 with this way of eating. It can be done. My dad has just been diagnosed at 70 too. I'm now 43 & have had stable blood sugar and I've not been pre diabetic for 20 years. Good luck ☺

[Hidden in reply to Ebs73]

Wow! Thank you.

[HelenL1965]

I don't have diabetes, but I cared for my mum who was type 1 due to pancreas removal. She struggled - so we took time to go through all the foods that would keep it low, then if she suddenly had a low she could eat something she enjoyed that wasn't on the list!

This GI food list was really handy for us gisymbol.com/cms/wp-content...

This website gives the glycemic index of each food - I am sure you already have all this information - you will know more than I! But just in case:

the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/

Good luck

[humanbean]

A high fat, low carbohydrate diet has been shown to be extremely helpful for diabetics, despite what doctors and dieticians tell them.

You can get lots of help and advice from this website which is patient-driven :

diabetes.co.uk/

And the forum is well worth browsing :

diabetes.co.uk/forum/

[bluebug in reply to humanbean]

Oddly enough registered dietitians who leave the NHS will advise you to go on a low carb diet, but they won't say this while the NHS is their paymaster.

Anyway Professors Roy Taylor at Newcastle University Mike Lean at Glasgow University with some others are currently in the middle of research to prove high fat low carb works for diabetics as reported on the diabetes.co.uk forum and elsewhere. So hopefully in the next couple of years there will be more evidence to argue this.

[Learner1]

Another variation is called a ketogenic diet.

[Arab]

Hi,

Similar to what Bluebug is saying, check out

The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet. It's having hugely beneficial results for type 2 diabetics, and those that want to shift weight effectively.

Well worth a look.

Arab.

[Angel_of_the_North]

If you are not Type 1 diabetic, have you tried:

Low carb diet

5/2

16/8

100% raw diet

All of these have helped some people (but not everyone thrives on all of them)

[Scouser58]

To Hidden,,,,at 6.8 this is not that bad,,so don't drive yourself crazy worrying about it,,,your gp is being a very hard on you,,,mine were higher because I was doing a meds change and there is there another one to try and lower again,,,all the other posts are right about having more protein and fat for meals,,I am also a member of the diabetes.co.uk forum, where many saher thweir experiences and give helpful advice, and were many years of experience from T1 and T2 is available,,,good luck in your endeavour,,,ttfn from karen.

[Kazzabon]

I wish my HB1c was that good!! After 30 years I have never managed to go that low, even using an insulin pump. One endo who was a bit more switched on than others I have had told me a few of his patients were the same and it was put down to 'sticky blood'. Diabetes isn't a predictable syndrome - weather, stress, hormones all have an effect on blood glucose. Low carb is the way to go but perhaps take a few days off when you first try it as it can initially mess with your control somewhat. Test, test, test. Remember also that some people need insulin when eating protein but others do not. Good luck and be kinder to yourself, it's a long road. x

[Eddie83]

High protein & fat. Low complex carbs - no refined carbs. But since you posted this in the Thyroid forum, do you have a thyroid issue? What I noticed after I got my FT3 & FT4 to the right places, is that my non-fasting blood sugar went down by ~20 points.

[TappedOut]

Hi there. I am 38 years old and have lived with Type I since I was 5years old. The disease, at least Type I, is not solely a diet-based disease. It is in fact endocrine and hormone based. That's said, hormones, physiological and daily stressors, including a common cold can differentiate glucose levels. It is true, low carb is a great way to lowers the deltas in blood sugar, but in Type I, even proteins can alternbloood sugar. Your a1c, considering Type I status, is not a bad number. Not at all. Under 6.5 in most circles is considered non-diabetic. And this is for Type 2! So a type I at 6.8 is actually commendable to say the least. It's not a disease of 1+1 is 2. This is a disease where sometimes, even in the most lredictable of scenarios, there may be unexplained highs or lows. There is no balance in Type I; do the best you can, and live. Please dont beat yourself up about you or numbers. Stay low carb. Exercise it and when you can. But he kind to yourself - Type I is often mistaken for a different disease. Type I is the most complex form of diabetes and a low A1c, say 5.5 or so, while possible, is rare. I'd also suggest either wearing a CGM Oor testing ten or more times a day. You have to test often to keep an eye on those numbers. Unlike Type 2, Type I had a high delta and frequent fluctuation in blood sugars. So you have to know the numbers to get some type of control of them. Also, go to bed with a number that's around 80-100 (unless you go low in your sleep often). This makes 1/3, at least, of your A1c at 6.0 or so. That alone will lower the overall A1c, having good nocturnal numbers.

let me know how you are doing....hang in there.