Showing all posts tagged type 2 diabetes

In Diabetes, General, Health and Exercise

My Latest Diabetes Review

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 4 Comments

Last year I was diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic. It was a pretty crappy time. I still maintain that my pancreas is an arsehole. Three months ago my Hba1C was 57mmol/ml after a routine diabetes review which is not good and my medication was upped to the max (for Metformin). Today I got the results of my most recent review, and it’s good news.

I’ve had some real struggles managing by blood glucose, despite my health team recognising that I’ve been doing all that they asked, and more. After my last review and another crummy result, I decided to try blood glucose testing. As a type 2 diabetic I am not automatically eligible for this and so I decided to swallow the cost and fund it myself. What a difference it makes.

Over the past few months, I’ve learned a lot about what spikes my blood glucose levels, foods and otherwise. Already on a restrictive diet due to other issues  I eat no junk and prep everything by hand. I was really surprised by how one portion of some foods would be fine where one and a half would not be. Using a blood glucose monitor has helped me understand a lot about myself (because all diabetes are unique) and manage everything more effectively.

This morning I received the results of my most recent review. I have gone, in three months, of having a Hba1c result of 57mmol/ml to 46mmol/ml. This a fabulous result, fabulous!

Dear Mrs Cawood,

Your recent blood test results were all satisfactory, indicating that your Diabetes is currently well controlled…..

To say that I was thrilled when that popped through the letterbox is a great understatement, not least because it means that I don’t need to keep going back every three months as my diabetes review date has been pushed back to six months.

I’ll post another time more about Hba1c, what it means and so on but in simple terms it means my diabetes is very well managed for the first time and I feel like I have a handle on what I’m doing. A very large part of this has been down to self-testing my blood glucose levels.

I’m hoping to convince my diabetes nurse that I would be a worthy candidate for an NHS monitor as opposed to spending a fortune privately buying test strips, lancets and what not myself. We’ll see.

For now, I’m just grateful for a good result. Onwards and upwards (or downwards please, the numbers need to keep coming down)!

 

 

In Food, Health and Exercise, Healthy Eating, Weight Loss, Women's Interest

HEALTH FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 4 Comments

My body seems to hate me. My pancreas is a bit of an arsehole (I’m diabetic), my cholesterol hasn’t got the memo about where I need it to be, it would appear that my gut has more issues than a Jeremy Kyle guest (suspected IBS), I need to lose weight (I have PCOS and a metabolism that has been sleeping since 1995) and other fun stuff. I’ll not be beaten though.

Clearly my body is somewhat lackadaisical in the behaviour department. I’ve been on a diet pretty much constantly since I was 18yr old (mostly swinging between SW and WW) with some success. In recent years a mixture of boredom and these plans just not suiting my somewhat unique situation has meant that progress has ground to a halt. I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic last year after years on Metformin as a pre-diabetic and thankfully have a brilliantly supportive health team.  

Seeing what I eat and how hard I’ve been trying to lose weight and deal with my various health issues, my fab health team are confident that I’m doing all that I can. As what I’m doing hasn’t been particularly successful in terms of managing my diabetes and losing weight I’m cranking things up a bit. I’ve adopted a lower carb / Meditteranean-type diet, and have even started looking at including aloe vera juice (there is evidence that it helps with blood glucose, cholesterol and gut health so I’m giving it a go) and yesterday ate Freekah for the first time (which I’m pronouncing freaky because it sounds good).

Will it help, will it not? There’s only one way to find out. Thankfully it doesn’t taste vile so that’s a bonus!

Cutting out all processed food and snack foods (I’ve not eaten either for years), avoiding bread and being strictly dairy-free (gut issues), not drinking alcohol, not having a sweet tooth and eating basic home-cooked, nutritious meals constantly (in sensible portions) would, you would think do the trick. It hasn’t and isn’t and I can’t afford to be complacent. 

So…

I take your healthy balanced diet and increased activity levels and raise you a concerted effort to boost health from the inside out, taking any (sensible) options that are available to me. If that means trying new things (no faddy, juice plus, artificial nonsense thank you), I’m game.

Here’s hoping that my next diabetic review (end of June) shows some good results! I’m six pounds lighter in a month since my last review so here’s hoping these changes make a difference.

Any recipes, nutritious foods or sensible suggestions are most welcome. 

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