Frustrated

I am recently getting back to eating and controlling my blood sugar. I quit caring for about a year and my A1C rose from 7.2 to 9.8. I am trying hard to lower my A1C so that my MD does not prescribe a second oral medication, currently on 2000mg daily of Metformin. I am feeling frustrated because I am eating better over the last week and a half, but it often seems that my blood sugar rises every time I eat or don’t eat. Example. Last night I ate crappy (bad day and I am an emotional eater) so this morning my blood sugar was high 235 (no surprise). Then I checked my blood sugar again three hours later it had dropped 82 points to 153. Since that point I have ate low carb (turkey lunch meat with cheese and an apple). now my blood sugar is 196. I am lost and this is part of what caused me to stop caring about taking care of myself. It feels like little that I do helps. I know that I need to redefine my relationship with food. I feel like I can no longer enjoy food. Everything is bad for me. Meat affects my high cholesterol and lipids. Carbs could mean losing my feet/ eyesight. I feel lost. Any help would be great.

If you need another med (kinda sounds like it, too), you need to have a heart-to-heart with your doc. You obviously know how dangerous it is to have uncontrolled diabetes. I’m curious why you are unwilling to take additional meds.

Hi Erik_M

Welcome to our community. Since you are T2, If you are slightly overweight there are services popping up all over the place that can help you regain control. These services help you manage your way through eating the proper low carb foods, pretty much a Keto diet while making sure you keep your electrolytes etc. in check. You could try going at it alone but it is more complex than it looks and can even be dangerous if not done properly.

I have included 1 such service and am not recommending it but as an example of what they do, and I believe are covered by most insurance plans. The turkey lunch meat with cheese most likely did not boost your BG unless you had it on bread, but the apple certainly would have had an effect and if you went from 153 to 196 the apple could have been enough.

Wishing you all the best in getting the results you are looking for. You can do it!!!Lowering A1C through low carb diet.

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Lowering A1C through low carb diet

Sorry it did not take link in first post

I was just about to reply to you Erik (welcome to TuD) and say much the same as CJ114. Reading about and understanding the Keto diet would help you enormously to lower your A1C. A lot of diabetics don’t really eat fruit, just berries as they are better for your bg.
Good luck with losing weight.

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Erik, I am so sorry that you are so frustrated. Life will get better with a few changes and you will feel good again.

If you feel that the low carb diet is raising your lipids too much as it did mine, there are other ways of eating which are very diabetic friendly and don’t raise LDL levels. You might like to check out The Mastering Diabetes Website. Many type 2’s who start this plant based way of eating are able to stop taking all diabetic meds.

I just hate the fact that I’m not forty yet and I am on 5 meds. I’ll be getting married soon and if I’m so blessed have kids. I want to be healthy, but I also want to be able to afford life insurance without breaking the bank. If at the end of the 30 days my doc gave me he still thinks I need the other medication I’ll gladly accept my fate. I just hate thinking that I won’t be able to get an insurance policy that is affordable if I can get one at all. Already had one cancelled on me when I got diagnosed type 2.

Erik - one thing you may want to consider is getting the Libre. You can get a script from your doctor or you can buy it on ebay. As a T2 many doctors won’t write a script. For some reason they feel not knowing your numbers is the correct approach - IMO simply crazy.

Until you know what your glucose profile (AGP) looks like and how you respond to certain foods, you are shooting in the dark.

The first thing all PWDs loose is the robust first phase insulin release. There is only one way to replace that and thats with insulin. What all the oral meds do is hope your already broken pancreas can catch up over 24hrs which doesn’t work as shown by the ADA’s “Step” program. Once you get your AGP over a couple of weeks you will see how long you are above 140 mg/dl and for how long after you spike.

The only insulin which can replicate the pancreas’ first phase release is afrezza. They have a nice FB support group and you can buy direct. While the site says the program ended in February they will still allow you to apply. insulinsavings.com

Most T2 afrezza users I know are in the 5s, a few in the low 6s with little effort. However, there is nothing wrong with cutting out those foods which will naturally spike you and you will easily see that on the Libre. BTW - don’t buy the reader if have the right iPhone OS. You can just use your phone.
Here is one of the best summary of what to eat and not eat - pages 8 -13.

Take the afrezza, take a nice walk every day and reference the cookery. If in 3 months you are not in the 6s it would be surprising. Most are in the 5s and you should be easily able to pass the insurance blood test. Its going to cost you out of pocket in the short term but think of it as an investment in your future.

And on the other side there are many T2’s who are well controlled with diet and exercise only and their A1c’s are in the 5’s (including mine).

Lowering your A1c is a must, but using insulin is only one option, but it could be a necessary one,

On the insurance issue Lobby your congressman or senator or even the President. Who want to cancel all protections for preexisting conditions.
Quacking the lattes news.

Tom - there is nothing wrong with a nice walk and eating foods which don’t spike you. In fact you should. But what has been shown study after study is early insulin intervention is the best approach with early T2s. Why take a 50-50 chance when there is no reason to take the risk? BTW- none of the current studies have even used a tool like afrezza to get their great results.

Not only will it supercharge the diet and exercise routine by off loading the load on the pancreas, the 118 study recently presented in Berlin actually showed by replicating first phase insulin release the liver and pancreas will get back in sync. This is a big deal and a major issue most T2s have.

BTW - A1c is not the issue, its the post meal glucose spikes. These need to be properly managed and then the A1c will take care of itself. The only things which will eliminate these spikes is not eating foods which cause the spike as Dr. Bernstien has shown us along with the good author from 1917 or insulin which is the body’s natural way of dealing with carbs. But, you need an insulin which can replicate the pancreas to get the best results and there is only one FDA approved.

Sorry George, but I started out with an A1c of 12.0 I am now at 5.5 Just checked after dinner Bg 112.
I repeat insulin is not the only answer. Nor is it without its own challenges.

FYI T2 for 10 years

I may be wrong , but I believe Dr. Bernstein stated that T2’s may require insulin to reach his goals of A1. In the 4’s. I have not seen him require insulin for all T2’s

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Only the doctor can read the pro - you need a reader and not the pro

Tony - good catch, you don’t want the pro.

Are you marketing affrezza?

Tom - if you believe the work at Joslin and their research showing diabetes is viral based it goes a long way to explain why different people have different results.

Depending on how your immune system was able to fight off the attack and how much beta cell function you have left will give you a fighting chance to get the results you are currently seeing. For years the author of Diabetes 101 was able to maintain the 5s with food and a modified Bernstien diet and her journey is well documented. Can it be done, in some cases but not all.

What we have also seen in studies from both Ralph DeFronzo in his STOP study and Al Mann in his studies is the potential for some beta cell regeneration if near non-diabetics BG numbers are maintained.

Tom - afrezza is the only diabetes medication which can replicate first phase insulin release. It presents the potential for a paradym shift in diabetes treatment.

Doctors are currently following the ADA step program. Its a “Treat to Fail” protocol. At each “Step” it is anticipated the step to fail. The last steps in the protocol are basal insulin then followed by adding RAAs.

If the first issue all PWDs have is the loss of first phase insulin release, it would seem to make sense to address the root issue by providing the lost insulin. If the RAAs did not require needles and their risk of hypos so high it would probably be the first step after a walk and diet. afrezza requires no needles and is in/out so fast and works with the liver its hard getting a severe hypo.

To answer your question, I am not marketing afrezza nor do I work for its company. I am just telling you the way it is. In reality afrezza markets itself and I was trying to provide Erik with a better than fighting chance. Many users say its life changing. Just ask them on Facebook. None of them work the company either.

Its really starting to catch on in the T1 space for corrections but its really for T2s and provides T2s the greatest chance of stopping diabetes progression. Give it a try and see for yourself when you want to have bowl of rice or another BG spiker.

Sorry George my life is not defined by a bowl of rice.

I am very content with my low Carb WOE and my A1c in the 5. And not spiking.

When medically necessary I will use insulin. But for now at 73 I do low carb, I run several times a week, and monitor my BG (for nowadays meter, a CGM is interesting.) I also tend to flow low with my BG, so Afrezza may or may not help that.

I don’t accept that all T2’s need to be on insulin. MHO

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Tony - thanks for catching that about the Pro. I use to buy all the time from Ebay but now I get them in the 10x packs from a local guy since the FDA approved. They use to run about $60 on Ebay but it looks like the price has gone up a bit. Here is an example some may be cheaper. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Abbott-FreeStyle-Libre-Sensor/143186888725?hash=item21569a8815:g:PmoAAOSwhYJcWYcI

Tom - everyone needs to do what is right for them. Life is not a one size fits all. I am also controlling my BG with diet and a 4 mile walk nearly daily. Two fingers of bourbon from time to time also helps to nail my morning BG.

Many T2s are not as lucky as you and me. My father is a great example of eating as well as a PWD could. He died from a heart attack much younger than you. I have another friend who is physical therapist.

He has done all he can between diet and exercise and wants no meds. He is nearly starving himself and his fasting BG is running near 200. At this point he feels this is still best for him.

When diet and exercise don’t work we now have tool which can readily address the root cause of high sugars which is not enough insulin being produced by the pancreas. Combined with a CGM, its a lethal one two punch in the fighting diabetes.

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Yes it is a tool, and hopefully no long term side effects. I seem to know many T2’s who can control their BG levels.
when I was diagnosed 10 years ago my doctor gave me two options, going straight to insulin or developing a. Low carb and high exercise program.
I am glad I choose the latter and it has worked out well. If I would have started with insulin, Who knows?

I follow as much research as I can, but saving any change for later.

As an aside. The tv commercials for Afrezza are more than a bit embarrassing.
Food surprisingly dropping out of the sky to tempt a diabetic!
I guess diabetics are obsessed by food. Oh well. Just one in a numbers of information out there selling as a curall for T2.