Numbers have never been my friend. If there’s a god of maths, he hates me. I think I have dyscalculia as I find it hard to see groups of numbers more than four digits long, they sort of dance about and I’m likely to switch them around when writing them down, unless I’m very, very careful.
What’s that got to do with anything? I hear you cry, dear Reader. Well, numbers controlled by Scales of Doom have had the power to ruin my weeks since time immemorial.
Did I tell you I was diagnosed with diabetes about three years ago? Well, my blood test result for my 2nd year showed that, with medication, I no longer had it. I’ve just had my results for this year. To put it in context – with medication they hope to get your blood sugar after fasting to 43 (no idea 43 whats). Last year I was 40. This year I was 100. Shocking, eh? Well, I was shocked. I sat down and thought about what it might be: firstly, my diabetes tracks my weight (which is why my specialist is keen for me to have surgery) and I think I’ve probably put on a stone or even a stone and a half since last year. Secondly, I have allowed carbs to creep back in. I think the one that’s probably the biggest problem is pasta. I like pasta generally. I like rice but I’m a bit more fussy. I’m even more fussy about bread. I eat potatoes infrequently. But pasta is so easy. And two of my comfort food dishes are pasta – both made by P, carbonara and spaghetti with meatballs and spicy tomatoes. I also make a pretty good crab linguine.
Last year I did monitor my blood sugar levels with a kit I’d bought myself and was ticked off quite unpleasantly by the GP: I had no business doing this, apparently. But if I had been able to carry on, as I told the (different) GP today, I might have spotted the rise in my blood sugar before a full year passed. They’re still not keen but I probably need to do it, even if I buy the expensive testing strips myself. People in the know say you should test first thing in the morning and then before and after every meal (two hours after each meal – but some people also do three hours!). I’d whip through those strips alright. And that’s if I remember to do this. The fasting one is easy to remember – less so, the others.
In other numeric news, I lost precisely 0lb last week. The last week I lost 1.5lb. So my usual breakneck whipping through the numbers on the way down. The site I use says I lose 0.5-1lb a month on average.
My life is governed by numbers.
12 comments:
I am there with you. GP's can be very inconsistent with all this advice. I am quite lucky in that mine is ok - they sent me to 'Diabetes School' run by Xpert Health, who took us through everything, including tests and what they meant and gave us diet advice. The results you have been given are your HBA1C which calculates your average blood sugar over the preceding 3 months (no need to do fasting bloods anymore). A helpful chart is here http://www.southend.nhs.uk/media/44653/hba1c_conversion_table.pdf. Don't want to bombard you with info, but I'm here if you need me. Diabetes is progressive and it can be put in remission, but eventually always comes back - even with extreme weightloss.
I'm curious as to why regular home testing would be regarded as a bad thing?
My father is diabetic and pasta seems to be the foodstuff that impacts the most on his blood sugar - more so than sweet stuff or other forms of carbs. I'm sure there's a reason for it (which makes it no less frustrating).
Are you still doing the intermittent fasting? Because that, of course, is supposed to help with blood sugar - Mum is desperate to get Dad doing it and, I must admit my fear of diabetes is one of the reasons I stick with it.
Hope you're ok. Being aware of the numbers is fine but you can't let them rule you.
Sx
(And the award for most disjointed comment goes to..!)
Seren, I think the current advice with T2 is that testing is uneccessary as it can make people get very stressed over the numbers. I do test myself occasionally just to see what food impacts my blood sugar
And stress, as well as illness, affects blood sugar
I think the difficulty with pasta is that it tends to make up the lion's share of a pasta dish. With spuds - a quarter or so; rice and noodles - usually less than half; but pasta often makes up 80% of the dish. And shockingly high in calories. Maybe make it an occasional treat now. Sorry sweets.
Lxxx
Thank you! Always good to have an expert waiting in the wings. GP told me a low-carb veggie diet was best (and yes, essentially this means just veg) and that raspberries were very carby. The diabetes forum does not agree on either point. Phew
I haven’t done the fasting thing because, bizarrely, after spending the majority of my life not fancying breakfast but trying to eat it because it’s ‘good for me’, I now wake up ravenous. (My predictive text tried to change that to ‘wake up Ravensclaw’ - which I much prefer!)
Oh dear. I’m excellent at stress. And anxiety
No, you’re absolutely right
You would be very hungry if you could only exist on veg & cheese! Sometimes I wonder how these experts think people can live!! Search for sugarhunters on Facebook. They are the most sensible diabetic folk I’ve found on the internet. Diabetes website can be a bit extreme - a lot of LCHF zealots on there! You got this x
Female hormones also affect it - mine go high the week before my period. Diabetes really sucks, even the Type 2 kind (which is treated terribly in the public eye IMO) so don’t keep any feelings about it hidden away. You are not alone!
How's it going?? It's awful quiet around here. Lxx
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