Imablog Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.

New diabetes diagnosis

At a recent routine physical exam, my doctor gave me a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

I wasn't entirely surprised by it given some symptoms I had been having for the past month (also part of the reason I scheduled the doctor's visit) and mom's history with diabetes.

I can't say I was really bothered by the diagnosis. I certainly wasn't upset or angry about it. My initial reaction was more of an "Aw crap" type of mildly annoyed reaction.

Doctor put me on metformin for blood sugar control and I got one of those blood glucose meter things. I'm supposed to test my blood glucose levels in the morning for the next few weeks to establish a baseline fasting glucose level before heading back to the doctor for a follow up visit.

Right now the hard part is remembering that I have it and that I have to think about what I eat now, especially the high carb foods that I have a small addiction to. From what I've read so far, diet is all about reducing/cutting out the carbs. Low carb is going to take some getting used to.

Glucose monitoring

The first few days of blood glucose monitoring have really been eye opening. According to my little meter, my blood glucose levels are considerably higher than what my doctor tells me is normal.

No wonder I've been feeling like crap the past few months.

Guess I have some work ahead of me. There's a lot out on the Internets to read about diets and foods to avoid. It's a lot to take in, but I'm slowly digesting it.

Getting blood sugar under control

Two weeks post diabetes diagnosis and my blood glucose level is starting to get to a much more respectable level. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) has been under 140 for the last few days and I've been able to keep my blood glucose levels below 160 throughout the day for the most part. Still needs to go lower though, but at least progress is being made.

I've been using a program called OnTrack on my Cliq to keep track of things. It's a pretty handy little program that's very customizable so you can track all kinds of things. You can even email logs and charts with it.

So far the biggest challenge has been cutting back on the carbs (which has drastically cut down/out much of what I used to eat) and the sweets. Drastically reduced are most of my beloved starchy foods like rice, pasta, potatoes along with all the things that fuel my sweet tooth, particularly chocolate.

The new focus on diet has put me back in the kitchen though, which is a good thing. The last few years I've been pretty lazy about cooking for myself and not doing much in the way of being creative in the kitchen. Starting to reacquaint myself with my cookbooks, looking at different recipes with an eye towards low carb modifications. Picked up a few new ones too.

There is more emphasis on veggies in what I cook. This had started somewhat with joining Ambrose Farms CSA, but now even more so.

I've been making an effort to try to be more active, although those efforts got hampered somewhat from catching a cold last week.

The metformin I'm on has a few unpleasant GI related side effects, but I've found that as long as I eat a good amount of food before I take the pill, I don't really encounter them. If I don't eat enough, hoo boy look out.

On the plus side of all of this, I'm down about 20 pounds since the beginning of the year. Ironically that was one of the things that prompted me to see the doctor, leading to my diagnosis.

Blood glucose levels - 3 weeks

Had a follow-up appointment with the doctor today. He was pleased with the progress I'm making with my blood glucose levels. Morning blood glucose levels have been in the 100s for the last couple of days. I think my body is getting used to the lower levels now because I don't feel all weak and low-blood-sugar-y like I used to when it went down that low.

I've definitely noticed an improvement in the way I feel. The eyes seem to be working a little better now too.

Diabetes diagnosis + 1 month

4 weeks since my diagnosis and with a couple exceptions, fasting blood glucose has been near 100 for the past week.

It's been a bit of a trial adjusting to this low carb lifestyle, but I'm slowly figuring out what things I can and can't/shouldn't eat.

High fiber foods are not so bad. The Carribean Jerk sauce at Buffalo Wild WIngs not so good. Most fruits are ok, which is good.

Discovered yesterday that coffee is not so good for my blood glucose levels (BGL). The borscht/beet soup I made wasn't too bad on BGL though. That's good because there's still a lot left and I'd hate to have to get rid of it.

Started the second week of working out at the gym, because I'm told exercise is good for blood glucose control. Going pretty well so far. Been doing a little cardio and mostly strength training. Yesterday was 30 minutes on the stationary bike and back/arms workout. Going to start adding in more cardio workouts this week. Just doesn't feel like a proper workout unless my heart is racing and I'm breathing hard at the end.

Hungry

Now that I have my blood glucose levels down to more respectable levels (100-120), I've noticed that I feel hungry all the time.

I wonder if this is normal. Maybe I'm just not eating enough.

Diabetes diagnosis + 2 months

2 months down and so far so good. After a brief venture into the 100s, my fasting blood glucose has been staying around the 110 level for almost the last two weeks. I probably haven't been quite as low-carb as I could have been and I've been getting a little off track with the diet lately, which just happens to correspond to the end of the spring CSA. I think getting back to lower-carb eating will help get me back down to the 100 level.

The gym workouts are helping and I'm starting to notice a difference when it comes to my clothes. Weight has been static, but the pants and shorts are definitely getting roomier.

(not as) Hungry

It's been a couple of months now with blood glucose mostly back to respectable levels. The first month I noticed I was hungry all the time.

Now, a month later, I'm noticing that I'm not as hungry all the time as I used to be and my appetite seems to have gone back to normal. I guess it was just me getting used to the lower blood glucose levels.

Must be a sign that I'm making progress.

Skinny(-er) me

Recently I've been getting a few comments about how it looks like I've lost weight. Unexpected, but kind of cool.

In fact, it was a somewhat drastic loss in weight that prompted me to make the doctor appointment that lead to my type 2 diabetes diagnosis. A 20 lb drop in weight to be precise, enough to make you go "whoa, what's going on". Losing that much weight, especially when you haven't been doing anything special to lose it, demands some attention. I don't recommend undiagnosed/untreated diabetes as a weight loss program.

Since my diagnosis, the scale says my weight's been pretty steady at around 175 plus or minus a few pounds. I could probably stand to lose a few more and wouldn't mind getting back down to around 160 or so.

Getting more active and workouts at the gym have resulted in a redistribution of weight from fat to muscle so although I actually haven't lost any more weight in the last few months it looks like I have.

Feeling more fit, getting stronger and slowly easing back into running again.

My running routine at the moment consists of laps around the track at the gym at a leisurely 10 minute mile pace. Jog one mile, walk a few laps and then finish off with another mile. Getting to the point where I feel like I can up the pace a little. I'm looking forward to when the weather cools down some so that I can get outside to do some running.

Looking forward to keeping this trend going.

Diabetes 4 month follow up

At my 4 month follow up appointment today my HbA1C was down to 6.2% from 11.9% at my initial diagnosis.

Fasting blood glucose levels have been staying in the 100-110 range, although I haven't been very good at sticking to my reduced carb diet lately, so it crept up into the 120s for a couple of weeks.

Back to the gym next week and back to cutting down the carbs. Maybe I'll be able to get things below 6% and 100 mg/dl for my next doctor's visit in May.

Diabetes Diagnosis + 6 months

Things seem to be going pretty well so far. Fasting blood glucose levels are still in the 100-110 mg/dl range with some periods in the 110-120 mg/dl range. There almost seems to be a pattern in my FBG. The graph is kind of begging me to do a Fourier analysis on it.

My bathroom scale tells me I'm down to 168 pounds now, although the scale at the gym says 174. Either way it's still lower than before. Gym going has been hampered a bit by my work and school workload, but after classes end this week I should be able to get back to a regular gym routine.

Recent visit to the eye doctor showed no problems so far. Eye doctor wants me to get checked annually now instead of every other year.

I decided to purchase a second glucose meter (True Track from Publix) to use as backup, and to let me test my blood glucose response to different foods. The strips are significantly less expensive than the ones for my Aviva so more frequent testing won't be a huge hit to the wallet.

The stats course I'm taking and some discussions on a diabetes forum I've been hanging out in made me want to look at differences and variations in blood glucose readings. I've got comparison data for the two meters, which I need to finish looking at. Need to do a literature search to find out how these things work and what kind of published info is available.

Downsizing the wardrobe

A year and a half ago, I didn't need a belt to wear these 36 waist pants.

Now they slide off me and I almost need a belt to wear the 32 waist pants I pulled out of retirement.

The comments I've been getting from people about how I've lost weight and how skinny I look? Pretty cool.

Time for a wardrobe refresh soon.

Diabetes Diagnosis + 11 months

Getting pretty close to a year since my diagnosis and things are going pretty well so far. Fasting blood glucose levels in the morning are usually below 120 and typically in the 100-115 range. Except for a few occasions, I'm managing to keep it below 140 throughout the day. Managing to maintain a mostly low-carb diet, although it's not always easy with the cafeteria offerings. I probably need to start packing my own lunches or something.

My running has picked up quite a bit this year, although I've been lazy about getting back to strength training at the gym lately. This probably represents the longest period of running I've been able to stick with since my University days.

Weight has been pretty steady for the past year, going down maybe a couple kilograms or so. I think there's been a lot of weight redistribution going on. Feeling pretty good about it. Would like to shed a couple more kilograms over the summer.

5.6%

Had my annual check up at the doctor today. A bit of poking and prodding and another clean bill of health (aside from the diabetes thing).

HbA1c was down to 5.6% today which is down in the normal range. Management success!

Should get results from the bloodwork in a few days. Will be interesting to see how that comes out.

Update:
Total cholesterol - 171
Lower than last year when it was 193.

HDL - 51
Still lower than what the little yellow card says it should be (>60), but higher than last year's 42.

LDL - 108
Up a little bit from 100 last year. Need to work on bringing it down.

Rest of the blood work came out normal.