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JillT:
Hello all.  I found a link to this website on Alan’s blog and signed up last night.

Jill here – 60 years old, live in Mandurah, a seaside city about 45 minutes south of Perth in sunny Western Australia.

Diagnosed as Type 2 in early March 2012 as a result of being hospitalised with a hypertensive crisis (along with abnormal ECG, UTI and low potassium) in late February and a subsequent barrage of various tests.  At the time of hospitalisation, I had put on about 14 kgs (30 pounds) after quitting smoking in December 2010, although all BP tests till this point had been unvaryingly normal.

[As an aside, the reason I quit smoking was after being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in October 2009 – it wasn’t a type caused by smoking, but my regular lung function tests were showing the beginnings of emphysema on top of the fibrosis.  For anyone struggling to quit smoking, I would heartily recommend Varenicline tartrate (brandname: Champix) as it made quitting way easier than anything I’d tried in the past.]

I should have kept a closer eye on things because I’d had 2 longish previous quits, large weight gain and prediabetic blood tests, but a lot was going on with other issues, so I took my eye off the health ball.

After a high fasting BG test of 5.8,  I then had a 2 hour GTT (fasting 6.4 / 1 hour 14.2 / 2 hour 12.9) and an HbA1c of 6.2%.  Also had very low vitamin D3 levels.  Saw an endocrinologist about this and my really bad lipid profiles.  [Another long story – have been bad since I started keeping records of them in 2003 and had 2 attempts at taking statins – what a nightmare array of side effects - and finally said I’d rather die of heart disease than keep taking them!]  The endocrinologist said I didn’t need to test my BG, but to have 6 monthly A1c tests and to try to control with diet and exercise.

Rather like Alan’s experience described on his blog, I went on a strict calorie controlled (but still relatively high carb/low fat diet as recommended by the Diabetes Educator and the Diabetes Australia website, though because of digestive issues I cut out most grains besides oats and rice), but only started losing weight after high supplementation of Vitamin D3 kicked in (I’d been having Lite’n’Easy home delivered since October 2011 – lost 2 kgs the first week and stalled after that).  Also started walking, though doing so almost killed me – again fixed once the D3 kicked in.

By the end of June I'd lost about 11.8 kgs and was walking up to an hour 5-6 days a week.  Had bought a meter on the urgings of the Diabetes Educator and was testing a few times a week – mostly fasting BG on rising and 2 hours after my main meal - and everything looked hunky dory.

My weight loss stalled, so I started looking around on the web and found Jenny Ruhl’s Blood Sugar 101 site.  Imagine my shock on testing my BG at 1 hour after the same breakfast (porridge, prunes and skim milk) I’d been eating every day to see a reading of 11.2.  So, I determined then and there to adopt a low carb eating plan.

I lost another 1.1 kgs in the first week of low carb and reached the normal BMI range, though I very much suspect I’m now at my weight loss limit.  But interestingly enough, my Tanita scales tell me my body fat is 0.8% less than it was two weeks ago, with no weight loss or tape measure change.

Most importantly, my BG is getting more and more under control, especially since I saw Lois Jovanovic’s dietary guidelines posted on Alan’s blog:
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/smbg-doctor-who-understands.html

When her advice “If preprandial glucose concentrations are already high, there is no room for carbohydrates in the upcoming meal” sank in, I finally saw the point of testing before meals and adjusting carbs based on those readings.

Another A1c and Vitamin D3 test due at the end of September.  I’ll also be looking forward to my next lipids profile for the first time ever to see if low carb really works the way I’ve been reading about.  In the past 9 years weight gain/loss, smoking/not smoking, drinking/not drinking alcohol, exercising/not exercising and combinations thereof have never made a scrap of difference!

Thankfully all my kidney tests (including dopplers) and heart disease (mild left ventricular hypertrophy) and arteries (ultrasound and lower abdomen/leg dopplers) are good to fine.  Some minor aortic athersclerosis.  Fatty liver and pancreas - will be interesting also to see what difference low carbs might make to those - think I'll ask for another ultrasound in a year or so to see.  I have both finger and toe clubbing due to the pulmonary fibrosis and stupidly thought my 'toes feel like they're in hot water all the time' was a circulation issue until after the diabetes diagnosis.  Most of that faded as the weight came off - and is almost gone completely after the past few weeks of low carbing.  A recent podiatry exam gave me a clean bill of health.  Retinopathy was ruled out by an eye test.  So fingers crossed these good results continue.

Currently not on any meds for the T2 and hopefully that will continue for a while yet.
On Olmetec for hypertension and Nexium for GORD/GERD – though after I’ve been on the low carb diet for a while, I think I’ll try stopping the Nexium to see if low carb also stops reflux as I’ve read in various places.  I test my BP regularly and so far no change from low carb - and I wouldn’t stop the meds for it without prior consultation with my GP.

Anyway, I’ve raved on for long enough and hopefully established my bona fides as a non-spammer  :)

Alan:
G'day from the East Coast

I've got to get over your way again; I haven't been to WA since my RAAF days. It's on the "to do" list.

Welcome on behalf of the Brits, who are at a party today; they'll be along later.

I'm waffling on because I don't have much to tell you, as you've already read the blog :). Jenny and I also go back a long way, we first met on usenet before either of us decided to write a book.

Our diagnosis history is similar. I also found that giving up smoking using Zyban, which I think is a different name for the same thing, led me to quickly resemble the Michelin man and I was diagnosed almost exactly a year later.

Catch you later.

Cheers, Alan

JillT:
Thanks for the welcome, Alan.

Champix is a later drug than Zyban (originally an anti-depressant and I believe still prescribed under the brandname Wellbutrin).  My understanding is that Champix works by blocking the brain receptors for nicotine.  I tried Zyban a few years ago and found it very 'speedy' and after a couple of weeks I started having hyper-response 'fight or flight' type attacks and stopped taking it.  Champix had no noticeable side effects (other than vivid dreams) I was aware of and once I stopped smoking, I really had no urges to start again while I was taking it.  A few easily-managed cravings since.

I sure can relate to the Michelin Man image - my rolls of fat were scary to behold  :o

Avocado:
Welcome to the forum Jill !

I keep to a very low carb way of eating which helps control my diabetes. I also eat no grains at all - this helped with tummy problems I'd been having - my endo suspects that I am possible coeliac, but I've been grain free, and therefore gluten free, for so long that I can't be tested for it and I'm not planning on eating a load of grains/gluten for several weeks just to find out - I'm really happy cutting those foods out. I used to have reflux from hiatus hernia but it rarely causes a problem for me these days.

Interesting that you were low in vitamin D. I've read that a lot of Australians are low in D because of scare stories about skin cancer so everyone covered up or put on sunblock and so many people got deficient in it. But even here in the UK it is something like 85% of people have insufficient levels of D - but that due to not enough sun and putting on sunblock the few instances when it comes out - there are even cases of rickets here ! I take a high dose of D3, 20,000 IU per week, and my levels of D are in the optimal range, 149 nmol/L at the last test - tested every six monthly.

My cholesterol is also high by conventional standards (7 and at one time 9.4 !) but I'm not concerned about it because my HDL is so high (3) and my triglycerides so low (0.6) - low carb certainly helps with the lipid profile :)

TerryG:
Good to have you with us Jill and welcome.

A slightly unusual day here - you'd normally get a flood of welcomes but a fair number of our most active posters have been at a face-to-face meeting and may not have easy access to the internet. They'll be along to greet you shortly I suspect.

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