# Another Newbie here!



## Mohamed (Feb 12, 2011)

Hello , My name is Mohamed Caffoor. I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes in 2006. Been on metformin 500mg 3 x a day and Gliclazide 80mg 2 x a day for 3 years now. 
My HBA1c went as high as 9.7% and I was told I may need to go on Insulin as diabetes is a progressive disease.
This woke me up!
I decided to take my health into my hands and find out how I could control my diabetes better. 
I managed to successfully reverse my diabetes and for over a year now, I am now no medications. My lastest HBA1c (done this month) is 6.4%.

I am very much interested in learning how people cope with their diabetes and what they do to control it.
Regards


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## chrismbee (Feb 13, 2011)

Hi Mohamed and welcome 
There are a few other T2's on these pages that have come off medication following change to diet and exercise - let's hope it continues to work for you!


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

Hello Chrismbee
Thanks!


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## mcdonagh47 (Feb 13, 2011)

chrismbee said:


> Hi Mohamed and welcome
> There are a few other T2's on these pages that have come off medication following change to diet and exercise - let's hope it continues to work for you!



Its spam from a Snake Oyl Salesman, Chris.


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## SweetGuy (Feb 13, 2011)

You old cynic McD lol.   Just so long as he doesn't tell us to get some sugar and dilute it one part in billion with water


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## Catwoman76 (Feb 13, 2011)

ukhomeopath said:


> Hello , My name is Mohamed Caffoor. I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes in 2006. Been on metformin 500mg 3 x a day and Gliclazide 80mg 2 x a day for 3 years now.
> My HBA1c went as high as 9.7% and I was told I may need to go on Insulin as diabetes is a progressive disease.
> This woke me up!
> I decided to take my health into my hands and find out how I could control my diabetes better.
> ...



Welcome Mohamed, well done to you, 6.4% is very good.  best wishes Sheena


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## Robster65 (Feb 13, 2011)

Hi Mohamed. Welcome 

Well done on coming off meds. Sadly not an option open to all but if you can acheive it without adverse affects, then it must be well worth the effort.

Rob

ps. I'm a sceptic too, but as far as diabetes goes, well done !


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## Steff (Feb 13, 2011)

Hi Mohamed and welcome , to be honest when i first saw this yesterday i was going to report it to a mod, but wanted to say  hi and welcome onboard.


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## macast (Feb 13, 2011)

hi Mohamed.... welcome to the forum


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks everyone for welcoming me
And No I am not trying to sell anything 

But I am truly interested in different ways people control and even reverse their diabetes, so I would very much like to communicate with these people.

I learn everyday and I know there are  a lot of people here with more experience than me, so whatever I can gather, that will be great.
For example, has anyone reversed their diabetes but after a while went back to medication? 
We all have a disease and if we can work and help each other out, I feel that will be well worth it. 
Thank you


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## SweetGuy (Feb 13, 2011)

Welcome Mohamed. It is your choice of screen name that is bound to cause people to have a pre-conceived idea of where you are coming from.


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## macast (Feb 13, 2011)

ukhomeopath said:


> But I am truly interested in different ways people control and even reverse their diabetes, so I would very much like to communicate with these people.
> 
> I learn everyday and I know there are  a lot of people here with more experience than me, so whatever I can gather, that will be great.



an interesting turn of phrase there Mohamed 

are you 'gathering' information for yourself?  or for some 'paper' you are writing in your professional capacity?


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks SweetGuy
Yes you are probably right :0
Maybe I should change that?


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

Hello macast

It is acutally for me, I want to know if I continue the way I am , if there is a high probability later on in life, I would end up of meds again.
So if anyone else has been off meds longer than me, that will be an inspiration to continue


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## Northerner (Feb 13, 2011)

ukhomeopath said:


> Hello macast
> 
> It is acutally for me, I want to know if I continue the way I am , if there is a high probability later on in life, I would end up of meds again.
> So if anyone else has been off meds longer than me, that will be an inspiration to continue



Hi, welcome to the forum  We have quite a few members who have been able to stop medication through diet and lifestyle changes for many years. It's not always possible though, so no-one should feel a 'failure' if medication is needed again despite best efforts. As we often say 'everyone is different', you can only do as much as you can to manage your diabetes well.


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## macast (Feb 13, 2011)

ukhomeopath said:


> Hello macast
> 
> It is acutally for me, I want to know if I continue the way I am , if there is a high probability later on in life, I would end up of meds again.
> So if anyone else has been off meds longer than me, that will be an inspiration to continue



thanks for clearing that up for me    I'm just newly diagnosed and am on diet and exercise and no meds at the moment ..... but you never know what will happen in the future with this diabetes


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

Northerner said:


> Hi, welcome to the forum  We have quite a few members who have been able to stop medication through diet and lifestyle changes for many years. It's not always possible though, so no-one should feel a 'failure' if medication is needed again despite best efforts. As we often say 'everyone is different', you can only do as much as you can to manage your diabetes well.



Thanks Northerner


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

macast said:


> thanks for clearing that up for me    I'm just newly diagnosed and am on diet and exercise and no meds at the moment ..... but you never know what will happen in the future with this diabetes



macast, no problem!
I hope you never have to go down the medication route. Diet and exercise will certainly help to keep it from worsening.
I have noticed doing exercise even for 3 mins can drop my readings by 1 point in half an hour.
As far as my diet goes, I avoid all processed foods (as much as possible). I avoid what I call the POWS group of foods: 
P: Processed foods (that includes meat etc), O: Oily foods, W: Whites like white bread. white rice and S: Sugars including artificial sugars.
Hope this helps.
All the best


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## macast (Feb 13, 2011)

I like your POWS lol...... but I still include some nice oily fish in my diet at least twice a week and more usually 3 (and sometimes 4) times a week


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

macast said:


> I like your POWS lol...... but I still include some nice oily fish in my diet at least twice a week and more usually 3 (and sometimes 4) times a week



I avoided fish because I had cholesterol. Now after learning more about the fish we eat, I have no desire to go back to it


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## Northerner (Feb 13, 2011)

ukhomeopath said:


> I avoided fish because I had cholesterol. Now after learning more about the fish we eat, I have no desire to go back to it



The omega 3 oils in oily fish are supposed to be beneficial to maintaining good cholesterol levels - the main reason I eat them! 
Ode to Oily Fish 

Oh oily fish! Dear oily fish!
By far and away my favourite dish!
Infuse me with your Omega 3,
Please oily fish, come dine with me!

Oh, take away my chicken bhuna!
Replace it with a slab of tuna!
And though I love the taste of gammon,
I'd much prefer some Scottish salmon!

Imagine eating with every course
Some pilchards in tomato sauce!
If every herring could be mine,
Then life on Earth would be divine!

So, fill me up with oily fish!
Believe me, it’s my dearest wish!
My heart’s desire, where have you been?
Embrace me now, oh plump sardine!


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## macast (Feb 13, 2011)

LOL.... love your ode Northerner 

I think I had better amend my conservative estimate of how much oily fish I eat coz I left off the pilchards and sardines I eat which amount to about 4 times a week without the salmon and tuna I consume


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## mcdonagh47 (Feb 13, 2011)

macast said:


> LOL.... love your ode Northerner
> 
> I think I had better amend my conservative estimate of how much oily fish I eat coz I left off the pilchards and sardines I eat which amount to about 4 times a week without the salmon and tuna I consume



They were on Country file this morning catching "pilchards" off the coast of Cornwall. Turns out "pilchard" is a just a Cornish name for a large sardine. They have been rebranded as "Cornish Sardines" and sales of them( fresh) have taken off. Must lokokm out for some in the shops.


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

Northerner said:


> The omega 3 oils in oily fish are supposed to be beneficial to maintaining good cholesterol levels - the main reason I eat them!


You can get Omega 3 from walnuts too, and it is much more healthier.
In the states, the government tells you depending on the state, what fish you can have and how often! Why ? Because of mercury poisoning as well as other chemicals in the fish that comes from the water!
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/fish/eating/safeeating.html


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## pippin (Feb 13, 2011)

ukhomeopath said:


> You can get Omega 3 from walnuts too, and it is much more healthier.


 Thank you about the walnuts info as this will help my dad who can't eat the oily fish due to the purine levels.


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## Mohamed (Feb 13, 2011)

pippin said:


> Thank you about the walnuts info as this will help my dad who can't eat the oily fish due to the purine levels.



Most welcome!


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## chrismbee (Feb 14, 2011)

Hello again, Mohamed - relieved to see that my welcome wasn't in vain 
Must admit that your original username prompted caution, so it was good to see you explain yourself - think the new username will help.
Cheers, Chris.


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

chrismbee said:


> Hello again, Mohamed - relieved to see that my welcome wasn't in vain
> Must admit that your original username prompted caution, so it was good to see you explain yourself - think the new username will help.
> Cheers, Chris.



Thanks Chris


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## donnarob (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi Mohamed and welcome. 

Interested on your take on oily fish?? 

I was diagnosed in November 2010 and am on Metformin twice daily.  There doesn't seem to be any hard or fast rule as to who stays on meds and who controls through diet and exercise.  I'm still on meds but my recent Hba1c was 6.5%
Donna


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

donnarob said:


> Hi Mohamed and welcome.
> 
> Interested on your take on oily fish??
> 
> ...



Hello Donna
Thank you.
Your HBA1c at 6.5 is very good. Do you know what it was before, when you were diagnosed?

** I just saw that your HBA1c was 10.5%. WOW, that is a big drop in 2 months? How did you manage that. Amazing.


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## donnarob (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi Mohamed, 

I cut out potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.  I thought I'd been following a healthy diet but on hindsight the tweaks made all the difference. 

To be honest, I never felt great after eating bread or rice as I used to get heartburn with bread and bloating with rice.   I don't suffer from that anymore. 

Donna


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

donnarob said:


> Hi Mohamed,
> 
> I cut out potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.  I thought I'd been following a healthy diet but on hindsight the tweaks made all the difference.
> 
> ...



That is very interesting Donna. I actually eat a lot of potatoes, brown rice and wholemeal bread and it does not raise my BG level. Even pasta I would have 2 servings when my wife cooks it (cannot resist as it is so tasty )
I understand about the bloating, but was your BG level high when you eat the potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.


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## Robster65 (Feb 14, 2011)

I did a quick google search on oily fish and pollution and found this webpage.

http://www.brist.plus.com/dietfish.htm

interesting reading. I'd never given it any thought. The limits are quite high but I guess it's up to the individual to interpret the advice accordingly.

Rob


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## everydayupsanddowns (Feb 14, 2011)

Mohamed said:


> I understand about the bloating, but was your BG level high when you eat the potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.



Hi Mohammed

You've not been around here long, so forgive me if you know all this already... For most T2's it seems that the only way to assess what carbs they can cope with eating is using a BG meter. (This is not easy if your GP is one of the 'Type 2's don't need to test' variety). The only option for some is to self-fund. But even then seems that it is a price worth paying.

The trick seems to be testing 1 hour and 2 hours after meals to try to find the timing of your usual 'peak' (this varies from person to person but is often there or thereabouts). After 2 hours BGs seem to be falling (phase 2 insulin I think). If you get a 'spike' of high BG 1 hour after a meal try reducing the portion size of the main carbs in it, and replace them with carb-fre veg or similar. One of the tricky things is that everyone's tolerance is different, and also can vary during the course of the day (mornings are usually the most difficult).

Lucky you for having a decent tolerance to pasta, though it'd be interesting to see what happens to your BGs if you haven't tested this already.

Cheers
M


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

Robster65 said:


> I did a quick google search on oily fish and pollution and found this webpage.
> 
> http://www.brist.plus.com/dietfish.htm
> 
> ...



Thanks for that link Rob!


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

everydayupsanddowns said:


> Hi Mohammed
> 
> You've not been around here long, so forgive me if you know all this already... For most T2's it seems that the only way to assess what carbs they can cope with eating is using a BG meter. (This is not easy if your GP is one of the 'Type 2's don't need to test' variety). The only option for some is to self-fund. But even then seems that it is a price worth paying.
> 
> ...



Hello M
I was given  the glucometer with 50 strips. I did check my BG readings regularly when I was experimenting with the various foods. Pasta, whole meal bread, red rice ( I prefer red to brown, though brown is healthier out of the two but red is better than white) all give me good readings.. under 7.8 after 2 hrs.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Feb 14, 2011)

7.8 at 2 hours seems pretty decent, and falls within the DUK guidelines I think.

Would be interesting to see what your 1 hour reading was though (whether it was significantly higher or more or less the same). Some T2 folks were posting results in a thread about cereals recently and some exhibited a fairly flat profile while others were up above 15 at 1 hour but down to much 'nicer' numbers at 2 hours.

The other thing I've noticed T2's mentioning is the improvement in insulin sensitivity following weight loss (though this may not be a factor in your case)

Mike


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

everydayupsanddowns said:


> 7.8 at 2 hours seems pretty decent, and falls within the DUK guidelines I think.
> 
> Would be interesting to see what your 1 hour reading was though (whether it was significantly higher or more or less the same). Some T2 folks were posting results in a thread about cereals recently and some exhibited a fairly flat profile while others were up above 15 at 1 hour but down to much 'nicer' numbers at 2 hours.
> 
> ...



Hello Mike

last July (2010), my highest 1hr was 9.8 and 2hr was 8.4 and 6.7 ( I had 9.8 on two separate days. I have not recorded any 1hr reading after July.  Bear in mind, I was not on any medications too with these readings! I stopped all my meds in Jan 2010.


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## mcdonagh47 (Feb 14, 2011)

Mohamed said:


> Hello Mike
> 
> last July (2010), my highest 1hr was 9.8 and 2hr was 8.4 and 6.7 ( I had 9.8 on two separate days. I have not recorded any 1hr reading after July.  Bear in mind, I was not on any medications too with these readings! I stopped all my meds in Jan 2010.



Have you stopped testing now ? What was your last HbA1c please ?


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## Mohamed (Feb 14, 2011)

mcdonagh47 said:


> Have you stopped testing now ? What was your last HbA1c please ?



No I havent stopped testing but I dont do the 1hr anymore. 
I test the 2hr maybe 10-20 days in a month and the fasting every day ( they have cut our strips down to 50  )
My latest HBA1c done in Feb (this month) is 6.4%, and fasting 5.7

Regards


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## Alan S (Feb 15, 2011)

Mohamed said:


> That is very interesting Donna. I actually eat a lot of potatoes, brown rice and wholemeal bread and it does not raise my BG level. Even pasta I would have 2 servings when my wife cooks it (cannot resist as it is so tasty )
> I understand about the bloating, but was your BG level high when you eat the potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.



How long after your meals do you test? 

Try an experiment next time you eat as you describe. Test ONE hour after your last bite of the meal. Let us know what numbers you see.


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## Mohamed (Feb 15, 2011)

Alan S said:


> How long after your meals do you test?
> 
> Try an experiment next time you eat as you describe. Test ONE hour after your last bite of the meal. Let us know what numbers you see.



Hello Alan

The last time I did  the 1hr and 2hr tests was in July. I have copied the results I wrote in a previous post here:
********
last July (2010), my highest 1hr was 9.8 and 2hr was 8.4 and 6.7 ( I had 9.8 on two separate days. I have not recorded any 1hr reading after July. Bear in mind, I was not on any medications too with these readings! I stopped all my meds in Jan 2010.
*****
My 2hr tests I still do but not everyday, as I eat the same food I used to. As Asians, we eat a lot of rice and I do eat potatoes. Sometimes I would have a jacket potato for dinner or even breakfast. Though I must admit it has been at least a month since I did that. Rice however, I have many times in a week (mainly for lunch), Pasta I would have for dinner- sometimes lunch. All depends on what is cooked on that day really. 
This month, my 2hr readings have ranged from: 9.0 to 6.1 and my fasting from: 5.9 to 5.2. Again bear in mind, this is without any medications.

Just to let you know I also eat ice cream (soya based) but very sweet, lemon sorbet, biscuits (non -dairy), bananas (sometimes 4 a day) and grapes and so far touch wood, it does not spike my sugar. Whereas before reversal, this was just not possible without my BG being high. 
In fact my 2hr reading after lunch of rice and curry and soya based ice cream with sorbet was 6.8!
But I must admit, Ice cream and sorbet is something I do not have everyday. Maybe once a week. Bananas every day ( at least 2-3 a day).
I just checked my fasting today and it is 5.8. 

Sorry I went on a bit I think .


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