Saying "Hello!"

[C0NNIE53]

Hi Everyone!
I am just checking in here to say hello for today! I am on day 7 of my induction, and I am so jazzed, cuz as of this morning, I have lost 7 pounds!

Sometimes I can get so downhearted thinking I can never lose this weight! I have been obese most of my life. In the last 10 years, it has been worse than ever.

In the past year, I have known that something terrible was really wrong with me but didn't really know what, and finally I was diagnosed with type2 diabetes a few months ago. It has been a real struggle with the seeming impossible feat of lowering my blood sugars. Actually, I am averaging about a hundred points lower in the day from where I began a few months back, so I am making forward progress. My sugar levels are still way too high.

But, after rereading DANDR I feel that I am on track to really getting some control here. I guess it is going to take me a few months to accomplish it, but I am here to give it my all. I am finding that as I limit my carbs, even small amounts of veggie carbs will make my sugar go up a bit, so I am concerned, and have it in mind to limit myself even more than I am now, just to see what happens.

I discontinued my meds for now, because they were making me unbearably ill with the side effects, and life was just starting to feel like it was not worth living if I had to be on those awful drugs! My doctor has tried 4 different ones with me so far, and with each one, I became severely ill, and I just need a break from the drugs. So, I have to make Atkins work for me, and really get it under control with diet and hopefully not have to resort to drugs again. They were not bringing my sugar down to normal range anyway, so what good are they??? I know that I have friends that use the same drugs I was and are perfectly fine, but once again in this life, I have to be the odd man out, so to speak! I think I am hyper-sensitive to the meds.

So, I have to control this disease some other way, and Atkins is it, at least for now, cuz it is the only way of promise. I think the ADA has it all wrong, really. We shall see. I am one big experiment to put this woe to the test! Thankfully, my weight is really going down, so that is the best news. Perhaps my sugar numbers will decline as well.

I hope to make some friends on this board, and get the support that I need to make this work, as well as give support where needed.

Wishing you all a great day of low carbing!

Connie

[imagood1]

Re: Saying "Hello!"

Hi Connie -

I was diagnosed last July but didn't do anything about it until January when I started Atkins. I take glyb/metformin 5/500 in the morning and 500mg of metformin at bedtime. Luckily for me, I guess, I have never had any trouble taking the medication. I also have high triglicerides, high blood pressure so I take a wide range of medications daily.

I haven't had any trouble with blood sugar spikes by eating vegetables. As a matter of fact I eat more veggies than protein daily and this morning my blood sugar was 101-- this evening it was 94. I hope you can find the type of foods that work best for you -- for me it is less protein and more veggies.

Good luck to you on your journey.

[C0NNIE53]

Re: Saying "Hello!"

Thank you so much, Carol for your encouraging and gracious words! I hear you about all the meds you are on! I was too. The diabetic, plus statin, plus baby aspirin, as well as assorted supplements...then there are all the over the counter drugs that I needed to help me to cope with the symptoms of the side effects of the perscribed drugs! It is a vicious cycle and the doc was watching my pressure as well, and was ready with pen in hand to start me down those assorted drugs as well! Scary!

I do not know why I am having spikes with the veggies. If I eat salad greens, I am fine, and even broccoli in moderation seems to be fine. But, I have been checking a lot more closely this past week because of taking myself off the meds, and I guess some of the other veggies have too high a sugar content for ME! I might be able to add some things back again when I get more of a handle on my BG levels, which are currently bouncing around at the 200 mark, both just below and just above. I think I still have a long way to go to get it all under control. I am reading other books and articles right now about the low carb life and how it holds out true hope for us who have diabetes. It seems to all confirm what Dr. Atkins has said all along. I wish I had known all this when I was a teenager and the fat started setting in, even when I was starving myself. I now realize that all the time I have believed that I was flawed as a person, was really all about being physically flawed instead. As Rachel Heller told an Oprah audience some years ago, it is not your fault, it is biological! I am finally, finally, finally starting to even understand the depth of that statement. I have finally stopped blaming myself for being less than a good person, that somehow I was a pig or something. I can't count the days I have spent starving myself from my childhood on thru all my adulthood, somehow thinking that it would fix it all. I now believe that Atkins revlutionary plan will finally heal my poor abused, starved, fatter than fat body.

Thanks for listening to my frustrations!

Connie

[imagood1]

Re: Saying "Hello!"

When you don't eat your body goes into "starvation mode" and uses other resources for fuel -- so you were defeating yourself all along. Of course I remember when the pressures of dieting first started -- I went on my first diet when I was a Junior in High School (age 16) - my first real love had broken up with me and I decided to show him what he was missing......he didn't notice but I ended up getting sick because of the way I was eating -- guess I really showed him (NOT).

Through the years I always dieted for the wrong reasons, a special event coming up, going on vacation and wanting to look good, for my mother, my husband, the dog - every reason to diet EXCEPT ME.....now it's time for me!

When you have time to read it look at Sherri's journal - she was Type 2 when she started and after a few weeks she was off all meds and has been for over 5 years. http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...rns-i-see.html. When I get down about not loosing or thinking things aren't going right I remember how far Sherri has come and that she did it the same way I am - it gives me the power and want to continue.

[C0NNIE53]

Re: Saying "Hello!"

Hi Carol!

I really hear you and understand you as well! I think my Granny put me on my first diet when I was 10 years old, to lose five pounds, and if I could, I would be rewarded with a Barbie doll! I was put on a liquid diet called Metracal! I was soooo hungry! I only lasted a few days and only lost 3 pounds and never got the doll. My first meeting with failure!

But, I think from that time on, the idea of starvation stuck to me somehow, and to this very day, I have a real problem when it comes to eating on a regular basis, no matter how much my brain knows better! It is not uncommon for me to not eat at all, all day long and then have a hearty dinner and call it good! It becomes such a pattern that you don't even feel hungry till about an hour before dinner and then you start feeling desperate. I am really trying hard to have breakfast each day. That is HUGE for me! I still skip lunch more often than not, and will work on that as well. One baby step at a time! I also have huge digestion problems, and as I type this, my stomach is in pain. I am wondering if it is still in response to the drugs I was taking (maybe they are not out of my system yet?) that also made my stomach feel this way, or if it is the abuse of not eating on a regular basis? I am not sure, but now eating is harder for me to do because the pains escalate after a meal instead of subsiding. I am trying very hard not to take any over the counter meds to try to soothe it, for I think my poor stomach needs a break from drugs of every sort and hopefully, in a few days, this situation will disappear. I hesitate to talk to my doc about this just yet. I am hoping for a natural resolution!

Thanks for the link and encouragement to read Sherri's journal! I will try to get to it at some point today! Sounds like it will be very encouraging for me! I am glad you are hanging in there too, even if the process is slower for you than you would like. Things are never easy for me either. But, I feel like I am on the right road at long last! If my stomach straightens out, and my BG comes down, I will be one happy camper, and I will not care how long it takes to lose the pounds! For the first time, I have to say, that vanity is no longer an issue for me. I don't care. Health is more important, and I would like to be able to live at least another 30 years or so, and do it with better health!

Thanks for listening!

Connie