HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

lab results

Support Forums
>
Diabetes
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 5/17/2007 5:26 PM (GMT 0)
After 5 months of changing diet and lifestyle, I'm happy to say my lab results are winners for me.  A1c is 5.6; total cholesterol 173; HDL 66; LDL 93.  The only disappointment was the fasting which was 104 but the doctor says she feels it is still good considering it was the morning after Mother's Day!  (And after a week of having house guests I hadn't seen in 25+ years, so you know how that went! Ate more and didn't do any exercise except for the jaw.) eyes

Although I started using the glucose monitor last fall, it wasn't until January that I made a diet and exercise change in earnest.  I have been doing at least 20 min. a day of walking or more, using 5 and 8lb  weights and elliptical trainer.  Since January I have cut out carbs though on occasion I have had very small portions of bread, pasta and rice probably twice a month.  I eat chicken, fish, beef and lamb (sorry, Sandy!), cheese, salad, dairy products, nuts and, lots of vegetables.  I have to limit fruit to cherries and berries.  I have not figured out the % of carbs I eat in a day but it can't be anywhere near the 55% recommended by the ADA.  And, yes, I do drink wine with dinner, and a full glass of water.

I'm particularly pleased with the cholesterol readings because they were high in the past (totals were 209, 206, 232 and 223 the last 4 years) and in January the doctor suggested putting me on Lipitor.  I asked her to give me a chance to get everything to normal limits and she agreed.  Past A1c tests were 6.5, 6.6 and 6.7, so I made a big jump down there, too.

Because of the diet and exercise, I have lost about 20lb since January (Oh boy, I needed that.).  My resting heart rate is now 62.  It was 78 before.  I guess all of these factors have contributed to good numbers for me.  I don't know if only one behavior modification could be responsible for these changes but rather the combination.  I might add that my mood is also lighter.  :-)

So, all I can say to those who are newly diagnosed, there may be ways for you to better your numbers by some changes to your diet and lifestyle.  There really is hope.  As I look back over the past numbers for my annual physicals, my fasting numbers were 112, 116, 120, 130 and 123.  If the doctor had made me get the glucose monitor years ago, I could have started this earlier but it's never too late.  I'm 58!

Best wishes to everyone.  We're all in the same boat.

Lanie  

 

Posted 5/17/2007 7:02 PM (GMT 0)
This is beyond WONDERFUL!!! You could be the "poster child" for all of the newly diagnosed pre diabetics who are still able to be treated with diet and exercise. Congratulations. You may be one of the lucky ones who never have to go on meds.... Wow... How cool for you to get such great results!
Posted 5/17/2007 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, thank you, for the really nice words of encouragement, Jeannie!  I have learned so much reading everything on this forum for sure.  I was (and still am) determined to take control of myself instead of not paying attention to what I ate or did - or rather, didn't do.  I'm the only one who controls what I eat and if I exercise or not, so after the lousy lab results in January and feeling miserable about them, I had to change these habits for the better.  I don't know about the future - will the pancreas quit or not?  In any case, I feel like I have a new lease on life, and of course it's not only diabetes but heart disease, so I'm really pleased with the cholesterol readings.  Maybe my results really could inspire others who are in the same boat as me, who knows?

Have a great day! :-)

Lanie

Posted 5/17/2007 11:05 PM (GMT 0)
I'm thrilled for you, Lanie - your success is just the cat's nuts!

I think you've cracked it with the diet and exercise changes you've made. Daily exercise and a low carb diet has been instrumental in getting me fit and healthy again (most nondiabetic pals find it hard to keep up with me these days!). I doubt either of us could have achieved comparable results following a more conventional diet, and I sometimes despair of the official bodies who keep on with the low fat, starchy carb nonsense.

Incidentally, I think you'll keep seeing improvements if you maintain your new habits. A healthy nondiabetic's HbA1C will invariably range between 4.3 and 4.6% and I think the further we stray from these numbers, the more other problems start to emerge (4.6% is my best result so far, in 2006). 5.6% is fantastic progress though.

Well done!

fergusc

Posted 5/18/2007 12:09 AM (GMT 0)

There you are, Fergusc!  Long time, no hear.  Well, as you see I am very pleased with my lab tests.  These are great readings for me and it would be great to have the A1c even lower but my gosh, I can't imagine.  I am very satisfied with how my regime is.  I don't feel deprived in the least because I'm eating very well.  I'm never so hungry that I would eat anything in front of me.  I keep all kinds of nuts around for noshing.

I think part of my problem, and maybe that of others, is the mindset that we have to eat a certain way, and we have to have dessert every night.  Cake, pie, cookies.  That's not a good habit for everyday.  How did that come to be?  Cheese and nuts are fine.  However, I do have to use sweetener with tea and coffee. 

This experience has strengthened my resolve to keep it up or koko, "keep on keepin' on"  as Jeannie says.  :-)

Have a great night or day, which I guess is beginning over in the Uk.

Lanie


Posted 5/18/2007 3:20 PM (GMT 0)
YAY!  I am so happy for you! You are the poster child for good diabetic control (despite the fact that you eat those bits of flesh yeah ).  I would say more, but everybody has already said it all!sandy
Posted 5/18/2007 7:09 PM (GMT 0)
Fantastic, Lanie!! I truly admire your success! Keep on doing what you're doing 'cause it's working beautifully for you. :-)
Posted 5/18/2007 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Sandy and Phish, thank you and everyone for your encouragement and I have to tell you all I've learned is from all of you in the forum.  I spent literally hours reading through all the threads here which gave me a lot of information.  That and the glycemic index helped me figure out how I was going to approach this experience.  I made lists and lists of foods ("good", "sometimes" and "NO") and created my own daily form to record what and when I ate and the glucose readings.  It's paid off because my lab results this week are my personal best - which was all I could hope for.  It ain't over yet though.  This is going to be a life-long style because I realize it can become quickly undone if I slack off.  But now, it's a natural lifestyle for me, not a burden or deprivation, so if I can do it, anyone can.   yeah

Have a great weekend!

Lanie

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply