As others have said, there's a decent chance you can cure this (or maybe kick it downrange to age 65+) by doing a major change in lifestyle. Goal is to eliminate ALL excess body weight, avoid certain food, and get daily exercise. This has worked for a lot of people, including my Dad. I don't know but suspect your odds of success are better if you start sooner. Also be advised that the AME test picks up blood sugar only after it's VERY high (pushing 200). Pre-diabetic is 100, 120+ is diabetic IIRC. Unless you've been getting regular checkups with bloodwork you could have been technically diabetic for a while.

Yes, there's often a genetic component but diet and body weight is a HUGE factor, probably the biggest.

-Eliminate all bad carbs.
-Strictly limit good (whole grain) carbs.
-Eliminate essentially all processed foods.
-Eliminate all sucrose. It's in a lot of foods (all processed foods) so you may have trouble avoiding all of it but be very selective. For deserts, you're really looking at fruit-based stuff to avoid the sucrose.
-Alcohol is a sugar, unfortunately beer has a lot of carbs so go with wine or the good stuff in very limited quantities if at all.
-Protein is good.
-Vegetables are good
-Fruit is good (your body can handle fructose in reasonable or maybe even large quantities).
-Fat is OK, but it will contribute to body fat if you eat too much and don't get enough exercise.

Exercise...last but not least. Cardio is key to lose weight and keep it off. Work up as fast as you can without injuring yourself. I'd guess you need one hour of moderately strenuous or two hours of light exercise (fast walk) daily to get where you need to be. By daily I mean you can take Sunday off, and you should probably do that to give your bod a rest.

Try a variety of cardio exercises and machines. There are several reasons for this...
- Reduce chance of injury while ramping up.
- Reduce monotony
- Initially a new (to you) exercise will burn a lot of calories, but once your body gets used to it and becomes more efficient you'll burn less. Mixing up the routine helps keep your calorie burn a little higher for the time on the clock.

I would initially avoid cross-fit type activities unless you're already very fit. Too much chance of injury, at this point you just need the cardio.

Swimming is good stuff if you do it hard enough (ask me how I know) but since it usually lowers your body temp just a tad it will trigger a big hunger spike afterwards. I'd avoid it for now unless you have physical injuries that hamper other activities, in which case swim your arse off and apply self-discipline with what you eat afterwards.

If you're going to run but are not used to it, do hamstring and shin stretches for sure (google if needed). Ramp up gradually for two weeks, but THEN TAKE ONE WEEK OFF. Do not play around with that, take the third week off running (you can do other things). Shin splints and green-stick fractures are the reason why.

Also slowly ramp up to at least some light strength training...at your age that will help avoid injuries plus muscle-mass burns more calories.

If you're on the road and the only food available is crap, then just eat the meat patty and whatever fruits/veggies you can find. If you're too tired for a real workout, get on the treadmill and walk until you run out of time.

Some good news. This sounds hard, but once you get in the groove you'll feel a lot better and really won't miss the bad foods anymore. The exercise will get easier and you'll look forward to it. Once you get your BS under control then you can carefully experiment and see what you can bring back into your lifestyle. Dad was off beer for a few years just to be safe but he's back now. You might find yourself better off in the long run than if this had never come up.

 

I've been at all of the diet recommendations you posted for the last three weeks. I still need to reduce the number of calories I take in, but I've been eating healthy.

In the past three weeks, I've only missed using the treadmill 3 days. Lifting weights as well 3x weekly.

I feel terrible though. I've felt terrible for a while, 4-6 months or so, and had actually taken a lot of time off from work prior to this.

I'm not terribly overweight. Doc says I need to lose another 20 pounds. I'd already lost 10-15 pounds since the beginning of the year. I though it was because I'd cut out the candy/junk foods, but it may have been from the diabetes actually.

I'll see the Doc again in several days. He'll have all of the blood test results then. Hopefully it's not Type I or pancreatic cancer.

 

Unusual for "Type 1" to just emerge, at this point in your life probably.

Don't know about Pancreatic Cancer but I'd guess that's doubtful too, just because you have some high Blood Sugar numbers, and by now, you've probably determined that your A1c is at a bad point too!

My guess (based on how I felt when I radically altered my diet and added a bunch of activity) is your body is just adjusting (making you weak) to the new regiment.

Keep the faith, and wait until your treating physician gives you the real story.

I'm guessing, based on your co-operation to the program, you will soon see some results, in a positive way.

Good luck!


Jabr800

 

My A1C was at 10.2 or an average blood sugar level of 280 a week ago Monday.

My home testing over the last two weeks has been under 200 for the most part.

 

A1c of 10.2 is a real bad deal.

FAA is required to pull your medical (any class) at 9.0 or greater, but that is academic.
They usually won't certify any Airmen above 8.0, plain and simple.

You have a ways to go to achieve <8.0, with diet and exercise only, but I imagine it could be done, with the sacrifices you're making.

If it becomes unachievable by your current methods, the next step from your treating physician will likely be in the form of oral medication for Type II Diabetes.
Many of the standard Meds., are accepted by the FAA and you can then achieve that First Class Medical again, as a Special Issuance.
Not a big deal from the FAA standpoint, if you submit an excellent paperwork file, at the time you request the Special issuance.

Before FILLING any prescription for Oral Meds., check with the FAA database or AOPA, whether the Feds., will except your new med.

The Meds. Require a 14 - 60 day down time typically, then the file is submitted to the FAA Aeromedical folks.
Hopefully your treating physician has a quick office staff, to assemble the required letter and paperwork file.

You should be keeping copies of all your blood lab work/reports, doctor office notes from each visit, prescriptions given, etc..

Then, the current average of turning a Special Issuance around in OKC is at 105 days right now, if your AME is like so many.
If he/she is like mine, he has them on speed dial, and issues my medical at the time of my visit.

Better be prepared to learn the system, and make it work for you while you have this downtime.


Jabr800

 

My older kid got diagnosed with Type I diabetes at about age 12....and a year later found out he had Celiac Disease (cannot eat gluten). His A1C was running about 7.0. He has an insulin pump.

If we don't get Type II Diabetes under control, by changing people's eating habits, it will bankrupt America (and is also Canada's #1 health concern).

 

not a doc but my understanding is possible kidney/renal issues/malfunction had it not been a "dehydration-only" issue. The observation is the doc became alarmed and raised some eyebrows during your medical. something to be avoided

 

as an aside, I get bloodwork, urine analysis, sucrose check, etc via a private doc once a year. PSA also. I have a hand written log-sheet (tried excel but pain in a..) with my data each year.

a little OCD but the person responsible for my health is me

 

If you have excess protein in your urine in can be a by product of Type II... fatty liver... if your urine "foams" more than normal pee ... thats a good indicator of excess protein in your urine. FAA is not happy about high liver enzymes because of "fatty liver".... they harped on my for over a year with test after test.. including echo scans... until thru diet and exercise my liver profile returned to very very near normal. Everyone is a bit different you will figure out over time what the BS triggers are for you.. .some things that you would think will spike your BS won't... and vice versa..... overall my results have been good.... liver function and profile back to normal... BS levels normal for over a year... off the meds as of Jan.

 

Odds are high it's just Type-II. Keep plugging away, as Jabr mentioned it's probably just your body adapting to the new program.