Good evening

[dawniet]

Good evening. Hope you are all keeping well.
I was diagnosed as Type 2 in February this year and felt very lonely since then.
I work full time. Have one son and a partner who are both great but even though I dont want my life to be all about diabetes, no one mentions it, its like the elephant in the room.
So was hoping I would be able to chat to some people on here.
I am overweight, unfit and very willing to change my life.
But not seeming to be able to find the info.
My doctor, diabetes nurse and the DESMOND course were all very helpful but none really gave me much advise on how to lose weight whilst keeping levels in check.

I hope you are all having a great bank holiday and any advice would be very gratefully received.

xxx

 

[Lizzy5172]

Hi dawniet and welcome. I was diagnosed T2 in March just 4weeks ago. I am also overweight and unfit. I have changed my eating habits by cutting out carbs and my bs has dropped considerably. I try to get more exercise as much as I can and also have lost 7lbs. It's slow but is working for me. Are you on medication? I am diet controlled for now so hoping for a better result next blood test. You will find lots of information and advice on here plus support. It has helped me so much.
Please don't feel lonely we are here for you and understand how you are feeling.
Good luck on your new way of life and mine has been a blessing in disguise plus a kick up the bum x

 

[Kat100]

Hello, nice to meet you, share and chat away as much as you like, lots of people to help you and support you with any goals....you are trying to aim for....
It's good you are already thinking about changes , there are many people on here who follow different ways of eating and different lifestyle choices, read as much as you can and do what is right for you...

Go,on your courses, keep your appointments , see if they help you....keep asking questions ...

You will find support here and a big welcome .....Kat

 

[Kat100]

That's a welcome to both dawniet and izzy .....

 

[Andy12345]

Hi, Welcome

they say sometimes the lonelyest place is a crowded room, its great you found us, we are or have all been where you are now in varying degrees, i understand the alone feelings, surrounded by people that do not understand, thats why i am here alot, amongst people that understand diabetes, understand the emotions, the methods of control and my obsession of diet, its great that you are prepared to try and fix yourself as i believe we have to do it ourselves rather than relying on often useless information given to us by our doctors and nurses, this isnt always the case but it has been my experience, do you self test your bloods? what is your diet like?

 

[Daibell]

Hi. The secret is to keep the carbs down. This will help both weight and blood sugar. Why the CPs don't offer this advice is beyond me 'cos it works for most on the forum.

 

[Mazzer]

Hi Dawniet, welcome to the forum, I was diagnosed Type 2 in February this year and also felt like you. My husband isn't very good with illness, he hasn't found out anything about diabetes and doesn't want to, although he is great in every other way, he just can't deal with it, so I know exactly how you feel. However, you have come to the right place for lots of support and friendly people will to give you advice if you need it. I am so glad that I joined this forum, I have learned a lot from reading all the forums and other people's posts, have a good look round and If you have any questions please ask.

Marilyn x

 

[Totto]

Hi! I was diagnosed in February too.

I have told my husband that although the diagnosis was sort of expected as most of my relatives on Dads side has it it was still a shock and that it will take time for me to come to terms with it so he has to put up with me being out of sorts now and then. It is a serious disease and difficult to cope with,

My way to handle diabetes is to cut down on carbs so that I can keep bg normal almost all the time. I have been low carbing in a gentle way for some years but still I got low carb flu during the first weeks or maybe it was wheat withdrawal symptoms.

I am fifty-one and must say I haven't had this energy since I was twenty-five or so. I take the high fat part of LCHF seriously and it works, when I can keep carbs below 30 grams per day.

I threatened my GP and DSN not to eat a single carb ever again if I wasn't given a blood glucose monitor and test strips on prescription, not even the smallest slice of fruit, not half a carrot. I got one and it has saved my life. It is the only way to tell what you can eat safely.

LCHF works very well for me. Here are some links to a very useful site:

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
http://www.dietdoctor.com/diabetes
http://www.dietdoctor.com/how-to-lose-weight

 

[Helsin]

Hi Dawniet, I'm also quite newly diagnosed. I've spent most of the last few weeks learning about how life will have to change. I have dropped my carbs drastically with no real regrets so far (although my husband's third slice of granary toast was winking at me this morning) and my digestion has improved considerably (previous IBS trouble). Easter without even a smell of chocolate is a bit sad, but I don't like the dark stuff and it's too early to see what a Cadbury's Egg might do to my BG just for the hell of it. Exercise is always going to be the hard one though as I was born with the lazy gene.

 

[dawniet]

Oh my, thank you all very very much for your lovely replies. I take Metformin twice a day and cholesterol tablets and also diet and exercise. My diet isnt that bad, its when I eat that probably doesnt help. I have a busy job and sometimes I get to mid afternoon and realise the time. Then I get home all different times and then eat later than I should.
My nurses answer to help with a diet and possibly joining a diet club was 'if you want to waste £5 a week to get yourself weighed then go ahead'. But then she didnt offer any other advice. I know they cant condone any one diet and that it is all about long term life style changes but a few pointers would have helped haha.
I asked about getting a monitor etc and was told to not bother.....
I think, from my DESMONDS course, that advise and help differ from surgery to surgery.
I know that I have to do the changes myself and I am and will but I dont like the assumption of - oh well you are overweight so you deserve it, which is what I seem to get from some people.
I spend a lot of time crying but dont know if this is due to diabetes, my age (45) or other hormonal reasons.
We spoke about testing ourselves at our DESMOND meeting and were advised against it, mainly due to if we had a high reading and were say at work, we wouldnt be able to do anything about it and would worry etc. We were told that exercise can bring it down but if at work that wouldnt be possible. I can understand this but seem to be getting lots of differing information from different resouces and my brain is spinning.
Thank you again everyone for all your help, it means a lot and am very glad I have found this site. Thank you. x

 

[dawniet]

Dont think condone was the right word, whoops. Probably support would have been a better choice. x

 

[Totto]

Thing is, if you have a meter you can learn to avoid the foods that will raise your bg so in a few months you know how to keep bg normal. Their fear of us panicking in our work place is plain stupid.

What does work is to test before and after meals. I test at one hour after food and keep testing every hour or sometimes half hour until my bg is back to baseline, not all the time obviously but when I want to know how a food item or combination of foods and drink affect me. My aim is to keep under 7, preferably 6 at all times but that is me. I have seen what badly controlled diabetes did to my dad and if I have to make sacrifices in my diet no problem, compared to all the complications he got. He was diagnosed at 50, like me, but only lived 22 years after diagnosis. He didn't have a bg monitor, I do.

 

[Andy12345]

people that dont know, dont realise that its carbohydrates that are the bad foods (my opinion of course) i often read about people thinking they eat healthy because they eat lots of fruit, sandwiches for lunch, etc etc, but in fact carbohydrate turn into sugar once eaten, so we need to drastically reduce eating potatoes, rice, pasta and bread, only eat berries if eating fruit and stop worrying about eating fat, never eat margarine, always butter, fat dosent effect our blood sugar levels hardly at all where as carbohydrates certainly do, also eating very few carbs help most people lose weight, this dietary approach is called low carb high fat or LCHF and worth having a read about on the forum, its awesome,

some people completely disagree with this approach because theres a general rule that we are all different and therefore difference methods work for different people, this is nonsense of course, lchf is the way to go lol

you can prove or disprove this to yourself without deciding which opinions are right or wrong by testing your bloods, this is essential, if your doc etc wont supply you with a meter you can buy them in chemist or online, although this can work out expensive, worth every penny in my opinion

 

[Lizzy5172]

Hi again dawniet I bought a code free monitor from Amazon which was only £12 and strips are only £7 for 50. It helped me y see what sort of foods sent my bs up. It is hard to get your head round it all as I know and please ask any questions you need and keep talking we are here for you. Please don't cry. Talk to us x

 

[Mazzer]

Hi Dawniet, you will find like many others that you don't get much support or advice from the NHS, What advice they do give, if any, is also very outdated. Everything I know about diabetes I have learned from people on this forum. I have been following the LCHF diet since I was diagnosed and have lost 24lbs in weight without even trying and my bg is under control. I was told by my DSN to test only once a week, but I bought my own meter and strips and test just before a meal and 2 hours after, sometimes 1 hour after if I have tried something new. There is a lot of information to take in to begin with, but don't worry you will be surprised how quickly you will get your head round it. We are a very friendly bunch, so don't be afraid to ask questions, we understand, so you are not alone we are here to support each other.

Marilyn x

 

[this is too difficult]

Hi dawnie. I too was diagnosed in February. I cut right back on carbs and have lost over 3 stone since then.
I now feel better than I have for years. My advice would be go for it seriously. loose weight and get the blood sugar down. its not easy but its your life.

 

[dawniet]

Hi. The LCHF diet definately sounds good to me. I will look into that. And i will look into the meters and strips. I am ignorant about these things, is it the one where you prick a finger and put a little blood onto a strip?

I think my worst thing is I have always struggled with my weight and joined numerous diet clubs and followed numerous diets and the most confusing thing now is that to control levels we are told to avoid some of the things that we usually increase in our diets to lose weight.

I think I need to work on my levels firstly and my weight secondly.
I successfully gave up smoking just over a year ago and never thought I could achieve that.
This is my next mission.

I was told as a general rule of thumb our meals should be 1/2 veg/salad, 1/4 carbs and 1/4 protein.

Sorry for all the questions but at the moment I am living my life with 'a little bit of knowledge is a very dangerous thing'..... xx

 

[dawniet]

Hi dawnie. I too was diagnosed in February. I cut right back on carbs and have lost over 3 stone since then.
I now feel better than I have for years. My advice would be go for it seriously. loose weight and get the blood sugar down. its not easy but its your life.

Well done on the weight lose, 3 stones since February, thats brilliant. I read a blog a few weeks ago that started something like this 'the bad news is your have diabetes, the good news is you have diabetes and could now feel better than you ever have in your life'. Apologies if this is a well known blog and I have got it completely wrong. x

 

[jack412]

this is what I did...
buy a BG [blood glucose]monitor/meter
stop eating grain, grain product, potato and anything with sugar. which will cut out your carbs, Nothing complicated and easy to follow and is similar to, but not as restricted as the atkins induction diet

food cravings that will get you for the first week
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm
when you get the cravings eat cocnut oil, butter, olive oil, mixed with peanut butter if you don't like the taste by themselves, a heaped teaspoon every half hr till they stop
and later, how many carbs
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/carblevel.htm

 

[this is too difficult]

Well done on the weight lose, 3 stones since February, thats brilliant. I read a blog a few weeks ago that started something like this 'the bad news is your have diabetes, the good news is you have diabetes and could now feel better than you ever have in your life'. Apologies if this is a well known blog and I have got it completely wrong. x

Don't apologise for making me feel good about myself
.