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Newly diagnosed, looking for support and advice

sturoberts75

sturoberts75

Member
Messages
10
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello there,
I have very recently been told I am a diabetic, I think it is a Type 2 diagnosis as I have been prescribed metformin, but as of yet I have not had much in the way of advice... sounds bad, I best give a little background info

2 weeks ago I was rushed in to hospital with an abscess on my neck, and in the spectrum of tests that I went through I was told that apart from being obese (I am very overweight) I have high blood pressure (Goes hand in hand with the weight) and high blood sugar (Initial reading was 19.8)

The op on my neck went well, and the hospital were looking after me with what seemed to be great care, I was getting regular finger prick tests to determine my current blood sugar levels (They were sitting around the 11-12 by the time I was discharged), If my sugars were over 15 they did a Ketone test (Read up a little on this) and injecting me with insulin, I was also started on metformin 500mg once daily, but told to increase to twice daily, then 1000mg twice daily (Nausea permitting)

I am now at a point where I am taking 1000mg Metformin with my evening meal and 500mg with my breakfast and suffering no side effects (Other than the smell of fried eggs now makes me gag), I have booked an appointment with my GP (Due to see him in a few days time)

Now the nitty gritty, nobody in my my family or social circle is a diabetic (That I am aware of), what do I need to expect? Will my GP be able to put me in touch with people that can explain what is good for me to eat, what I should avoid (Currently switched to sugar free drinks, no sweets/chocolate/desserts), are their any pertinent questions I should bring up with my GP?

I was advised I am a good candidate for bariatric surgery (Apart from the help in losing weight would this aid me as a diabetic?)

I am also an ex smoker, smoked around 40 a day for 20 years, now have a 'Vape stick' , But I read somewhere that even these can raise blood sugar levels.


I would heartily appreciate any advice, warnings, good questions to ask my GP that anyone can give, I feel a little overwhelmed at the moment.
 
Hi sturoberts75.:) And Welcome to the Forum. I will tag @daisy1 who will provide you with some basic information all new members receive. :)
 
Hi sturoberts75.:) While you are waiting for the basic information. If you go to the top and tap on FORUMS, scroll down to FOOD and NUTRITION there you will see a list of various diets. Hope that this will be of some help to you. Everybody on this forum is friendly, helpful and some very knowledgeable. If you ask a question - someone will answer. :)
 
We were all in a similar point once, a high percentage of users on this forum who are like you Type 2 have benefited greatly from information @daisy1 will post. The official NHS dietary advice to diabetics is concentrate on lower sugar intake alone rather than reducing the intake of all çarbohydrates. Many of us have had great success with a lower carbohydrate diet.
 
Welcome @sturoberts75 welcome to the forum. Do not despair :) your GP will give you advice and information and perhaps a referral to a diabetic specialist nurse and/ or dietician. Meanwhile as @liam1955 and @Sirmione both mentioned you will shortly provided with some great common sense information and you can read up on various aspects of diabetes. Don't worry none of us learned everything right away, diabetes can be managed so that it doesn't take over your life. You're already on the right road, take care and chin up!
 
Hi @sturoberts75 Have you got a BG meter? If not ask your GP for one. Or buy one, the Codefree has the cheapest test strips.

If you test before and one and two hours after a meal you'll soon learn what you can eat and what you should avoid. For most of us starch is quite as bad as sugar while fat is filling and doesn't raise BG.

I like the Dietdoctor http://www.dietdoctor.com/diabetes and he has some brilliant advice, both for weight loss and BG.
 
@sturoberts75

Hello and welcome to the forum :) To help you to get started, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
meagainbutnotforlong said:
What was your diet like in hospital while the were injecting you with insulin?
Click to expand...


Typical hospital food, breakfast was a choice of white toast and butter or weetabix (Took the cereal route), Typical lunch was a cup of veg soup, small meat and 2 veg main course, something sweet for dessert (I was having fresh fruit or yoghurt) dinner was a repeat of the lunchtime format, with the option to have a sandwich instead of a hot meal.
 
Typical hospital diet - everything a type 2 should avoid like the plague.
Butter is OK though.
 
I think breakfast will probably be the trickiest change for me as I am a toast or cereal type of guy, until my GP has seen me I am just trying to be sensible and follow the advice of the posts on here.

I have cut out white bread and replaced with small slices of brown, white rice and pasta is gone replaced by brown rice and wholewheat in much smaller portions, lots of veg, did crack and have a 2 finger kitkat to get rid of my sweet craving yesterday, I ended up breaking it in to tiny bits and sucking them to death over a 20 minute period (I normally would have eaten the whole pack of 7 bars in that time)
Good news is, weight has gone from 27st 10lb on 13th Jan, to 27st dead today, only 2 days until I see my GP and then the ball can really get rolling (I hope)
 
sturoberts75 said:
I think breakfast will probably be the trickiest change for me as I am a toast or cereal type of guy, until my GP has seen me I am just trying to be sensible and follow the advice of the posts on here./QUOTE]

Cereals aren't good, but if you like toast Burgen Soya & Linseed loaf is good toasted. You can buy it in most major supermarkets.
And LIDL do a High Protein roll which is low in carbs and nice toasted. They are quite filling too.
Click to expand...
 
Like @Prem51 said Burgen soya + linseed loaf is much lower carbohydrate than wholemeal and is delicious. Lidls HP rolls too. I can't do without my toast for breakfast so I allow myself ONE slice of Burgens toasted with butter and cheese, its the only bread I have all day though and I used to have sandwiches every day for lunch and toast at suppertime too. You do eventualy get used to the new diet, and your weight loss, so far is really impressive. Well done you're on the right road now.
 
And for the sweet craving a couple of squares of high cocoa content dark chocolate would be better than a Kitkat.
Green & Blacks 85% cocoa Dark Chocolate is good, and you can also buy that in most supermarkets.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ooh I love dark chocolate, thank you, I hadn't considered it, I looked at a kitkat as having a thin layer of chocolate and therefore not a lot on 2 fingers.
Sweet cravings have not been too bad thus far, biggest struggle is not using my vape stick unless I am feeling really fractious, but small steps and all that, I am certain a couple of puffs on that per day is better than 40 marlboro.....

once again sincere thanks to everyone here, you have helped me stop worrying anywhere near as much as I was
 
Most us (but all) on the forum eat varying ammounts and types of carbohydrates but in your position my personal view is you should forget about any kind of bread, cereal, rice pasta, fruit or root vegetable until your blood glucose numbers start to come down, Once self-testing confirms you have some sort of control of your blood glucose you can start to experiment re-introducing small amounts of carbs one at a time and monitoring the effect
 
I have no idea on current BG levels as I have no tester until at least Wednesday once I have seen my GP and I am not in a position to pay for one until I get back to work and earning........
 
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