Newly diagnosed

[Tessgurl]

Hello everyone

I've been a lurker for some time as I'd been diagnosed as pre-diabetic many years ago. Due to Covid and moving a couple of times over the past few years I'm sure I've been diabetic for about 2 years but officially received my diagnoses on the 2nd Sept 2022. My Hba1c reading was 54 and this was reconfirmed yesterday as the nurse wanted me to go onto medication straight away but I just wanted a bit of time to adjust to the news which also gave them the opportunity to recheck.

I didn't want to go onto Metformin as I tend to suffer with IBS, so she's prescribed Diraglutide. I'm okay with this as I've taken a Glp-1 drug before for weightloss with no real side effects. I'm also due to have weightloss surgery at some point as I'm morbidly obese. I’ve had two failed attempts (that's another long story) which I expect to help with remission.

I've tried low carb before but not done very well (I don't know if its because psychology I just think diet which has just worn me down over the years) but know I need to make changes that will benefit my health.

I'm due to pick up the medication today or tomorrow and asked the nurse what happens next in terms of monitoring etc. She said that they'll recheck my bloods in 3 months, I'll also be contacted by the diabetes program or something which has been a month since she referred and no contact yet. She also told me to use this site which I said I was already aware of.

Any help/info that I should aware of or focus on as a newbie, I'd really appreciate.

Thanks

 

[JohnEGreen]

Congratulations on deciding to take steps on improving your health.
One piece of advice I will give is ask your DN (diabetic Nurse) for a meter and test strips if it is refused then I would purchase meter and strips my self in fact that is exactly what I did when diagnosed then use the meter to determine what foods you can tolerate and those you can't and adjust your diet accordingly you don't have to reduce your carbs drastically at first but step them down gradually until you start reducing blood sugar levels more towards normal levels most people also find that lowering carbohydrates helps to lose weight.

Best of luck John

 

[Liam E]

Hello everyone

I've been a lurker for some time as I'd been diagnosed as pre-diabetic many years ago. Due to Covid and moving a couple of times over the past few years I'm sure I've been diabetic for about 2 years but officially received my diagnoses on the 2nd Sept 2022. My Hba1c reading was 54 and this was reconfirmed yesterday as the nurse wanted me to go onto medication straight away but I just wanted a bit of time to adjust to the news which also gave them the opportunity to recheck.

I didn't want to go onto Metformin as I tend to suffer with IBS, so she's prescribed Diraglutide. I'm okay with this as I've taken a Glp-1 drug before for weightloss with no real side effects. I'm also due to have weightloss surgery at some point as I'm morbidly obese. I’ve had two failed attempts (that's another long story) which I expect to help with remission.

I've tried low carb before but not done very well (I don't know if its because psychology I just think diet which has just worn me down over the years) but know I need to make changes that will benefit my health.

I'm due to pick up the medication today or tomorrow and asked the nurse what happens next in terms of monitoring etc. She said that they'll recheck my bloods in 3 months, I'll also be contacted by the diabetes program or something which has been a month since she referred and no contact yet. She also told me to use this site which I said I was already aware of.

Any help/info that I should aware of or focus on as a newbie, I'd really appreciate.

Thanks

When you tried low carb before did you really go all in on it?

For me there is huge difference between a"normal" low carb diet and really low carb. On a normal low carb diet I had cravings for carbs out the wazoo, on a really low carb diet (c.40g a day or less) they went away completely. 18 months or so in it is second nature, no will power needed at all. Might be worth a try before you start Diraglutide as that will complicate things as you could run into problems eating very low carb while on that.

As for IBS have you tried eating carnivore for a month to see if that helps?

If I were staring down the barrel of weight loss surgery (which I was 18 months ago) I'd certainly want to explore all other options fully first. While it does work it also comes life long issues.

All the best, Liam

 

[Tessgurl]

When you tried low carb before did you really go all in on it?

For me there is huge difference between a"normal" low carb diet and really low carb. On a normal low carb diet I had cravings for carbs out the wazoo, on a really low carb diet (c.40g a day or less) they went away completely. 18 months or so in it is second nature, no will power needed at all. Might be worth a try before you start Diraglutide as that will complicate things as you could run into problems eating very low carb while on that.

As for IBS have you tried eating carnivore for a month to see if that helps?

If I were staring down the barrel of weight loss surgery (which I was 18 months ago) I'd certainly want to explore all other options fully first. While it does work it also comes life long issues.

All the best, Liam

Hi Liam,

Thank for the advice. I did go all in when I did low carb before but just couldn't sustain it. I'll definitely revisit it but will start with cutting down on my portion sizes and testing what spikes my BGL.

Weight loss surgery is essential as I've been battling with my weight for approx 35 years (whilst still in primary school).

I have been on the NHS list for nearly 5 years so I'm well aware of the pros and cons.

I've not heard of eating 'carnivore' so will look into it.

Thanks

Congratulations on deciding to take steps on improving your health.
One piece of advice I will give is ask your DN (diabetic Nurse) for a meter and test strips if it is refused then I would purchase meter and strips my self in fact that is exactly what I did when diagnosed then use the meter to determine what foods you can tolerate and those you can't and adjust your diet accordingly you don't have to reduce your carbs drastically at first but step them down gradually until you start reducing blood sugar levels more towards normal levels most people also find that lowering carbohydrates helps to lose weight.

Best of luck John

Thank you so much for your response, I'll be speaking to the nurse next week so I'll ask about the meter and testing strips.

I think slowly reducing my carbs would be easiest for me.

I've already started exercising about 20mins 4-5 times a week in the last 6 weeks or so (from being mostly sedentary) and I think that is helping. I'm actually surprised that my Hba1c wasn't high like I said in my first post, I think I've been undiagnosed for about 2 years or more so I'm confident that with the changes I can make, my numbers should come down at my next test in about 3 months.