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Taken a year to come to terms with it

Just Jeff

Just Jeff

Well-Known Member
Messages
49
Location
Essex
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Politics, Football.
Hello All,

My name is Jeff and I live in Essex.
It has taken me a while to come to terms with my diagnosis, in fact it has taken nearly a whole year.
Going to the Diabetic foot and eye clinic has finally made me realise this isn't going away.
With both parents being type 2 and a life style that has not been the best. Drinking too much, only eating foods I enjoy, and very little in the way of exercise. The writing was on the wall.


So a bit about me.
43 at my last birthday.
I work in London as a freelance/consultant Systems Accountant, have two children 21 and 17 and married to my childhood sweetheart.

One of my passions is our Bengal Cat.
Picked up as a rescue from Battersea Cats Home, he is a lovely example of a 7kg Bengal. Hates and attacks everything that moves in the garden.

Another passion is my pair of SAAB's
Yes I'm a SAAB NUT! and have a 9-5 2.2tid wagon (Family Car) and a mk1 9-3 2.0t Convertible (Weekend Toy)

Hobbies:-
Computers - Programing/Development/Gaming
Music - Heavy Rock/Metal/Indie
Films - Anything but Rom Coms and Chick Fliks, but obviously I do have to watch them to keep my better half happy
Photography,
 
unholyimp said:
Hello All,

My name is Jeff and I live in Essex.
It has taken me a while to come to terms with my diagnosis, in fact it has taken nearly a whole year.
Going to the Diabetic foot and eye clinic has finally made me realise this isn't going away.
With both parents being type 2 and a life style that has not been the best. Drinking too much, only eating foods I enjoy, and very little in the way of exercise. The writing was on the wall.


So a bit about me.
43 at my last birthday.
I work in London as a freelance/consultant Systems Accountant, have two children 21 and 17 and married to my childhood sweetheart.

One of my passions is our Bengal Cat.
Picked up as a rescue from Battersea Cats Home, he is a lovely example of a 7kg Bengal. Hates and attacks everything that moves in the garden.

Another passion is my pair of SAAB's
Yes I'm a SAAB NUT! and have a 9-5 2.2tid wagon (Family Car) and a mk1 9-3 2.0t Convertible (Weekend Toy)

Hobbies:-
Computers - Programing/Development/Gaming
Music - Heavy Rock/Metal/Indie
Films - Anything but Rom Coms and Chick Fliks, but obviously I do have to watch them to keep my better half happy
Photography,
Click to expand...
Hi Jeff ..nice to meet you , love your cat ....he sounds wonderful ...
I am not sure we ever come to terms with this diabetes ....we just somehow learn to cope ...
I don't know how , we are all so different and find different ways to manage our health ...
Good having the support here , a wonderful thing ...best wishes ...Kat x
 
Hey Jeff, welcome to the forum, also good to meet a fellow Essex'r.

Diagnosed Type 2 Jan of this year, also have a 17 and a 21 yo, and also have a gaming community on steam.

Getting a bit spooky now!

As for the diabetes part, what does your diet usually consist of and how often do you test your bloods ?

I'll tag @daisy1 for you, she will be along at some point with some great information to help you get started.
 
Hi @unholyimp and welcome to the forum.

It is not unusual for people to refuse to acknowledge that they have a chronic condition and it takes some longer than others to come to terms with it.

This article explains the emotions and how you are having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. It is often described as a grieving process.

http://www.diabetesexplained.com/the-five-stages-of-grief.html

@daisy1 will be along soon with some basic information which should help you with some food choices.
 
Hello Kat100,
Here is a picture of the chap. Munching on his favourite catnip.

Hello Daks, thanks. My diet is a little boring to be honest. Porridge with berries for breakfast, Vegetables for lunch and normally some kind of steamed fish or chicken with vegetables in the evening.

My Doctor tells me I have only just slipped over what would be considered prediabetes.
Lucky or unlucky. The diagnosis came off the back of the treatment/surgical removal of a tumour in the tissue between the roof of my mouth and the gum on the left side of my face. I lost too much bone matter to be able to have implants, so have a plate.

And it was during some blood test they found my blood sugar to be abnormal. Hoping it would return to normal after the op.
Well it didn't, still looking on the bright side the tumour was benign.
 

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@unholyimp

Hello Jeff, from a fellow cat lover, and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information, as promised above, which we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 140,000 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

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.
 
Hi Jeff, glad to hear about the tumour all-clear. Welcome to the club and tell us how you plan to manage your diabetes. (We're very nosy here :))
 
unholyimp said:
Hello Kat100,
Here is a picture of the chap. Munching on his favourite catnip.

Hello Daks, thanks. My diet is a little boring to be honest. Porridge with berries for breakfast, Vegetables for lunch and normally some kind of steamed fish or chicken with vegetables in the evening.

My Doctor tells me I have only just slipped over what would be considered prediabetes.
Lucky or unlucky. The diagnosis came off the back of the treatment/surgical removal of a tumour in the tissue between the roof of my mouth and the gum on the left side of my face. I lost too much bone matter to be able to have implants, so have a plate.

And it was during some blood test they found my blood sugar to be abnormal. Hoping it would return to normal after the op.
Well it didn't, still looking on the bright side the tumour was benign.
Click to expand...
Lovely Geoff ....thanks for sharing your beautiful cat ....
Your tumour sorry to hear about that ....have heard about diabetes starting after surgical interventions ....
I to like porridge , or I just soak some oats in almond milk ...add a few things sometimes ....coconut , nuts a few, pumpkins seeds ...
You eat well ....I am veggie so would like your veggies very much ....chat later ....kat
 
Hello again,
Yes it's hard to believe when that picture was taken I had approximately 10 stitches in the side of my mouth and was about a week after the op.
Well deejayR as I'm relatively new to all this at the moment it's all controlled by diet. So far I have reduced my weight from 14st 3 to 13st, at 6ft this puts me just on the border of the OK/Overweight area on the guideline. Simple way of reducing my weight. Only three meals a day. Reduced portion size, cut beer drinking to a Saturday night treat and never more than two pints of one of my favourite ale's.
No snacks at all. If I felt any hunger, just had a glass of water.
Now with some weight loss everything seems a bit easier so my wife and I go swimming on a Saturday morning. Slowly increasing number of lengths each week.
Every evening sit-ups. Starting with a few, just until I felt the burn, and again slowly increasing the number every night. To strengthen my arms some lightweight weights. 5lbs but plenty of repetition on each arm.

I love fruit tea's and have found some health benefits with some. Do they work? I don't know but I feel heaps better so I shall carry on.
Peppermint tea after lunch and evening meal to aid digestion.
Camomile tea is suppose to help the body manage sugar levels. So after 8pm till bed I drink camomile tea.
During the rest of the day a combination of black tea or rosehip tea.
Virtually no shop bread at all.
I make a bread using spelt/rye flour.
A bit personal, but after some trouble with my abdomen I found out I have a slightly prehistoric gut and have an extra 8" of intestine this means I have slower digestive transit and the doctor recommended spelt flour instead of normal flour. Does it work? I don't know but if I compare how I felt two years ago I honestly felt like I was dyeing. So there must be something in it.
Daily testing at lunchtime my blood sugar is a reasonable range of 5.5 to 6.4.
If I stray from the above, boom I flip over at about 8 to 9

Once this happens I start to feel some of the side effects.
 
Welcome aboard.
Things sound good for you just now hope it continues like that ... you sound like you have it under good control.
 
Morning. Good work there, you obviously feel better and comfortable with your regime.
Fruit teas AFAIK are fine, so enjoy them. It's all water, which is what we need to be drinking.
I can't cope with any grain, so even spelt flour is no good, even when I make bread without added sugar. I use alternatives which are expensive so more as a treat really for small cakes, pancakes etc. I bought a LivLife "low-carb" loaf from Waitrose the other day and it's tolerable but not for me often.
Exercise, whatever you can manage, is excellent. If you're a bit serious about it there's a separate section on here.
Don't go hungry. People who need to lose weight (I'm not one) say it's a balance between carbs & fat and they can advise how they do it.
I just get as much low-carb stuff together as I can find and add some fat. Then I eat it all.
 
unholyimp said:
Hello again,
Yes it's hard to believe when that picture was taken I had approximately 10 stitches in the side of my mouth and was about a week after the op.
Well deejayR as I'm relatively new to all this at the moment it's all controlled by diet. So far I have reduced my weight from 14st 3 to 13st, at 6ft this puts me just on the border of the OK/Overweight area on the guideline. Simple way of reducing my weight. Only three meals a day. Reduced portion size, cut beer drinking to a Saturday night treat and never more than two pints of one of my favourite ale's.
No snacks at all. If I felt any hunger, just had a glass of water.
Now with some weight loss everything seems a bit easier so my wife and I go swimming on a Saturday morning. Slowly increasing number of lengths each week.
Every evening sit-ups. Starting with a few, just until I felt the burn, and again slowly increasing the number every night. To strengthen my arms some lightweight weights. 5lbs but plenty of repetition on each arm.

I love fruit tea's and have found some health benefits with some. Do they work? I don't know but I feel heaps better so I shall carry on.
Peppermint tea after lunch and evening meal to aid digestion.
Camomile tea is suppose to help the body manage sugar levels. So after 8pm till bed I drink camomile tea.
During the rest of the day a combination of black tea or rosehip tea.
Virtually no shop bread at all.
I make a bread using spelt/rye flour.
A bit personal, but after some trouble with my abdomen I found out I have a slightly prehistoric gut and have an extra 8" of intestine this means I have slower digestive transit and the doctor recommended spelt flour instead of normal flour. Does it work? I don't know but if I compare how I felt two years ago I honestly felt like I was dyeing. So there must be something in it.
Daily testing at lunchtime my blood sugar is a reasonable range of 5.5 to 6.4.
If I stray from the above, boom I flip over at about 8 to 9

Once this happens I start to feel some of the side effects.
Click to expand...
Well done sounds like you have it all under control now and your bloods are really good
 
catherinecherub said:
Hi @unholyimp and welcome to the forum.

It is not unusual for people to refuse to acknowledge that they have a chronic condition and it takes some longer than others to come to terms with it.

This article explains the emotions and how you are having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. It is often described as a grieving process.

http://www.diabetesexplained.com/the-five-stages-of-grief.html

@daisy1 will be along soon with some basic information which should help you with some food choices.
Click to expand...

The five stages of grief is a very interesting read and sums up a lot of what I have been feeling. I must say, the medics do not help with this at all, which in turns exacerbates the anger stage. Now I must be heading towards the acceptance stage and realise, with the help of this forum and all the fantastic people here (YES, YOU LOT), I can deal with this.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum, so sorry to hear of your mouth issues,:( I have had problems with that area too, but luckily for me, not what you had, but such good news it was benign. Good luck.

Take care and best wishes

RRB
 
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