I’ve been feeling tired, out of breath for a few months. In December doctor did ECG blood pressure and a blood clot test, booked a chest X-ray. I called after a week and was told everything is OK. I put it down to getting older (57).
2 weeks ago I called again as feeling rough. I had a phone consultation and she arranged a full bloods test. 3 days later I received a text,
Your test results are available please telephone the surgery to book a telephone consultation with the diabetic nurse to discuss these. Thank you.
she is away on Holiday and I need to wait a week so know anything …. I know nothing about Diabetes at all only horror stories as I worked in care, blindness, losing limbs …
I’m trying to eat what I think I should until I speak to her, fruit, veg, whole meal bread ? Fish? I’ve order a couple of books ..
I’m panicking
This is an appalling way to treat anyone. I'm assuming you're T2....First thing, don't panic, the scare stories relate to people who don't manage their diabetes and allow the disease to get worse and worse. It is actually relatively simple to make quick changes to start to improve your health. First thing: forget all the "healthy eating" advice the NHS and the media keep pushing at us. This so-called "eatwell" diet is a high carbohydrate diet and while it might suit some people it is definitely not good for T2s like me. I would say it's what gave me T2 in the first place.
I guess you don't know what your blood glucose reading is - it will be higher than 48 as that's the level where they automatically diagnose diabetes. I would advise getting a blood test meter (
@Rachox has a list of what's generally available) that will give you a snapshot of what your BG is at the point you test, so you can evaluate the impact various foods have on your blood glucose. It will show you how you progress. We do not all react to carbs in the same way - some of us can tolerate more than others, or react differently to different carb sources. I'm particularly sensitive to flour, for example, and it will spike my readings very quickly.
This is what happened with me - when I was diagnosed in December 2019 (HbA1c 50) I stopped eating bread (all bread), rice (all rice), pasta, potatoes and sugar. Root vegetables are generally high in carb and I avoid them. I don't eat fruit apart from strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, and even then not so much. I eat lots of above ground green veg and as much meat and dairy as I want. I also usually only eat one meal a day and go 18 hours or so without eating. I have never felt hungry, so this isn't an ordeal. Lost about 20kg and six inches off my waist.
I have been on a ~20g carb/day routine since then, with the odd meal off (I mean every couple of months or so) but I've found I don't really want to eat carbs the way I did. My BG was back to normal levels in four months. Officially in remission by April 2021. Others on this forum have had much worse starting levels and have reduced them more quickly.
It is not all that difficult, but it depends on how well you can reduce your carb intake. You do have to want to do it.
