New Type 2

[luceeloo]

I have been lurking on this forum for a week or so, but have yet to make my first post.
Three weeks ago I got a urinary tract infection that wouldn't disappear on it's own, a few days later I went to an out of hours clinic where the on-duty nurse tested my urine, quickly did a blood glucose test and proudly announced that my bg was 19.1 and I needed to go straight for blood tests at the main hospital.
I did that, went to see my own GP asap and diagnosed type 2.
I was put on metformin 500mg twice a day, and last week upped to two tablets twice a day. My readings are still on the high side, the lowest it's been is 5.3, but it's generally between 7 to 9 two hours after I've eaten.

I'm 33, had no real symptoms of diabetes, except being overweight and obviously the UTI. T2 runs rampant on my maternal side of my family, with my Mom being the only one without diabetes... so I guess it was inevitable, but a shock nonetheless! Since the diagnosis I've been lucky to have been assigned a lovely DSN who seems to be really thorough and is seeing me weekly for the forseeable future.
However, I'm finding that diabetes is much more than being about leaflets and pamphlets and textbooks. It's about learning what your own body does!
Carbs... one slice of brown seedy bread sends my numbers into the teens. So after that misadventure I went low carb, and have dropped half a stone in a week. (My nurse congratulated me, but then said that she doesn't want to see anymore than a 3lb loss per week).
Then there's exercise: Small evening walks of 1 to 2 miles in length reduce my blood sugar to around 5.5... but what was my "usual" evening walk of a 5 mile hilly walk across the countryside with one of my faithful canine companions sent it up to 8!
I'm not sure I understand the logic there!

Anyway, that's me. Currently in a befuddled state of confusion over this weird disease. I've lost the trust I had in my own body, spend all day wondering what on earth I'm going to have for my next meal, and I'm currently lining the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies with the amount of test strips I'm getting through!

 

[debs6566]

Hi luceeloo welcome to the club that no-one wants to be in . Try and take your time and read and if you have any questions you will find that there are loads of people who have experience or advice to help. Im afraid Im not one of them being a nearly newbie myself but at least you know about your diabetes now and im afraid it all takes time and there is no easy fix but be strong and pop on this website and have a dabble
Debs xx

 

[daisy1]

Hi luceeloo and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. I expect you will need to know a lot of things so go ahead and ask as many questions as you like 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 well over 30,000 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 ... rains.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 blood glucose 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.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. You seem to be doing all the right things and your 2 hour readings are now not too bad. Keep up the reduced carbs and I guess the nurse is sensible in saying to control the rate of weight loss. I can't explain the rise in sugar after the walk but we all have strange things happening from time to time. You will get used to hunting and finding the lower carb foods! Meat, fish and veg are fine. Go for the lower GI carbs such as beans & pulses, raw carrots, berries and so on. Fatty foods are not off limits in sensible portions so I have egg & bacon for breakfast. There are cheaper strips on the web including eBay; just watch out for end date and any possible counterfeits.

 

[Andy12345]

hi welcome

at first your numbers will be erratic im afraid it took a couple of months for mine to settle down and make any sense, just keep doing the right things and you should fine they follow a pattern that makes sense and allows you to test which foods bump up you bg, good luck

 

[jinstone]

Hi there,
Levels seems to be one of the most difficult subjects of all. Despite the number of people diagnosed with diabetes there seems to be a lack of standards world-wide and even within in the UK. My doctor for example suggests that my NORMAL level should stay between 5-8 (that is before eating) so your level looks fine according to his instruction to me but other doctors and nurses seem to give out differing instruction. When I dropped below 5 I began to have hypo's. Walking to the station aftrer a low reading and I would feel dizzy and faint. Don't go to low and don't go to high, pain isn't it. I would try and stick between 5-8 for normal reading and allow for the fact that occassioanlly as a newbie your reading will be higher two hours after eating particularly if you inadvertently eat carbs or sugars. I think and I may have this wrong that 7 is around 52 on the new scale which is considered OK.
Outside of the pure glucose readings do watch your feet and your eyesight in particular. Get your feet checked and then watch them yourself and get a retinopathy exam.
Regards
Jeremy

 

[Yorksman]

Hi lucyloo,

The effect of bread is a surprise to most people. The problem is that most brown bread is not wholegrain. Wiatrose sell a wholegrain loaf which only contains 6% wholegrain flour. It doesn't matter if you add seeds to white bread, it's still white bread and most brown bread is white bread dyed, or with molasses, to make it brown and help it rise more quickly.

The figures below are averages of two groups. the first are eating white bread, the second a glucose drink. They start with fasting levels of 8.3 and 7.9 resp. The levels are then recorded for various time intervals in mins (1st column)

0 8.3 7.9
30 11.1 12.9
60 12.9 14.9
90 13.0 13.5
120 12.2 11.7
150 10.9 10.0
180 10.0 8.7

Effectively, eating white bread is like spooning in sugar. You can eat real wholegrain bread, but there are many fancy breads out there that have all sorts in them. Our laws are bad when it comes to bread descriptions. I will eat pumpernickel and do bake my own wholegrain rye wholegrain wheat mixes. That doesn't affect me. A single slice of white toast however is pushing it.

You will learn over time though what you can eat and what you should avoid. I eat brown rice (Morrisons) and wholewheat noodles (Blue Dragon) and wholewheat spaghetti (Buitoni) too. You have to get to know which brands you can trust though.

 

[luceeloo]

Thank you all for your comments I'm getting there, but still finding the random readings confusing.
Today I ate my "usual" - USN diet fuel protein shake for breakfast (no sugar, very low carb), and 3 gluten free crispbreads (which normally don't affect me) for lunch with plenty of salad and tuna. I've been drinking plenty of water. Usually my pre-dinner reading is about 5.5 - 7.5. This evening I've got a 12.8.
I had a very stressful afternoon at work, probably the worst work day in months, and I'm wondering whether stress would cause the release of glucose?

I was hoping for a relaxing evening after the hell of today, but it looks like I'm going a long walk instead, gah!