For about 3 months I have been losing a lot of weight without trying, have been going to the loo all the time and have been drinking gallons of water and feeling tired. I went to the GP a couple of days ago and he did a pee test, took bloods and said it looked like diabetes because there was lots of sugar in my urine. He asked me to make an appointment next week to get the results of the blood test and started me on Gliclozide. Then yesterday evening, the duty out-of-hours doctor rang and said the blood results were so high that I needed to go to the hospital to be tested again and probably admitted. The blood test was 25.3. They did it again and it was 23 and there were ketones. They let me go home without being admitted but said I should go to the GP today urgently and get tested again. I couldn't see my usual GP so saw someone else who was a complete nightmare - said he didn't have time to explain ketones to me, there was no point in doing the tests again since the drugs needed time to work, gave me no information about seeing the nurse (just told me to make an appointment) and generally left me feeling terrible. This is all a lot to take in and I am feeling completely shell-shocked.
Newly diagnosed and in a panic
- Thread starter Poppy62
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Mongolia
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Oh gosh you poor thing, not surprised you are feeling shell-shocked! Can you see the diabetic nurse at the surgery asap? I haven't been in the situation you are in so don't really know what to advise. I'm sure someone else on the forum will be able to help you more. Is there an NHS walk in centre you could get to?
Mike d
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sanguine
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Hi @Poppy62 , welcome and sorry for your traumatic introduction to our little club. Your numbers were very high and the o-o-h doctor was right to get you to go to hospital. Your alternative GP sounds really useful - not - I would try again insisting on seeing or speaking to your usual GP asap.
Beyond all that, we can help you manage this and hopefully get your BGs much lower. The gliclazide will help but you need to look at your diet too. Not just sugars but carbohydrates which metabolise to sugar quickly and so for us might as well be sugar. If you're on gliclazide you should be provided with a test meter I believe.
Anyway, for now have a look at the first link in my sig below and ask any questions.
Beyond all that, we can help you manage this and hopefully get your BGs much lower. The gliclazide will help but you need to look at your diet too. Not just sugars but carbohydrates which metabolise to sugar quickly and so for us might as well be sugar. If you're on gliclazide you should be provided with a test meter I believe.
Anyway, for now have a look at the first link in my sig below and ask any questions.
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Lazybones
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What an absolutely awful experience that you have just had to go through, and it's hardly surprising that you are feeling shocked by it all. Nobody should have to go through what you have experienced and you have found here in our diabetes site the right starting point even if the expert's haven't helped you so far.
Your Blood/Glucose levels are indeed far, far, too high and the Glycoside will definitely help in reducing these high levels, but you will need to pester them and get then to say what type of Diabetes is it that you have.
Your hospital should not have released you back into the community and to you GP having such high blood/glucose levels at least not without further support and a diagnosis that states what type of diabetes you have, if indeed the problem is a diabetic one in the first instant. You need to know where you stand on this as try as we might we cannot really give you the best advice without knowing if you are 'diabetic' for sure and of what type.
Please let us know as many of us would like to help advise you with a suitable diet, exercise and general advise.
Your Blood/Glucose levels are indeed far, far, too high and the Glycoside will definitely help in reducing these high levels, but you will need to pester them and get then to say what type of Diabetes is it that you have.
Your hospital should not have released you back into the community and to you GP having such high blood/glucose levels at least not without further support and a diagnosis that states what type of diabetes you have, if indeed the problem is a diabetic one in the first instant. You need to know where you stand on this as try as we might we cannot really give you the best advice without knowing if you are 'diabetic' for sure and of what type.
Please let us know as many of us would like to help advise you with a suitable diet, exercise and general advise.
Hi Poppy,
I'm sorry you are having such a bad experience.
I think you would need to get your blood sugar levels tested again. Do you have a local/friendly pharmacy that you could go to? They should be able to check your levels and give advice. In my opinion if you are still high, I would make a&e the first port of call and tell them the problems you are having and get them to check. I don't think they should have released you either.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on x
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
I'm sorry you are having such a bad experience.
I think you would need to get your blood sugar levels tested again. Do you have a local/friendly pharmacy that you could go to? They should be able to check your levels and give advice. In my opinion if you are still high, I would make a&e the first port of call and tell them the problems you are having and get them to check. I don't think they should have released you either.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on x
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Hi, I had numbers in the mid twenties and showed keytones in urine, also had lost 2 stone in weight, I turned out to be type2 and had to educate myself in its treatment, this isn't a death sentence, it's a lifestyle change and you've no need to panic (easier said than done) you do need to get your numbers down asap, the most effective way of reducing blood sugar in you is to reduce the amount of sugar you put in, as mentioned above carbohydrates are as good as sugar so you need to read up on the subject, this forum is jam packed with info and debates on the subject so have a look around, if however you are type 1 and have keytones this can be rather dangerous so you need to get answers from the doctors, if your go surgery won't give you the answers then I would waste a little time sitting in A&E, unfortunately we live in a world where we are given pills and pushed out of the door, your challenge is to not accept it, either way, whichever type you are, diabetes is very controllable and diabetics who take their condition seriously and are proactive live long happy lives just the same as anyone else, I suspect longer lives in many cases as they/we are more focussed on our health, the complications you will no doubt have read about by now are I suspect suffered mostly by people that cannot or will not take control of it.
I'm not medical, everything above is just an opinion
Best wishes
I'm not medical, everything above is just an opinion
Best wishes
June_C
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This makes me cross when someone is treated so badly. I went to my gp with all the usual signs, a blood test was done (bg in the mid 20s) and I was given an appt with my hospital DSN within hours. They were 99% certain I was T1 and I was put on insulin straight away. This was all on a Friday afternoon and I was given another appt for the following Monday. I'm so thankful for the way I was treated and this is the type of treatment you should expect.
Take care.
June
Take care.
June
jack412
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what june said rings true and I would take her story on what should be done in the way of propper care/testing.
this time of day they should be able to access the diabetic team through A&E
My uneducated guess is that you may be T1 and need insulin..I would seek immediate help, I would go to A&E and jump up and down till I'm properly treated and not fobbed off back to your Dr who seems uncertain how to proceed
T2's don't lose weight without trying..we get fatter before diagnosis normally
this time of day they should be able to access the diabetic team through A&E
My uneducated guess is that you may be T1 and need insulin..I would seek immediate help, I would go to A&E and jump up and down till I'm properly treated and not fobbed off back to your Dr who seems uncertain how to proceed
T2's don't lose weight without trying..we get fatter before diagnosis normally
daisy1
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@Poppy62
Hello Poppy and welcome to the forum
Plenty of good advice here from members. I'm sorry you have been treated so badly and I hope things will improve for you. Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, particularly the info on diet which will be very important to you. I expect you have loads of questions so ask away 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 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 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
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
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.
Hello Poppy and welcome to the forum
Plenty of good advice here from members. I'm sorry you have been treated so badly and I hope things will improve for you. Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, particularly the info on diet which will be very important to you. I expect you have loads of questions so ask away 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 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
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
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.
Thanks everyone, am beginning to feel calmer now. The on-call doctor yesterday said it was definitely diabetes but wouldn't say which kind. I'm 62 so aren't I too old for Type !? Have ordered a finger click kit which will come tomorrow and am keeping my appointment with my 'good' GP for Tuesday. I will also make an appointment with the nurse. And will never go near the other doctor again! It looks like there is lots of support here luckily.
That's the way ask questions when you have them your never too old ... At least that's what I keep telling my wife
ask questions when you have them your never too old ... At least that's what I keep telling my wife
June_C
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June_C
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Daks
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Welcome Poppy, comes as quite a shock doesn't it. T1 or T2 treatments are effective either side of the spectrum and this condition is very manageable, especially if you follow the advice given here.
Take your time, have a good read and ask heaps of questions.
Daks
Take your time, have a good read and ask heaps of questions.
Daks
Hi- don't panic - we are all here to help you. You should have seen a consultant to decide on the regime of drugs best for you. Try to keep carbs down, it isn't all about sugar. If you can get something sorted out, keeping the carbs down is a very good way to go. My hair fell out too when I was undiagnosedand I felt like rubbish - I had thrush a lot too,which is always hilarious as my name is Candida which is Latin for thrush. Don't go for diabetic icecream and all that rubbish at it doesn't help - get the Carbs and Cals book from Amazon which tells youall the information you need to keep the carbs down. This will bring you lower even without the drugs and once you get them, you will have a good regime in place. You should see a consultant though first off. Also, keep an eye out for aching shoulder joints especially if you have metformin as you can get frozen shoulders. Take B12 whichwill help with this and allsorts of mood and congnitive things and keep positive. We will all help you out if you post questions. Remember also, these are just suggestions from my experience, we are all very different.
Interesting to hear about thinning hair - that's been happening to me. I will start B12 immediately and order the Carbs and Cals book from Amazon. I hope when I see my own GP next week, rather than his rubbish partner, I can get to see a consultant. I think the horrible GP had his nose out of joint because the hospital told me to make an urgent GP appointment and get him to do the tests again.
orchid5
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- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Hi Poppy and wrlcome to the forum.
Firstly it saddens me to see someone treated in this manner and it isn't surprising to see why there are so many people who have diabetes gone unchecked if your visit to the GP is anything to go by. I would definitely complain to the senior partner of your practice as they need to know about the shoddy patient treatment one of them is giving!
This forum is full of advice more than you would get elsewhere, I too am recently diagnosed my B S was 24 2 so saw my GP straight away and started on Metformin. I follow the low carb and have approx 100 Carbs a day, however what suits one person may not suit another so will be trial and error. I can't emphasise the importance of testing bs as that is the only way of knowing what is happening and I feel a small price to pay for my health My sugars are now between 6.1/7 and that is in 8 weeks since being diagnosed so don't worry it will get better.
Good luck and keep us up-todate.
Firstly it saddens me to see someone treated in this manner and it isn't surprising to see why there are so many people who have diabetes gone unchecked if your visit to the GP is anything to go by. I would definitely complain to the senior partner of your practice as they need to know about the shoddy patient treatment one of them is giving!
This forum is full of advice more than you would get elsewhere, I too am recently diagnosed my B S was 24 2 so saw my GP straight away and started on Metformin. I follow the low carb and have approx 100 Carbs a day, however what suits one person may not suit another so will be trial and error. I can't emphasise the importance of testing bs as that is the only way of knowing what is happening and I feel a small price to pay for my health My sugars are now between 6.1/7 and that is in 8 weeks since being diagnosed so don't worry it will get better.
Good luck and keep us up-todate.
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