Absolutely devastated by diagnoses

Hello and welcome,

Well many of us know how you feel. I was also devastated and took more than 2 weeks before I wasn't crying every day. Now I can't say that I love have this disease- I don't BUT I am physically much better now than on diagnosis. And while I think I'm one of the less fortunate people in that my taste buds haven't changed and I would still like to be able to eat carbs most days it actually doesn't bother me at all. I have a 'new normal' without carbs and my life is just fine.

So- let yourself be sad and devastated- it's normal but know there are much better days ahead.

I highly recommend being an active member of this forum as it has literally changed my life. The reason I am in such a good place is this forum. The people on here are amazing and supportive.

However, the thing you need to do is to get a meter. Regular testing is what will tell you what your body can tolerate and how many carbs it can cope with.

If I were you- I would go very low carb. That's just my advice- it's what worked for me. I lost weight and brought my levels well within the normal range. As you are so young (I'm not) I think it would be in your best interests to get your levels into the normal range as quickly as practical.

So a few words of warning- google 'keto flu' it's a thing and I suffered from it. Google 'false hypo'. Again when you bring your levels down the body can resist. In my view neither of these things is a reason not to do it but just to be aware.

Read around. I have some useful links in my signature block.

Welcome and good luck.

Welcome. As above I know it doesn’t feel like it right now but this can be the bottom of the curve and it will get better from here. We’re here to help that happen.

Before we advise too much more can you clarify if you’ve been put onto any medications? Filling in your profile will help you get asked that less often. Or given any particular advice? Have you made any choices yet about the way forward for you?

Bree0817 said:

Thank you for your replies and kind words, it’s much appreciated. So far my doctor has advised me to try low carb diet and dropping weight and seeing how that helps my blood sugar. I have a follow up in a month and if there has been no change then I will begin a low dose of metformin. I just started 5 mg of amlodipine for high blood pressure as well. It usually runs about 145/95 at rest. I’ll go ahead and start filling in my profile for future references.

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Well it’s great you have a dr who’s low carb aware. And no problems with low carb and diabetes med clashes. The blood pressure usually responds to low carb too so if you find yourself going dizzy etc that medication might need adjusting later. And it usually raises good cholesterol, lowers triglycerides (ldl is a bit more variable but it makes it the large protective type more often so particle size is relevant there).

Below this message there’s a couple of links that have loads info that you may or may not have come across yet to help you find your feet and get started. Just shout if you’ve got questions.

Last question for now, do you know what your Hb1ac was (or any other diabetes scores were)?

Hi and Welcome @Bree0817

Your post pretty much describes exactly how I felt when first diagnosed. You have had some good advice from your Doctor to reduce carbs and doing so can have an impact quite quickly on both your sugar levels and weight. Funnily enough I found my diagnosis drew a line in the sand for me and the fear motivated me to take action that I had ignored for a long time. In taking it on that also had a positive impact on my depression as I focused on taking action to get on top of it

As others have posted this forum is an amazing resource of practical experience from diabetics from all around the world (Australia for me) and has helped me to return my sugar levels to normal and lose significant weight.

My initial advice would be to get a meter to test your levels. This gets you control and will help with food choices going forward. Of course reduce you carb intake.

Ask lots of questions here as you find the right diet for you

You have already made a great step in finding this forum and posting here

You could do worse than follow the advice of 2 of your country men Dr's Eric Westman and Ted Naiman. One of them uses what he calls prescription power level low carb ketogenic food, focusing on not consuming more than 20 total carbs of foods a day, with protein first. Ted focuses on protein predominantly, he says for those who are new find a few meals you love and eat the hell out of these. Practically this could be something like ground beef with onions, seasoning, several eggs and green beans, or pork ribs (lots) and chicken with greens. Rinse and repeat, whilst other choices are worked out.

Give yourself months to get some steady progress and years to perfect. Keto fixes so many ailments other than Type 2.

I have been in your position.
I was diagnosed early June, and I still have moments of sadness and unexplained emotion. However, I've started making changes to my life and it is already beginning to work. I've gone lower carb (by no means low carb compared to some) but I'm losing inches to my body and my weight is dropping.

There will be darker moments, but you have already taken a huge step in coming on here. This place has been a beacon for me, even if just reading other people's stories and taking advice. Ask whatever questions you need (there is nothing too "stupid" or "silly") - this is a friendly community.

You have got this.

I felt exactly the same in September last year when I was diagnosed aged 32. I was depressed for many months but things got better. I reduced my carb intake to 100g a day, I wasn't super restrictive as that wasn't realistic for me long term and being 32 I hopefully have a long time ahead of me to live with this. My blood sugars came down and I feel so much better. I'm pregnant at the moment and my blood sugars are still fine, the diabetic team at the hospital seemed amazed!

Things will get better. If the low carb doesn't help then it might be worth getting extra tests to rule out type 1 especially as you are young.

I think we pretty much all felt like that at first: you're taking it well though- looking at smart ways to control the situation is the way to stop it getting you down. I also think your doctor sounds quite helpful and aware, which is a big help too.

Cut the carbs, try to exercise as much as you can and you'll be ok. Frankly, there's an upside: for me, I felt terrible and couldn't lose weight no matter what. Once I knew what the problem was, I lost 40lbs in about 4 months and felt and looked better than I had in years.