Advice please

Hi @jacjacjac
welcome to the forum.
I don't have enough knowledge of the pre diabetes condition to give a sensible answer
but I will tag @daisy1 for her excellent starter reading pack ( just to be thorough )
and hopefully this will bump start your topic from last night and we'll get our helpful community to come and support

all the best !!

jacjacjac said:

Hi all,

I had a blood test last week and received a letter from my GP today saying that my fasting blood sugar was slightly raised which is an indicator for a condition called impared glycemia which can lead to diabetes.

They have asked me to make an appointment with the practice nurse for advice about lifestyle changes. I don't know how high my blood sugar was/is and I'm pretty clueless about the condition.

I did have gestational diabetes with my eldest child (she's three) but not with my youngest who is only four months. There was no sugar in my urine throughout the pregnancy and I passed two GTT's with no problems so i'm shocked that I now have pre-diabetes.

I am carrying some extra weight from the pregnancy and I was planning on losing the weight by upping exercise and following a low GI diet, but after reading some of the forum posts I'm worried that this isn't enough?

It seems as though some people with pre-diabetes are checking their blood sugar regularly throughout the day, and without sounding judgmental behaving as though they have full-blown type 2 diabetes.

Is this what I should be doing? Is diet and exercise enough to get my blood sugar in check?

Also could anyone advise whether or not I will be able to return to a normal diet if/when my blood sugar is on the right track and my weight goes back to normal, or will the pre-diabetes return if I eat the wrong foods? I'm 31 and my BMI is currently 27.

Thanks in advance

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Welcome to the forums @jacjacjac ,

It would be a good idea to phone your surgery and ask for the actual numbers so that you get a better understanding of what's going on before you get too worried. Around these parts, impaired glycemia is more commonly referred to as pre-diabetes and should be taken as a warning that if you continue along your current path you are likely to develop diabetes.

With diet and exercise you may well be able to reverse the trend and get your blood glucose back to non-diabetic levels. But if your diagnosis is confirmed then I'm afraid that you will, most likely, always be at risk and will need to monitor your situation.

@jacjacjac

As mentioned above, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. 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 over 150,000 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

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


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 @jacjacjac I'd suggest you have a good read around the forum before you see the nurse - I did this on diagnosis between GP and nurse visit and it really helped me. Also, remember you are allowed (in fact encouraged) to take control of your health - don't feel you have to just do what they say (ie take lots of med), respect them obviously but it is your body and your health. With hindsight I should've made a stand against all the medication and asked for 3 months to get things under control with exercise and diet. I'm now doing this and looking to come off meds, but know I can't go back to my old lifestyle (not that I would want to!) or it will be out of control again.

Feel free to ask any questions, someone here has been there and everyone is very friendly