Another boring newbie

Howdy Grumpy Phil

Ok first thing is to find out all your results!, go to the reception desk and ask for a printout of your results, scween and scweem until you get them, the key to the question is can i have MY results please, they are mine and i want them, you have a legal right to them, you may have to write a letter, if so do that, but how anal would they need to be to request that, next thing is to buy a meter, chemists sell them or the internet, i have read sdcode free meters have the cheapest strips and they apparently sell them on amazon, its very important you get one if you wish to get control of your blood sugars and why wouldnt you, uncontrolled diabetes is a whole lot worse than controlled diabetes, now start making a food diary and test your blood sugars before you eat and 2 hours after you eat, also test if you miss lunch or feel funny due to missing it, it will tell you how important it is to eat, cut down on your carbohydrate intake, carbs turn into sugar so eating rice, bread, potatoes and pasta are as good as eating sugar so try to reduce it, once your testing you will see what effect different foods have on you blood glucose, you can then start to modify your diet to keep your numbers down and voila! you have control and stand a great chance of keeping your eyes and legs until you dont need them anymore

any questions, please just ask

and dont worry about being grumpy its very normal to go through lots of different emotions on diagnosis, anger, denial, fear etc. oh and grumpyness of course, best of luck

Hi Phil,
welcome to the forum

Welcome to the group Phil!

Hopefully you will get the answers to your questions here!

Indiana x


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Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm not going to repeat what the others have said however, you said you are on gliclizide and for this point alone it is a drug that can cause hypo's and if you drive a car motorbike or cass 2 vehicles you have a legal obligation to test your blood sugar before you drive so the doctors should supply tou with a meter and testing strips


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Hi Phil and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will 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 70,000 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

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.

Welcome Your Grumpyness !
Only joking of course. You seem to be getting to grips with your diabetes, keep it up, I am sure that you will do well. You can ask anything you like on here and someone will always give you good advice.