At 95 most of my contacts don't say much!

Providence 62 said:

Hi Mike,

Make the most of the afternoon naps, they will be gone soon!

Great news on the aqua (easy on the joints too).

I love my BG meter, I am quite geeky about writing down the results too. Doctor thinks it's hilarious. I got an SD Codefree on Amazon - very reasonable and the strips you need for tests are the cheapest. You might get a posh meter from the doctor because of your MS but normally us Type 2s have to buy our own. Personally I find the discipline useful and if my glucose goes up I can have a look at what I am eating - usual culprits for spiking my blood sugar as bread, potatoes, cakes, certain fruits and definitely sweeties! Oh yes and pastry, which is a shame because our local deli does the best steak and kidney pies in the universe.

Hope this helps,

P

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pleinster said:

You're getting there, Mike. It is really crucial, however, that you recognise the impact of simple carbohydrates (ie. foods with over 10g of carbohydrate per 100g of product are above what most of us would call "low carb"). It's not just the sugar - its the carbs too. Check the labels on foods and forget the sugar content - go by the carb content. Bottom line is that, put crudely, simple carbs break down into sugar in the blood and so have pretty much the same impact on your blood sugar level as sugar does. So yeah - do investigate LCHF diets. To try a quick check to see this in action - test before a bit of toast or some cereal and a couple of hours after - you'll see the spike. Some people can cope with different levels of carbs - so through testing and recording you should arrive at what suits you..and that helps the whole thing from blood sugar levels to sense of control to more optimism. I'm not saying abandon them all - but cut back where you can and drop as many as you can tolerate. Good luck

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Hiitsme said:

Hi @MikeinWales
I'm concerned about your MS and how it's affecting your pancreas. For me I assumed that I had too much fat round my liver and pancreas and so by losing weight it would help my pancreas to work better. If yours is your MS affecting the pancreas then I would suggest asking for more medical advice, I was diagnosed as diabetic but without other health problems so what seems to be working for me may not work for you. How much advise have you been given? I don't know if any others on here have MS? Three months without any guidance is a long time.

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Bluetit1802 said:

Hi again,

Yes, I do think you should buy a meter. In fact, I strongly recommend you do. Your GP may prescribe one for you, but he didn't seem too concerned about doing this or he would have done that already. Rather than wait, have a look at the Codefree. It is better to have 2 meters than none at all.

http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/

Pharmacies don't sell them, and don’t forget to declare you are diabetic in order to avoid any VAT.

There are discount codes if you buy in bulk
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833

Other meters are available, and some are free, but the cost of the test strips can be exorbitant, so do be careful. Some are as much as £25 for 50. The Codefree ones are under £6 if you use the discount codes.

It looks like @daisy1 missed the first tag I posted, so I'll try again. Her information is very useful.

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daisy1 said:

@MikeinWales

Hello Mike I think you may have already seen this but, responding to the tags above, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. This will help you to learn more about carbs and includes a link to the Low Carb Program. Ask more questions when you need to 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.

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Bluetit1802 said:

That's great news about the meter. If you need help with understanding the print outs, just ask, and do let us know how you get on with your meter. Ask question on how best to use it if you are unsure.

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Hiitsme said:

Good to hear that your doctor is supporting you with a meter. At least you will be able to see what is happening. Do ask questions and we will try and help.

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ickihun said:

Mine was 114 fasting blood test. I got it to 54 six months ago. I had thirst but that was all.
I experience burn out and tablets stopped working with a fatty liver to boot. Although my cholesterol was 3.8.
Now i have higher cholesterol and a hba1c of 61 with no fatty liver. My diet has received an overhaul.
It can be done.

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Typicaltwo said:

I think around 100 could be classed as pre-diabetic from a fasting blood test. I find this web page has a clear description of what the numbers mean (http://bit.ly/28VIVQi )
Physically, reducing your high blood sugars (hyperglycemia) is simple enough. You just need to reduce your sugar/carb intake to a level where your readings drop to 'normal' - how hard this is depends on your love of carbs/sugar (including alcohol). It's best to start by getting a finger-prick blood glucose monitoring test kit (http://bit.ly/28VLv8I) from Amazon or your local pharmacy to monitor how different foods affect your blood sugars. Start by doing the tests 1 hour before you eat and 2 hours after you eat for comparison. You need to read up on LCHF diets (low carb high fat) as this seems the way that most people are reversing their diabetes.

Good luck.

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