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Bewildered and confused

D

Dalaney

Member
Hello

I have been diagnosed just over a week and still reeling from the shock of it all and screaming at the universe but also spending a lot of time trying to understand it all. I cope much better when I know what I am dealing with and am prepared to face any challenge. I am due to see my dibetic nurse tomorrow and I am making a list of things I should ask her. My doctor put me on Metformin once a day after my oral glucose text results came back 8 and 14 (before and after glucose drink) which then officially made me a diabetic. Looking at this great firuma nd a couple of otehrs I see testing is the way forward but my doctor said I didnt need to test as there was no point as it was not like I was on insulin and could make adjustments. She adviosed low carb dieting and even said if I lost 5 stone this coudl actually go away ( her words) So do I concentrate on losing the weight and not worry about what i eat ? This is confusing me as I usually follow slimming world diet to lose weight and eat a lot of rice, pasta and potatoes which helps me to lose weight but reading what I have is not good for blood sugar levels? I have invested in a blood glucose monitor from Amazomn and should have that ina few days but looking at the NICE guidelines for diabetes it states that " self monitoring of plasma levels should be available to those on oral glucose medications to provide information on hypoglycemis and to assess changes in glucose control resulting from medication and lifestyle changes ? So does this mean I can insist on a meter, strips, lancets and sharps pin? As this is going to be an ever incresing cost burden for me?

Can anyoen advice ?
 
I have just replied to your other post about the meter and strips. :)

There are lots of differing opinions on the right way to go regards diet and it is very confusing. I have a ton of weight to lose too and am still trying to get my head into gear nearly 9 months after diagnosis!

What I would suggest is this. Cut back on your rice, spuds, pasta and bread. Halve the quantities of them, use brown for the pasta and rice and try burgen bread (£1 per loaf from Iceland). There is a whole load of debate about fats here on the forum and it can be bewildering but I would just advise moderation. I don't use low fat spreads but use butter instead, I have cut down on my amounts cos I love it too much!

Increase your veggies, don't eat too much fruit (quite high sugar) and the weight should start to come off.

Main thing is don't panic and don't try and do too much too soon. Have a read around the forum, ask questions-you're not alone with this. :)
 
Hi Dalaney and welcome to the forum :) This information which was written for new members should help you a lot to get things sorted out in your mind. Ask as many questions as you need to as there is usually someone here 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 well over 30,000 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 ... rains.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 blood glucose 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for your responses both rally helpful I am definately going to try and build a case for strips, I live alone in a very rural area and I work as a social worker so I am on the go all day so need to fit in meals as I can.
 
Hello Dalaney me again.

I'm a bit tied up with work at the mo so apologies for the following as its just a cut and paste job from other posts I've made but hopefully it will get you on your way.

There are many ways of getting control of your diabetes but many of us like to try to do this using changes to what we eat and combine that with a minimum of drugs usually Metformin. If you are get a reaction that lasts for more than a few days to Metformin (running to the loo, stomach pains etc.) you should go back to your gp and ask to be put on the slow release version (SR). Metformin also tends to also give some of us those kind of reactions if you are eating too much of the wrong kind of things. It's metformin's way of saying "Don't eat that!" Metformin is a very effective drug and is by far the safest that can be prescribed so its worth persevering with.

If you want to try and control using what you eat as the primary way then a good place to start is cut down on carbohydrates especially the starchy ones rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry and cereals. Cutting drastically or better still stopping completely anything sweet with a high sugar content is taken for granted. Sugar is just a refined form of carbohydrate.

You may find the advice I've given you will conflict with later advice you may get from your NHS dietitian or nurse but you will have to believe that the vast majority of people on this forum believe that cutting carbohydrates is the key the only real debate we have is by how much. If you were Swedish or German or in a number of the more enlightened countries this advice would be told to you on diagnosis however the NHS still relies on diet info that is now nearly 40 years old and is very out of date.

Try halving all of the starchy carbohydrates you currently eat. That's bound to make you hungry so replace what you drop with meat, cheese, eggs, fish and especially vegetables. Try to eat vegetables that grow above ground rather than below although many of us find carrots to be ok. If you like fruit then a small amounts are fine and the ones ending with "berry" are the best. Things like yoghurt should be fine in moderation as well.

On the half you have left try the following

Change white rice to brown basmati rice
Change white bread to wholemeal or better Burgen soya bread
Change white pasta to brown or green or the tri colour stuff

Never eat mashed potatoes it's the one form of potatoes that nearly all diabetic have real problems with. Believe it or not the best potatoes for diabetics are roast ones.

I was diagnosed just 12 weeks ago with extremely high blood sugar levels and by following the great advice I found on this forum I now have my blood sugar levels back to nearly being in a non diabetic range at all times of the day and have lost just under 40lbs in weight. Cutting carbohydrates is not a cure but will allow you to get control of things and will certainly make you feel a lot better.

I must be truthful and say doing this has been hard work but it gets easier everyday. Also I must be truthful and warn you that cutting your carbs by half may not be enough as many of us on here have found. I still get to eat some of the things I've warned you about but in no where near the quantities I used to. Saying that 12 weeks down the line I hardly miss them now.

The next important thing that most of us recommend is to test your own blood sugars using a blood glucose meter. Again you may well be told that it isn't necessary by your gp or healthcare team but how else are you supposed to understand what foods are dangerous and what foods keep you safe. You will find lots of advice on testing and what are safe blood sugar levels on the forum. What you should be aiming for is to have blood sugar levels always below 7 prior to eating and then below 7.8 two hours after eating. Again you may get told this is not necessary but these are the internationally recognised safe blood sugar levels that all countries work to. If you think you want to test yourself the currently the meter that is cheapest but is getting good reviews by forum members is called an SD CODEFREE. The cheapest place to buy it is on the health.co.uk shop on eBay where you can pick it up with a case a spikey thing and 60 test strips for around £18. People are buying that model because buying test strips for it are far cheaper than any other model currently £4.99 per 50 strips. If you can afford to I'd buy as many test strips as you can on the initial order as you'l save on P&P later on. Make sure you buy a UK mmol/l model and not the US mg/dl version or you'll get really confused by the numbers that come up!

Take care and keep asking as many questions as you need to.
 
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