Confused

Hello. Firstly don't apologise about the long post....talking is good.
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a bit going on. Firstly I'm going to tag @daisy1 who will be along shortly with a welcome pack of reading material - do read it.
No one on this forum can give medical advice or diagnose, but we can share experiences.
For many of us the Type 2 Diabetes was being accelerated by the amount of carbohydrates (Sugar and starch) we were eating.
If you can gradually turn off the tap of carbs into your bloodstream then you will have less sugar attaching itself to your blood cells, scratching away at the blood vessels doing harm.
It may take a few weeks to work out a plan that works for you but start working this out and you can hopefully get on top of this.
Here is my blog on my first 50 days post diagnosis -
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/type-2-my-first-50-days.2190/

let us know how you get on and explore this site for more info.

Hi and welcome to the forum. First let me tag in @daisy1 for her useful info post. It is a confusing time and many of us feel we haven’t received enough support from our HCPs, however this forum is bursting with support and advice so you’ve come to the right place. I’m glad you have got yourself a blood glucose meter and have commenced a low carb way of eating. Please ignore your nurse’s comments about limiting self testing. Loads of us test so we can learn what food we can tolerate and we can also monitor trends in our levels. High cholesterol, derranged liver function and high BP often come hand in hand with type 2, I had them all. All but my cholesterol have righted them selves with low carbing and getting my blood sugars to non diabetic levels. Although a high cholesterol total isn’t always as bad as it seems, you need to look at the breakdown of triglycerides, HDL & LDL. My total is high but my ratios are perfect. There are various on line calculators which will work out your ratios. The ratios are being used more and more to assess how harmful if at all your levels are.

Edit to add, I’m sorry I can’t help with coeliac or it’s testing.

the best advice it to eat low carb and try stay under 100 grams of carbs in total daily... then most type 2´s do get totally normal numbers after a weeks ajustment...

try never to get more than 30 grams of carbs in 1 meal.. so that your blood glucose does not spike too high..
I´ll tag daisy so you can get the information everyone recieves in here , lots of knowledge to read @daisy1
I´ll post a scheme here below that shows what levels to strive for, note this is only in the green area of non-diabetes..

but it also show how high some type 2 diabetics unfortunately can go blood sugarwise ..

there are a lot of good advice of at what level to strive for in this site in general also before and after meal levels
NICE recommended target blood glucose level ranges
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

SlothySarah said:

Thanks, I've just finished reading your blog post and found it really interesting. I was feeling quite positive about the changes I'd made in my 1st week. It's the possible coeliac disease diagnosis that has thrown me as I know need to figure out how to include enough gluten in my diet so that if i have a biopsy I get the correct diagnosis.

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If I was in your position I’d concentrate on the low carb eating which you need to do for your blood sugar control. If and when you have a biopsy then maybe you’ll have to modify your diet again, but one thing at a time. Knowing the NHS it’ll be a while before a biopsy is arranged. Have you been having symptoms suggestive of coeliac? Is that why they tested you?

SlothySarah said:

Thanks, I've just finished reading your blog post and found it really interesting. I was feeling quite positive about the changes I'd made in my 1st week. It's the possible coeliac disease diagnosis that has thrown me as I know need to figure out how to include enough gluten in my diet so that if i have a biopsy I get the correct diagnosis.

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If you've made any changes in the right direction then feel positive about them. Go at your own pace. Make a plan for tomorrow, the next day, then the next week, when you are ready make a plan for a month. Make it stick. You'll be glad you did. Go to the Success Stories section of the site. You'll be writing one of them yourself by Christmas.

Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the forum,
Good luck for your GP appointment
Take care

Hi and welcome,

First of all can I put you straight on your comment that these health issues have been caused by your obesity.
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver and T2 diabetes are all part of what is known as the Metabolic Syndrome. They come hand in hand. Obesity didn't cause this. Insulin resistance cause this, coupled with too much circulating insulin. Insulin is a fat carrying hormone and when there is too much of it, it deposits fat round the body and the organs. So obesity is a symptom, not a cause.

I don't know anything about coeliac disease so I can't comment on that, but if you have no symptoms and it isn't making you feel ill, I would concentrate on your blood sugar levels until you see your doctor and find out what is what.

The 24 hour blood pressure thing is fine. Nothing to worry about. The only mistake I made was going to the supermarket with it on, straight from leaving the surgery. It kept blowing up every 10 or 15 minutes and sounded like I was passing wind! I got some very strange looks. So my advice is to stay at home that day!

Do you know what your cholesterol levels were? (all of them - HDL/LDL/Triglycerides) and did you fast for this test? You need to know each of those numbers before you see your doctor. The easiest way is to ring the surgery and ask for a print out. The receptionist should be able to help you. If you walk in to see your doctor without knowing these, you won't have time to research what they mean - and the best place to find this out is this forum. I am 100% certain he will push statins on you, and you have to know whether these are actually needed in your case.

I’m fairly sure @Brunneria has experience of gluten free and cealiac disease. Although you need to have had gluten present it may be worth making sure just how much needs to be present and at the least dropping carbs to that level in the meantime. As stated above it can take some time to get appointments. If your surgery is fairly good at getting you a blood test quickly then maybe spend the time between now and your doctors appointment getting educated and planned. Get the required blood test done after your dr appointment, then start low carb well prepared at the end of the month. Tbh a couple of extra weeks won’t make much difference. I’d be the first to say waiting to take action would have half killed me as I’m an all or nothing kinda girl but it’s really not the only way. Slowly slowly catchy monkey and all that.

Hi,

I am grain/gluten intolerant, but have never been tested for it by the NHS.
I paid for private tests a good few years ago, and was told the whole gamut of grains were a problem. When I rigorously cut them from my diet, and all gluten containing foods from my diet, I felt so much better that I would never go back. This means I would never choose to go through the 6 weeks of gut and skin issues that would accompany ‘glutening up’ for an NHS coeliac test.

After all? What would change? I’m not going to go back to eating gluten/grains no matter what the outcome of a test...

I would like to echo what @Bluetit1802 said about weight gain being a symptom, not a cause.
She is soooo right.
The so called ‘greed’, food cravings and weight gain are a direct result of pre-existing insulin resistance, like a line of dominoes falling when you touch the first in the line (insulin resistance).

And please be assured: they have clearly established that coeliac is genetic. In other words, if you are coeliac, then you have been coeliac all your life. You may not have had the symptoms you currently experience for the whole of your life, but that is probably because your younger, fitter, more resilent body managed to cope - right up until it couldn’t any more. People with Coeliac have different degrees of symptoms.

Hmmm - maintain an illness caused by gluten long enough to get a diagnosis and be told to avoid gluten, plus you have a problem with grains - the gluten source - which you could do without too?
I'd be inclined to just cut out the gluten and its associated starches and inform the doctor what you have done. Hopefully stopping the starchy sugary foods will help you to lose weight and control your diabetes, and the gluten situation can be sorted out if you ever decide to resume eating wheat - it just seems the most sensible course of action to me, rather than waiting to see the doctor.

Can we just confirm which test you had to check for coeliac that raised the concerns?

There’s a fairly easy blood test order by gp’s, for antibodies I believe, as a screening and then more in depth ones such as biopsy. From memory I think the screening ones are called Anti-transglutaminase antibodies (ATA), and maybe igM igA and ig G or possibly immuglobulins.

DCUKMod said:

The test for coeliac isn't done very often

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Just to say I had it done by a consultant but both husband and son had it done as part of a broad spectrum of testing for ill defined issues and digestive upsets respectively by the gp within the last year. No history of gluten issues for any of us either.

SlothySarah said:

Have had no symptoms but from reading about it it is possible to not have symptoms but then have a positive blood test. I've no idea why they tested me so will have to see what the doctor says on the 23rd. Will try and figure out what is the healthiest and lowest carb gluten food and include that in my diet. Apparently gluten needs to be present in your diet for 6 weeks prior to the biopsy to get an accurate diagnosis.

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I know I had no obvious to me symptoms that I had coeliac disease, I could happily eat anything with gluten in it including weetabix, bran flakes, bread etc and feel perfectly fine. Though after diagnosis (after finally acknowledging it - it didn't believe it cos it didn't make me feel ill) I could see some small tell tale signs - but they weren't obvious enough for me to notice at the time - I was very gassy - but to be honest I always had been even when I was a child, I think I was also unknowingly suffering from malnutrition but I felt fine.
After cutting out gluten I do now feel healthier in general, I am not as ravenously hungry all the time as when I was undiagnosed I was constantly hungry.

I think for myself I only had to eat gluten stuff for about a week before my endoscopy to check it out (they only did the endoscopy cos I didn't believe the blood test), but it was a while back so I may have misremembered.

SlothySarah said:

Have had no symptoms but from reading about it it is possible to not have symptoms but then have a positive blood test. I've no idea why they tested me so will have to see what the doctor says on the 23rd. Will try and figure out what is the healthiest and lowest carb gluten food and include that in my diet. Apparently gluten needs to be present in your diet for 6 weeks prior to the biopsy to get an accurate diagnosis.

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My brother was diagnosed by a biopsy when he was 45 after spending time in hospital for an unrelated problem. As there were other coeliacs in the family my GP tested my younger brother and me but we were both ok.

@SlothySarah
Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it both interesting and helpful.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 600,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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.