Type 2 Confused

hi, thats too high! and a perfect example of why you need to buy your own meter

what are your eating habits like? do you need to lose weight?

Michelle50 said:

Hi
My doctor told me I did not need a glucose monitor as it would worry me and have me calling up all the time. But how am I supposed to know and keep an eye on my sugar levels??

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Welcome Michelle

You've hit the nail on the head. Every T2 should have a meter and check their levels for the reason you say. Like so many GPs unfortunately his advice is woefully inadequate and looks after his interests and not yours. But 16.6 is high and suggests to me you might have been following NHS advice and eating carbohydrates with most meals. This is anathema to T2s on here, most of whom cut their carbs significantly because to a diabetic they are no different from sugar.

But you've arrived here which is great and you can still bring your blood glucose under control. I was only diagnosed in March but it's likely I was diabetic for at least a year before that and I dread to think what my levels might have been like. With control over diet and more exercise we can improve our condition dramatically.

What have your previous HbA1c readings been?

unfortunately until we learn about it, what may be considered healthy, may well not be for diabetic, as a type 2 what you eat is either your saviour or your downfall and far more important and effective than any medication, if you eat ice cream, bread, rice, pasta or anything sugary or carbohydrate laden you are basically putting sugar in your body that it cannot process, this then floats around in your blood doing damage to everything, so put less in, less will be there to do the damage, carbohydartes turn to sugar so if you eat a slice of bread you may as well be spooning sugar into your mouth as far as your body is concerned,

sorry im simplifying it and also making assumptions

Yes, it is very confusing, especially as many of us thought our eating habits were OK and have now discovered how wrong we were once we started testing. I suggest you bite the bullet and buy your own meter.

Perhaps if you give us a typical day's menu we may be able to help you.

Have a look at www.dietdoctor.com/lchf for an introduction to the kind of diet we follow.

Hi
My GP also refuses to give T2 a meter. After reading lots of here I bought my own (SDcodefree from amazon was cheapest I could find for the test strips).
Once I tested the effect of each meal i was eating it was shocking! things I thought were healthy e.g. porridge sent my blood glucose levels rocketing :-(
It isnt right that we have to buy our own meters but the consequence of not keeping levels under control is the alternative.

Controlling your diabetes is very confusing in the early days (years) you have come to right place

The real reasons your GP doesn't want you to have your own meer, begin with cost.. It would cost the NHS somewhere around £150:00 per year. depending on how you do your sums, to test twice per day.. That's a LOT less than taking care of complications, but their minds don't work like that. Other reasons include believing some VERY FLAWED research.It really is believed by some healthcare professionals that testing your own blood causes stress and depression and doesn't benefit the patients.
Contrast that with programmes like X-pert patient and other talking theerapies which are designed to get the patients to take charge of their own condition.!!!!!.
I believe everyone should have their own meter. I fund my own strips, buying direct from the supplier. It's MUCH cheaper than going to a retail pharmacy and safer than eBay. [find suppliers on the web]
A non-diabetic has a BG which doesn't stray far from 5mmol/l for very long and it's pretty much unknown for a non-diabetic to have a bg hit 8mmol/l let alone higher.
That's where I target myself. Actually I try to remain below 6 and achieve it MOST of the time.
Hope that helps you decide what to do. Hana

Michelle50 said: "So is there a blue print on what to eat. And what to avoid."

Well, no. But as it's a wet Bank Holiday afternoon, I've written this one just for you:

Don't eat anything made with flour (for example, bread, cake, biscuits, pastry).
Don't eat potatoes, pasta, rice or cereals.
Don't eat anything made of or with sugar, which, sadly, includes most convenience foods.
Avoid most fruit ("nature's candy"), especially bananas, mango, pineapple, grapes. This includes fruit juice and dried fruit.
Avoid low/reduced fat foodstuffs as these often contain a lot of sugar.
Avoid beer ("liquid toast") and sugary spirits.

Eat meat, fish, cheese, eggs, pulses and lentils, plain yoghurt, cream, butter, vegetables.
Drink water, tea, coffee, herb teas, slimline mixers, red wine, non sugary spirits.

As you begin to test yourself, and build up a food and blood sugar diary, you'll find that there are exceptions and some things on the "banned" list, which you can eat in small quantities, for example, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, small new potatoes, brown or wild rice, some breads, such as rye bread or pumpernickel (Bergen and Livelife? are two names mentioned regularly on here). Porridge can be tolerated by some.

The big thing is to test. The diet changes won't be easy at first, but I bet your blood sugars drop like a stone and, if overweight, you and anyone who shares your diet will be out buying new smaller clothes in a few months time. You also won't need to test so often, as you will get to know what you can and can't eat.

Good luck
Sally

For low carb choices try and stick to foods that have less than 5g carb per 100g according to the labels. Avoid anything that says reduced fat or low fat as these usually have added sugar. Good luck, the water's actually pretty good once you have jumped in.