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diagnosed in January

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rambot

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Hello to everyone, i have been diagnosed in January as having diabetes, this is after approx 4-5 fasting blood tests over the previous 18 months due to blood sugar levels being raised slightly but not enough to confirm diabetes until this January, back end of last year i had a fasting blood sugar level of 17.6 and needed to have another test to confirm, this was finally confirmed in January. I am struggling finding out how this will affect me long term but have already made some serious life style changes in the last few weeks. The reason only in the last few weeks is that my GP and nurses saw me in January, she looked at my feet, the gp told me to take metformin and that was the last i heard. Luckily i have now changed doctors and have a fantastic group of nurses who are now finally maybe a few months late getting me in for the things i thought i would need, like an eye test, and a few other things, they have given me a blood glucose test machine and i am learning slowly what it means, albeit i am still confused.

sorry if i am rambling on a bit but it is all a long story.

i have suffered days on end with bad tummy which we now realise is the metformin, i am now on slow release and this is better but i cannot eat anything fatty or oily and can not take anymore than one 500mg per day otherwise i am housebound very close to the toilet. i gave up smoking about two months ago but this has caused me to gain almost a stone in weight so i am back smoking again to suppress my appetite for a few weeks, once i get on top a bit of losing some weight i will quit again.

four weeks ago the nurse told me to exercise and start losing weight although i am 96kg i am overweight but nor morbidly, all the weight is in the usual places by the sound of it, round the tummy area. I purchased a bike three weeks ago and after having being a driver for 14 years and sedentary lifestyle now manage to ride my bike at an average speed of 7-8mph for up to 2 hours at a trime with a break half way through, i have missed due to work about 4-5 days only out of three weeks or just over, it hurts but i am enjoying it, i struggled for the first couple of weeks but can now manage 7-8 miles each way and even into the wind, when i ride the 16-17 miles i get my blood sugars down from 15-16mmol to around 6-7mmol, the problem is then caused again once i eat as it goes back up.

anyway enough for now, i am attending a Desmond day tomorrow and will post more to my story as we go along, i have looked at Vivs diet and intend to try and follow this to some extent and see how we go with weight, i would like to lose maybe around 25kg and get down to a sensible weight, i have also joined the gym and will ride my bike to the gym 2 miles, i will do 30 minutes on the walking machine and then 30 minutes on small weights and then i will finish off with the remaining 12-14 miles bike ride, i am also intending riding to Bognor next week which is around 25 miles and i will get the train back as not sure i will be able to do both ways,

i hope to be able to post my progress as we go along but i do work an awful lot of hours and will find the time hard to fill you all in with everything,

most of all i was very disheartened until i found this forum, it has now given me a little bit of relief knowing help is only a forum topic away.
 
Hi Rambot and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information we give to new members which I hope you will find helpful. Ask all the questions you like 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 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.
 
Hi rambot
Welcome everything you need to know you will find out here
The exercise is fantastic but make sure you keep testing your bloods before during and after as mine drops a lot after exercise might be worth having a snack with you and some glucose tablets just in case
But well done and good luck :-)


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi Rambot,

the only quick thing in type 2 diabetes is the rise in blood glucose after eating 'white carbohydrates'. As you lose weight and become fitter your insulin sensitivity should improve and, hence, your blood glucose levels.

It sounds like you have the resolve to overcome it so keep up the good work!
 
i attended the Desmond day today and was very informative, i will fill you all in later with the finer details, but i had a little bit of a shock when discussing readings before breakfast with my blood test machine, my waking levels are around 15.2-16.3 or thereabouts, so the nurse think i may not be producing insulin and that's why my readings are very high, she says i should be lower than this in the morning before eating and then obviously climb throughout the day as i eat and things,

can anyone tell me if this would be the case and whether there is any hope apart from going onto insulin, i am exercising a lot more and will do even more than i have managed over the last few weeks, i am managing to take 500mg or metformin but anymore and i get i think what is commonly known as the met moments where i cannot be any further than a few minutes from the toilet, i am on the slow release version and this is better but cannot tolerate anymore than 500mg

appreciate all your help so far and support, i think i am going to need it
 
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