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Diagnosed last week but no support

After looking at the links I've come up with some questions

1. Who should I contact if I have questions about my diabetes?
2. Will I need to go to diabetes clinic or have reviews?
3. When will I see a dietitian?
4. Do I need an annual retinal screening, cholesterol and blood checks?
5. Will I need to get my own meter and test kit or will the diabetes clinic provide me with this?
6. Also what is HbA1c and was I tested for this? If so what was the results?
7. Can you confirm my current height and weight?
8. What are the normal range of reading for HbA1c and what range of reading should I aim for when using the meter?
9. What should be my target weight?

Probably need put these questions into some sort of order as was writing them down as I thought of them lol.
 
Do not let on that you are accessing Dr Google or a website like this - Doctors hate that, When they get to know you better, and see some progress then you can own up to it, but Doctors hate the Internet.

This website runs online courses for Low Carb diets, which many of us here use to control our diabetes. There is a dedicated subthread on this forum with recipes to suit. There is also a Success and Testimonials subthread that may be of interest to see how others are getting their beast into control. For me, the book that taught me about diet and my condition was "Blood Sugars 101" by Jenny Ruhl, and I found her to be quite easy to read, but good on the science of diets. There are other diet plans in the Foods section, but Low Carb for a T2 makes sense.
 
Some doctors. Not all.
 

I'm going to give you the link to the nutritional thingy again, because honestly... Some of the changes you're making aren't good for a T2. Forget calories, forget everything you think you know about nutrition. It's all out the window, and doesn't mean a thing in your situation anymore. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html should help clear some things up. But really... It's not the calories that put on the weight. It's the carbs. Your body can't process them, can't use them for fuel, so what does it do? It stores them in fat cells. It's not fats making you gain weight and worsening your insulin resistance, it's carbs. So no counting calories, just counting carbs. Thing is, when you use low fat anything, it usually means they've put carbs in to compensate for the loss of taste. (Sugar is a cheap taste enhancer) Check the labels on your low fat yoghurt against FULL fat Greek. You'll see what I mean, there's probably quite a difference and I don't even know what brands you use. There'll be a lot more carbs in the low fat variety. Also, there are 3 macro nutrients: Carbohydrates, fats and protein. It's the carbs we can't handle, so cut those down or out (goodbye, chips, whatever way you fry 'em). Protein might up our blood glucose a little bit, but nothing too bad. Fats don't do anything to it. What fats do do, is make you feel fuller for longer (no hunger required on the new diet you're embarking on), and it flattens the curve of the spike of whatever carbs you do have, which is a good thing. So butter's back on the menu! The real thing mind you, not margarine or seed oil stuff. ProActiv is actually banned in certain countries because of elevated risks of cancer. Just sayin'. Butter's fine (yay for fish in butter sauce!), so are full fat hard cheeses, bacon, eggs, double or clotted cream, mayo... You get the idea. Those won't spike your blood sugars. And you'll lose weight in the process, in spite of the low fat mantras that have been hammered into us these past decades.

When you start cutting out overly processed food, you're also cutting out a lot of added salts. (Like sugar, it's a cheap taste enhancer). I had normal blood pressure before going low carb, now I'm low and have to add salts. That's what it meant for me to stop eating bread and crisps and the like. So if you're still on blood pressure meds, and you start feeling light headed or everything turns black when you stand up, get your dosage looked at.

Ask your doc for exact test results. You want numbers, always. Even if they mean little to you right now, they'll mean more later. Cholesterol, never just the total, always the breakdown of all the components, HDL, LDL, trigs, ratio etc. Get as much information as you can, and do that from here on in. You want to know exactly where you stand.

I think that's about it for now. Hope this helps!
Jo
 
You are worried about your cholesterol too, I see, and all this talk of increased fats will be making your head spin.

I will repeat, because it is very hard to accept when you come into this new and many of us have found it takes time to adjust, but many of the things that we have been told for decades about what constitutes a good diet, the perils of fat and salt vs. increased cholesterol and heart disease, are just wrong in the light of current thinking. Indeed the indictment of cholesterol as a cause of heart disease is also widely accepted as incorrect - it is a symptom of damage caused by other means, mostly sugar.

Yep, I am aware that this sounds cranky but all I can say is please keep an open mind, do some reading around - Jason Fung is excellent, maybe watch some videos by Dr David Unwin. There are hundreds of people on here who have returned there BG to normal levels by eating low carb, higher fat (LCHF) with no adverse effects to blood pressure or cholesterol levels. Quite the reverse, in fact.

You also sound like someone who has faith that the NHS will ‘sort you out’.... as you can see from the varied responses here, some people are lucky to have good, informed, up-to-date support from their local GP practice and others get the barest minimum. I have never seen a doctor after diagnosis for instance, only the practice diabetes nurse, that’s how my practice does it. If you are classically T2 and your BG behaves as expected, you won’t see a hospital. You will be referred to some sort of dietary advice thingy eventually, but many of these still tell you to base your diet on carbs and won’t be of any help.

I don’t say this to belittle your expectations because it’s perfectly normal way to think and I hope you can find the assistance you are seeking, but the NHS is still largely stuck in the past because the NICE guidelines haven’t changed much. I would very strongly encourage you to take action on your own behalf, starting now. By the time you talk to the nurse, you can already be on the path to normalising your BG.

Good luck!
 

and long may you continue NOT shutting up! x
 
Getting meter and strips from the NHS when a type 2 and not on medication which could cause a hypo is very very rare - hopefully it will last, but changes at your surgery might well mean you need that self funded meter
 
Rachox said:
Of course there is no harm in asking, thank you for pointing that out, I asked but got a flat ‘no’! I just wanted @Cfaria20 to know that she may not be as lucky as you.
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Same here - I was also told that I didn’t need to test and I would end up with sore fingers
 
Daphne917 said:
Same here - I was also told that I didn’t need to test and I would end up with sore fingers
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So presumably they thought potentially sky high glucose levels possible leading to general ill health and worse, was preferable to sore fingers? x
 

If you are going to control your T2 by diet then unless you are lucky you will either your cut out all the carbs OR you use a meter, and test before and after every meal until you know what you can eat.
I tested every meal at first, then I tested before and after any new food or new combination of foods - now I usually only test once a week to keep an eye on it unless I find a new food I want to try or I want to raise my carb limit a little.
Testing just twice a day will not let you know what you can safely eat while trying to get into remission or reduce the dosage of drugs - unfortunately very few nurses or GPs have training on this, most still think T2 is a progressive disease and their advice means they won't see many, if any, patients get into remission.
 
KK123 said:
So presumably they thought potentially sky high glucose levels possible leading to general ill health and worse, was preferable to sore fingers? x
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Probably - she didn't appreciate it when I said that I preferred to have sore rather than no fingers
 

If you go low carb then you don't need to stop eating butter, your body will need to burn fats instead of carbs for energy.
I lost 5.5st while having full fat milk and yogurt, and double cream - and my cholesterol improved too.
 
Thank you everyone for the advice and support it really means alot.
Yesterday I called the gp and found out that the bloods results didnt include HbA1c or full blood count it hadn't been done even though I remember seeing the that on the paperwork last week so tomorrow I'm going back to take more bloods
Hopefully by thrusday or Friday I will have all the results I need
I also looked at a gym near by so planning to join on 18th when I get paid
 


This has really been an eye opener thank you so so much
I'm redoing my bloods tomo as info was missing as hadn't been done like I thought so I'm defo going ask for a break down of everything from now on
 
Dr Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution.
Sugar Surfing
These are two good books to start with. Both recommend regular home blood tests or CGM. I would say that you can’t keep well enough just with doctors tests.
 
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