Diagnosed yesterday as Type 2

Mover719 said:

Hi everyone
It was confirmed yesterday at my first clinic that I have T2. Back in July I had a pre op assesment and gave a blood sample. The hospital however neglected to inform me I had a reading of 13.3. I only found out this at a second pre admission assessment 2 weeks ago. They told me contact my GP and have it checked out. More blood given and a result of 8.4 given.

Discussions between my GP and the hospital then ensued. The outcome being I was to have another blood check in 2 weeks time. The result of this test came through yesterday with a reading of 7.7% or 61

Now that is 3 different scales used to give results.......hence my confusion.

After the second pre op assessment the admissions sister contacted the surgeons PA and told them I was unfit for the surgery. Today the same admissions sister tells me that because my levels have dropped (diet and exercise) I am fit after all...... One very hacked off person as I now do not know when my operation will take place ( it was supposed to be next Tuesday).

Anyway, at the diabetic clinic yesterday I asked about testing my blood myself to monitor how I am doing. I was told it was not necessary but they did do a test there and then and the reading was 5.1. My main worry is should I be testing my blood daily...should I insist on having a meter, strips etc.

As a newbie it is a little confusing as to just what we should be doing as their doesn't seem to be any consistency across different health authorities.

Any advice from you guys that know just what is going on will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Pete

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Firstly, regarding your operation. I understand the threshold for surgery is 8, so you can appreciate your early test would bar you from surgery, but the second be in a safe band. Whilst utterly frustrating, healing can be impaired with high blood scores, so it is a safety thing.

Moving on: Very few T2s are prescribed meter and strips, which is such a shame. However, I do believe we do need to test, and certainly at the outset, it is my belief we need to test quite a lot to begin to understand which foods we eat affect our bloods adversely, and also to understand what we can eat freely.

In order to manage the costs of self funding, many of us use the SD Codefree meter, from Home Health:

http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/blood_glucose_monitor_testing.htm

Have you been given and information about diet? Has any discussion taken place about potential medication?

If you to the above linked website to order the meter, there is a discount code if you buy 5 or 10 boxes of test strips, which brings the price down to about £5 for 50 strips.
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833

Definitely get a meter otherwise how are you meant to know what foods affect your BS. I'm sure you will find the forum to be an invaluable source of information. A lot of what you read here will most probably contradict what the professionals tell you but we are all speaking from experience so stick with us and you will be fine.

Mover719 said:

Thanks for your reply

It was advised to go with diet and exercise initially with no medication. Just need to eat healthy, as everyone should, so more fish, veg etc and cut white bread, mash etc. I was told next review in Feb so see what happens then.

Thanks for the info on the meter.

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If you have a look at my signature, you will see I was diagnosed at a similar level as you. I have never taken any medication, and managed to get my bloods back into non-diabetic ranges within a short period, and have kept them there.

Just to manage your expectations; not everyone can achieve this, if their body doesn't work as well as mine (and many others like me), but a fair few of us have shown it's quite possible, with a bit of hard work and some luck on the physical side.

For me, testing was key to bringing things under control, because if I tested before I ate, then a couple of hours later, if I got a high score, I knew I had a couple of choices - try eating a smaller portion of whatever caused the rise, or wave goodbye to it for the time being. Now that I have things under control, and got quite skinny, I find I can eat more carbs than at the outset, but that's, again, based on testing.

I know we're all told to eat a healthy diet, which for non-diabetics can signal baked potato, pasta, rice and so on, but for me, testing informed me that I really did have to cut back on those things, and I haven't bothered with pasta for almost 2 years. It was never high on my favourites list, and it did cause me problems, and now I just can't be inclined to try it again.

Have a really good read around the forums and ask lots of questions. It's what we all did when we arrived.

If your Doc won't prescribe a meter, the the SD Codefree I mentioned above is fine. Initially you will need quite a lot of strips, as you're likely to be testing a lot, so do take advantage of the bulk discount. It's worth around 25% on the strips, which isn't to be sneezed at. If you are considering another meter, please do take note of the costs of strips. Like so many things, the consumables are the true cost, and they can be expensive!

Good luck with it all.

Mover719 said:

@AndBreathe
Thanks for the info. Hopefully I can follow a similar path to you. I am generally fit and healthy otherwise. Fingers crossed. Just one point my 13.3 reading was not an HbA1c it was a random on the day test whereas the 8.4 and 7.7 were HbA1c's

@catla
Thanks for the info.....sounds like I will need lots so the discount will be good. still going to see if I can get anything from doc's on prescription ...nothing to lose by asking...... if not I will take advantage of the meter and strips mentioned

@4ratbags
I will do.....there seems be a lot of variation in the advice given to forum members by medics..........people living with it obviously know and work out what works for them

Thanks

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Mover - I can't recall what my random scores were at diagnosis, but they certainly led with a 1 too! I just treated my diagnostic HbA1cs as my benchmark figures, and my early testing as providing my metrics against which I would test and begin to see trends.

When you start testing, you will almost inevitably see some numbers you don't like. Whatever you do, don't use thos to beat yourself up. Use those are learning tools and move on. Life's too short to change what we can't. Better to focus on the good things we can achieve, with a following wind.