• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Diagnosed Yesterday

J

Jawl

Active Member
Messages
25
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, I was diagnosed yesterday! Pretty much cried all of last evening/night. I exercise 6 days a week, but my diet isn't the best. I'm really daunted at the thought of low carb! I don't even know where to start, just googled and found this place!

I'm going for blood tests on Friday, to determine the extent. I'm going fasting. My last blood test wasn't fasting and it was 14.9. I have sugar in my urine. It's so much to take in.
 
Welcome............

yesterday really is a quick arrival on to the forum.....

you have come to one of the best places for advice and support, so rest assured, all will be well....

low carb is a good strategy to think about but it doesn't necessarily mean you cant have the things you want to.....it just takes a bit more thought and some blood sugar testing...
 
Thanks! I don't know if it's type 1 or 2 yet, I am assuming 2.
 
The Dietdoctor website is great, but I must go and make myself a chease omlet for a late beakfest, however @daisy1 will soon be along with an information pack for you.
 
Jawl said:
Thanks! I don't know if it's type 1 or 2 yet, I am assuming 2.
Click to expand...

It's likely 2 yes, because a type one diagnosis usually results in a few overnight stays as the deterioration is quick.....

but there are other types but we can leave that for an other day.....
 
Hi Jawl and welcome! I see daisy1 has already been tagged in for you.
I'm now over 12 months from being diagnosed type 2. Once I was over the initial shock, I saw it as the proverbial kick up the bum to get healthier. I was started on Metformin tablets and tolerate them well now after a bit of stomach upset in the early days. I wasn't advised to eat low carb by my GP or Diabetes education course, but stumbled on this forum by chance and took up a low carb life style with self monitoring. I started by eating less than 100g carbs/day to begin with and then after 6 weeks reduced it to 50-70g/day, nowadays I tend to keep under 60g. It has been a steep learning curve, but I really enjoy the food I eat now. Caution needs to be taken on certain drugs going low carb but on just Metformin it’s ok. The best way to see what foods suit you is to test right before a meal and then two hours after the first bite, you’re looking for a rise of no more than 2 mmol/l and to be within these recommended ranges http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

This has worked for me, to date I've lost nearly 6 stone (still more to go) and got my HbA1c (blood test for 2-3 month average blood sugar) down to a non diabetic level, all due to the fantastic support and advise I got here. Read around the Forum and ask any questions that occur to you.
 
novorapidboi26 said:
It's likely 2 yes, because a type one diagnosis usually results in a few overnight stays as the deterioration is quick.....
Click to expand...
Not necessarily - I believe if you are diagnosed as an adult, the deterioration is a little longer than as a child. I had been feeling unwell for about 3 weeks (and run down for months before that) but was not admitted to hospital overnight ... in fact, I didn't get any insulin for the first 24 after diagnosis.
Given how many adult type 1 are incorrectly diagnosed as type 2, I am pleased to see more "just diagnosed" saying they don't know what type yet. Sure, there is some uncertainty but that is better than months of treating the wrong condition.
 

That's interesting.....

how long do you think your beta cells put up a fight for....?
 
novorapidboi26 said:
That's interesting.....

how long do you think your beta cells put up a fight for....?
Click to expand...
It's difficult to say for certain but I think my honeymoon period lasted about 3 years as my insulin dose slowly increased to what it is now.
I appreciate and am only one person and I don't know how this compares to others.
 
helensaramay said:
It's difficult to say for certain but I think my honeymoon period lasted about 3 years as my insulin dose slowly increased to what it is now.
I appreciate and am only one person and I don't know how this compares to others.
Click to expand...

I think 3 years is at the top end of the honeymoon duration scale, but still definitely on the scale for sure...
 

One piece a of advice is make sure you ask for a print out of all your blood test results. You are entitled to these, and seeing everything in black and white gives you chance to analyse them at leisure, ask questions on here if you don't understand, and know exactly where you stand. It is never a good idea to take a doctor or nurse's word. They often filter out the small details and say "fine" or whatever, when things may not be as clear as that. Also if you are in England you can ask if your surgery puts test results on line as they have all been asked to do, then ask how to register for this.
 
novorapidboi26 said:
That's interesting.....

how long do you think your beta cells put up a fight for....?
Click to expand...

Maybe as much as 10 or 20 years! and by reducing carbs, so not making then work as hard the time can be made longer. As most people are never tested for the anti bodies, we just don't know how often people's bete cell lasts for many years when they have type1. Dr will assume it is type2 if the person can remain off insulin for many years, but this may not always be the case.
 
Having been fighting to stay on a low carb diet for decades, I now have the perfect excuse to be sarcastic to anyone trying to persuade me that I should eat the foods which I have known for decades cause me to gain weight and feel feeble.
I can eat any meat or fish - shellfish too - eggs, cheese, salad veges are OK and above ground ones - anything under 11 percent carbs seems fine to me and I reduced my blood glucose levels to normal eating no more than 50 gm of carbs per day - which is fine for me. I am now eating less to try to lose more body fat, a maximum of 40 gm, but it is not difficult to do.
It is now a year since I got back to normal - and my BG level at diagnosis was higher than yours - plus I was not trying all that hard - no great amounts of exercise, though I was risking life and limb cycling around this area.
Eating low carb is a powerful tool for reducing BG and I have to confess I did not really have to try very hard to get lower Hba1c - I did not know if I should laugh or cry when I was below diabetic levels after just 80 days, so I did both.
 

Hi am in the same boat diagnosed Monday although don’t exercise.

Scored 17.3 and sugar in urine. Have since had fasting test and have an hours appointment with the nurse in 3 weeks.

Like you don’t know which but am sure 2, I’m feeling a bit bowled over with info at the moment. Not sure whether to wait for nurse for advice or get going. I just don’t want to start in the wrong direction.

Good luck
 
NikkieDuranie said:
Like you don’t know which but am sure 2, I’m feeling a bit bowled over with info at the moment. Not sure whether to wait for nurse for advice or get going. I just don’t want to start in the wrong direction.
Click to expand...

If I were you I would get going. The sooner the better for your own sake. If you start a low carb way of eating it will be in the right direction. The wrong direction is to continue eating carbs. Your nurse may also be old school and tell you to eat a plateful of starchy carbs as most do. You need a meter, a food diary, and a cupboard full of lovely low carb ingredients.
 
You have found this amazing forum so quickly. Thats a brilliant start. It's the best site there is for helping you to get your head around things. For every question no matter how trivial you may feel it is there is someone to answer it. You will be dazed at the moment, but that feeling will go once you start to get some kind of understanding about where you are in your journey and where you need to get to. I can only speak from my experience and can categorically say my lifestyle has changed and so much for the better in 6 months since diagnosis. What i found invaluable was a blood glucose monitor. You can see straight away how different foods effect your blood sugars. Once you see which foods effect your bloods in a negative way you can then avoid them. For me and for most diabetics its foods that are high in carbs, eg bread, rice, pasta, potatoes. And there are some surprises too, for example fruits can be high in carbs. Im not sure whether you will be offered a monitor as it does depend on what course of action the dr sees as best for you. But if you arent offered one you can get some types free but just need to pay for testing strips (discount codes available). But i found mine invaluable. There are so many foods out there that you will be able to eat and enjoy that wont have a detrimental impact on you blood sugar. I and so many people on here find that the low carb way of eating really does have a significant impact on reducing your blood sugar levels. In 6 months mine have gone from diabetic level to prediabetic and now non diabetic. There is a link for success stories where you can read all about peoples journeys. You will see so much encouraging info in peoples signatures. Their journeys are often in there so you can see how this condition can be controlled, sometimes in a very short time too! This site is packed with so much info, help and advice. Please just ask.
 
I agree, I soldiered on for well over 2 months ignoring all the symptoms, I did end up in A&E for 24 hrs because my ketones were high on diagnosis (though I never went into actual ketosis), they also said most likely type 1 due to 'profile' but didn't rule out type 2. Here I am a year later with a type 1 diagnosis after C peptide & antibody tests and it is still not 100% conclusive even though one of the antibodies came back positive. With such diversity there must be millions currently misdiagnosed.
 
Hi Nikkie, I know the urge to get going is strong but I was told at the start to eat 'normally' for me as this would help them make the right diagnosis. For example if you go low carb right away, yes your glucose levels will probably fall but this might lead them to a false diagnosis. They did strongly believe I was type 1 though so I was on insulin straight away which is where we differ, they wanted my diet to stay the same so they could adjust my initial insulin. I think it's quite hard to adopt any specific approach right in the first few weeks without knowing what type you are (ie a low carb approach with insulin requires a different regime to one without insulin albeit there are obviously crossovers and diet plays a big part in both). What I did regardless, was cut out any obvious rubbish and cut right down on all other carbs, but I stuck to around 100 carbs a day. Now I am on 50 carbs a day and low doses of insulin. x
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…