Diagnosis

Sorry about your diagnosis, at least you now know and you can hopefully feel better soon. Re. finding out for sure, my daughter had a blood test (they look for antibodies/GAD antibody test I think it's called?). Anyway, this proved conclusively that it was type 1, as is almost always the case with kids. They might have done this test already, when they did your bloodtest.

I believe they don't automatically do the antibody/GAD test due to cost. I would recommend having a looking around the forum, maybe have a look at the advice that Daisy posts for new members. It has good advice on how your body processes the foods you eat. In particular Carbs. I know that after diagnosis many people are given very little information. This forum is an invaluable resource and by coming here you can take control.

Good luck.

Hi. I doubt that your GP did an antibody test yet for Type 1. The most common antibody is GAD but there are other less common ones such as IA2. At your age and if you are not overweight then being T1 is likely. Ask the nurse for a GAD test. As others have said they don't like doing it due to the cost and some surgeries don't know of GAD's existence. Note that some people, like myself, are not insulin resistant T2s and have low insulin levels but don't show up on GAD; there are so many causes of diabetes where the symptoms are similar to late onset T1 but may not be due to antibodies and no test will prove one way or the other. The treatment approach is the same i.e. move to a low carb diet, try tablets but expect to go onto insulin earlier. You may even find you can be treated with just tablets without insulin for a few years once you get the carbs under control. I was well into the 20s level when diagnosed but my GP was very casual and just (eventually) put me onto tablets. BTW what tablets did they put you on?

Hi Mo and welcome to the forum

As Lenny said, here is the information which we give to new members which you should find useful. Ask all the questions you like and someone will help you.


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. Yes, sadly, it's possible you may never get the 'right' classification whatever that is. I think you will find that the DVLA will treat you as a T1 if you are insulin; I may be wrong on that and perhaps someone else can comment. They are worried about hypos and anyone on insulin and even Gliclazide can go hypo. I can understand your concern job-wise. You may want to discuss the possibility of just staying on the Glic and Met once you are fully onto a low-carb diet? All will depend on what your meter says (get hold of one if you haven't already) and your HBa1C blood test which your nurse will arrange within the next few months or earlier if needed. I hope you do get it all sorted but correct classification for us lot 'in the middle' is sometimes difficult.