Don't know what to do guys.

[Sharon Anne]

Hi guys my name is Sharon and I was diagnosed type 2 three weeks ago I also have Brittle bone condition tht I was born with and I am deaf. I have . I have sever Health Anxiety. At the moment after a long chat the nurse as agreed to me trying by diet to control things I started when they found out with a BG of 16 fasting it is now 5. To 6 ish range fasting. My health anxiety is through the roof as blood and needles are due to my childhood my biggest fear. I don't know how to turn to at the moment . Please will someone just answer my first qestion my surgey mentioned that I had a blood glucose fasting test in about 2009 so can I rest assured I didn't have it then please guys I am at my wits end my surgery have been terrible with information.

 

[minidvr]

You've come to the right place for online advice - look around the forums, there will be threads relevant to your position and lot of helpful advice. Don't be afraid to ask questions, we all have to start somewhere and we all know how worrying it can be straight after a diagnosis which has such implications for your health and well being.

I don't see the relevance of a test done in 2009 which was negative? If you have been diagnosed with type 2, it must have been as a result of two consecutive positive tests confirming the diagnosis. It sounds as if your surgery hasn't got either a doctor who can provide the support or a diabetes nurse (DN) who would provide ongoing support for you in helping, guiding and advising you about the condition.

I don't like needles either, and admit that I look away when they use them on me. But they are a necessary evil and I just accept it. I've overcome the fear that I had years ago, because I had no choice.

I'm still a little squeemish about self testing but the lance that you use is virtually painless and it just takes a tiny spot of blood to on the test strip that you insert into the meter to give you a an accurate reading.

It sounds as if you need more one-too-one support and it might mean your being more assertive with your GP or Practice Nurse to get proper support - it's not in your or their interests to allow this situation to continue. Do you have an advocate or someone who can speak for you? or someone who can accompany you to the surgery for support - it's probably the best way if you're not getting the answers you so desperately need to your worries and fears.

 

[Mud Island Dweller]

Daisy will post the intro info soon

Not sure on your food but if you can eat low carb higher fat that will help immensely.
lf you scroll down the main threads page there is a forum there look at Vivs Modified Atkins Diet.
As a start you need to get a glucose meter your surgery probably wont supply and say you do not need it ...you do you have to know how different foods affect you...you can always come on here if worried about numbers.
But knowing is power lot of folks use the SD Code free from amazon...meter £12 and 50 sticks/£7

Look to cutting out bread rice pasta potatoes
in other words foods with starch or carbahydrates as these break down to glucose (sugar)

a good site is dietdoctor.com it is run by a swedish dr and folks said he is good at answering questions.

Give it a few weeks and you will be helping others with questions and wondering why you were anxious :-D

 

[this is too difficult]

Hi Sharon. Its not easy but try to stay calm. Some of the more knowledgeable people will soon be here. We have all been through the mill. It seems much easier to me than it did a few weeks ago.


Oops one of them beat me to it.

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome. I can understand the anxiety but be aware that as things settle down a bit the blood sugar may also go down a bit as stress doesn't help. If you can follow the advice given earlier to reduce your carbs and increase the protein and fats as needed your blood sugar should continue to go down. Once you get hold of a meter do a test 2 hours after some typical meals rather than fasting ones. This will guide you on whether the diet is helping get the blood sugar under control. Are you normal or over weight? Take care, try to be calm and do come back with more questions.

 

[popsy]

Hello Sharon love.

I am so sorry you are feeling so anxious but given your medical history it's completely understandable. I know that there are some on here who have a great fear of needles but who have overcome it and as far as info is concerned, yes this forum is a massive and unbelievably great source of stuff to read and learn. Just trawling the site will calm you down because you are amongst friends and here you will find hundreds of people in the same boat as you. You will see that there is nothing you can ask that sounds daft or imagined so put your mind into gear and begin finding out about this condition. Knowledge is power!

That's a good point that minidvr makes about having someone to go to the doc's with you. I go with my partner, he says I ask all the questions he forgets and I remember what the doc says too.

Oddly enough, you may find that when you have got over your blind panic, that it's not so bad and may even be a new start for you. I was for me and it cleared up a lot of reasons why I was feeling so dreadfully ill most of the time.

Good Luck Sharon xx

 

[Sharon Anne]

Oh guys thnk you so much for the first time since diagnosis I feel like I belong somewhere with people who just ' get it ' . I actually feel like I will sleep tonight just because you have all said its not so bad. I will sit and write down all my questions in the tomorrow but for now thank you all for just saying ' hey Sharon ' your not alone trust me right now that means the world to me x

 

[Mud Island Dweller]

By the way as a t2 you should be starting diet and or tablets. lnsulin is as yet far off and should stay that way if you get things under control asap as you want to do.

All you need to test is a tiddly prick that is less than say catching yourself with a drawing pin and a darn site less painful...you really wont feel it.

You are free to panic over needles far be it for us to stand in your way ;-)) but it will put your blood sugars up and as stated...that isnt helpful.
On the other hand you can start inventing low carb meals sharing them on here and keeping diares of food and glucose measures and life will be easier.:-D

 

[sanguine]

Hi Sharon

We'll get you through this - that's what this forum does.

 

[suzzi]

Hi guys my name is Sharon and I was diagnosed type 2 three weeks ago I also have Brittle bone condition tht I was born with and I am deaf. I have . I have sever Health Anxiety. At the moment after a long chat the nurse as agreed to me trying by diet to control things I started when they found out with a BG of 16 fasting it is now 5. To 6 ish range fasting. My health anxiety is through the roof as blood and needles are due to my childhood my biggest fear. I don't know how to turn to at the moment . Please will someone just answer my first qestion my surgey mentioned that I had a blood glucose fasting test in about 2009 so can I rest assured I didn't have it then please guys I am at my wits end my surgery have been terrible with information.

 

[daisy1]

Daisy will post the intro info soon

Not sure on your food but if you can eat low carb higher fat that will help immensely.
lf you scroll down the main threads page there is a forum there look at Vivs Modified Atkins Diet.
As a start you need to get a glucose meter your surgery probably wont supply and say you do not need it ...you do you have to know how different foods affect you...you can always come on here if worried about numbers.
But knowing is power lot of folks use the SD Code free from amazon...meter £12 and 50 sticks/£7

Look to cutting out bread rice pasta potatoes
in other words foods with starch or carbahydrates as these break down to glucose (sugar)

a good site is dietdoctor.com it is run by a swedish dr and folks said he is good at answering questions.

Give it a few weeks and you will be helping others with questions and wondering why you were anxious :-D

Hi Sharon and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help, as they have already done.


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 over 100,000 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-and-whole-grains.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 bloodglucose 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.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

. Please will someone just answer my first qestion my surgey mentioned that I had a blood glucose fasting test in about 2009 so can I rest assured I didn't have it then please guys I am at my wits end my surgery have been terrible with information.

I think the answer might be that you can't be sure until you ask for and get the numbers. I shall explain what happened to me in this regard.

I was called in to see the Dr. It was to do with a blood test. It was early days and I didn't understand. Anyway, the blood sample had been binned due to a procedural **** up. So what to do now.

Dr. said, "Report to the diabetes clinic on Monday and get another blood sample".

I asked what was going on and he said, "13 is quite high you know".

They had done a random blood test some months before (I later found out) and never told anyone the result. On that occasion I was there for an inoculation for something which was nothing to do with diabetes and didn't connect the two. Now I know that 13 was the reading from the random sample. I wish they were better at communicating.

 

[collectingrocks]

Hi Sharon Anne

+1 to all the comments on here. You will find more information on these forums than your GP or any other health professional. We are a friendly and non-judgemental lot so feel free to ask, vent, share....anything.

BTW are you profoundly deaf? Do you communicate via BSL?

 

[this is too difficult]

Malformin. sounds bad

 

[Pattidevans]

Hi Sharon

Hope you are finding some answers here. So many people have been so kind and supportive to you, both here and elsewhere. Hopefully it will help you sleep better.

 

[Sharon Anne]

Thank you Patti and hello yes they have and I am gaining so much information and the support I am getting from everyone everywhere is amazing. I didn't want to be a burden to anyone and having so many people offering their support and insight is heart warming to say the least x

 

[RazzleDazzleDavey]

Hi Sharon, sorry I don't have much else to add but I really do understand. I think you have been amazingly brave to be so honest and even though you face these challenges you are still here and asking for help and advice which is most of the battle.

You are my hero of the day!

 

[Sharon Anne]

Oh my thank you so much that is so kind , now that as made my day . I am really trying so hard to win this fight and it's daft i have faced worse but this one as got me. You really would think my bone condition would be the bigger issue but nope that is me born with so would be lost without it . I guess my friend I need mt Mum right now but I can't have her xxxx

 

[RazzleDazzleDavey]

Hi Sharon. Well we are all here if you need to talk, we are all in the same diabetic boat and you have been dealt a different hand to most on here I guess so we are lucky to count you amongst our numbers!

 

[Sharon Anne]

thank you sp much. Well I thought I was doing really well until this morning x my fasting as been fairly okay I think like 5 .5 to 6. 8 orr. Below and today its 7. 4 I am a little freaked out by all this guts as I am eating next to nothing when we took it at the two hour after my meal last night it was 7.5 and that was I about 8 pm I thought that was okay ? All I had last night after was a glass of red wine in the bath and a slice of cheese on a cracker as I felt a little lightheaded . But that said whilst I was away over weekend the wine didn't seem to effect my fasting at all. Oh guys I was looking forward to seeing the nurse with my results tomorrow and being able to say these look pretty good !!! HELP