Feeling confused and scared

[VBee]

Thanks to all of you lovely people I now know much more about diabetes - especially Insulin Resistance and PCOS etc. I have been reading and digesting information from a variety of different sources.
Tonight I read from a link on here that by the time a diabetic is experiencing impaired fasting BG results, that alot of damage to the beta-cells in the pancreas has already been done - is this correct?
I am 31 years old, female, I am obese (just under 18st) and have been overweight all my life. I lead quite a sedentary life as I work in an office and commute, so don't get too much time to exercise, but I am going to try. My Father has been told he is "borderline" diabetes and my grandmother is type2. My last fasting test was 6.7 and I am having another - along with the hba1c - in 5 weeks. I have cut down on my carbs and am eating plenty of vegetables, lean meat, some fruit and some nuts, after reading your advise on here.
I really need to know where I can turn to, as my doctor was no help whatsoever, and if I hadn't known a little bit about diabetes already I wouldn't have had a clue what she was on about, as she never mentioned the word "diabetes"... and the diet sheet I was given was no help whatsoever.
So in a nutshell - what now? I'm really upset tonight, getting myself all worked up.

Incidentally, I am almost never ill, my only symptoms were feeling tired and not being able to lose weight, and although as I said, I don't exercise much, I CAN exercise without too much huffing... :lol: :?

 

[Cameraman]

First of all calm down, getting worked up does you no good. Sometimes reading threads can give you the wrong idea and you get in a panic about things you don't have. I'm not informed enough to help with your questions but I do know getting worked up, confused and scared will do you no good.

Do you have a close friend you can can sit and chat to? sometimes unloading to someone else can get it off your chest, a bit of reassurance from them is maybe all you need. A forum is Ok so far but only if enough people are on line to reply.

You seem to be going about things the right way food wise and as for weight, all the experts say it has to come off slowly to stay off. If your only recently trying then your perhaps not been doing it long enough to show. I've lost a few pounds since I started but not enough to "feel" like I have.

 

[catherinecherub]

Dear VBee,
We all felt like this to begin with, but you and you alone have the power to change things.
You have started already by changing your eating habits and a little exercise every day would also help. Could you get up a bit earlier so as to take a 30 minute walk, thats 15 minutes each way?

If you carry on eating well and incorporating the exercise I am sure that 5 weeks will make a lot of difference.

Stress makes you blood sugars rise so be positive and tell yourself that you can make changes.
When you see your GP ask to be referred to a specialist and explain why you need this.

Hope this helps,
Regards, Catherine.

 

[VBee]

I will do that, thanks. Gah.. sorry. You're right... I just tried to "unload" to my boyfriend and he thinks I'm being silly. :lol: Hey I'm sure you've all been there yourself,as catherinecherub just said.
On the exercise thing - I got a WiiFit recently which I will work at spending more time on, they are really good! Also I am going to walk the 1 and a half miles to the train station in the morning, and again from the other end of the train trip to the office, and the same on the way back - which makes about 6 miles walking a day, but I find walking quite relaxing, especially when I have my iPod on. When I see my GP next I will explain how I am feeling. Thank you all. Calmer now... :mrgreen:

 

[Cameraman]

Don't over do the exercise too much. Take it gently to start with and build up to it gradually. Too much too fast can be equally damaging. Good luck with it anyway.

 

[phoenix]

You're doing all the right things changes in lifestyle can and do work.
Bandolier, an independent group who attempt to evaluate medical research, did a reexamination of 9 research studies into 'lifestyle' intervention and progression from impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance to Type 2 diabetes.

Their conclusion (in plain language ) was

if people in the studies continued to develop diabetes at the same rate, after 10 years 8 out of 10 in the control group (ie with no lifestyle intervention) would have developed diabetes, compared with only 4 out of 10 with the intervention. And of course, we have no information about adherence, so we only know about the effects of treatment on average. It is likely that individuals who really changed their lifestyle and stuck to it could reduce their individual risk of developing diabetes to much lower levels. The message is, yet again, that the best way of avoiding seeing your doctor, except socially, is to eat fruit and vegetables, have a good walk, and perhaps enjoy a nice glass of wine when you get back

.
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band144/b144-5.html

The important thing is to make changes that you are able to keep up. We all have a tendency to go overboard with new resolutions and are not always able to sustain them in the long term. Think how may New years resolutions last beyond January



Walking is a great form of exercise and will help a lot. If you can walk the 6 miles everyday great, but as Cameraman suggests don't overdo it too quickly.There is nothing to stop you doing it every other day at first (or even less often) and gradually building up to a daily 6 miles.
Buy a pedometer and keep a note of how many steps you take each day or note the distance and time it takes you to do your walks. I find recording my exercise in a journal a great motivator both to go faster or further and to get me off my backside when I realise I've not done anything for a few days.

The Wi fit can be surprisingly energetic and effective for lowering BS. I had a slight problem with my insulin pump the other day and had an unexpected BS reading of 10.6 mmol, 40 min later after
hula hooping, stepping and pretending to be a penguin catching fish , my BS was a normal 4.6mmol

 

[VBee]

Aww the hula hooping is sooo difficult, more difficult than you'd think!

See now I feel alot better, because I was under the impression that I had had diabetes for years without knowing and that I had reached the point where my pancreas was dead. :lol: I really shouldn't read up on the medical terminology on a Sunday night when I'm tired and emotional. Ooops. :lol:

 

[Cameraman]

Glad your Ok now, theres nowt worse than being down

 

[Trinkwasser]

Aww the hula hooping is sooo difficult, more difficult than you'd think!

See now I feel alot better, because I was under the impression that I had had diabetes for years without knowing and that I had reached the point where my pancreas was dead. :lol: I really shouldn't read up on the medical terminology on a Sunday night when I'm tired and emotional. Ooops. :lol:

The pancreas has a lot of overcapacity, an undamaged one can maybe output four times as much insulin as you need, so even 50% destruction means you can still generate twice the insulin you require. That may not go far enough unless you address the insulin resistance, and if you also reduce your carb input you can get your insulin requirement down within the capacity of what you can still produce.

You've obviously inherited the genes, now to get to work on them! Metformin is a good medication for insulin resistance which will work for the diabetes and the PCOS, growing and using muscle works along with it in reducing the IR. You're already addressing the diet, so wait and see what results you get: this took time to get you where you are and will take time to get you back again but it WILL be done <G>

 

[VBee]

Thanks for your support guys.