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Feeling sad, scared and alone

ShropshireDimples

Member
Messages
7
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Other
Please can someone tell me what it means to have a blood level of 56, the first test was 54. The diabetic nurse has requested to see me on her return from annual leave. I have several conditions and some im fighting for diagnosis still. The main diagnosed ones are Sjogrens and Rheumatoid Arthritis. And now it seems diabetes aswel. All of this has happened this covid year.
I went to the doctors with nausea, blurred vision, palpitations, high bp and a terrible blood shot eye. He diagnosed me with hyperventilating! I requested the bloods myself. If i eat sugary foods my vision is terrible, maybe coincidental.
But im sad, really sad and im alone. Please can someone shed any light on these figures of 56? ‍
 
Hello @ShropshireDimples,

Welcome to the forum and hugs for what you're going through. I suspect that 56 is the result of your HbA1c test, which is a bit elevated (but nowhere as bad as when I was first diagnosed for example). This having been said, I can absolutely empathize -- it is utterly devastating to receive this diagnosis. So have a big hug.

Just to give you a bit of hope -- many of us have been able to get back to normal blood sugar levels (and get off medication) by changing the way we eat. Have a read around and ask any questions you may have. There are loads of very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful members on this forum, who will only be to happy to help.
 
Thank you for replying, you're so kind. Its all a bit poo and ive not told anyone and i live alone. The night times are the hardest.

I felt so poorly 2 weeks ago that i nearly called an ambulance. My heart arrhythmia returned too. But stupidly i sat it out and only went to the doc a few days later as it was all still nagging at me.

So thank you for the hug and your kind reassuring words, im so very grateful to you especially in these night time hours! Hugs returned to you
 

Hi, So sorry to hear you are feeling so distressed. I do not have an answer to your main question but feel I might help in other ways. Irregular heartbeats are often caused by stress - remove the stress and you remove the problem - I speak from experience. Try "mindfulness" ie listening to a CD or tape on relaxation. This really does work, as I speak from experience. This consists of breathing and relaxing each part of the body and I became so relaxed when I did this in bed that I would fall asleep!

Also, I belong to a local group on- line called "Next Door" I believe they are situated throughout the country. It is like Facebook but in my case covers all the local villages and is wonderful. There is no sniping or nastiness and everyone is very helpful. They cover recommendations for tradesmen, lost pets, local flooding, local crime, general information and free/items for sale locally. It is a real little community and the kindness expressed by members is brilliant! You only need to Google to find your local group. It does not cost anything either.

If I need cheering up I watch on Freeview "Would I lie to you" on Dave and the BBC. It takes a lot to make me laugh but this makes me cry with laughter. Also, there is no bad language or sick jokes.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Im not sure if im doing it right as ive only been on here for an hour but i cant see a comment Jennyjane. I didnt want to appear rude and not acknowledge, if you had replied to my thread
 
ShropshireDimples said:
Im not sure if im doing it right as ive only been on here for an hour but i cant see a comment Jennyjane. I didnt want to appear rude and not acknowledge, if you had replied to my thread
Click to expand...
I have posted a reply but am unsure about doing this so it might have gone awry. However, I tried for a second time and hopefully you will now have received this.
 
Im making a hash of this eeeeeek.
I can now see your reply. Thank you so much. I also practice mindfulness and used to teaxh it in my psychotherapy sessions. It truly is a great tool. Keep going on recommending it

I will absolutely check out "next door" sounds fab!

Yes, i have a bit of a crush on Rob Brydon too.....love the show

Im normally such an optomist but with the 2 big diagnoses allready and i forgot to say ive also been diagnosed this year with very severe sleep apnoea syndrome. They stopped me from driving which has always been my escapism. Ive now been given the green light to drive again. Car shopping on sat so hopefully that will help

Thank you Jennyjane, so much!
 
Hello and welome,

It is totally normal to feel upset and overwhelmed when you get the diagnosis of diabetes. It is normal to feel ashamed and alone- but the great news is that you are so not alone. There are many of us here who have been where you are at. For me it was at least 2 weeks before I wasn't crying every day. However, since I found this forum and went very low carbs my results have been in the normal range.

The first thing to find out is whether you are a type 1 or type 2.

The next thing I suggest is to read the link below- a quick start:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/

The next thing to do is to get a meter and start testing.

Anyway- that's probably enough for someone feeling overwhelmed except to say- forget self blame- if you don't know that your body can't tolerate carbs how do you know to reduce them? You didn't cause this.
Welcome keep reading and posting.
 
This is the second part of my reply - I believe we are limited to only a number of words, so did not want to be cut off mid-sentence. I used to have blurred vision but found it was due to me reading too much and watching too much TV. When I cut this back it improved a lot. I had my vision checked out at the hospital - they scan the back of the eye after giving you drops and found there were no problems, so try not to worry unnecessarily.

I see you have other medical problems. I cured three serious conditions by using homeopathy - ie I save myself knee, hip and hand operations. It might be worth Googling your medical problems to see if they can be helped. For instance, I would Google "Homeopathy for a bad back" or suchlike and you will see remedies that might help. I have been studying homeopathy for many years and have resolved numerous problems. It is quite safe and can be used if you are taking other medications. I promise you it really does work and I would not mention this unless I knew for certain. It is worth getting a book on this from say Amazon as there are certain rules to taking this medication.

When feeling low perhaps you could do some cooking or do something that you enjoy doing. Best of luck and I really do hope you will feel better shortly. Best wishes Jennyxx
 
 
Hello @ShropshireDimples ,

You've already been given the link to the Nutritional Thingy, but just wanted to add a few things. Carbs are inflammatory, so they can make conditions like Sjögrens and RA a lot worse. Cutting them out can help quite a bit, so it's not only good for your diabetes. For me, cow dairy was also a massive, massive trigger. (Hello, hard goat's cheese!). There's something in cow's milk that triggers an antibody response in some of us (like you and me), and when there's nowhere to go the antibodies just go for what they can find. In our case, our joints. So that might be something to try. It's kept me from having to be on pred every day of my life, and I can actually use my hands again. So there's some hope there: your conditions, over all, have neighbouring food solutions. As for your diabetes, you're not doing too badly as yet. Just keep in mind that inflammation and steroids can and will up blood sugars as well, so you're dealing with co-morbidities here. While your HbA1c could've been worse, because of those factors you might need to go lower carb than someone else with those numbers, to get back into the normal range. Because odds are, you CAN get back into the normal range. Okay? This isn't undoable, and through the diabetes you might've discovered a way to maybe help your other conditions too. That includes the apnea. I haven't woken up choking since I lost weight (again, on low carb).

You'll be okay. It's not an easy thing to get diagnosed so rapidly after one another, but... Blessing in disguise, quite possibly, though it may feel far, far from it. Your quality of life may see some improvement soon though... Hold on to that.

Hugs,
Jo
 

Hi there - For everyone, 2020 is the year that just keeps giving, and for some like you, there's been more than the average.

It all takes a while to get the head around, but honestly, once you have your diabetes in a decent place you will feel much better.

If you are still having problems getting the forum to work for you, have a look at these little videos. They are each very brief, and cover all the basics of using the forum.

Forum Beginner's Video Guides | Diabetes Forum • The Global Diabetes Community
 
Of course it is a horrible shock to get your diabetes diagnosis on top of everything else, but once the dust settles and you make some changes to your diet, you may well find that many other things improve too. You didn’t mention if you are also overweight, but many have found that low carb eating just melts the weight away without counting calories or being hungry. I have lost over 4 stone in well under a year, it still seems like magic to me.

As others have mentioned, carbs are inflammatory and exacerbate other conditions so I would hope that you would see some improvements with those. A combination of losing weight and normalising blood glucose has banished a lot of my other minor health issues, and I have (mostly!) stopped snoring, so perhaps your sleep apnea might also show some improvement.

I’m sure it sounds impossible to you right now, but many on this site have found that while diabetes is a disease no one wants, it has provided the stimulus to kick-start a much better way of eating and living and many are healthier and happier now than pre-diagnosis.

You will be able to do this! And we will help you.
 

Hi @ShropshireDimples

Try and hang in there, I can totally relate, in the first week of September I had a blood test for something entirely unrelated, and was told to go immediately to hospital and expect to stay for a week. It turned out I am diabetic, but also had a dangerously high cholesterol level (caused by my body stopping dealing with fats whilst trying to deal with my sugar levels).

It is a scary lonely time to get any health diagnosis at the moment. I live alone and spent a week in hospital only able to call and text people as there was a ban on visitors.

Since coming home I’ve managed to get my diabetes mostly under control, my average blood sugar is 6.6mmol now (compared to 35mmol when I was admitted) using Metformin and a short acting and long acting insulin along side controlling my carbs.

Take the time to talk to the clinical team and your GP, I must have had 10 appointments with the GP after being discharged to ensure I understood everything, and went away and did a lot of my own research.

Remember this is all new to you, some days I found some threads on here hard as people seemed to be managing so much better than me, then I reminded myself I have been diabetic for weeks not years.

Mostly remember to be kind to yourself, and a naughty treat occasionally is good for the soul


Take care

Chris
 
Hi and welcome. As others have said a level of 56 isn't too bad. My recent test was 58 and I've had db for a good few years but will work to get mine down a bit. Try to control all carbs and not just sugar. The good news is that you can eat proteins, fats, veg and non-tropical fruit quite freely. Do get hold of a glucose meter so you can monitor you BS yourself but don't get too obsessive about it as that figure could be a lot worse.
 
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