Greetings and newishly diagnosed

[Indigo]

Hello there

And before I go on I would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas.

I have to confess that i have been hanging around here for the past couple of months and it has been helpful. So here is my story (hopefully I won't go on too much!!).

Anyway this all started with a trip to the optician for a routine eye test on the 14th October. I've worn glass since I was 11 and contacts since 16 so always been for regular checks etc. Anyway Optician noticed changes and said to go to the GP. Well I was worried so as I work in London went up to Moorfields Eye Hospital the next morning. They had a thorough look said was I Diabetic and then tested my BG which was 17.8 so rather high. So they were mavelous, very friendly, took loads of photos of my eyes, booked me an appointment for the Retina clinic to find out more and sent me for the bloods and an ECG straight away. Bloods came back next day and so went to GP and with a HBA1c of 12.4 was diagnosed Diabetic and given Gliclazide and Metaformin. This was all quite a shock as I'm only 35 and not apparently overweight (was about 5 pounds overweight), and have always as I said been careful with my eyes. Anyway since then I am diagnosed with severe retinopathy in my left eye and the beginning stages of it in my right. So I have been having laser treatment for this. Moorfields have been wonderful as this has been dealt with really quickly and I cannot help thinking that if I had gone to the GP instead, i would still be waiting to be seen about my eyes. My eye consulatant said that because of this I needed to be under the care of the specialist team at my local hospital. It took a while of the GP to get this and was eventually referred to the hospital Diabetes team and was seen by the consultant who striaght away said that I may need to go on to insulin at some point and send me for the GAD test to check for antinbodies due to my age and apparently not overweight blah blah!. In the meantime I saw the nurse who upped my dose of metaformin in the evening as my BGs in the morning where are still quite high (12's). Also since I started taking the meds I've been getting spells of dissiness and nausea (even vomiting) in the mornings. The GP organised for me to have a BPM on for 24 hours to see what was happening and it seems that jsut before I wake my BP crashes (rest was fine but it did drop at around 4pm as well but I was OK then) and I can't help thinking that this is a result of the meds. The GAD test has come back negative so I'm back at Type 2. Diet was not that bad aside from the sugar (been a Vegetarian since the age of 12) so I hae just been a bit more careful with the amount of carbs, salt, fat etc. The biggest change is preety much cutting out as much sugar from the diet as I can. So no more sugar in my tea and so on.

So it has been a hell of a couple of months, after quite a bad couple of years for our family. The worst thing baout all this is the damage to my eyes, and I cannot help thinking that i did this to myself as in my late teens/early 20's I was quite a bit heavier than I am now. My Dad does have T2 also (diagnosed 4 years ago) and my Nan (Mum's Mum) was a Prediabetic.

However on the upside I had another HBA1c after 2 months and just went for the results yesterday. It has gone down to 8.4 along with cholesterol etc looking a lot better also so I'm obviously getting something right.

Anyway as I say so much has happened and thanks for getting to the end of this.

Thanks

 

[daisy1]

Hi Indigo and welcome to the forum

Congratulations on your progress! This is the information we give to new members and I hope this will help you to get your levels even lower. You may have already seen this as you've been around some time now. The NICE recommended levels appear in this information but most of us prefer to get our levels lower than these. Ask any questions you need to and someone will help.


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.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Daisy has given you some very good links to further information. It is a bit surprising that the GAD test was negative. There are some other diabetes variants such as MODY that wouldn't show-up with the GAD test but can cause youthfull diabetes. The treatments tend to be similar with probable faster progression to insulin if not 'standard' Type 2. As well as reducing sugar note Daisy's comments on carbohydrates which includes sucrose. Keep them high-fibre and low-GI and perhaps have a max of 150 gm/day.

 

[Indigo]

Hi Daibell

Thanks for that. Straight away I cut out the added sugars and have always been wary of my diet being a Vegetarian since I was 12, but I have ensured that I lower the carbs and replace that with more veg etc. Apart from that It is quite a learning curve as you have to figure out when your body needs fuel. I'm not sure that I'm on the right meds as they seen to be interfeering with my blood pressure makign me feel terrible in the mornings in particular and in general I'm not quite myself. My BG's seem to be leveling off at between high 6's to high 9's through the day which I'm still concerned about.

I am learning very quickly that with Diabeties you are have to push for the right treatment as I've now pretty much been left alone by the local hospital and my GP, even though I have the problems with my eyes (thankfully Moorfields have been excellent at dealing with my eye treatment however).

It is however good to know that I'm not alone. Would be good to hear from others in a similar position.

Happy New Year everyone.

 

[FurryCub]

Hey there,

I too have been recently diagnosed. I'm 36 and not overweight and also got a negative for GAD.
I've always been conscious of what I eat and play rugby regularly so I'm not really sure what else I could have done.
So I suppose I'm in quite a similar situation to you.
I think that there are 4 antibodies that can cause type 1 so a negative on GAD doesn't rule out type 1. My Dr doesn't think I'm type 2, but slow onset type 1. (type 1.5?).
I started on metformin but I was so ill on it that I changed over to gliclazide, started on 80mg, then 4 weeks later onto 160mg. It seems to have worked for the last 2 weeks, but levels are rising again. Got a 13.7 yesterday.
Perhaps some of your illness is due to the metformin?

Hope things get sorted for you.

Cub

 

[Indigo]

Thanks Cub

Can see that I need to talk to the nurse at the hospital as thigs are clearly not right. They seem to just leave you alone and I don't have to go back to see the consultant until September next year. Surely that is a bit wrong if you are newly diagnosed.

Is the GP getting those tests for you?

Indigo

 

[Daibell]

Hi all. It would be nice if there were more readily available tests for all of the LADA suspected anti-bodies. There appear to be very few labs that do more than GAD. Of course, viruses and other illnesses can cause islet cell damage and not necessarily anti-bodies. I suspect my knackered pancreas may be one of those things. I'm afraid the NHS doesn't have the resources or knowledge to go beyond 'you're T2' for most people and I find it annoying when my GP treats me as an overweight insulin resistant T2 e.g. 'beware hypos with the Gliclazide' which just can't happen when you have very few islet cells. Indigo the one thing GPs do take note of is the HBa1C so if it goes beyond 7.5% then push for more action e.g. insulin.

 

[FurryCub]

Hey indigo,

My Dr hasn't suggested any other tests. But he's moved my Hba1c forward, though that's only going to be my 2nd one, hopefully it's moving in the right direction. That said, I had a terrible night last night, up at least every hour for a pee. Seems like my levels are all over the place.
I'm probably being a bit daft but I've been missing some meals to try and keep my levels low. The Dr said I'd get hypos on Gliclazide, I've had one below 4 but that was going about 7 hours between meals.
Im hoping I'll just settle down and get used to taking pills.
I've found it really difficult the last few months, I would think you have too, but reading people's stories on here gives me some hope and makes me think it can be ok.

It'll just take time to settle down and find out what works individually.

Cub