Hello All
I was diagnosed T2 on 27th December 2018. Did come as a shock but I have other (multiple) health issues and am now very overweight so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised.
My GP gave me a book about Diabetes, produced I think by the NHS. She told me my HbA1c number was 52 on the 18th December, which was why she had asked me to go in and see her. She also told me that she would refer me to clinic and for a retinopathy scan and also for an educational course. I was prescribed Metformin Sukkarto (SR) 500mg, initially 1 with evening meal for 2 weeks, then 2 with evening meal for 2 weeks and review in a month.
I had that review this afternoon. I feel it went very well and that my GP was very pleased. Since I saw her at the end of December I read the book she gave me, investigated the Diabetes UK website, took advice from here and bought myself a blood glucose monitor kit with testing strips and lancets. The kit came last Thursday so I’ve been using those to monitor my blood glucose levels and adjust diet accordingly, and it's really helped me. I've lost 4lbs this week! Took me a day or so to get the hang of using the lancets and testing my blood but I'm all right now. Pleased with my numbers, which I'm managing to keep fairly low all things considered. We went out for a meal last night for my husband’s birthday and I opted for the salmon which should have been served with new potatoes and seasonal veg, but I asked if I might forego the spuds and have extra veg and they were fine about it. So I was very pleased when I tested later and found my numbers remained low. Yay me.
This coming Friday 1st February I'm starting the Newcastle Diet as I believe it will help me lose weight fast (safely) and improve my blood sugar levels, which is what I want and am aiming for. I have a target weight loss but I won't say what it is yet - perhaps when I'm a quarter or half way there. This particular diet also lowers blood pressure and I am currently on medication for high blood pressure so my GP is being very supportive and prepared to monitor me to reduce medication as necessary as my BP drops naturally on this diet. When I've completed the 8 weeks, I'll start the Mediterranean Diet to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The ultimate goal is to reverse the diabetes and I am determined to do that. GP has also now provided the testing strips and lancets on prescription so I won't have to pay for them in future, and a sharps box. I'm glad about that as I had no idea what to do with all my used testing strips which have blood on them, and also the lancet needles. The sharps box will be a great help.
I want to say thank you to all of the people who created this site and manage and maintain it. And to those of you who have posted your success stories, and those whom like me, are very new to all of this and feel somewhat overwhelmed and are trying to navigate our own path on what is for each individual a very personal journey.
To everyone who has a plan, I wish you great success.
To those who haven’t yet formulated one, I offer encouragement for your next steps.
As Winston Churchill said, “If you're going through hell, keep going.”
You – we all – can do it. I believe that.