hello and help!!!

[ballinluig]

Hello everyone. Im new to this so here goes.... im a married mum to 3 teenagers and have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetees for 18months now.I do take antidepressnats and antipsychotics and hate to say but 3 stone over weight.I also take meds for high blood pressure, this is around 140/95. But my practise nurse isnt much good at advice. I suffer from shall we just say 'mental health' problems and this last week has been sheer hell. I had to talk to my support worker and he thinks my diabetees has alot to do with my depression. I dont have medication for my diabetees but was told to just watch my eating habits, eat less sugar! Thats all shes ever said. Ive bben testing my bsl alot recently and it goes from 12.9 down to 5.4 in any one day- this is just a typical days readings. its never stable and goes up and down like a yo-yo. Im ALWAYS tired. Last night i slept 9 solid hours, then today slept another 4 hour s and yep rteady for bed now.

Ive read a few posts on here already and cant believe my diabetic/practice nurse has never told me some of these things. The last time I knew things wasnt right she took some bloods and the results came back 6.4 and was told nothing to worry about.But when your body is feeling the highs/lows so much ,surely things could improve? Is there any one else on here whos bsl does this> Or is there any one else who has type2 and has depression?

Any info would really help. THank you for reading my post and for any advice. Donna

 

[cugila]

Hi Danna.
Welcome to the Forum. You will get much good advice and support here. Starting with the advice that Sue and I post here for newly diagnosed, some basics. Have a read, it might just help you even though you are not a new Diabetic......many have never been given such advice before.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, Diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy Carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of Insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause Insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting Carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total Carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a Diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the Nurse/Doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own Diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.


Ken / Sue.

 

[sailorj]

Hi Donna,

I've just been diagnosed and finding all the reading on this site rather scary and depressing. Not to the extent you are experiencing but I suspect that big emotional reactions to the diagnosis and management are normal.

I get the feel from the forum that many people have not had good experiences and support from their health care professionals which I find dreadful in this day and age. I suspect that if you don't ask and fight for it patients may not get the help they need, but equally not knowing what to ask, do or not do means we are in left in the dark ... reminds me of the phrases that 'you don't know what you don't know' and 'the more you know, the more realise you don't know'.

SO I hope you get the help you need from the other messages on the discussion forums.