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Wobanger

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Hello Everyone
I am a newly diagnosed Type 2, just before Christmas, initially trying to control by diet.

I have been lurking about this forum gleaming loads of information and would like to thank you all.

It is a steep learning curve and I have gone from not knowing anything about diabetes to having so much information, it is incredible. Just need to continue to sift through it all and filter out the rubbish.

I have greatly reduced by carb intake, bought a monitor and started testing, lost 1 stone in weight and am already feeling so much better. Most of this has been through advice picked up on this forum.

At this point however I would like to highlight to any Scottish members a new initiative that the NHS is introducing (apologies if you are all already aware of it).

Details are on this site

http://www.mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk/

This will give diabetic patients access to there diabetic medical records on line.
I think this is a brilliant step forward and I have already registered.
What does everyone else think? Good or Bad? Has anyone else registered?
 
Hi Wobanger and welcome to the forum :) I'm glad you have stopped lurking and decided to join the forum. As you are newly diagnosed here is the information written by the Forum Monitors which will help you to manage your diabetes. If you have already seen this on your travels around the Forum, apologies for posting it again!

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS.

Postby sugarless sue » 02 Oct 2010, 17:49
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.

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

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.

Sue/Ken.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Wobanger and welcome to the forum.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 this month also doing frequent testing (thinking of changing my board name to pincushion!) and cutting back on the carbs to try and lower the blood sugars. Based in the Central Belt.

I've just registered with the site, so we'll see how it goes. My initial feeling is that anything that acknowledges and re-enforces the view that patients need to be well informed to play their part in controlling their disease can only be a good thing.

Have you discussed the way you're monitoring and asked for a prescription for strips and lancets yet? At the moment I haven't been brave enough. I did glean some from a friendly nurse where I work but she thought I should only be testing once or twice a week, and randomly at that. I'm planning to go back and chat to he about frequent testing when I've demonstrated that it's helped me.
 
Thanks Daisy1 for welcome and advice.

Primmers - I initially asked and was told that I should not be testing although my GP made me an appointment with a dietician and said that if she thought it was advantageous for me to be testing, he would prescribe them.

First appointment with dietician and her adamant advice was that I should not be testing.
I continued to test and at my second appointment with dietician I took along my testing records which showed how different foods affected my readings. When I questioned her again about the value of testing she had to admit that in my case it had been beneficial.

I queried why she initially gave adamant advice about not testing, and her reply was that I had to understand that not all patients were as clued in as I was (mainly thanks to this forum) and for many patients it would be difficult to understand about testing.

Can’t say I agree with this – basically it is because they feel that the general public do not have any intelligence!!!

Have not been back to GP to ask again about a prescription.
I will ask at next visit. In the meantime I have been buying them from Ebay.

I think the new NHS initiative will be great – it says you will more than likely be able to access your results before your GP.
I have a feeling that GP’s will not necessarily be in favour though.
 
I think it's also penny wise and pound foolish-ness. The way NHS budgets work they concentrate on short term costs over long term benefit. They don't want to spend a penny now to save a pound in a few years time, and the cost of intensive short term monitoring is quite something in the here and now.
 
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