Hello from France

[frenchie]

I've recently been diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic. My problem is that I live permanently in France and my doctor speak no English. Although my French isn't too bad when it comes to all things medical then I start to get lost in translation.' After researching Diabetes on numerous internet sites I found this one the most comprehensive and thought perhaps I might get answers to some of the numerous questions I need answering.

My HBA1c is 6.60% and Blood Glucose Levels 6.66 mmol/l. On these results my GP has said that I will need to take Metformin. No other remedy has been suggested and I'm a bit concerned after reading lots of the info. contained on this site, that I should be automatically prescribed Metformin. Is this normal for the above levels? I've not yet been prescribed the drug because apparently in France a GP cannot give the drug without first consulting an Endocrinologist. At the moment I'm waiting to see what the Engocrinologist has to say. I've got an appointment to see her but not until late September.

In the meantime I'm suffering from a number of conditions associated with Type 2, the worst one being an incredible itching on both of my arms. I've had this itching for a number of years and been prescribed all sorts of creams, steriods, anti-histamines etc. etc. all to no avail. This itching is torture and I wake up every morning with blood on the bedding where I've scratched my arms until they bleed. I've also got a raging thirst, again I've had this for about 18 months, am grossly overweight despite not eating much, urinating frequently, have just started to get boils on my nether regions, am frequently exhausted, have terrible night cramps that sometimes continue during the day and sometimes my eyes feel blurred.

Until I see the Endocrinologist in 3 months time or maybe the GP before that I would like to hear other people's advice on whether or not I should start taking the Metformin?

 

[Helga]

Hi, I am not an expert by anybodies standards but I would strongly suggest to low carb until you can see the specialist. Increase your exercise as much as you can and go as close to the Atkins diet as you feel comfortable doing. You might find that you feel a lot better after even a little while. I don't know if a glucose meter and strips is out of the question for you to purchase but it really helped me to see which foods bring me up and which to avoid all together. Spend the 3 month to educate yourself and you will see if you can get into a healthy zone without Metformin or if you better take it. I believe you are supposed to be able to lose weight easier on Metformin too. Maybe you can just take it for a while. Good luck. Helga

 

[Synonym]

Hello Frenchie and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear that you are having such a miserable time with all those symptoms. Poor you!

If you haven't got an appointment untill September it gives you a real chance to make a big difference yourself and may even change the way in which you are treated eventually. I will post a copy of the information usually posted on here by Ken and/or Sue, our Forum Monitors, as 'Advice for new T2s' and if you follow it carefully it will make a huge difference to you. It is advice for people normally resident in the UK but is still pertinent for yourself although you may have different circumstances.
Explore the forum and if you have any questions then do ask as there is normally someone on here happy to answer. Let us know how you get on.

"Welcome to the forum. here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.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 a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

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.

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 !!

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

 

[frenchie]

Hi folks,

Thanks for your very helpful replies. Since posting my initial post I've been doing lots of research on the internet and almost everything I read advocates a 'low carb' diet and exercise. Well
I work every day in my large spending anything between 4 - 7 hours per session and to me that seems ample exercise. But I'll be guided by other people's examples.

As for the diet. I don't like sugar, have never taken it in drinks since giving it up for Lent when I was 7 years old. I very rarely eat or drink anything remotely sweet and don't eat a lot of carbohydrate, yet have put on 2 stone in a year.

However I don't eat regularly and I think that is part of my problem. I normally get up around eight o'clock and eat a slice of toasted home-made fruit bread. Then I won't eat anything else until around 4 or 5 o'clock when I start to realise how ravenous I've become. Throughout the day I've drunk copious cups of tea and glasses of water. At tea time I will have a substantial freshly cooked meal consisting of protein and at least 3 portions of steamed vegetables. I might have some fruit and ice cream later on during the evening but it's only occasionally that I'll eat savoury snack foods. I don't drink a lot of alcohol, perhaps just once or twice a week.

Since being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and reading everything I can upon the subjectd I've started to eat 4 small meals a day at regular intervals and in 2 weeks I've lost 6 lbs!!!!! Hopefully I can keep this up and lose one and a half to two pounds every week until I drop the 4 stone that I'm overweight. Is this normal or is it just 'water retention' that's caused the weight loss?

I've got an Atkins Diet Book and did lose a lot of weight quickly when I did the diet some years ago when it was fashionable, but like most people once I went back to my normal diet all the weight went back and and more so. And of course in recent years this type of diet has been give lots of bad press, so I'm in a quandry as to what to do. Are there any low carb books that are definitively written for Type 2 Diabetes? If so could anyone put me on the right path?

Bisous à tous.

Frenchie.

 

[Synonym]

Hi Frenchie,

Glad to hear that you have an improved eating plan in place and that it is working for you. Well done on the weight loss - you are obviously doing very well already so keep doing what you are doing.

You could do worse than reading the threads on the Low Carb Forum and also the Food Forum and recipe threads. You would be wise to 'eat to your meter' as we are all different and you may be able to tolerate things that others may not; only by testing before and after your food will you know. Visit low carb websites or your library and try out recipes -testing all the while! Above all else follow that advice on the 'Advice to newly diagnosed T2s'! 8)