Hello! I'm (Kind of) Newly diagnosed! Any help and advice would be lovely!

[MissDeer]

I am twenty years of age- and was diagnosed as a type one diabetic by my doctor at the age of sixteen. This week I had quite the shock when attending the main hospital in my city, because they told me they thought it was quite possible I was type two due to my antibodies being quite low. I have to keep going back to them in the upcoming months so that they can do more tests on me. I am still on insulin right now like I have been for the past few years- but I have lived under the idea that I can eat what I want as long as I take the required insulin that covers my carbs.

It seems like this won't be a choice for me anymore if i'm indeed type 2! So please, If anyone could give me the basics and information of Type two life- It would be very much appreciated by me! I do have quite a big question- As a student i'm always studying with the odd snacks- usually crisps. Is there something I can do to deal with my - "Up at one am to goodness knows how long in the mornings doing my assignments- type craving/ munchies"? Or is it a simple case of going cold turkey? Thank you so much for listening to me. Any and all information and helpful tricks would be really appreciated by me! Thank you so much for your time.

 

[AM1874]

Hi @MissDeer .. and welcome
You have made the best move coming here .. so ask your T2 questions and be assured that there are plenty of folk who will provide you with the answers that you need ..

Managing and controlling your diabetes through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..

I have tagged @daisy1 for you and I would suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. and the following websites ...
Low Carb Intro and Information
Low Carbs in 60 Seconds

Hope this helps

 

[daisy1]

@MissDeer

Hello MissDeer and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find this useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

 

[Prem51]

I do have quite a big question- As a student i'm always studying with the odd snacks- usually crisps. Is there something I can do to deal with my - "Up at one am to goodness knows how long in the mornings doing my assignments- type craving/ munchies"? Or is it a simple case of going cold turkey? Thank you so much for listening to me. Any and all information and helpful tricks would be really appreciated by me! Thank you so much for your time.

Hi @MissDeer and welcome to the forum. In answer to your big question, crisps are out if you are Type 2. Starchy carbohydrates turn to sugar in your body so potatoes, bread, rice, and pasta aren't good for T2s.
There are threads on the diet and nutrition section on foods that are ok for T2s. Some of the snacks you could have when you get the munchies are cheese, chorizo, salami, biltong, nuts, olives, celery, avocadoes,and hard boiled eggs.
I expect other posters will think of more.

 

[catapillar]

Hi @MissDeer what antibody tests have you had done so far? When you say your antibodies are "quite low" what are the actual results? And how long after diagnosis were the tests run.

A normal GAD test for someone who doesn't have autoimmune type 1 diabetes is really unrecordable/nil/zero. If you've got gad antibodies, any gad antibodies, and diabetes then the presence of the antibodies suggests you've got type 1 diabetes, if you've had antibody tests run 4 years post diagnosis then it might be that if the antibodies have successfully killed off all your beta cells and they've got nothing to do they've started petering out.

Have you had a cpeptide test to see if you are making any insulin? There's no point thinking being on insulin will change unless you know you have endogenous insulin production. It's possible that a type 1 diabetic might be honeymooning 4 years post diagnosis, but that would be an unusually long honeymoon especially in someone diagnosed at a young age.

What's caused your diagnosis to be queried? Antibody tests aren't usually run unless they have a reason to question the type of diabetes. What's your hba1c? How are you doing on insulin, are you having lots of hypos? What's your total daily dose?

What's the story of your diagnosis? What was your BMI on diagnosis? Did you have DKA? What's your ethnicity?

 

[Daibell]

If you read the NICE T1 Diabetes guidelines it says that the GAD test becomes less reliable the longer it is since diagnosis so your hospital is wrong as it is too late for you to have GAD test to prove negativity. The c-peptide test is the important one and can be done even in the presence of injected insulin. My GAD was negative around 7 years after T2 diagnosis but my c-peptide was quite low. Note that there are other things than GAD antibodies to cause islet cell failure such as viruses, pancreatitis etc. Note that as a 'T1' you can't just eat what you like and cover with insulin otherwise you will gain weight and become insulin resistant. I would ensure you are only eating a sensible amount of carbs before your next hospital visit and perhaps show them a copy of the NICE Guidelines document if they won't agree with you! Get a c-peptide test done.