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hello,newly diagnosed and feeling nervous

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Onanotherplanet

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Hello

I am new to contributing to forums so feeling nervous about posting.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on 2.4.13. Due to feeling unwell with various things during the winter, a blood test was taken after going to the doctor. Since then I have had a GTT showing 8 then 15(after 2hrs and lucozade) and then the test Hbac1? showing a reading of 73. I have to use diet and exercise to control. I have been trying very hard with this since first test showed high glucose levels(mid March). I saw the nurse and she was nice and helpful but had an awful consultation with doctor a few days ago. I felt very humiliated and demoralised and ten times worse than when I went in. I feel very confused as to what I can and can't eat I'm geting differing advice from various sources. Next appointment for another blood test will be beginning of June and although I have made dietary changes, taking regular exercise and losing weight I feel it may not be enough.

The Doctor advised that because of high sugar levels I should expect to feel unwell.(headaches and low energy main problem) Does anybody know how long it takes to start to feel better after changing diet and bringing down sugar levels?

Thanks
 
Hi Onanotherplanet and welcome to the forum :)

Other members will be along soon to share their experiences with you and attempt to answer your questions from their own point of view. In the meantime, here is the information we give to new members which I hope will help you. Ask more questions and someone will come and answer you.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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 30,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

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

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.
 
Hi. Daisy should be along shortly to post lots of info and links to various areas on the forum for diet and so on. To reduce your weight you will need to reduce the level of carbs you have and ensure they are low-GI whenever you can. You may receive NHS advice or see advice in the media to have 'starchy carbs with every meal'. This is not good advice as it may well prevent weight reduction and increase blood sugar. All carbs are converted to glucose in the blood hence the need to control portion size and having low-GI carbs will smooth blood sugar spikes. Fat is not the problem that we are commonly told so don't worry too much about that but focus on the carbs. Do get hold of a glucose meter and strips so you can test your BS (blood sugar) and find out which foods affect you most. Some people feel unwell with high blood sugar but I never have done so we are all different. Don't let the GP brow-beat you. Have the sort of diet covered in the forum and have exercise when you can so you can demonstrate to yourself and the GP that you are having success in weight and BS reduction. Your GP may add Metformin as a tablet which most of us have; it's a good, safe drug but diet is the main thing that will help you achieve good results. Do come back with any questions.
 
As Diabell says gets yourself a meter, normally if you phone the likes of Abbott medisense, Bayer, Lifescan etc they will normally send you a free meter. Unfortunately as you are type 2 you will be in the post code lottery if your DN or GP will prescribe test strips.

We need to test in order to find how foods react with us, GP's could well say they will test your HbA1c every 3 months (12 months in my area). You could well be eating food that could send your BS sky high, unless you test how would you know, with me its started with white bread, and has now spread to anything made with white flour, (rules out a lot of what I liked :( ).

If you are not supported by your GP or DN, in the provision of test strips on prescription and you want to test your BS, there are a few lower cost test strip options like the SD code free and the supercheck2 systems.
 
Hello again

Thanks for your replies and advice

Yes - the advice by local NHS on carbs is the 'starchy carbs with every meal' within reason and to cut the cakes,biscuits, white bread. Didn't go as far as advising brown rice and wholemeal pasta but I think I need to change to them and reduce portions. Doctor told me to steer clear of anything over 5% fat(for weight loss) but this limits diet even further. Got told off for having nuts(unsalted) and oatcakes as too much fat in them. I think your advice to get a meter is what I need to do. I have looked on the internet and will look some more.

If I hadn't gone to doctor feeling unwell in the first place I would not have discovered diabetes. I am therefore grateful that it has been diagnosed instead of not knowing and developing complications. At least I am getting the chance to take action when I am still able to do so.

Thanks again
 
Hey there,

To answer your question about how long it will take you to feel better, it's taken me about 8 weeks... Felt absolutely awful for the last 6 months or so before diagnosis and eventually diagnosed mid Feb. immediately cut out all refined sugar and am now reasonably low carb - and as others says fat is not your enemy - nuts are a much better snack if you're hungry than something considered 'healthy' like dried fruits, even though the dried fruit is low fat... As for oatcakes, for me they make my sugars go high, but some are ok with them - as others says you need a meter to tell which foods do and don't work for you.

Also don't get disheartened - I literally felt / saw almost no difference to my blood sugars or weight for the first 6 or so weeks - it's literally only the last fortnight that they're coming down and that I'm starting to feel human again... So keep going, and good luck xx


Diagnosed Type 2, 22nd Feb 2013
Hba1c 7.5
Three month trial of managing through diet & exercise.
Low carb, pescatarian
Trying various supplements!
 
Hi Sunshine Kisses
Thanks for the encouragement. Great that you're beginning to feel better. I too was feeling ill for 6 months before so hopefully I will also start to feel better after about 6 weeks.
 
Yeah, you will - just keep going and you'll get there :-)


Diagnosed Type 2, 22nd Feb 2013
Hba1c 7.5
Three month trial of managing through diet & exercise.
Low carb, pescatarian
Trying various supplements!
 
Hi Onanotherplanet,

you are amongst an ever increasing throng as the NHS works hard to diagnose us all as early as possible. Take it gently and don't over-react. Obviously, if you used to drink 10 cans of sugary pop a day, you are probably better to cut that out, but don't starve yourself.

If it is available in your area, get yourself on an X-PERT Diabetes course. It teaches you about diabetes, and managing it. Everything they teach is Evidence-based, in other words, they can back it up with peer-reviewed research.

Look at your portion sizes, the GDA for carbs is currently under review, but it is currently 300g for a man, 230g for a woman. That's the equivalent of about 20 slices of white bread, 20 apples or 60 spoons of sugar for a man. If you ate just that that much bread your BG would go sky high, but there are other carbs that are absorbed much more slowly. There is a measure of how slowly known as the Glycaemic Index (GI). When foods combine, their GI sort-of averages out, so a baked potato (high GI) and baked beans (low GI) will make a moderate GI meal. Wholegrain breads, and seeded breads are lower GI alternatives. Many vegetables are very low GI so they will fill you up and they will slow the absorption of the starchy foods you eat with them. Spread the carbs out throughout the day, even having a late night healthy snack to keep you going overnight. The key is to keep the average low by avoiding spikes.

How was your Cholesterol? Many of the cholesterol-lowering foods are also low GI. A bowl of porridge has 37g of carbs, but is low GI because of the soluble fiber that makes it gloopy and helps with the cholesterol. Sunshine_Kisses said oatcakes send her blood sky high, but spread some low-fat cheese on them and you'll slow their digestion.

You will not notice the changes at first, but they are happening. One day, you'll accidentally do your belt up another hole. You will begin to find that the exercise is getting easier and you are recovering more quickly so you can notch it up a bit. Choose a day and time (probably in the morning) when you will weigh yourself. Write it down, even draw a graph. Set yourself achievable targets, mine were down to 90kg, then to BMI 30, down a waist size, then a shirt size, 85kg, not sure whether it will be down another size or 80kg next. Each achievement will make the next easier.

HTH

Ellis
 
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