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LouiseW

Well-Known Member
Messages
45
Location
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, Canada
Hi all,
I'm new to this forum and want to spend more time here getting to hear how each of you are handling your issues.

A bit of background about me: I am very much overweight, have struggled with it my 59 years. About 10 years ago, my fasting blood sugar came up at 6.1 and my doctor said I was pre-diabetic. We did further testing and it came back OK. About 7 years ago, I started low carbing to lose weight. I lost over 100 pounds (yes, I am THAT heavy). My blood sugars were perfect at that point. Like many very obese people, I have slipped back into old habits and have regained all of the weight I've lost, with a number of re-starts and roller coasters during those 7 years.

In the past few months, I've noticed fatigue beyond anything I'd experienced before and could associate it pretty well with high sugar consumption. My husband is diabetic, on meds, and I've been testing for the past month or two using his monitor. I can't really fool myself any longer - this morning my blood levels were 7.8 after a 12 hour fast and have been consistently above 6 no matter when I test for the past week.

I haven't seen the doctor yet but will be making an appointment next week.

I am strongly committed to managing my blood sugars via diet. Being a very experienced low carber, I know how good I feel when I eat low carb. I've read a few posts in the low carb section here and it's heartening to see that others have been successful in bringing their blood sugar into line via diet alone.

My brother is a type 2 diabetic on insulin and my grandmother was a diabetic in her later years. My uncle was also diabetic but i don't know much about him because he died when I was very young. My father tells me he didn't look after his health. That uncle, my grandmother, and my brother were/are all overweight. With the weight issues I've had and the propensity I have to binge on sweets, I am not sure how I've escaped the diabetes diagnosis so far but facing reality, I think it's here and it's time to treat it seriously. So here I am and happy to meet all of you! I know this is a UK-based forum but hope you don't mind if I'm joining in from Canada.
 
Hi there LouiseW - welcome to the Diabetes Forum! :)
 
Hi Louise, :)

Welcome to the forum

This is a nice forum with a lot of good advice.
Canada is not that far away, about 4600 miles, yet just a few seconds on our fingers.
You must have lots of advice that can help many on this forum.

Roy. :)
 
Hi Louise, welcome to the forum! You're in the right place along with lots of likeminded people. I can totally identify with you're feelings of fatigue, just before I was diagnosed I had days when I couldn't get out of bed, I needed an extra 15 minutes to get going. I was gobbling jelly sweets like they were going out of fashion. Now I understand that my body couldn't process the sugar I was consuming and was just flushing it out of my body.

Diabetes has changed my life and it will change yours, but in fact I feel better now that I have my blood sugar under control than I have in MANY years.

You will be fine, read lots, ask lots of questions and you will find your way! Good luck Jane
 
Hi Louise and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information which we give to new members which should be helpful to you. Ask as many questions as you need to and there will be someone who can reply.


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.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.
 
Hi LouiseW and welcome to the forum. Hope you find all the information you're looking for and share your own experiences too :thumbup:
 
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