help im so scared

Hello Cath

Welcome. Don't be scared, there is lots of advice and help here.

Until you get a GP appointment you don't really know what you are dealing with, so I'll base my comments on the guess you are type 2.
A doctor can do a quick finger prick blood test to see the sugar levels in your blood but also take a sample to send away to see what the average sugar (glucose) were over the last 3 months.

If you have any excess weight now is the time to think about losing it and if you can increase exercise that will help too. Meanwhile be careful what you eat. You will get a welcome message from Daisy, one of the forum moderators which gives lots of information. But there is more to it than avoiding just sugar (or Xmas pud). Most things are ok in moderation or as a treat.

Please ask as many questions as you need

Cara

First of all dont panic cath and please dont stop eating because that will make you ill although carbohydrates are not good for diabetics on the whole you can eat lots of fish ,meat veg ,and cheese without problems .Read around on the forum and you will find we are quite friendly and a lot of us have had the shock of suddenly being told we have diabetes and blind panic has set in but we have survived ! Ask lots of questions
CAROL

Those of us with few symptoms prior to diagnosis can really relate to the way that you feel.
But don't be scared.

Over the next few months you are going to have ups and downs, admissions and denials, good days and bad days. It's all part of the enormous learning curve that comes with this disease. You have the power to control the diabetes, and not have it control you, but to do that you have to prepare for an education like never before. The best place to learn is here in this forum. Read as many posts as you can - get a feel of the questions and answers that others have asked. Definitely read the low carb forum. Low Carb isn't for everyone, but it's worked miracles for me.

It sounds ridiculous, but diabetes has been the best thing to happen to my diet. I never had much self control, but now I have a reason to stay on the straight and narrow... and a reason to exercise. I'm healthier than I've ever been, I'm slimmer than I've been since I was 15 (still have a long way to go though). But if I hadn't found out that I was diabetic, then I'd still be stuffing my face with Cadbury's Caramel every day :-D

Hi cath as carty has said read around the forums you will get lots of info help advice and kind words i was diagnosed 4 months ago and it was a bit of a shock. Since i have lost 2.5 stone i feel much healthier and happier but that has taken time to come to terms with the fact that this is a new way of life for me. I followed the advice on here and eat no rice pasta potatoes and only occasional bread. I eat lots of salmon and chicken and veg. I snack on a little cheese and nuts and ham. I love what i eat now and it works. Dont panic


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I tried porridge for a while but that seemed to put my blood sugar up and although not too much i decided to cut it for now. I eat plenty of eggs so breakfast is normally eggs with bacon. Lunch salad and meat or prawns. And then tea. At first i snacked often on non carb or low carb snacks. But my appetite had really diminished! You will get very very good at hunting out low carb food and your shopping will take hours i cant say i dont get down still because i do, but then i feel so much better in myself. Search low carb meals and food for ideas.


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I dont worry about buying low fat cheese just normal cheese. You will find lots of low carb advice on hear.. Feels odd at first! I decided to tell everyone who would listen about my diabetes. But thats a very personal thing and very much up to you. When you feel more comfortable with it yourself and your in control and losing weight, and you will lose weight if you low carb, then you might feel differently about telling people. I take huge pleasure in being the healthiest eater in work and most want to know what the secret to the new me is


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And dont forget to tell us how you get on at the doctors on Monday!

Please don't be scared, Cath. And don't blame your weight problem for your diabetes - I know we keep getting told by the media that overweight causes diabetes but from my experience it's the other way round, certainly in the pre-diabetes and early stages. Until I was diagnosed with Type2, I used to get angry and frustrated that I couldn't stick to a diet, always caraved sugery stuff and thought I was destined to spend my life getting fatter every year. As I was a size 26 at 5'5", that wasn't a prospect that gave me much hope for my future.

Then I started getting symptoms that I knew meant I was diabetic and I went to get tested. I was scared when I got the result of the tests especially as I couldn't see how I could ever stop eating biscuits and cakes and drinking chocolate milk in vast quantities. One of the first things I did was to buy a meter and start testing my blood glucose levels. I found this forum and learned about low-carb diets and thought it made sense so I tried it. Within days, I'd stopped wanting sugary food and sweets.

It's just over 7 weeks since my diagnosis now and I've lost just under 2 stone. I feel 20 years younger and so healthy. I get comments at work from colleagues saying how well I look. I eat eggs, fish and chicken with lots of salad and veg. If I want a dessert I have natural yoghurt or sugar-free jelly and every night I have a 'treat' of about 10g of carbs-worth of crispbreads with a BabyBel cheese. And a glass of red wine on Friday nights.

After blaming myself for my weight and the way it made me feel for so many years, getting the diagnosis has changed my life. Yes, there's work to do and we have to be careful of our health in ways that non-diabetics don't have to think about but it's not such a grim life.

Good luck and let us know how you get on x

Some people say the most thoughtless things. My boss's boss said to me 6 weeks ago (when I told him that I'd just been diagnosed T2): "Ah, so if you collapse on me I'll know to just wedge your mouth open and pop a sugar lump under your tongue!"

Not: "Oh, good grief, how are you?" or "I know absolutely jack about all this, is there anything we need to look out for?", let alone: "Is there anything we can do to help?"

It went through my mind fleetingly that I should hit him. I decided that it would be wrong to clobber the pig ignorant so I just smiled condescendingly at him, as I walked out of the door.

Fright can be put to good use. It made me change my lifestyle (after 2 decades of only thinking about it) and is keeping me to the changes I've made. It's helping me to learn about what I now have and how I should cope with it, and it's brought into very sharp focus just how fragile we all are.

This forum is full of people who are going through it all - some more, some less so. But if you take the time to read what they say and ask them questions when you're not sure, it's surprising how quickly things will calm down.