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Help please - newly diagnosed and clueless!!

K

Kellybird

Member
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7
:shock: bit of a story to my diagnosis which I won't bore with now, but I left my drs yesterday with so much verbal information, was told to make sme decisions there and then which was a bit hard going and left feeling a little adrift!!

Long story short the dr thinks that some of the medication I am on my have contributed to my bg levels being high. I have been on this medication for a while (can't remember now exactly how long) and I looked at the possible side effects yesterday and whilst it does say it may affect the blood sugar levels, it also says this is a rare side effect, so I'm not sure why she's picked that as being one of the main causes.

Anyway, I've decided to use the bg monitor I was given when pregnant with daughter 5 years ago (had gestational diabetes) and monitor myself before eating and 2hrs after eating for a week whilst making absolutely no change whatsoever, not to eating habits, not to medication etc. then after the first week, I will start to make adjustments to eating - if still no difference, will decrease medication (antidepressant btw) and if still no change will then start using the metformin which the dr gave me a prescription for.

Do you think this is the right way to go?? I'm also going to phone tomorrow to ask to be referred to a diabetic clinic or equivalent - would that be a problem :roll:

With regards to treatment, in a nutshell she wanted me to change diet and then retest with gtt to see if it had made any difference, my thought is by doing it this way, I will be seeing any differences a lot quicker and noticing how my body reacts to certain foods, stresses etc, and also I am a working mum so I can't keep having time off work to go and sit in a surgery for 2 hours waiting to drink a huge cup of lucozade!
 
You are right to be suspicious about her approach. The Oral GTT (2 hr lucozade deal) is not usually very useful - and it's pretty darn unpleasant too. I suggest finding out what your ordinary fasting glucose result is, and your HbA1c. Come back to us with those and we'll go from there.

A meter that is 5 years old might not still work, and it might be hard to get the correct test strips for it after this time. I bought a new one when I was diagnosed - the test strips are subsidised for T2 diabetics in NZ.

BTW which medications does she think led to diabetes? There is some excellent information about antidepressants and diabetes here:
http://www.crazymeds.us

It's quite possible she is right about the meds, but it doesn't matter how we got here, the important thing is to learn about diabetes, question everything health professionals say, and manage our own health as best we can.
 
Kellybird said:
What's HbA1c? And the meter is fine, just need some new test strips which I'm watching on eBay!
Click to expand...
HbA1c will give you an average of your Blood Glucose over the last few months, normally done at Doctors by blood sample, not fasting one.
 
Hi Kelly and welcome to the forum :)
Here is the information we give to new members which should help you find out a lot of the things you need to know about how to look after yourself. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will be able to 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.
 
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