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Hi, new,confused !!!!

M

mother14

Member
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17
Hello, recently diagnosed with type 2, not on medication, been advised not to test(went straight out and bought meter) and cut as much sugar as possible, lose weight and exercise. My readings are ranging between 6 and 10, I test once every 3 days before my evening meal, the price of strips gave me palpitations and my piggy bank burst into tears. Hospital dieticians advice seems to contradict all I'm reading here. I need due to busy lifestyle and working shifts to follow a simple diet, any suggestions ?, I have an extremely sweet tooth and am struggling to know apart from chocolate what I can or cant eat,have been on a low fat diet for years as have IBS and find I am better with little and often. On speaking to the diabetic nurse at gp practise, she tells me I'm doing pretty well, feel as if I'm not with what I see here, really want to get this right as there is a possibility my daughter has got it, will find out soon, and feel that if I can help myself I will be in a better position to help her.Thanks, Julia.
 
Hi Julia.
Welcome to the forum. Have a good look around and ask any questions you wish.

Glad to hear you have got a meter and some strips. Now, unfortunately you need to be testing much more often than you are at present. You are only testing before meals and levels of 10 are not good at all. You should not be above 7 mmol/l before meals as a type 2. You also need to be testing at the very least 2 hrs after meals and on every day, not every 3 days. This is so that you can tell what effect certain foods have on your Bg levels. Keep a food diary to relate to those levels as well.

To get strips you might find Ebay is the best place to get them cheaply. I would also suggest you get yourself a Carb Counter book of some sort, most people use the Collins Gem books from W H Smith's or Waterstones. £ 3.99 each.

This site hardly ever agrees with anything the medical profession states. That's why most people on here are controlling their Diabetes well !! You will have to read and decide for yourself who to believe ? You are going to have to read labels on packaging and read the total carbs, not just sugars. Ask here if you are not sure of anything.

What you need to do is restrict carbohydrate consumption, this encompasses sugars and is directly converted to glucose. This in turn elevates your Bg levels and can cause you to gain weight, get complications if not well controlled. Just what a diabetic does not need.
 
Hi Julia, and welcome to the forum.

Chocolate...mmm. Try the dark over 70% chocolates, they are less in carbs than other chocolates. Stay away from anything marked ' diabetic' however ! Unless you want to be in the loo for ages !
 
Hi Julia - a great idea that buying a meter under control and starting to test.

What your meter will tell you is to be very careful with eating starchy carbohydrate - i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta, rice etc - cutting back on those and sugar will usually get a Type 2's blood glucose levels under control. Good control will keep you clear of the quite horrible complications that can come a diabetic's way.

I've been a Type 2 for nearly nine years and over the last twelve months I've normalised my blood glucose levels almost entirely through diet. I still take metformin medication but take very little exercise - I really ought to do much more. You can read my story here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10512

As regards the appalling advice that Type 2s are given regarding "do not test" and "eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate", I have an e-petition on 10 Downing Street - you can find that here:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Diabetes-Advice/

Please support it - I need your help!

Best wishes - John
 
Thank you, your replies have made me feel not only comforted, but supported as I can see from what I read, you make sense, and I feel sure you wouldn't lull anyone into a false sense of security in the way I feel my gp practise has. I now have some measures to work with which is what the surgery were really pretty vague with, shall get a carb counter this morning and get onto e-bay, think I need to make much bigger changes. Have also been told that stress has big effects on sugar levels, can you tell me if that is right ?.I have been finding that the last 18months has felt a bit surreal, as if I'm watching my health problems happen to someone else, also have high bp and cholesterol, and if I'm understanding what I'm reading, your advice is also going to have a very positive impact there too, really dont feel so alone now knowing you guys are out there. Julia.
 
Hi Julia.

Yes, stress can elevate your Bg levels quite drastically so you need to try and get some control over that. If you can, try relaxation techniques, they do work I can assure you.

High Bp and Cholesterol can be controlled as well. Here is a link to the UK Blood Pressure Association website which has much information about lowering both your BP and Cholesterol. Have a read.
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/Home

Try improving things a bit at a time. Too much, too soon is stressful itself. You will feel your health improve if you follow the advice.
 
Glad to hear that Julia! You should find improvements come along quickly once you start getting to grips with your improvement programme. You should also gain a great deal of mental strength also once you feel that you are more in charge of your own health through eating healthily. I certainly do!

Good luck and best wishes - John
 
Thanks so much for your replies, but due to visiting gp with daughter this morning, confusion is back, dont know whether you can help. Friend in nursing profession suggested take her to gp as she been having blackout episodes, feeling dizzy, tired all the time-sleeps for the universe, has palpitations etc-has landed in hospital 5 times this year with it, no real answers till dad and I stamped our feet a little, has had ct scan-clear, both heart and bp monitors for 24hrs-clear, telling us now she may have intolerance to alcohol, but these episodes happen without it too,so followed friend's advice to get her checked for diabetes-reading yesterday of 7.5 2hrs before dinner. Gp saying thats ok and anything up to 11.3 acceptable, apart from 1st thing in the morning, that up to 6.6 is fine, that makes no sense with all I read on here now, I have left it that I will do a fasting test on her with my test meter, but just how way out are these figures ? Feel like I'm on a paralell universe right now having been told all this and that what my daughter is experiencing is perfectly acceptable in teenagers, I think not-but what do I know ?, thanks to your prompt answers I am feeling( as you said John-you were right) happier now I have some good advice, but actually feeling quite distressed over the attitude we got this morning, dont want daughter to have it, but equally what if she has ?, am I being silly on this ?. Julia.
 
Julia.

If you are not happy with opinion of that one GP then see another one in the Practice and get a second opinion. If there is any doubt then you will have to insist that proper tests are carried out.
Get a proper diagnosis, not just a 'well, that's OK ?'

Try not to get stressed yourself. These things can take a little while to get sorted. You are not being silly....you are just a Mom !
 
I must say that those numbers sound OK and non-diabetic Julia. Your doctor's advice sounds good to me. However, it's impossible to tell for certain without doing a glucose tolerance test or something similar. Try giving her a good portion of cereal and testing one hour after - that would tell you a lot.

John
 
Shall follow your advice for my daughter,and wind down my stress levels, as you say am being mum, think being on nights not helping as dont do them that often and getting tired doesn't help, but thanks again, looking forward now I've got a carb counter to replanning my diet and moving in a positive direction with the diabetes. Regards, Julia.
 
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