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Hi, newby to this site

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Deedee1

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Hi My name is Dee,

I am type 2 and was diagnosed in 2010 , At first a doctor at my surgery diagnosed me wrongly with a migraine and told me to go home and see what developed over the weekend , I told him in no uncertain tone to get me a second opinion as I did not trust his diagnosis. I had had migraines years ago and knew this was not a migraine, I was sent to the hospital and there they diagnosed me with type 2 diabetes, my sugar reading was 22.5 at that time. On the following Monday I went to see the nurse at the surgery who threw some tablets at me and said take 1 a day for a week then 2 a day for the rest of your life , The tablets were Metformin. I was told to come back on Tuesday to see my GP, . I saw the GP who asked me if I had ever had a sugar test before and I said not to my knowlege, she looked back on the computer and told me I had in fact had a test and was pre- diabetic in 2005. Why in this case was I never told about this, surely I could have avoided diabetes if I had changed my lifestyle back then? I feel there has been medical neglect here and I really am so angry.
I was told to take statins also as my cholesterol was very high , the reading for my cholesterol was 5.1 A consultant at the hospital a few weeks later asked me how high my cholesterol was and when I told him 5.1 he said that was quite normal. I had not been taking the statins as they are more harmful than good I have read. I also stopped taking the metformin after a week as it was making me feel so ill.

I have just had a check up and my levels are
Cholesterol 5 HbA1c 7.1 the Hb1c was 11.4 when I was diagnosed in 2010 so that has come down quite a lot without drugs of any kind , I just am careful what I eat and have stopped sugar altogether and use splenda in coffee and cooking and on cereal if I need it . Am I doing ok please can anyone tell me I would value some opinions as I have no faith in my GP or Nurse as all they seem to want to do is pump me full of drugs and just forget about me . Many thanks in advance, Dee :) x
 
Hi Dee and welcome to the forum :) Your HbA1c still needs to come down a bit and this information should help you to achieve that. It's not just sugar you need to reduce/cut out, but you need to reduce carbohydrates as well. Ask as many questions as you like as there is always someone here to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS


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.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Daisy, Many thanks for your reply , I am working on getting it lower my sugar test readings are usually below 6 first thing in the morning and can be as low as 4.8 and before lunch they are usually between 5 & 7 then before my evening meal at around 6pm they are almost always 7 or less. so I am pretty stable at the moment I think . my sugar very rarelky goes over 10 only on the odd occasion . Dee x
 
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