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I'm back from my first meeting with the Diabetic Nurse

Marieukxx

Well-Known Member
Messages
240
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
I'm feeling much more positive now. She said I'm Type 2. She talked through what I'm eating and said the changes I've made are brilliant. Did the usual weight and BP. BP was a bit high so she's gonna check that again next time.

She gave me a monitor and showed me how to use it plus a diary to record my results in. I have to do it twice a day and recored the results for my next visit. When I did it in there to practice she said it was a really good reading. I hadn't eaten anything since 7pm the night before and she said it was as it should be if I haven't eaten since then. It was 3.7 I asked if that meant I'm not diabetic then and she said no because that's what she would expect now I've changed my eating plus had nothing to eat since 7pm the night before. Is that right?

All in all she said I'm well on the way to getting rid of it! If I carry on the way I have. I had another proper blood test done there as well. Booked in for the 4th Aug for my next check. I've gotta bring my morning urine sample with me for that.

Yesterday I ate for breakfast 1 Mullerlight yogurt. Lunch 1/4 pot of organic Hummus with carrot sticks. Tea was green leafy salad with 3 slices of ham and a smokey dressing. Nothing to eat since 7pm. What do you think of my fasting morning reading at just 3.7? I knew I felt a lot better.
 
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Blimey Marie, that fasting reading is brilliant! My lowest ever testing at home every morning is 5.2. Well done. One tip - make sure you get a print out of all your blood test results for future reference and to give you something to work on. If you didn't get any from previous tests you can ask the receptionist to give them to you. You are entitled to them and will find them very useful.

I do hope you are going to test more than twice a day though!

What a great nurse you have, very enlightened and you even got a meter!
 
Well I do wanna test more than twice but she didn't give me enough strips! I ordered my own test kit on Amazon so when that comes I can use that to my hearts content lol.
 
Thanks to the advice here I got a head start and she was so impressed with me. I told her I feel so much better for it. I'll post my reading later tonight. She wants me to do it 2 hours after my tea for my diary.
 
Is the test they do at the docs when they take your blood the same? They said my first one was 13.7! Is that measured in the same way as the meters? It's amazing how diet can have such a drastic difference. Mind you I did eat a lot of crisps and sweets daily before and have fizzy pop only to drink.
 
The tests they do at the doctors (apart from the HbA1c test) is the same as the ones you do at home and measured in the same way. The HbA1c test is different, but it looks like you haven't had one of those yet .... or have you? It is unusual to diagnose someone without an HbA1c test. This is why perhaps you should get your print outs. It will tell you exactly what tests you have had and what measurements are used. The measurements on home testing kits are in mmol/l.
13.7 was very high!
 
God knows what they tested the first time. I know he said he was testing for diabetes and that's how they got that 13.7. The receptionist said that was a glucose reading when I asked for the numbers.

On Friday I thought he was testing it again but he just tested my liver. The Diabetic Nurse said I've only had one test so far so ordered another one be done today which I had. That was a fasting test
 
3.7, that's amazing, well done! I've never got near a fasting reading like that!

If you have 2 meters (lucky you to get one from the DN, most of us don't) it would be worthwhile comparing the two, 'home' meters can be out by as much as 20% although they are usually much better than that. Test immediately before eating, tea/dinner especially, and 2 hours afterwards. If your +2 is 7.8 or more you should be wary of eating whatever it was that spiked you. You may want to test at +1 hours as well because the spike profile can vary from meal to meal and person to person. If you get what seems like a 'rogue' result just do it again and average the two. It's all a learning process to determine what you can 'safely' eat and what is best avoided.

Some test last thing before bedtime - I don't routinely because it's usually not much later than my dinner +2. Also test first thing when you get up - this may be higher than you expect if your liver has dumped glucose pre-dawn (a normal body process).

As for undereating, make sure you don't eat so little that you don't get enough calories. Otherwise your liver will go into starvation mode and just produce more glucose. Better to eat what you want and burn off any excess calories with exercise.

But what a change from a few days ago, brilliant!
 
Thanks
 
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Which liver enzyme test was that? Sounds like Gamma GT with numbers like that. Mine was 217 (and ALT 51) when diagnosed, the latter is now right down to 17 and they didn't do the GGT again. LCHF and exercise seemed to sort that out for me. I have the odd glass of red wine without any problems, but cutting alcohol out altogether is sensible at least until you have got your liver back to some normality.
 

Again Marie, ask for those print outs of all your tests. You are floundering a bit because you don't know what you have had, and your liver tests will also be useful.
 
No idea. I was at the surgery in the waiting room and my doctor saw me there when he called a patient then when they had finished he called me in quickly to tell me. I've been having a dull achy kind of pain on my right where the ribs are but assumed I had pulled a muscle. Now looking up its where the liver is! I'm hoping by eating right plus staying off alcohol totally it will go back to normal.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Again Marie, ask for those print outs of all your tests. You are floundering a bit because you don't know what you have had, and your liver tests will also be useful.
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Thanks I will ask for them next time I go.
 
All this with me feeling so ill and drinking a lot happened this past 6 weeks. We got some really bad news and it's been so stressful dealing with things it hit me hard and I was drinking most nights and stuffing sweets and crisps.
 
Your diagnosis has been a good thing it seems! It has given you the motivation you needed to turn things round before it got completely out of control. You are doing remarkably well. I hope you can keep it up, staying on this forum will help with that.
 
Thanks. I's been a wakeup call for sure.
 
That reading of 13.7 at your doctor's was probably a random test. Since it was over 11 it qualified you for further investigation. It doesn't matter when they did it or under what conditions, more than 11 is enough.
 
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