Introducing myself

Paulonthehill said:

Hi everyone,

My Name is Paul.


I was diagnosed Type 2 in 2010 and control it with tablets and diet. I haven't respected my diabetes as much as I should have. I had good times and some bad times and five years on I am trying to respect it more. I am not proud to say that but I am trying to respect it more now.

I am 50 this year and live in a small town in Northern Ireland called Antrim. I would describe myself as patient, compassionate and generous. I play a little blues guitar and with a little more work I really feel I am moving from absolutely terrible to pretty bad so I figure by the time I am 60 I'm sure I'll be hitting the dizzy heights of 'not very good at all' so something to look forward too.

I used to love cooking but feel quite restricted now because of the diabetes. I used to love making cakes, buns and tarts. I got a great deal out of making enough chilli or curry to feed the third world. Now-a-days I am happy just making a fresh and healthy salad. Actually yes, I do love salads now and find myself preferring a green tea than a single malt.

Believe it or not I haven't really posted much on forums before so please forgive me if I make some mistakes and some stupid questions that a million others have asked a million times.

Thank you for reading this.

Paul

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Hi paul,big welcome to the best forum on the web,please ask as many q's as you like , remember there's no such thing as a stupid question...only stupid answersglad you took the time to post and please continue so we can help you anyway we can.

Hello Paul it's nice to say hello. I am Faye and there are loads of lovely peoe o. This site with great info. I am t1 if I can help anyway do message. Have a fun adventure in the forum

@daisy1
Hello Paul welcome
daisy1 will be along soon with her new members welcome pack.
Any questions just ask, there is always someone willing to help.

Hello and welcome.

Hi and welcome
I'm glad you want to get back on track or should that be right track , it's suprizing what you can eat and what you can cook
Have a read of low carb in the food and diet section. It's a friendly forum and no questions are silly please ask away and if we can help we will.
Keep well stay safe JJ

Hi again
I'm suprized @daisy1 hasn't been along as yet so perhaps this tag will bring her running it's not very often someone slips through the net , glad a few members have welcomed you and don't forget keep asking if there's anything we can help with.

Good evening Paul and welcome to the forum. I hope you find it helpful, remember we are all in it together and learning all the time

@Paulonthehill

Hello Paul and welcome to the forum

To help you along, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able 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 over 150,000 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-and-whole-grains.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 bloodglucose 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.

Hi and welcome to the forum. There is no such thing as a silly question here. Good on you for being proactive with your diabetes. Its a strong learning curve abd sometimes it takes a bit of time to get yourself on the right track.