• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Just had the news..............

T

trebor2001

Newbie
Hi All, after 2 raised samples,[ 7.8 and 7.9 ] i have been confirmed as having type 2 Diabetes,

and to put it mildly, i am in shock, and bewildered as to what happens next ? i took early retirement

from the N.H.S in 2010 not on medical grounds but after 40 years service, and i have let myself go a bit,

hitting the late night carry out trail [ chinese/Indian ] and eating sweets for fun, plus my fav drink lucozade

by the "gallon" obviously i accept this has not caused the Diabetes over the short term, but more a longer

endured path..........i am waiting to see the Diabetes specialist at my local medical centre, and i,m sure

things should be come a little clearer then, [ hopefully ] as for now, i,m scared to eat or drink anything at all,

please advise ? the internet is a great thing, but on looking up type 2 on Wkki that frightened me,

possible complications.... 1] Amputation 2] Blindness 3] Vascular Disease 4] Kidney Disease.............

good news, i have 2 wks hols coming up, [ or is it good news, frightened to go to restaurants, dont know what to eat,

and to drink] this will be fun............. NOT............ a little about me, i was an active sportsman in my early years,

Soccer/Badmington/Squash/ but had to give up all these in 2000 after a bad motorcycle accident, i,m 58 now, and do little

or no exercise, i mean to say, exercise for me is a walk into the kitchen or back garden !!! i,m 5ft - 6 and, wait for it, nearly

20 stone, which, i now realise is NOT ON....... i have always had a great appetite, which has probably not helped my weight

issues, anyway, that,s me in a nutshell, and, some advice, at this low point, would help me understand this news...............

cheer,s Rob........................
 
Hi Rob and welcome to the forum :)

Here is some information that will be useful to you, the information we give to new members. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will help.


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.
 
Hi Rob,

This is the best place to be if you have questions to ask. I was type 2 for 8 years or so but thanks to losing 5 1/2 stones, from neary 18 stones, I no longer have to take diabetes medication. I am not cured, I just don't have to take the several pills I used to take. If you decide to diet, either by yourself or with a slimming group, read this forum first. Especially the part concerning eating a low carbohydrate diet. I did my weight loss before I found this site. I did OK, but I think I would have done much better if I had known about low carbing.
Read on my friend, you are not alone.
Lee. :thumbup:
PS. Not prying here Rob, but you sound as though you could be about my age. I will be 60 in July, so it's not too late to start. I lost my weight in about 12 months, maybe a bit more.
 
You came to the right place and if I could be so bold you have made a huge step in so quickly acknowledging that you have a problem and that you need to adjust your lifestyle. Much the same as an alcoholic or a smoker needs to recognise they need change their habits, until they want to change their habits it is very difficult to moderate behaviour.

You will benefit greatly from two things - firstly taking control of your diet by recording everything thy you eat and drink. If you get an app called MyFitnessPal it will help you greatly to monitor what you eat and drink but of course you need to be honest.

Secondly, you may find that your GP suggests that you do not need to monitor your blood sugar levels whereas it is not rocket science to understand that if you are not able to see how what foods affect your levels, how are you going to be able to moderate your behaviour? If you are one of the unlucky ones whose GP follows the NICE guidelines then you will need to get one and start testing your levels before and two hours after each meal. If you then compare the results to the records of the food you have eaten you will start to understand what is going on.

You will be bombarded with too much information to absorb right now so take it in small steps a day at a time and remember that even those of us with a few years of experience of this get it wrong from time to time.

Oh yes, and I almost forgot the most important message of all - you need to stop consuming foods that contain raw sugars and reduce the amount of carbs you are consuming as your body is finding it difficult to deal with these.

Apart from all of that as many have said here before - the only silly question is the one you did not ask.


Diagnosed type II 1998 2 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
Hi Rob,

Things are not so bad afterall, 7.8 and 7.9 are not too high with the sort of foods you have been eating and, as you are overweight probably diet and exercise will get them down to more normal levels. I was worse than you, 9.8, lots of sweets and biscuits, 155Kg and sod all exercise. I'm down to 128 Kg now, in 5 months and my levels are in the 5s.

I still eat lots of curries and lots of chinese meals, but I make them myself.

You don't have as far to go as me but if you increase your exercise, watch what you eat and, preferably, learn to cook it yourself, you can eat well, lose weight and get your bloods down. To achieve it though, you need a routine. The type that you can slot into sort of semi-automatically. You have the advantage of time having taken early retirement. Many people don't have the time. They have long commutes to and from work which are tiring and make for a long day. The last thing they want to do is carefully prepare a healthy meal when they get home. You have more spare time. Moreover, they don't have time for exercise, even for a short walk a couple of times per day, and often they find it hard to get a decent lunch at their place of work. As far as I understand it, none of this applies to you.

Tonight I will prepare a brown rice with shallots and mushrooms, fried, with slices of duck breast with ginger, tomato and spring onions.

And the whole thing is cheaper than one portion of special fried rice at your local take away.

Some people ignore their diabetes and most of those eventually run into problems. Some people rely on their medications too much and expect them to sort everything out. They too can run into problems. If you kick your lucozade habit, you'll be half way there.
 
Lucozade by the gallon… well 400ml of Lucozade is used to diagnose Impaired Glucose Tolerance, it sends the blood sugar sky high in a diabetic…no, no, no, no! Don't ever touch the stuff as a beverage! There are plenty of diet drinks out there if you need a fizzy fix.

From what I can tell, you really have a good chance of turning this around. There are changes you can make to your diet, losing the excess weight, and getting out for a daily walk will soon start brining those levels down. I don't think anyone is ever cured but you can certainly be well controlled. Good luck!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi. I agree with Janeecee and the other posts. Lucozade will have been making your diabetes far worse than it would otherwise have been. It's an 'empty' energy drink based on glucose. Try to substitute diet drinks, tea, coffee etc and note that beer and most alcoholic drinks are OK in sensible quantities. If you follow the low-carb diet advice moving to low-GI carbs I think you will find your weight and blood sugar will quickly reduce. Try to set a daily limit for carbs of perhaps 150gm/day or less if possible so you get the weight down
 
dutch1 said:
Great fried rice dish yorkman ...i add just a touch of hot sauce just for a little kick
Click to expand...

Always a bone of contention in our house. I like it hot, my wife is so so and my daughter hates it.
 
Back
Top