• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

My question is...

S

seanconlin

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Diet only
I received a call crom my doctors office today. The nurse told me that my three month glucose average came back at a 7.6 stating that I am diabetic. My question is am I type one or type two... how bad is a 7.6? The nurse wouldn't anawer any of my questions. My doctor can't see me for two weeks. The last thing the nurse said before hanging up was that I shouldn't eat any sweets or starches.
 
due to the seemingly non urgent nature of your experience i would say type 2....

is that number in mmol or as a percentage...[hba1c].....?

i suspect mmol, so its slightly higher than normal, but not immediately serious....
 
seanconlin said:
The last thing the nurse said before hanging up was that I shouldn't eat any sweets or starches.
Click to expand...

Avoid sugar and try to avoid flour (difficult since it is used in some processed foods). Smaller portions of potato and/or rice. The good news is you can have more meat and veg to make up the shortfall. Don't go full tilt at it since you won't keep it up.
 
Since you mention 3 month average, it sounds like it is your HBA1c and it sounds like 7.6%. it is above normal, 6%, but many people are worse. I was around 10%. Still, I got it down to below 6.0 within the year.

Don't worry about the delay. I saw the GP after about 10 days, signed some forms got some leaflets and was told 'we'll be in touch'. It was over 2 months before I went on the Desmond course but I had, by that time, been reading posts on this forum, learning about foods and measuring my own bloods.

I can see you've already started by making a post here. And you don't have as far to go as I did. :)


PS They never did tell me whether I was Type 1 or Type 2 either.
 
I asked which type I was, and was told Type 2. I said how do you know. She said because if you were Type 1 you would have been quite ill before you came. My diagnosis level was 53 (7%)
 
Hi Sean and welcome to the forum:)

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Carry on asking questions and you will get many answers.


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 70,000 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.
 
seanconlin said:
I received a call crom my doctors office today. The nurse told me that my three month glucose average came back at a 7.6 stating that I am diabetic. My question is am I type one or type two... how bad is a 7.6? The nurse wouldn't anawer any of my questions. My doctor can't see me for two weeks. The last thing the nurse said before hanging up was that I shouldn't eat any sweets or starches.
Click to expand...

You're looking in the right place for information and practical advice, but don't try to rush it - there's a lot to take in and, because we're all different, there isn't always a 'right' way to go.

You could usefully get a BG meter (they're cheap enough, though the test strips are expensive) so you can see how high your blood sugar levels are going and how different foods affect you. That'll help you build-up a picture of how 'bad' your starting position is but, far more importantly, how your control is going, day-to-day and in the longer term.

There's plenty of advice on this forum on diet (it certainly helped me), and lots about possible symptoms.

You haven't mentioned those - have you suffered any? Together with quite a few others here, I found some strange symptoms, as soon as I changed my diet and lifestyle, immediately after my diagnosis. Clearly, my body didn't like being suddenly slammed into reverse after goodness knows how many years of a high intake of sugars and other carbs, together with my steadily increasing weight. The effects ranged from shimmering eyesight (which was the lenses changing shape as my prevailing BG levels fell) to (as yet unexplained but now diminishing) aches in my fingers, and hot and cold flushes in my legs.

Good luck. Suggest you read up as much as you can, but give it a break now and again, so you don't overload. Don't be afraid to ask questions - however basic you might think they are - and let us know how you get on.
 
Hi, with regard to diagnosis of type, Bluetit's HCP's comment is I'm afraid typical of NHS weak diabetes diagnosis. You can be T1 without any urgent symptoms as it can take widely varying amounts of time to come on (for example myself). There are two tests that can be done to help diagnosis but in general if you are overweight then suspect T2 but if you are normal or underweight then T1 becomes more likely. The treatment initially is the same e.g. a low-carb diet, one or more tablets and then eventually insulin if a T1 or if a long-term serious T2. The nurses advice to have no sweets or starches is sensible but I would substitute 'added-sugar food including sugar itself' instead of just sweets.
 
Back
Top