new, and confused!

[aly 657]

hello everyone,
i was diagnosed last week after feeling pretty poorly for months, tired, headaches, catching everything going etc, and under a lot of stress following my sons cancer treatment, then both my parents being ill!
i was putting all my symptoms down to stress, but a fasting blood test came back as 7.8, with a low iron count too. I have a lot of family members with types 1 and 2, so my doctor thinks its probably hereditory, although i am a little over weight, and have put on weight very recently too, which also seemed unexplained. The GP feels i wont be able to control this level of glucose with diet, so today i had a GGT, to let her know what medications i will need, and i have been reffered to the diabetic clinic for help. I was lent a glucose testing meter for a day, and started the day on waking at 6.4, went down to 5.5 after eating breakfast, but shot up to 7.6 after lunch, seem all over the place to me! i cant get me head around, how eating brings levels down, when the level is too high to begin with, but eating is the cause of it! HELP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[daisy1]

Hi Aly and welcome to the forum Have a good read around and ask as many questions as you like. I am sure that as you get your BG levels under control you will start to feel much better. Here is some information which will help you do that - diet is very important for a Type 2. This information was prepared by the forum monitors:

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS.
Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.


As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.

 

[Summermum]

It does get easier - I promise
I was lucky enough to find "Type 2 diabetes - the first year" by Gretchen Becker. It explains everything clearly, giving info week by week ( although I did read it cover to cover it was so good!!). The information is also nonblaming which made me feel better
I'm now 6 weeks on and begining to feel much better and positive about it all so keep going
janey x

 

[viviennem]

Stress can push your blood sugars up, and low iron would have you feeling dreadful, so with any luck they've caught your diabetes early - let's hope so!

This is such a supportive forum - I've learned so much, and everyone is always ready to help. Follow the guidelines Daisy posted, and don't let it worry you too much to begin with. Test as suggested and write everything down, and gradually you'll see a pattern and learn what you can and can't eat.

Don't be afraid to ask questions - they're all very patient with my stupid ones :lol:

Viv