- Messages
- 16
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hello!
I just got the phone call from the diabetes nurse at my surgery with my test results, and am worried I've already managed to make the relationship 'difficult'. I'm feeling a bit wobbly now and could do with some advice/support from you all.
Some background: I'm 52 (today! Yay, birthday diagnosis!) and had borderline GD 24 years ago with my first pregnancy. I controlled it with diet and never had another above normal reading. It didn't recur in my other 2 pregnancies, but I knew the chance of developing T2 later on was there...
Five years ago my son was diagnosed T1 at 15, so I've had a while to read up about diabetes in general. I was also an antenatal teacher for 20 years, so informed decision making and asking pertinent questions of medical professionals comes naturally (possibly too naturally! ) to me.
I've been feeling on and off rotten since March, when I got ill with something (possibly Covid-19, I don't know) which left me exhausted, achy, dizzy, brain-foggy and extremely thirsty. I get better, but the headaches, weariness, brain fog and thirst have come and gone over the last few months. Those symptoms could've been long tail Covid, or perimenopause, but it occurred to me about 2 weeks ago that I was feeling weirdly light-headed and BAD in an indefinable way, with tingly hands and feet (I have very painful carpal tunnel syndrome), and should perhaps check my bloods. Luckily, having a T1 son meant I could do readings; they were 16.8, 12.8 and 11.5 on three consecutive mornings.
Rang the surgery and got blood taken last week, with results given today. HbA1c of 89, so pretty definite.
The problem was that the nurse then started her spiel about how there's no such thing as a diabetes diet, just a healthy one, and that T2 developed in midlife and was 'down to lifestyle'.
Having done some reading here, I don't now think that's quite true, and said so (politely!). But it was upsetting: she knows nothing of me or my lifestyle; I have what would be called a 'normal healthy diet', and always have done. I don't tend to eat sweets, fizzy drinks, chocolate or cakes. I have wholegrain and veg heavy meals. I am overweight, but I eat better than most of my friends who aren't. Yes, I have a desk job, but is that categorised as 'lifestyle'? Maybe it is. But it really felt like saying T2 is 'down to lifestyle' is verging on blaming her patients for developing it, especially since my lifestyle/diet is 'normal for this society'. I could be just be in an ultra-sensitive state right now, having just heard the results, but I ended up putting the phone down on the call and crying. (I didn't shout and wasn't impolite, just disagreed politely but firmly that diabetes developed because of lifestyle rather than a predisposition.
Anyway, thank you for your collective wisdom here. It's been very useful over the last week. I've read and taken on board The Nutritional Thingy and have started making those changes. Hopefully I will start feeling better soon. I just worry now I've ruined my relationship with the nurse, who will mark me down as bolshy and difficult, and I'm not looking forward to my first face-to-face appointment.
(Sorry for the long first post!)
I just got the phone call from the diabetes nurse at my surgery with my test results, and am worried I've already managed to make the relationship 'difficult'. I'm feeling a bit wobbly now and could do with some advice/support from you all.
Some background: I'm 52 (today! Yay, birthday diagnosis!) and had borderline GD 24 years ago with my first pregnancy. I controlled it with diet and never had another above normal reading. It didn't recur in my other 2 pregnancies, but I knew the chance of developing T2 later on was there...
Five years ago my son was diagnosed T1 at 15, so I've had a while to read up about diabetes in general. I was also an antenatal teacher for 20 years, so informed decision making and asking pertinent questions of medical professionals comes naturally (possibly too naturally! ) to me.
I've been feeling on and off rotten since March, when I got ill with something (possibly Covid-19, I don't know) which left me exhausted, achy, dizzy, brain-foggy and extremely thirsty. I get better, but the headaches, weariness, brain fog and thirst have come and gone over the last few months. Those symptoms could've been long tail Covid, or perimenopause, but it occurred to me about 2 weeks ago that I was feeling weirdly light-headed and BAD in an indefinable way, with tingly hands and feet (I have very painful carpal tunnel syndrome), and should perhaps check my bloods. Luckily, having a T1 son meant I could do readings; they were 16.8, 12.8 and 11.5 on three consecutive mornings.
Rang the surgery and got blood taken last week, with results given today. HbA1c of 89, so pretty definite.
The problem was that the nurse then started her spiel about how there's no such thing as a diabetes diet, just a healthy one, and that T2 developed in midlife and was 'down to lifestyle'.
Having done some reading here, I don't now think that's quite true, and said so (politely!). But it was upsetting: she knows nothing of me or my lifestyle; I have what would be called a 'normal healthy diet', and always have done. I don't tend to eat sweets, fizzy drinks, chocolate or cakes. I have wholegrain and veg heavy meals. I am overweight, but I eat better than most of my friends who aren't. Yes, I have a desk job, but is that categorised as 'lifestyle'? Maybe it is. But it really felt like saying T2 is 'down to lifestyle' is verging on blaming her patients for developing it, especially since my lifestyle/diet is 'normal for this society'. I could be just be in an ultra-sensitive state right now, having just heard the results, but I ended up putting the phone down on the call and crying. (I didn't shout and wasn't impolite, just disagreed politely but firmly that diabetes developed because of lifestyle rather than a predisposition.
Anyway, thank you for your collective wisdom here. It's been very useful over the last week. I've read and taken on board The Nutritional Thingy and have started making those changes. Hopefully I will start feeling better soon. I just worry now I've ruined my relationship with the nurse, who will mark me down as bolshy and difficult, and I'm not looking forward to my first face-to-face appointment.
(Sorry for the long first post!)