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New diagnosis, scary stuff

C

cjap

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Hello,
I posted in the welcome forum. Here's a bit more about my situation. My GP told me I had a very high risk of diabetes a little while ago and I responded by slowly losing about 1 1/2 stone over 6 months to just under 16 stone now. I have been eating less though not much that is radically different, more fruit and veg perhaps, and I've been swimming regularly. Alas I've had much more serious symptoms recently and it looks like I need to get really scientific about managing my BG, and accelerate exercise/weight loss. My GP says I am likely to need medication but I am trying to avoid this as I am on several meds for hypertension already. I am currently awaiting fresh blood test results. All a crazy scary experience. My head drifts quickly to a dark place. I wish I'd looked properly and found this forum a while ago. I have a sense of relief at having found you over the last couple of days, and look forward to learning lots. I have read the initial advice - very helpful :) - in the introductions forum and no doubt will be in sponge mode soaking up all the info over the coming weeks. I am particularly keen to know about balancing / complementing approach to controlling Type 2 and hypertension.
Thanks for listening...
Chris
 
Hi. Daisy will be along shortly with many useful links. Obviously a lot will depend on your blood test results. I'm assuming that will include an Hba1c test which gives an average of blood sugar levels over the previous 3 months. The key thing that you may have spotted already on the forum is to keep overall carb intake reasonably low and as low GI as possible. You may find your HCP is of the old school and suggests you have carbs with every meal. I'm afraid you must take this with a pinch of salt and follow a low carb diet. Metformin is the most likely drug your HCP may offer and it's a very safe, very common drug with very few drug interactions. Many of us have elevated BP to some degree and the NHS likes to keep this down for diabetics; same for cholesterol. There isn't too much you can do about BP other than exercise. Do come back with more questions.
 
Daibell said:
Hi. Daisy will be along shortly with many useful links.
Click to expand...

Hi again cjap. This is referring to the information I posted for you on your "Hello" post which I see you have already read.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I'm finding as I read stuff on here, light bulbs are going off and I am relating better to what my GP has told me in the past, and also what I've been feeling. This also probably means he's bad at explaining things in layman's terms. So I think my previous Hba1c was just above 6.5, he agreed to no meds, but the recent symptoms mean my efforts to control with modest lifestyle changes have been insufficient and overtaken by a worsening condition so it will be interesting to see the latest test results and his recommendation. I have prepared a list of questions to ask! Anyway, there is so much good stuff on here, though along with all the positive stuff, I have also begun to think that I may have had symptoms for quite a while in the last few years and not reacted properly to them, which is a bit alarming :shock: Better late than never I guess!

Chris
 
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