New diagnosis

I think that is something to take up with your practice manager or the senior GP, however your surgery is managed. It is quite shocking that you were left in the dark all that time.
You might find that you feel an awful lot better cutting right down on the carbohydrates you eat and pushing your levels back to normal like that rather than relying on tablets (which made me feel terrible, though not everyone gets that)

Yeah, sure is a shock. Although I've seen some people on here who had discovered they are diabetic and had been for a some time and were never told.

I'd do as already mentioned and take up why you were kept in the dark for so long. If you have been seeing the same GP for some time then that's a good question to ask. I'm assuming you've been told you are T2?

Welcome to the forums.

Lindyloo661 said:

It has me asking myself all sorts of questions including, Why.... If I have been borderline for four years, hasn't anybody ever mentioned it!!

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I'm assuming here that they've decided you are T2 diabetic. (If you've got a different type then please ignore the below).

Well, given your clinic has that attitude they probably don't realise that T2 diabetes can be avoided and put into remission by means of diet - a low carb diet. Some people don't process carbohydrate well (just as some people can't cope with gluten or lactose), and the body's response to this tends to be to pump out more and more insulin (the hormone that processes the sugar in your blood). Unfortunately a by product of this is often (not always) weight gain (high insulin plus high sugar leads to fat) which is why people often get accused of causing their diabetes by being fat, whereas actually the weight gain is a symptom of the diabetes. Unfortunately weight gain tends to make the T2 problem worse, so you get into a vicious circle of increasing blood sugars, insulin and weight.

Now, the doctors will probably tell you to "exercise more" and "eat a healthy diet" and "lose weight" (if that's applicable to you). Although some of the dietary advice is good (yes, drinking tea with 3 spoonfuls of sugar is not very helpful), most surgeries rely on medication to bring people's sugar levels down and don't realise that eating less carbohydrate can put many people into remission without any medication at all. And yes, it's pretty shameful that they didn't tell you you were "pre-diabetic" a few years ago, because you could probably have made some slight modifications to your diet to avoid the issue.

Lindyloo661 said:

Hi all.
I don't know where to start or what to say really!
I had a call from my docs yesterday saying a blood test had come back and the results needed to be discussed with me. I made an appointment there and then for that eve.
Got into see the doc (who wasn't one id ever seen before) and was told this.. and I quote....
"Well.... You have diabetes!"
I was completely shocked and told him so to which he replied "really?"
I nodded and he said "well, you've been borderline since 2015 and that's why you e been having yearly blood tests and also why after having one last month it was repeated"
I told him I had absolutely no idea what the blood test was for and was only aware it was part of my yearly review for my health checks. (An annual MOT I was recommended to have in addition to my 6 monthly reviews for rheumatoid arthritis by my rheumatologist)
All he said then was....
"Well, you've got it and so now you need to make an appointment with our practice specialist nurse and to attend a weekly drop in"
I am still in shock.....
It has me asking myself all sorts of questions including, Why.... If I have been borderline for four years, hasn't anybody ever mentioned it!!

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*sigh*. Yeah, me neither. I think the GP assumed the specialist who discovered my prediabetes had told me (he hadn't), so it never came up. but it'd been in my file for years. T2 came as a surprise here too. A lot of docs just start treating you when you cross the threshold, never mind avoiring T2 all together. But, well, here you are, and here we are, and thank heavens for that!

Thing is, this is a place where you'll find a LOT of people who've been dealt the same hand as you have.... And quite a few of us have gotten our numbers down into the normal range. Meaning little to no medication, no complications, and no progression of the condition. So here's what you get to do now: Show the GP that you can work miracles.

It's a lot to take in, the diagnosis, and the implications for your future, but.... There's hope here too. Here's a quick-start-guide with everything I wish someone'd told me when I was first diagnosed, https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ and when you've taken some hope from that, you can go to this place's low carb program, the dietdoctor.com website and Dr. Jason Fung's The Diabetes Code.

You're going to be okay. You can tackle this, as you would have if someone'd bothered to tell you what was going on. Get your HbA1c down (that test they administered twice these few months), and watch their jaws drop.

*HUGS*
Jo