new girl here

[quickmoo]

Hello everyone,
The story so far....
After having thrush for months that came back everytime I treated it I went to the docs a couple of weeks ago and she did a fasting blood test.
I was diagnosed type 2 last week with a fasting blood test of 17.9. When I was called in to see the doc I was 25.9 (going to hospital was mentioned...gulp! :shock: ).
After a week on metformin 500mg once daily I am down to 21.9. I am upping the dosage to twice daily tomorrow. My next appointment is three months time. They have not got me testing my levels myself.
The only good news the nurse had for me was that I have lost over 2 and a half stone in the last year and am down to 14st 5lb (yay lowest I can remember being LOL)
Well thats it really I just thought i would introduce myself and give you the background to my turning up here LOL.

Quickmoo

 

[dragongirl]

Welcome! And great you had the sense to go to the docs as this means you got started on treating the diabetes earlier than might otherwise have happened. Which always helps!

Have a good read on here as you might find all sorts of tips to help get those levels down pretty fast. You could do that well before your next appointment. Isn't it odd how they say things are serious and then send you away for 3 months. That happened to me too!

But people are always willing to answer questions on here, so do ask. I ask all the time!
DG

 

[Synonym]

Welcome to the forum Quickmoo.

I too was left to wait for a hospital appointment and sent off with a handful of leaflets. :shock:

In one way it is horrendous to be left to manage on your own for three months but after a fraught period I found this forum and was then able to make good use of the time, having matters well on the way to control by the time an appointment came through for me. 8)

When I read on here some of the horror stories of what happened to people who took the standard advice and didn’t test to discover what their food was doing to their body I am so grateful that I found this forum and put the advice into practice.

I am afraid that NHS = Crisis Management. :roll:

 

[IanD]

Welcome to the club no-one wants to join ....

At those levels, you need to make serious changes to diet if you are going to manage by diet & tablets.

What is your daily diet? & what are your overnight fasting BG readings?

 

[cugila]

Hello everyone,
The story so far....
After having thrush for months that came back everytime I treated it I went to the docs a couple of weeks ago and she did a fasting blood test.
I was diagnosed type 2 last week with a fasting blood test of 17.9. When I was called in to see the doc I was 25.9 (going to hospital was mentioned...gulp! :shock: ).
After a week on metformin 500mg once daily I am down to 21.9. I am upping the dosage to twice daily tomorrow. My next appointment is three months time. They have not got me testing my levels myself.
The only good news the nurse had for me was that I have lost over 2 and a half stone in the last year and am down to 14st 5lb (yay lowest I can remember being LOL)
Well thats it really I just thought i would introduce myself and give you the background to my turning up here LOL.

Quickmoo

Whilst I agree with what has been said so far we need to know a bit more about you, your diet, ALL your medications, even if not Diabetes related before we can consider what you might need to do.

As IanD says there may have to be some heavy changes to your diet but we won't know until we get the information from you.

Here is the information we offer to newly diagnosed Type 2's which you should read and see where you can perhaps put some things into practice. Not everything might apply.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.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.

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

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.

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 !!

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

Hope that is of some help.
Ken

 

[Ruth.Day]

Hi,
I was diagnosed with type 2 last September and told not to test. I mentioned that i only wanted to test to find out things like what foods affected my BG the most and also to identify how I felt when my sugars were high or not. Like many I have only been assessed once every three months at the doctors so left very much in the dark. My last 2 HB1AC tests have been 11.0 and 11.3 (not good) but when I asked why it had gone up i was just shrugged off.
After being ill in the new year I started testing myself, having purchased my own test strips. My fasting blood sugars have never gone below 8.5 and mostly average at 9.5. 2 hours after breakfast rise to 12 and above depending on what I have eaten, breakfast cereal being the worst for me. The majority of the time my BG rises to 17 after my evening meal. I dont have puddings any more and only have a small amount of chocolate as a treat at the weekend.
I have now had my 3rd HB1AC test and awaiting the results, but this is only because i have shown concern for myself and have done research and was able to go to the nurse and voice my concerns with facts. Tomorrow i get the results and see the doctor, with my readings, my menu and my research. We will see whether he listens as I too dont want to end up with amputations.
Why do we have to know it all, we are not medically trained and we go to them for help, advice and treatment.
I have to add though this forum and the website has been a great help, so thankyou.

Ruth
(On full dosage of metformin 3 x a day 2550mg)

 

[quickmoo]

Hello again and thankyou for the replies,

lets try and fill in those gaps LOL
I am on metformin 500mg twice daily as of yesterday up from once daily for the past week. I am also on statins 40 mg daily, oxybutinin hydrochloride 5mg twice daily (for an over-active bladder) and sometimes naproxen 250mg for pain for a disc problem in my neck.
I eat a low fat diet with plenty of veg and always cut fat off meat and never fry anything. Dry roast, grill or casserole is the main way of cooking plus stirfry(in a little sesame oil normally). Tend to eat basmati rice or potatoes (boiled, mashed with low fat spread or baked)
Drinks used to be fizzy or no added sugar squash or milk but now the fizzy has been replaced with water or diet fizzy. I dont drink tea or coffee.
I dont snack between meals but I do like to have a piece of fruit sometimes (once or twice a week maybe)
I have bought myself a self test machine and I was 15.3 this morning which I was quite pleased with as four days ago at about the same time I was 21.9.
Well I have run out of time, work beckons.

Quickmoo

 

[John aka Wallycorker]

.............Tend to eat basmati rice or potatoes (boiled, mashed with low fat spread or baked)...........I have bought myself a self test machine and I was 15.3 this morning which I was quite pleased with as four days ago at about the same time I was 21.9.........

Hi quickmoo,

You need your blood glucose levels a lot lower than that if you want to avoid problems.

In my opinion from what you have written, it sounds as though it will be the potatoes and rice that will be sending your blood glucose levels into double figures. Test one and two hours after finishing eating those sorst of foods and then you'll be able to see for cyourself.

Eating less starch carbohydrate - i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, rice and pasta - is the way to go to lower blood glucose levels. That usually leads to a big improvement - and quickly too.

Best wishes - John

 

[Synonym]

Hello again quickmoo,

Those levels are very high! :shock:

Are you testing before eating and two hours afterwards? I think you may well find it is the starchy carbohydrates that are making your levels so high and you may also find that you can tolerate the fruit (in moderation) better than you think. Many of us have had to eliminate things like rice and potatoes as they cause the bg levels to soar. It is a good idea to keep a food diary and record your bg levels there too so that you have a visual record and can see the patterns that emerge.

Do you have a medical condition that prohibits the eating of fat? Fat doesn’t seem to cause me a problem if the carbohydrates are reduced - bearing in mind that it is wise not to go mad with anything!

 

[quickmoo]

Are you testing before eating and two hours afterwards? I think you may well find it is the starchy carbohydrates that are making your levels so high and you may also find that you can tolerate the fruit (in moderation) better than you think. Many of us have had to eliminate things like rice and potatoes as they cause the bg levels to soar. It is a good idea to keep a food diary and record your bg levels there too so that you have a visual record and can see the patterns that emerge.

Do you have a medical condition that prohibits the eating of fat? Fat doesn’t seem to cause me a problem if the carbohydrates are reduced - bearing in mind that it is wise not to go mad with anything!

My test kit only arrived this morning (docs didnt give me one so I decided to buy one after reading on here its best to test regularly)
I am keeping a food diary and will be testing before and 2 hours after food and recording the results for future reference as this seems to make sense.
This morning was 15.3 before 2 pieces of wholemeal toast with low fat spread and 15.5 two hours later.
High cholesterol is the reason now for the low fat diet but before I was diagnosed I was low fat because of being overweight and wanting to lose some LOL

Quickmoo

 

[Synonym]

Hello again quickmoo

Glad you have got yourself set up with the testing kit, now you will be able to work things out. 8) We will be interested to hear how things go.

 

[quickmoo]

Well those levels keep going down.... 11.9 today
Lets hope they keep going down.

And its all thanks to this site and you guys so THANKYOU!!!

Quickmoo

 

[Synonym]

So pleased to hear that things are improving.

Just keep testing and work out what is best for you! 8)

 

[John aka Wallycorker]

..........Well those levels keep going down.... 11.9 today
Lets hope they keep going down.........

It's always the same quickmoo - invariably they do go down - and quickly too!

Good luck and best wishes - john