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sanguine
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,340
- Location
- Devon
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
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- Intolerance, career politicians, reality TV and so-called celebrity culture, mobile phones in the quiet carriage.
Hi Marilyn, welcome. Yes that's what we all felt at first, but don't panic, it's manageable. Have a read around here, keep an open mind (especially about what the GP might tell you about diet and testing), and ask any questions.
pavlosn
Well-Known Member
Hi Marylin
Welcome to the forum
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis.
I am not in the least surprised to hear that you are a bit overwhelmed you would not be human if you felt otherwise. For all of us being diagnosed as diabetics was an emotional roller coaster at first - it is not uncommon for the newly diagnosed to go through the full spectrum of the different stages of grief: denial, anger, guilt, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance and hope,
So do not panic and do not feel alone, we have all been through it and have come the other side, stronger and ready to tell the tale. We are here for you to help guide you across as well.
Tell us a bit more about you, your history for instance, how were you diagnosed, what were your levels on diagnosis. Don't worry if you are not able to answer all of this yet.
Diabetes is a serious condition, one that demands respect to its rules if one is to steer clear of some quite unpleasant health complications. What are these rules? @daisy1 will come along soon with all sorts of useful information contained in the standardized first response to the newly diagnosed. This is very important and very useful information so take your time reading through it, and do not be afraid to come back here and ask questions about anything that seems unclear.
Your first job is to educate yourself about this condition as much as you can. Do so be reading this information as well as other posts you see on the forum. The amount of information may seem a bit overwhelming at first but do not worry, take your time, ask questions about anything you are not certain about and all will soon be clearer.
In short, your job as a diabetic is to follow your treatment regime so as to maintain your blood glucose levels as close to normal non diabetic levels as possible.
Everything we eat is converted by our body to glucose, a simple form of sugar that our body cells use as fuel. In order to get the glucose out of our blood and into the cells where it is needed, our pancreas secretes an enzyme called insulin. In type 1 diabetes the body is unable to produce insulin while in type 2 insulin is produced but the body is unable to use it properly/ efficiently. As a result glucose does not leave our bloodstream to feed our cells, and our blood glucose levels become elevated.
The body's response to this elevated glucose levels is to try and flush it through our system and this is why thirst and frequent urination are very common symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes.
If blood glucose levels are very high, the body, starved of glucose as cell fuel, starts using up our own fat reserves and even muscle as an alternative fuel source and this is why newly diagnosed diabetics, particularly type 1s, often experience a period of unexplained rapid weight loss in the period leading to diagnosis.
Diabetes treatment involves a combination of lifestyle changes and/or medication. The medication will be determined by your doctor after usually a period of trying to see if you can control your levels through lifestyle changes alone.
Lifestyle changes will include:
- improving your diet.
- increasing physical activity through more exercise e.g. 30 minute daily walks.
- shedding any excess weight
- giving up smoking
- drinking sensibly
Diet is probably the most controversial of the above. Some things we all agree on: eat less processed food and more natural food prepared from scratch with fresh ingredients for instance. Obviously avoid or limit to a very occasional and infrequent treat sugary staff.
Some are a little bid less universally accepted, probably chief amongst them being the role of carbohydrates in the diabetic diet.
Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients contained in various degrees in all food. The other two are proteins( meat, fish, eggs, pulses) and fats ( oils, butter, dairy products, seeds).
Food that is rich in carbohydrates includes, bread and other grain products such as cereals, rice, pasta, potatoes and other root vegetables, sugar and items with a high sugar content such as non-diet fizzy drinks, deserts, fruits.
It is the carbohydrate part of food that our body primarily converts to glucose. In order to keep our glucose levels down most of us on this site have found that we need to limit our intake of carbohydrate rich food, sometimes going against NHS advice to eat lots of carbohydrates, or at least to shift to different types of carbohydrates (they are not all the same) that do not cause our glucose to rise us much.
In order to learn how different food affects your glucose levels, so that armed with this feedback, you can make better dietary choices for your next meal, it is highly advisable that you start testing your glucose on waking up in the morning and at least before and two hours after each meal. For this you will need to acquire a glucose meter and testing strips if your doctor will not supply you with one. I believe Sd code free, which can be obtained on eBay or Amazon, is a popular choice because of its reasonable cost.
There are recommended ranges that glucose counts should fall into, for instance for type two diabetics fasting levels on waking up in the morning and pre meal levels should fall in the range 4 - 7 mmol, while corresponding counts 2 hour after meals should be in the range 4 - 8,5 mmol.
Depending on how high your levels were on diagnosis, you may need some time before you can meet these target ranges. Do not worry! It is best to work your levels down gradually so us to give your body time to adjust; a temporary blurring of the eyesight is an often encountered symptom of the body adjusting to lower glucose levels.
At first, concentrate on your after meal readings and try to get these two hour readings to be within 2 mmol of your readings before the meal. If you do not meet this target then either lower the quantity of carbohydrate of your next meal, or substitute a better carbohydrate and try again.
Once you start hitting this 2 mmol target consistently, you should see a gradual reducing trend in all your glucose counts.
Most people have found it extremely useful to keep a food diary as well as a record of their glucose readings, myfittnesspal is an app and Internet site that a lot use to maintain such a diary as it also keeps an account of calories and carbs.
I will close this rather lengthy welcome with just a word of warning.
The temptation, fueled by fear, may be for knee jerk reactions and taking extreme measures in trying to get a quick cure. This however is not what is required. What are required are new healthier habits that you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life.
Once again welcome and I apologize if this post has ended up being rather long.
Pavlos
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Welcome to the forum
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis.
I am not in the least surprised to hear that you are a bit overwhelmed you would not be human if you felt otherwise. For all of us being diagnosed as diabetics was an emotional roller coaster at first - it is not uncommon for the newly diagnosed to go through the full spectrum of the different stages of grief: denial, anger, guilt, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance and hope,
So do not panic and do not feel alone, we have all been through it and have come the other side, stronger and ready to tell the tale. We are here for you to help guide you across as well.
Tell us a bit more about you, your history for instance, how were you diagnosed, what were your levels on diagnosis. Don't worry if you are not able to answer all of this yet.
Diabetes is a serious condition, one that demands respect to its rules if one is to steer clear of some quite unpleasant health complications. What are these rules? @daisy1 will come along soon with all sorts of useful information contained in the standardized first response to the newly diagnosed. This is very important and very useful information so take your time reading through it, and do not be afraid to come back here and ask questions about anything that seems unclear.
Your first job is to educate yourself about this condition as much as you can. Do so be reading this information as well as other posts you see on the forum. The amount of information may seem a bit overwhelming at first but do not worry, take your time, ask questions about anything you are not certain about and all will soon be clearer.
In short, your job as a diabetic is to follow your treatment regime so as to maintain your blood glucose levels as close to normal non diabetic levels as possible.
Everything we eat is converted by our body to glucose, a simple form of sugar that our body cells use as fuel. In order to get the glucose out of our blood and into the cells where it is needed, our pancreas secretes an enzyme called insulin. In type 1 diabetes the body is unable to produce insulin while in type 2 insulin is produced but the body is unable to use it properly/ efficiently. As a result glucose does not leave our bloodstream to feed our cells, and our blood glucose levels become elevated.
The body's response to this elevated glucose levels is to try and flush it through our system and this is why thirst and frequent urination are very common symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes.
If blood glucose levels are very high, the body, starved of glucose as cell fuel, starts using up our own fat reserves and even muscle as an alternative fuel source and this is why newly diagnosed diabetics, particularly type 1s, often experience a period of unexplained rapid weight loss in the period leading to diagnosis.
Diabetes treatment involves a combination of lifestyle changes and/or medication. The medication will be determined by your doctor after usually a period of trying to see if you can control your levels through lifestyle changes alone.
Lifestyle changes will include:
- improving your diet.
- increasing physical activity through more exercise e.g. 30 minute daily walks.
- shedding any excess weight
- giving up smoking
- drinking sensibly
Diet is probably the most controversial of the above. Some things we all agree on: eat less processed food and more natural food prepared from scratch with fresh ingredients for instance. Obviously avoid or limit to a very occasional and infrequent treat sugary staff.
Some are a little bid less universally accepted, probably chief amongst them being the role of carbohydrates in the diabetic diet.
Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients contained in various degrees in all food. The other two are proteins( meat, fish, eggs, pulses) and fats ( oils, butter, dairy products, seeds).
Food that is rich in carbohydrates includes, bread and other grain products such as cereals, rice, pasta, potatoes and other root vegetables, sugar and items with a high sugar content such as non-diet fizzy drinks, deserts, fruits.
It is the carbohydrate part of food that our body primarily converts to glucose. In order to keep our glucose levels down most of us on this site have found that we need to limit our intake of carbohydrate rich food, sometimes going against NHS advice to eat lots of carbohydrates, or at least to shift to different types of carbohydrates (they are not all the same) that do not cause our glucose to rise us much.
In order to learn how different food affects your glucose levels, so that armed with this feedback, you can make better dietary choices for your next meal, it is highly advisable that you start testing your glucose on waking up in the morning and at least before and two hours after each meal. For this you will need to acquire a glucose meter and testing strips if your doctor will not supply you with one. I believe Sd code free, which can be obtained on eBay or Amazon, is a popular choice because of its reasonable cost.
There are recommended ranges that glucose counts should fall into, for instance for type two diabetics fasting levels on waking up in the morning and pre meal levels should fall in the range 4 - 7 mmol, while corresponding counts 2 hour after meals should be in the range 4 - 8,5 mmol.
Depending on how high your levels were on diagnosis, you may need some time before you can meet these target ranges. Do not worry! It is best to work your levels down gradually so us to give your body time to adjust; a temporary blurring of the eyesight is an often encountered symptom of the body adjusting to lower glucose levels.
At first, concentrate on your after meal readings and try to get these two hour readings to be within 2 mmol of your readings before the meal. If you do not meet this target then either lower the quantity of carbohydrate of your next meal, or substitute a better carbohydrate and try again.
Once you start hitting this 2 mmol target consistently, you should see a gradual reducing trend in all your glucose counts.
Most people have found it extremely useful to keep a food diary as well as a record of their glucose readings, myfittnesspal is an app and Internet site that a lot use to maintain such a diary as it also keeps an account of calories and carbs.
I will close this rather lengthy welcome with just a word of warning.
The temptation, fueled by fear, may be for knee jerk reactions and taking extreme measures in trying to get a quick cure. This however is not what is required. What are required are new healthier habits that you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life.
Once again welcome and I apologize if this post has ended up being rather long.
Pavlos
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
daisy1
Legend
- Messages
- 26,457
- Location
- Switzerland
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Cruelty towards animals.
Hello Marilyn and welcome to the forum 
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 100,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 100,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
- Reduce your carbohydrate intake
- Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
- structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
- self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
K
Kat100
Guest
Hello Marilyn
You have a lot to,think about , the feelings you are experiencing are really awful, but they will improve ...can't say you won't ever have good days and bad days though ...
Try to stay calm and I know that is easier said than done ...
You need to think and read about your future lifestyle choices ...and find out more information ..
My first goal was to reduce my sugar ....I did not take tea or sugar in drinks etc ...so it was a shock ...
Now I need a bit of sugar in my food to keep me going ....depends how your numbers go ...and maybe other factors ...
Knowledge only comes with practice and new learning ....so it is a lifelong journey ....
You will find out more and about what is right for your health needs ....
You will get support here and your health care team who should be there for you ...
Take care best wishes ...Kat
You have a lot to,think about , the feelings you are experiencing are really awful, but they will improve ...can't say you won't ever have good days and bad days though ...
Try to stay calm and I know that is easier said than done ...
You need to think and read about your future lifestyle choices ...and find out more information ..
My first goal was to reduce my sugar ....I did not take tea or sugar in drinks etc ...so it was a shock ...
Now I need a bit of sugar in my food to keep me going ....depends how your numbers go ...and maybe other factors ...
Knowledge only comes with practice and new learning ....so it is a lifelong journey ....
You will find out more and about what is right for your health needs ....
You will get support here and your health care team who should be there for you ...
Take care best wishes ...Kat
moffett
Newbie
- Messages
- 3
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Hello everyone thanks for your lovely comments
I had a liver scan about 9 yrs ago said i had a fatty liver (i don't drink and never taken drugs ) also that something showed up when i was pregnant(should i not have been informed at the time of this ) and they wanted to do a diabetes test ,since then i have had one every 6 months or when they could remember (i have asked my doctor why they were doing this he said everyone has it done) i have said to them so many times that i felt so unwell and a lot of the symptoms were like diabetes built the tests continued to come back negative they said i was depressed and gave me antidepressants.. (although i now realize there is a connection between the 2..)about a year ago i came off the antidepressants but i also said to my doctor i had put on 2 stone and my tummy looked really big she just put it down to this is what happens to women of a certain age .5 months ago i again went back to the doctor same symptoms he handed me a counseling form and i walked out in disgust and made a appointment with anther doctor. I had the first blood test done and it came back as 6.9 the second one was 8.6 put these tablets in my hand and said make a appointment with the nurse.i did this she was lovely put my mind at ease a little bit and also attended something called the Desmond course which was very informative.I am due a eye test in a few weeks should be interesting had so many problems with my eyes would be interesting to see if there is a connection .
there's so much conflicting information flying around about food about medication (i am on meterfomin 500 twice a day ,just read that these can poison your system. As for food i given up most of the time i have no appetite and just don't know what to eat i have lost a little weight not a great deal maybe 4 lb.
i have just gone back to work i also run a stress management group for mind but have had to leave because i feel so stressed and tired all the time my doctors tells me to maybe join weight watchers or join a gym just cant motivate myself and then i am angry at myself for not being able to absolute night mare lol
On a positive note at least i know now that it wasn't in my head and there are things that i can do to help myself and to be more assertive when it comes to my health and to question things thanks x
I had a liver scan about 9 yrs ago said i had a fatty liver (i don't drink and never taken drugs ) also that something showed up when i was pregnant(should i not have been informed at the time of this ) and they wanted to do a diabetes test ,since then i have had one every 6 months or when they could remember (i have asked my doctor why they were doing this he said everyone has it done) i have said to them so many times that i felt so unwell and a lot of the symptoms were like diabetes built the tests continued to come back negative they said i was depressed and gave me antidepressants.. (although i now realize there is a connection between the 2..)about a year ago i came off the antidepressants but i also said to my doctor i had put on 2 stone and my tummy looked really big she just put it down to this is what happens to women of a certain age .5 months ago i again went back to the doctor same symptoms he handed me a counseling form and i walked out in disgust and made a appointment with anther doctor. I had the first blood test done and it came back as 6.9 the second one was 8.6 put these tablets in my hand and said make a appointment with the nurse.i did this she was lovely put my mind at ease a little bit and also attended something called the Desmond course which was very informative.I am due a eye test in a few weeks should be interesting had so many problems with my eyes would be interesting to see if there is a connection .
there's so much conflicting information flying around about food about medication (i am on meterfomin 500 twice a day ,just read that these can poison your system. As for food i given up most of the time i have no appetite and just don't know what to eat i have lost a little weight not a great deal maybe 4 lb.
i have just gone back to work i also run a stress management group for mind but have had to leave because i feel so stressed and tired all the time my doctors tells me to maybe join weight watchers or join a gym just cant motivate myself and then i am angry at myself for not being able to absolute night mare lol
On a positive note at least i know now that it wasn't in my head and there are things that i can do to help myself and to be more assertive when it comes to my health and to question things
thanks x
moffett
Newbie
- Messages
- 3
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
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Ok so is this truth or rubbish so much stuff like this on the web
