New T2-confused.com

[Petal50]

Hello everyone, quick intro about me,
I am a married lady, living on the east coast of Scotland and I turned 50 earlier this year and it just seems it's been all down hill since then, I have suffered with a condition called Fibromyalgia for the last 5yrs and thought there was nothing worse than a flare up of that but oh how wrong could i be? I do not smoke or drink so the only thing the medical professionals can get me on is my weight! I have always carried excess pounds even with dieting.

I am on medication to keep my blood pressure stable and am on statins for cholestrol(which is under control), I recently went to my GP with pains in the chest/neck/and arm, he thought it was angina. shock! after tests my heart is ok but blood tests taken showed high bg readings. (12.9)
Glucose tolerance test confirmed I am now Type 2 diabetic, you would not believe how fed up i feel just now... My hubby and I eat a healthy diet and have a regular outdoors rural life,( 4 working dogs to exercise daily) so you can imagine my upset to be told to exercise more!!!! but that brings the angina symptoms on, stuck in a catch 22 like many others here i expect.

have just started taking metformin 1 tablet at breakfast at moment,
So will see how that goes. No side effects as yet....I love reading everyone elses posts it makes me think i am luckier than so many, this site looks like it is a friendly place and such a tonic for us newbie diagnosed!
take care Petal

 

[sugarless sue]

This information below with give you some of the basics about Diabetes so I hope they help you.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. 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 as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of Insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause Insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

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. Some foods, which are slow acting Carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have 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 !!

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

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.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.

 

[Petal50]

Thanks Sue.... Lots to take in but hopefully it will become second nature.