New to diabetes

[waldo]

Hi to all, I am recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic and as yet not receiving any medication but going for another blood test a week today and then seeing the doctor to be advised.
I have bought a testing kit and check my bg levels every morning and it is between 9 and 12. I am 53 weighed 70kg since I was 21, but because of this diagnosis have been careful what I am eating, even though I eat well, I play racket ball twice a week, go cycling twice a week and have done this for years, therefore not carrying any excess weight !
I do like a drink but have not had any for a week to see if it makes any difference to my tests, and it actually seems higher without a few beers !!!
In fact, last night before I went to play a racket ball match my reading was 7.6 and when I returned it was 9. something, can anyone explain ?
Everything I seem to be reading is saying it is about loosing weight and exercise, if I eat any less and exercise more I will probably dissapear !!! I eat virtually no sugar in my diet, also have no symptoms, only found out about this disease by having a well man blood test mainly to check liver and prostate !
Thanks for taking the time to read this, any thoughts would be appreciated.
Waldo

 

[anniep]

Welcome to the forum waldo

 

[daisy1]

Hi Waldo,
Welcome to the forum.
I am also a type 2 and I find that red wine lowers my levels and its known that whisky does too! They are very low carb. Cheers 8)

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Hi Waldo, welcome to the forum, you obviously have many questions and it is quite natural to feel confused at this time about all the information and misinformation that seems to contradict itself.

Lets see if I can help answer one or two of your questions, firstly being fat or overweight does NOT cause Type 2 diabetes, many T2 diabetics are overweight but it is not uncommon for average weight people to be diagnosed.

Gentle exercise like walking can help to reduce blood glucose levels in the blood but a 'hard ' workout ie rachet ball or cycling can have the opposite effect, heres why. When our muscles get a work out they require glucose, glucose our muscles fuel if you like, glucose is produced when we eat any carbohydrates, NOT JUST SUGAR, as all carbohydrates are broken down in our stomachs to a single glucose molecule that is then absorbed into our blood stream via our intestine. When we ask our muscles to work they will first use the glucose found in our blood but once that is used up it is the livers turn to take over and it will release stored glucose into the blood to fuel our physical activities. So gentle exercise will generally lower blood glucose (bg) levels but hard physical exercise will cause our livers to dump its glucose stores into the blood stream and in turn raise our bg.

Ok beers now "24 cans of beer in a case and 24 hours in the day coincidence?" Homer Simpson. Alcohol is a poison, a toxin, and when we drink it is the job of our livers to filter out the toxins, now the human liver is clearly a male organ as it does not easily multi task and while it is clearing toxins from our blood it does not control our glucose so no glucose will be released from the liver whilst it is dealing with alcohol. I'm not 100% sure of the time frame for alcohol cleaning but off the top of my head it is something like 1 hour per unit of alcohol so if you consume 10 units of alcohol your liver is out of action for around 10 hours which is why our bg will drop after a night on the lash, it is a good idea to eat some long acting carbs when drinking to counteract this behaviour, a slice of pizza will do very well.

There seems loads to learn when you first get the 'good news' and although it can seem a steep learning curve it can be an interesting one too, before long you will know more about diabetes than your doctor

A good place to start is the Basic Information for Newly Diagnosed Diabetics post in the Greeting and Introductions board

 

[waldo]

Hi Sid
That has been very helpful, I am sure your right re knowing more than my Doctor,
Thanks again
Waldo