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New to the forum but not new for Diabetes

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Bighans

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14
Location
Cardiff
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
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Hi all!

My name is hans and iam 57 and I have been diagnosed with diabetes t2 in november 2006. Firstly they used 4x500 mg metformin and rosiglitazone and gliclazide, but it did not work right for me. In december 2008 i had a severe hypo whilst at work and lost my job as well. On insulin from there on. Use lantus solostar 50 units bedtime and 3x14 units of novorapid with meals and in the morning Victoza 1.2 mg.. I had a union rep who sold me down the shop without any regrets . As well I lost my pcv and hgv entitlement. So I had to be on the sick with various different problems ever since.
I tried to apply for jobs and as a experienced interviewer myself I noticed it straight away as soon I mentioned diabetes I will not get the job. So much for by one get one free from tesco, I applied for a job and as soon they heart diabetes , sorry the job is closed. I have lost a lot of weight ever since and managed to get my bmi from 42 down to 38, but have trouble loosing any more.
One word i do not cry as surely I contributed a lot to t2, but now I am trying to loose weight, don't touch alcohol and sweets, gave up smoking and still cannot get rid of those injections.

But now I found your forum and it gave me some good and great info in relating to carb intake and so on and I will keep battling on.
 
Hi bighans

Welcome to the forum. I hope that it will help you with information and support to reach your weight and diabetes targets.

Sorry to hear about your employment problems and hope that you find a job soon. It is a disgrace that employers are discriminating against you because of your disability. If they do that they are breaking the law.

Take care

Doug
 
Hi bighans and welcome! Hope things start to look up for you soon. I'm sure there's lots on here that could help, but do ask if you have questions. There's always someone that can help.
 
Hi Hans and welcome to the forum :) Even though you are not new to diabetes, here is some information that might help you to lose some weight and enable you to use less medication. I hope things start to go better for you soon. Ask as many questions as you like as there is always someone here to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS


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 well over 30,000 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 ... rains.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
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

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 blood glucose 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.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you all for your input, will try to read it all and I signed your petition as well.

hans
 
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