New to this site :)

[Kasef]

What is your name? Kerry
- How old are you? 39
- Are you male or female? Female
- Which country are you from? UK
- Which city/area do you live in? Doncaster
- Are you religious? Depends on definition
- Pick three words to describe your personality? Enthusiastic, Happy, Busy.
- Do you have any pets? Lot's
- Microsoft or Apple? Microsoft
- Do you get angry easily? No
- Do you have any tattoos or piercings? If so, where? Ears pierced twice. Too man tattoos
- List your five favourite musicians/bands? varies as I have an eclectic taste.
- What would you say your favourite music genre is? Rock/Folk
- Ever gone camping? Yup popper camping, in a field with cows.
- Ever been in love? Yup and still am
- Ever used fake tan? Never
- Which countries have you visited? France, Wales and Scotland
- Favourite city? Not sure
- List your five favourite TV programmes. Too many.
- List your five favourite films. Too many
- Are you wealthy? Not at all. Mature student, training to teach in Further Education/Secondary/Lifelong Learning sector.
- Do you work? If so, as what? Volunteer at a Social Enterprise as a Tutor for people with special needs, ex offenders and job seekers.
- List the subjects you study/have studied. Studying IT in general. Trained auxiliary nurse (healthcare worker). Training to teach.
- What do you like most about yourself? I'm friendly.
- What do you like least about yourself? My stomach.

 

[WeeFergus]

A very warm welcome to you @Kasef . I'll tag @daisy1 and she'll provide you with some useful initial information. It would help if you could say what type of diabetes you have and what your HbA1c was the last time you got results. Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I'm sure someone on here will have the answer.

 

[Kasef]

I don't have diabetes, my husband is the diabetic. He's type1 or 2 they can't make their mind up. His last HbA1c was 63mmol/mol.

 

[4ratbags]

Hi and welcome to the forum, it is a great place to gain knowledge and understanding so you are in the right place to help your OH get on track. I hope they figure out what type he is soon as it must be a bit unsettling to have to wait to find out. When daisy posts her advice have a good read through, it is very informative. If you have any specific questions dont be afraid to ask.

 

[ButtterflyLady]

Hi Kasef, welcome. I am definitely T2 so I don't know much about situations where the doctors are still deciding what type a person is. However, lots of people here do have experience with this... it turns out there are many types of diabetes, including:
-Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA)
-Mature onset diabetes in the young (MODY)
-Ketosis-prone diabetes (KPD)
and of course T1, T2, prediabetes and gestational diabetes, and dozens more rare kinds!

I hope the doctors arrive at a diagnosis soon. How long is it since he was diagnosed with a form of diabetes? Is he under a specialist or just a GP? Have they been doing blood tests to try and diagnose him further?

 

[daisy1]

@Kasef

Hello Kerry and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope this will help you to help your husband. Ask questions when 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 150,000 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

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 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.

 

[Kasef]

I feel I may not have given enough information. So here goes.

My husband was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1999, there was mention of Mature onset diabetes in the young (MODY), as at the time he was 24 (born 1975). We think that it may have been triggered by the 2 bouts of influenza he suffered when he was 18 and 20 and possibly the infection he suffered from a light graze on his lower leg which required antibiotics when he was also 20. Why did we come to this hypothesis, since age 18 until he was about 23 he could have his breakfast which either consisted of a bowl of porridge, or weetabix or toast and an hour later he would suffer what we now know as a hypo, at the time we didn't really think much of it we thought it was due to activity but now question and are still trying to find answers.

The onset of thirst, increased urination, thrush and an unfortunate genital infection coupled with very very high ketones made the Diabetic Special Nurse diagnose Type 1.

5 years ago due to ED he had tests done to see what was going on. He was diagnosed with low testosterone, at the same time he was diagnosed with hypogonadism. The endo couldn't understand why he was classed as type 1 while putting weight on so he did an islet test which showed he didn't have the required amounts of islets or something to determine whether he was a type 1. The GP nurse decided upon reading the endo letter to change his type 1 diagnosis to type 2.

I went to get his results from all the tests he is having to get to the bottom of his pain. I was told he was malnourished due possibly to his weight, and that otherwise his blood results were all ok. She was happy with his HbA1c result which was 63mmol/mol, at which I said I wasn't because before his change to metformin he was usually around 6.5 in old money and that his insulin intake has increased to a 3ml pen at meal times, at which she went off on one saying did I know how serious that was and the biggest killer in diabetics were hypos and what would she tell the coroner if he died due to a hypo. I did point out he has been diabetic for 16 years and apart from the weight gain has manged extremely well. And as for visiting the diabetic specialist nurse at the hospital he was under them for the first 12 months while we got everything on an even keel at which point we went to see them to get the newer insulin sorted as they were stopping the old 8hr novomix. We saw them for the first couple of weeks and they were happy and said he could come back if he had any questions or needed help. After that we went to see them 2 years ago when the new endo changed his giclazide to metformin and put him on Victoza. We went through all his records, pointed out he tests before meals and 2 hours after every day. She was happy and again sent us away with keep doing what you are doing and come back if you need us.

He has no keytones in his urine and hasn't had since the first year he was diagnosed. When he was on gliclazide his blood glucose levels were usually between 5 and 8 before a meal and after a meal was between 8 and 15. Now he is on metformin he is anywhere between 6 and 11 before a meal and 10 and 18 after. We are now throwing the old diet out and trying the higher fat diet, because quite obviously cutting down on fats and carbs hasn't worked. Time will tell and I will be strict with the carbs or rather making sure there is a lack of them but adding back in the fats that we had cut out over the years due to dietitians advice, for normal NHS guidelines.