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Newbie in denial needs help...

Just thought I'd add a pennyworth. You are so young that it's worth the effort to get things under control. Life will be so much happier when you are at your fittest level, you know that makes sense. I was prescribed Ezetimibe for cholesterol but found it brought me out in a very itchy rash. Took me ages to find out. So it's worth checking out medications. Hope you reach your goal.
 
Spiral said:
Anything you do buy, make sure you get the VAT exemption, but you may need to persist with this. I understand there is a VAT exemption for somewhere on this website.
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If you are diabetic, then blood glucose meters; the lancets; the test strips and indeed the battery are all exempt from VAT under group 12 of schedule 8 to the VAT Act 1994.
 
Hi Ian.

You are right in most of what you say but the batteries are NOT exempt from VAT relief.

Here is an extract from the HMCE website about the subject. (S.4.8 Parts and accessories.)

VAT relief does not apply to general use items such as standard batteries, even if these were purchased to be used within an item which is eligible for VAT relief. If the batteries were solely designed to operate within the eligible item however, they would be eligible for relief.

So a normal battery that can be used in other equipment is NOT free from VAT.
 

I will bow to your superior knowledge. I do know that when the VAT Act came first into force, the VAT on anything that was able to be used as a part of something else was determined by the VAT that applied to the whole item. However, I was aware that many of the rules changed when we had the 25% rate for certain "luxury" items because people were declaring an incorrect use to avoid VAT. I missed the bit about standard and bespoke batteries.

Since Abbott supply replacement batteries FOC, it is of academic interest only to me.

Ian
 
Hello,

This is a bit late in the thread I know, but I thought I'd amend the Healthy Eating Plate slightly so that it makes sense for diabetics; as you can see they almost got it right...

All the best

Dillinger
 

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I thought hat was what I said - that the stuff you buy is VAT exepmt, but see a couple of typos in there :roll:

even better than getting the VAT exemption is getting stuff for free - the manufacturer of your meter may provide you with free batteries and the calibration/test solutions.
 
Dillinger said:
This is a bit late in the thread I know, but I thought I'd amend the Healthy Eating Plate slightly so that it makes sense for diabetics; as you can see they almost got it right...
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Thanks to my discovery of this group, I have now gone from having blood glucose all over the place, to consistently under 6.0 (fasting) and under 7.0 (2 hours after evening meal) in the space of one week. Except last night (8.4). So that's beer onto the banned items list then.

So chalk up a success story guys.

IanS
 
Hi IanS - Great news!

I really do think it is almost as easy as that for many Type 2s. That's the impression that I'm getting anyway from what I'm picking up reading these forums.

Why not tell us what you have been doing so that others can learn from your experience?

Keep up the good work.

Best wishes - John
 
wallycorker said:
I really do think it is almost as easy as that for many Type 2s. That's the impression that I'm getting anyway from what I'm picking up reading these forums.

Why not tell us what you have been doing so that others can learn from your experience?
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It is fairly easy - once you have the knowledge to know what causes the BG to increase. And that was my problem before I discovered this forum. Now I can select food with a lot more confidence. Last week I was scrutinising the nutritional labels on my weekly shop and feeling low. But this week, I already know what is going in the shopping basket.

There is a lot of good food that can be had without all those nasty carbs. I just test BG in the morning and 2 hours after each meal, noting down what I ate. Patterns are easy to spot and I just avoid what pushes the BG up and carry on with what doesn't. OK, so I am still at the stage where I get the odd surprise - like last night 7.2 (2 hours after dinner - must have been that extra potato), and still 7.2 the morning (fasting). Hmm! :?

Self testing really is the key, and any doctor that discourages it deserves to be struck off. Well, maybe given a severe talking to. :lol:

IanS
 
Yes Ian - I agree that I find it all very easy now that I understand what foods affect my blood glucose levels.

We eat out quite a lot - all sorts of places such as Indian, Chinese, Italian, English etc, etc and in the beginning that caused me some anxieties, however, I now have no fear of going into any type of restaurant and finding a meal that is just fine for my blood glucose levels. My results recently after a celebratory group Chinese banquet meal were absolutely amazing.

It must be 6 months or more since I saw a on rising fasting blood glucose reading of 7 or more.

I agree with you on the strip matter. Have you added your name to my petition on 10 Downing Street?

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Diabetes-Advice/

Best wishes - John
 
I find eating out actually makes it simple. I am rather into fine dining and fine wines so the places I tend to frequent have relatively small portions of the things that contain the carbs. Since carbs in moderation don't cause me a problem, it's easy. Unfortunately Thai and Chinese is out because these do push my BG up, but indian is no problem (as long as I pass on the rice).

It's controlling the portions at home that is more difficult because there is always the temptation to have just a bit extra because I still feel hungry most of the time.

IanS.
 
Self testing did boost my confidence - I have an Accu Chek BTW - but even tho my GP gave me a prescn for a box of 3 drums last week, my nurse reckons I should just test twice a week (early mornings). She thinks that's anough and probably prefers to rely on the HABC1 or whatever it's called every 3 months... durh.

I doubt it's practical to eat just one thing and then test before and after. There are so many foods and everyone eats multiples in one meal. I like the hints and advice here but we are each of us unique so personal testing can't be beat IMHO. Eventually you will accumulate a database of good and bad as regards BG. Mind you I try to avoid the salt coz of my BP.

Now I'm just off to 'test' that Mars bar.... can they really be that bad for me?
Tomorrow it will be a Big Mac... and so on... could take a while... 8)
 
Cowboyjim said:
..........Tomorrow it will be a Big Mac... and so on... could take a while... 8)........
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I suspect that you'll only need to test a Big Mac once before, as a diabetic, you will realise that you didn't ought to eat one ever again.

Seriously, the worst thing that I tested over the last twelve months was a beautiful and delicious large organic cheeseburger. It wasn't the beefburger or the cheese slices that did the damage - it was the large bread bun that it all came in!
 
Cowboyjim said:
Tomorrow it will be a Big Mac... and so on... could take a while... 8)
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My BG has just gone up envying you :evil:

Seriously though, as you will discover, it's the bun that's the problem.

IanS
 
I was only kidding of course. Though I have been testing other foods. My latest is breakfast. They say you can eat as much fruit as you like but self-monitoring shows this to push my BG up. Yesterday I had a fairly ungenerous bowl of strawberries, raspberries and pineapple (all fresh) plus low fat yoghurt then sprinkled some oats on top. Nearly two hours later after 1 metformin, a bike ride (in the rain, drat!) it was 'up' to 8.3 - early morning meas it's 5-7. Not bad I suppose but maybe it should be lower if fruit is so good for you. Was it the fruit? The yoghurt? The oats? Argh, I'm doing my best when I'd have preferred a 'fry up'! 8)

BTW how did you find out it was just the bread bun in that veggie burger combo?
 

Neither strawberries nor raspberries contain much sugar despite their rather sweet taste. Neither affects my BG level to any significant amount. Pineapple on the other hand is very high in sugar.

Cowboyjim said:
BTW how did you find out it was just the bread bun in that veggie burger combo?
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Wasn't it a Big Mac that you had? The burger is virtually zero carb (and even if it was a veggie burger, it would probably be about the same). The cheese is almost zero carb (for the quantity). The sauce will contain some carb. But the bun, like all bread is made from flour which is very high carb indeed (in fact it's practically nothing else). A point that I was unaware of until I discovered this forum. My own BG meter confirms that my BG level does go up if I have more than a small amout of bread.
IanS
 
Bah! Pineapple is one of my faves - well, that puts paid to the NHS line that I should loads of fruit more or less as I like.
Mind you they also think bread is good for you too. I get in a right pickle with my wife who is trying her hardest to put up with me and my new 'lifestyle'. She makes her own bread and very nice it usually is too. So we know how much salt and whatnot goes into it. Though I do wonder about how 'refined' some of the flour is. So I try to eat a bit every day but just at lunch for a sandwich which I have with a lot of salad, etc.
I like noodles and pasta as well. Rice too. Ho ho all high in carbs of course. So I have sparing amounts of basmati, wholewheat etc or spelt (?) instead of pasta. What a nuisance when there's four of us at mealtimes.

So, back to the burgers. I have not have a take-away burger etc for months, we have vension or beef burgers from the supermarket or make our own. If we do have it with a bun it's home-made. My daily concession.

I see now how you do it - by deduction, you can't do it any other way as it would be too time consuming. Eat the burger and measure an hour or two later, then eat the bread bun and remeasure etc. It'd take all day. Be a bit weird sitting in a BK and being so selective. Maybe take it home and chuck the bun out for the birdies? Share the burger with my cat!

I'm going to try out how bad the wholewheat noodles have been for me this morning. Had a DIY 'pot noodle' (another of my former sins) for brekkie along with lots of veg as a kind of soup. Meat and a bit of cheese too. Hoping there's not too much salt in it coz I also have to watch my BP.

It's all fun with a very serious undertone but that's the way to get along with the big D. 8)
 
Cowboyjim said:
Bah! Pineapple is one of my faves - well, that puts paid to the NHS line that I should loads of fruit more or less as I like.
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Sadly some fruit is worse than others. As I have said, I find berries are perfectly fine as they don't actually contain much sugar. Grapes are OK too, because they contain fructose which apparently doesn't matabolise into glucose. Half an apple seems to be OK for me, but oranges are right out.

Cowboyjim said:
So, back to the burgers. I have not have a take-away burger etc for months, we have vension or beef burgers from the supermarket or make our own. If we do have it with a bun it's home-made. My daily concession.
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Have you considered the cholesterol in those burgers? Personally I prefer a nice piece of fillet or sirloin steak :twisted: .

As for that bun, it rather depends on how it affects your own BG level. Try the burger with and without the bun. I have found that I can safely eat a bun during the day wthout any problems. But I can't with my evening meal. For some reason, my BG is always more predictable after lunch than it is after dinner.

IanS
 
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