Newbie needing help.

[Csfrowantree]

Hi,
Just joined the site yesterday so I thought that I better introduce myself.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 about 6 months ago, family history of diabetes. However it still came as a big shock, as I am not overweight,only 40 when diagnosed, very active, play sports etc and have a healthy diet.

However I am still a bit unsure as to what all the tests and numbers mean, after being diagnosed with HbA1c levels of 6.9 but lots of symptoms, I was told to give it 3 months on diet only, next test shows levels of 7.2, still symptoms so given 1x 500mg Metformin per day, just had the results from my last HbA1c test and the level is 8.2 so put up to 2 x 500mg tabs, I cant understand why my levels are going up and not down.

I am concerned as I am fairly sure that my Bg levels must be all over the place as when I have had a hard day, or played a lot of sport I feel completely drained.
When I have swam a hard session sometimes feel really tired, sweaty and generally not great, is this a Hypo or just doing to much.

Am I being too concerned with regards these test results, as you guys will be all to aware its all a bit scary at first.

Please can someone give me some advice.

Thanks
Chris

 

[sugarless sue]

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum.
First thing to look at is your diet. Can you give us some idea of an average days food so that we can maybe advise you on your carbohydrate intake. Carbohydrates are what makes your blood sugar levels go up so reducing them down can help keep your levels down.

 

[Csfrowantree]

Hi Sue,

As far as my diet is concerned generally I have three meals per day, breakfast will usually be toast, banana and white coffee no sugar, lunch is sandwich, fruit and the odd plain bickie, evening meal will usually be pasta, Rice, potatoes, with chicken, meat of Fish and vegetables.
I have cut out as much sugar as I can, no chocolate, chocolate bickies, cakes apart from the odd treat.

When I told the diatbetic nurse what I generally ate she thought that was about right,a fairly balanced diet, as I said in the post just been increased to 2 x 500mg Metformin and to be honest am feeling worse, more tired etc, though to be fair I am only on the third day of the increased dose.

I am also losing weight and my leg muscles seem to be losing muscle bulk, so not wanting to reduce my calorie intake by to much, I personally would find it really difficult to go on a very low carb diet, due to the sport that I generally do.

Do I need to take my bg levels more often to build up a picture of what is happening, I have not been offered this yet on the NHS, can I ask for it?.

Thanks for your resonse Sue, its appreciated.

 

[sugarless sue]

Looking at your diet there is a lot of carbohydrate in it. 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.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular 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.

Buy yourself a carb counter book 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 to the leg pain etc I would discuss it with your doctor. Are you on Simvastatin for instance ? This can sometimes cause muscle pain but it really could be anything.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse 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 , but you can but try !!

 

[totsy]

i agree with everything sue has said but would just like to welcome you

 

[Csfrowantree]

Thanks to Sue and Totsy for your responses, as you say I think I better start keeping a food diary and be a bit more careful with regards to Carb intake.

Think it is just realising that it is my whole way of life that must change now and not just one or two areas in the hope that this will sort things out.

Great to have access to a forumn, where you can discuss these types of things without fear, after all we are all in the same boat so to speak.

Thanks again.