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Newbie Type 2

  • Thread starter Thread starter Maybird
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Maybird

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Hi everyone
I am a 73 year old woman not overweight and fairly fit and I had a Type 2 diagnosis last Friday..I was diagnosed with a glucose intolerance about 7 years ago and have had a yearly blood test since. My last fasting blood test showed my level was 7.5 not sure if this is high or low but my doctor said this is considered to be Type 2

I have been reading a lot of the posts on here but am still a bit confused on what are good glucose levels.

For the last 6 years or so I have been having a fairly low fat diet as my cholesterol is raised and I take a statin tablet each night also on high blood pressure tablets.
I do not have a sweet tooth so not really into highly sweetened things. I don't eat a lot of starchy carbs....not keen on rice and pasta and my bread intake daily is usually only two slices of toast for breakfast. I don't eat takeaways,fast food or processed ready meals. I stick to mostly chicken and fish with some Quorn..soya.. products and I love all vegetables and fruit. Is soup a good thing for diabetics as I make my own vegetable ones and like it for lunch. The hardest thing I will find to give up is salad dressing I have been having the low fat varieties but don't think I should have even them now. I love cheese of all sorts but try to stick to half fat ones and I am not sure how many eggs a week is good or bad.. another thing I love.

There seems to be an issue with the NHS giving glucose measuring monitors for type 2 but how do you know your glucose levels and how to control them without one and should I buy one
Any advice will be gratefully received
 
Hi Maybird and welcome to the forum :)

I don't think that 2 slices of toast is very good for breakfast, but the rest of your diet looks pretty good. Reducing carbs is more important than reducing fats. It's a shame that you can't get testing equipment and it would be worth funding your own. This way you can test to see which foods you can safely eat and which foods you should avoid by testing 2 hours after eating. Here is some basic information which we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful.


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 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.
 
Hi Maybird, :)

Welcome to this forum. You will get lots of nice advice on this forum.

It is not good when the NHS puts type 2 diabetes in this awkward situation regarding test meters.

There is one you can get from Amazon called
" Codefree Blood Glucose Monitor/Monitoring Test/Testing Kit+Strips+Lancets+Case " at £12.99p also 50 test strips for £8.40p
It is as good as any and quite good on price.

Hope everything goes well.

Roy. :)
 
Thank you all
I certainly intend to buy a monitor if my GP practise will not give me one

Hilary
 
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