Newbie'ish

[Frenchtart]

Hi all, not really classed as new to this as I have had gestational insulin dependant diabetes with 2 out of my 3 pregnancies & probably also had it with the first although it wasn't diagnosed at the time.

bearing this in mind & the fact I am a classic apple shape & overweight (by quite a bit!!!) I have recently shown symptoms of diabets which my husband picked up on!!! I constantly feel tired & lethargic, depressed & quite a few times my husband has accused me of being drunk mid afternoon, early evening (which would be a good place to be with kids between 3 & 8 :crazy: !!) . He looked it up on the internet & asked me some questions.... He then went & bought me some test sticks ( still have the machine from when I was pregnant) & the first test indicated that I was very low on my sugar count (after I was slurring). After a small snack of cornflakes my slurring stopped & I felt alot better. That night after a few tears & a couple of glasses of wine I went to bed.
Got up in the morning & had a fasting reading of 127 (symptoms of prediabetes). This was yesterday & I spent a lot of the day reading & realising that I really need to do something about my weight. I concluded that the south beach diet was probably the best way to go (when I had gestational diabetes I realised that carbs affected my sugars quite badly) . So i went out & got a few bits to get me started & had quite a positive day feeling that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel... Went to bed reasonably early & without any wine. Had quite a bad nights sleep, got disturbed & then couldn't get back to sleep, eventually I did & got up this morning to a reading of 141 feeling pretty cr*p.... I know i hve only done a couple of fasting tests but do you think i may have it & is the south beach diet the best way to go???
Thank you in advance....

 

[Mileana]

Hello, and welcome to here.

I'm sure one of our moderators will be around with some more information, but yes, reducing your carb/starch intake is a good way to go.

Gentle exercise like walks or swimming will also improve your body's ability to process sugar as it makes your insulin work better.

I think it is a good plan to discuss your worries with your family doc as soon as you can get an appointment. It is a lot of risk factors you have (weight, gestational diabetes etc) and the sooner you can deal with it in any event, the better for you, whether you are prediabetic or diabetic.

Feel free to ask all your questions, someone is likely to know or be able to point you in the right direction.

-M

 

[daisy1]

Hi Frenchtart and welcome to the forum The first thing you need to do is to visit your doctor and get the appropriate tests done. This information for new members will be useful to you whether you are pre-diabetic or diabetic. If you turn out to be pre-diabetic, following the advice in here could prevent you becoming a full diabetic. Ask all the questions you like as we would like to help you.

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.