Newly diagnosed 4 weeks ago

[SueJB]

Hi and welcome,
I agree with the other comment here, the NHS standard advice is to eat a well balanced diet, try to exercise and reduce weight. I started with this advice until I found this site and the diet doctor website. What I read made sense to me and when I looked at the carb values of lots of the foods deemed healthy and well balanced I was quite shocked. They soon got taken out of my diet completely or replaced with the lowest carb version I could find. Luckily I didn’t have any other health worries and both my blood pressure and cholesterol were under the recommended levels.
In brief I was diagnosed in October last year and was given a chance to see what I could achieve with diet, no meds. I had my first checkup in February. Results are now prediabetic, blood pressure and cholesterol slightly lower than they were and I’m now 3 stone lighter. When I saw the diabetic nurse she was totally amazed, she asked what I’d done and when I mentioned low carb she smiled and said “yes, they can be bad for diabetics”!
You will find lots of help and advice here and will see that many of us have had great successes, good luck

Impressive loss!! Magic

 

[Peadair O Brionn]

That’s a very reassuring post . I wasdiagnosed 2 weeks ago put on 500 mg a day for 4 weeks I’m now getting terrible stomach pains and the runs . Affecting my work as I’m on the toilet about 7 times s day ... Thinkin of askin the doctor if I can go diet and excersize as I was told I was only just above the mark for T2 . Really hope I can as I can’t srand this much longer

 

[Bluetit1802]

That’s a very reassuring post . I wasdiagnosed 2 weeks ago put on 500 mg a day for 4 weeks I’m now getting terrible stomach pains and the runs . Affecting my work as I’m on the toilet about 7 times s day ... Thinkin of askin the doctor if I can go diet and excersize as I was told I was only just above the mark for T2 . Really hope I can as I can’t srand this much longer

Do you know what your HbA1c was? Mine was 53 on diagnosis and Metformin was never mentioned. I have been diet only the whole time.

 

[Peadair O Brionn]

Do you know what your HbA1c was? Mine was 53 on diagnosis and Metformin was never mentioned. I have been diet only the whole time.

Don’t know doc never told me .. just said yeah you’ve got Diabetes and you will have it for the rest of your life . Take these tablets for 4weeks and Cor back and see e the.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Don’t know doc never told me .. just said yeah you’ve got Diabetes and you will have it for the rest of your life . Take these tablets for 4weeks and Cor back and see e the.

Oh dear. You need to know. You can ring up and ask for a print out of your blood test results, which will also tell you the results of any tests you had in addition to the HbA1c, such as cholesterol, lipids, kidney and liver functions. It is important we know these so we can keep an eye on any upward or downward trends. You can also ask if your surgery has done as asked and puts test results on line. If they have, ask how to register for this. It is a brilliant thing. Either way, you need those results.

 

[Peadair O Brionn]

Oh dear. You need to know. You can ring up and ask for a print out of your blood test results, which will also tell you the results of any tests you had in addition to the HbA1c, such as cholesterol, lipids, kidney and liver functions. It is important we know these so we can keep an eye on any upward or downward trends. You can also ask if your surgery has done as asked and puts test results on line. If they have, ask how to register for this. It is a brilliant thing. Either way, you need those results.

My cholesterol was 5 .7 I think coz he put me on a statin I’ve been avoiding them for years but he said it would help me more now I have diabetes . I’m going to see a doctor prob not the same one , on Tuesday evening and I’m going to go through them . Also gonna try and get to an education thing they do on Wednesday . Gotta get off these tabs they’re a nightmare . What would happen if I just stopped taking them and done diet and exercise on my own obviously doing the check ups etc but just stopped them and went for the alternative

 

[Bluetit1802]

My cholesterol was 5 .7 I think coz he put me on a statin I’ve been avoiding them for years but he said it would help me more now I have diabetes . I’m going to see a doctor prob not the same one , on Tuesday evening and I’m going to go through them . Also gonna try and get to an education thing they do on Wednesday . Gotta get off these tabs they’re a nightmare . What would happen if I just stopped taking them and done diet and exercise on my own obviously doing the check ups etc but just stopped them and went for the alternative

Unless you know the breakdown of your cholesterol neither you nor your doctor can say if you need statins. The total is fairly meaningless because it is made up of the good stuff and the not so good stuff, which is why you need these figures. A print out is the way forward, you can then analyse the figures (we can help) and make your own mind up. Did your doctor explain how a statin will help? Did he tell you they can raise blood sugar levels, quite apart from the recorded side effects? Most doctors put all diabetics on statins, and in many cases it is totally unnecessary. Get the figures, analyse them, post them on here, and then decide whether to take them.

 

[Resurgam]

My cholesterol was 5 .7 I think coz he put me on a statin I’ve been avoiding them for years but he said it would help me more now I have diabetes . I’m going to see a doctor prob not the same one , on Tuesday evening and I’m going to go through them . Also gonna try and get to an education thing they do on Wednesday . Gotta get off these tabs they’re a nightmare . What would happen if I just stopped taking them and done diet and exercise on my own obviously doing the check ups etc but just stopped them and went for the alternative

I just felt better when I stopped - though the effects have persisted for some time.
My husband was horrified by my symptoms and has stopped taking the statins he'd been taking for some time. Although he maintained that he was not affected by then, he has changed a lot recently, and stopped repeating 'you know what I mean' at the end of every sentence - it got very wearing.

 

[Peadair O Brionn]

I just felt better when I stopped - though the effects have persisted for some time.
My husband was horrified by my symptoms and has stopped taking the statins he'd been taking for some time. Although he maintained that he was not affected by then, he has changed a lot recently, and stopped repeating 'you know what I mean' at the end of every sentence - it got very wearing.

Unless you know the breakdown of your cholesterol neither you nor your doctor can say if you need statins. The total is fairly meaningless because it is made up of the good stuff and the not so good stuff, which is why you need these figures. A print out is the way forward, you can then analyse the figures (we can help) and make your own mind up. Did your doctor explain how a statin will help? Did he tell you they can raise blood sugar levels, quite apart from the recorded side effects? Most doctors put all diabetics on statins, and in many cases it is totally unnecessary. Get the figures, analyse them, post them on here, and then decide whether to take them.

Ok thanks for that . I’ll defo get the results on Tuesday and I’ll ditch the statins till then . Only been takin them for 2 weeks so shouldn’t be that dramatic

 

[masonap]

Hi,

I was diagnosed type 2 four weeks ago. My hba1c was 78 then 2 weeks later 76. I was put on metformin straight away but I am struggling to tolerate this. I was also diagnosed with high cholesterol and high blood pressure and my gp was reluctant to start treatment for either of these as being diabetic “is a lot to cope with” and he said one thing at a time as I have other health issues too.

If my diabetes is not controlled using metformin I’m worried that I will be on a trail and error kind of treatment until I find something that works for me, my GP has little faith in my controlling it with diet although I have only seen him twice.

Any help, advice, encouragement is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Lisa

Hi,
I will go with all the other comments on here... I'm type 2 and have been for almost 20 years, I started on Insulin 2 years ago, plus still on metformin of course. I started low carb about a year ago, since then I've lost a ton of weight and halved all my meds. BP is currently a problem and my Dr decided I needed a different drug. I've achieved these results with a mixture of low carb and increased activity (I walk for up to 60 minutes every day). My HbA1c is about 5 which is fantastic.
Carbs are most peoples problem (it was definitely mine, and I wish I knew this 20 years ago), you need to cut out as much bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, and anything made with flour and sugar as you can. As it has already been said carbs turn into sugar very quickly and we need to avoid that if we can. Good things are vegetables, cheese, meat, butter, cream, nuts, some fruits (perhaps in smaller quantities though). It seems a bit restricted at first but actually it is just a different life style and food choice that will make all the difference.
Keep looking at the Diabetes.co.uk web site and forums, you will learn a lot here.
I wish you all the best.