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Newly diagnosed- just waiting for type to be confirmed but looking like Type 2,

L

LouT

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Hi,
I had routine blood test last Friday and a GP at the surgery phone me the same evening at 7pm, saying you are diabetic as your HbA1c is very high at 85, but we don’t diagnose till after a second blood test, we need to speak to you, and booked a follow up appointment
I borrowed a blood glucose monitor from work and have checked my BS over a few days and they have been anything from 11.5 to 17.6 - looking at those results I think we know probably know the answer without waiting for a second test just wasn’t sure what type would be diagnosed
The only warning sign is I have lost some weight - but not much, and maybe a few more trips to the toilet at night,

Had my follow up appointment with my GP this morning as a planned follow up appointment- she has said that is almost certainly type 2 diabetes ( in fact I would go with her saying she is 100 % certain) but they won’t confirm until I’ve had the follow up blood test,
I did explain the very high blood sugars and she didn’t seem to be concerned and said that I don’t need to be testing my blood sugars as I don’t have any other symptoms other than maybe going to the loo a little bit more than I normally would ) , but I think for my own peace of mind and also to work out food pushes it up I will carry on checking them,
My follow up blood test is booked for next week as that is when the surgery could fit it in, although the GP said she wanted it in 2-3 weeks it was difficult to find a date that worked for that time scale, ( I feel a lot happier having it sooner rather than later)
She has said once we have the blood test back I will have an appointment with her for a discussion about it and she will prescribe medication plus do a referral to the diabetic team for more care, support etc - hence me saying she is 100% certain it’s diabetes, just not fully confirmed the type,

In the meantime she didn’t really have anything else to add or any suggestions so come here looking for support and suggestions especially what sort of questions I should ask at the next appointment, and at the diabetic clinic appointment and what to expect when it comes to starting medication
Thanks for reading my rambling message
 
Hi there @LouT welcome to the forum. It is standard to have two HbA1c tests a few weeks apart to confirm diabetes. I see your GP is almost certain you are Type 2. Is there any reason you think you might be T1?

If you are confirmed as having Type 2 diabetes then they will likely give you blood sugar reducing meds such as metformin. I appreciate your Dr told you that you do not need to test your blood sugars, but most Type 2 diabetics do test their blood sugars with a glucometer or finger prick device.

These devices allow you to see what foods raise your blood sugars and what foods don’t. To get the most out of these devices you test just before your meal then 2 hours after. If the second finger prick result is more than 2 mmol/Ls higher than the first then you have consumed too many carbs.
Reducing your carb intake will very likely result in a drop of blood sugar. Many members on the forum successfully control their T2 diabetes by diet alone. Some very successfully and are able to come off medication altogether by driving down their blood sugars into the normal range.

I’m going to tag a few members for you who have been very successful in putting their diabetes into remission by diet . @KennyA , @ianf0ster . @Rachox has a comprehensive list of glucometers .
Feel free to check out the success stories on the forum.
 
Hi @LouT & welcome to the forum

I can’t add much more than @Melgar has said other than to say my HbA1c was 99 at diagnosis and finger prick tests were in the very high 20s, I recall one of 32! I was diagnosed whilst in hospital after an emergency admittance for something not connected. I was initially diagnosed T1 but that was changed to T2 a couple of months later.

I was on insulin then changed to maximum Gliclizide, with the support of my GP I slowly reduced my meds whilst reducing my carbs until I came off meds completely, I’ve now been off meds about 7 years and my last HbA1c was 47, in the pre diabetic range so if you are T2 then there’s every chance with the right changes in diet you can get your numbers right down. I now do a keto diet of no more than 20g carb a day but you may not need to go that low, you’ll find your own sweet spot

I didn’t have any symptoms either, apart from unexplained weight loss & feeling tired, or so I thought (the weight loss was in-fact welcomed by me as I was very obese so it didn’t worry me) until my BG started to drop to normal levels - then when I started to feel better I realised that I’d had a lot of symptoms I just wasn’t connected them. Skin tags, peeing a lot, raging thirst, tingling in hands & feet, lots of little annoying infections like sinuses etc.

If you scroll down to my signature you will see my starting stats & my latest stats & see the difference, also in my signature are some links to articles on the main website that you may find useful as a newly diagnosed member.

Stick around, ask questions, take your time to read & digest, it’s a lot to take in and get your head around, it’s a marathon not a sprint and there’s a lot to learn but it’s very doable
 
thanks for the reply, the only reason I was thinking it might be T1 was the high HbA1c combined with the high blood sugar reading- this morning it was 15.7 and at bedtime last night it was 16.3,
My blood sugars seem to be considerably in the 15 to 17 range no matter what I’ve eaten / drunk or not as the case maybe, I’ve started to notice I’m making more trips to the loo as well as been more tired over the last week or 2,
I’ll have a look at the list of blood sugar monitors as I need to give the one back to work, so want to buy my own
 
Thanks, I’ll have a look at the links,
It’s only when you get news like this that you realise that more symptoms are there than you think,
hopefully once the diagnosis is formally made, they will start me on medication as I think that and changes to diet will make me more motivated and see results so can come off the medication, hopefully it will be tablets rather than insulin as I’ve seen a few people mention being started on insulin for T2,
Just not sure how long after the 2nd tests they will wait to start medication, I guess it will depend on when my GP is available as she said I would see her again rather than another one,
 
Hi @LouT snd welcome to the forum. While you wait for your various appts to be done here is some
info with links for UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned. Testing is a great way to learn what your body can and can’t tolerate.



HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/



Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/



Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/





SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793



The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Don’t forget to check the box if you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)



Abbott usually offer a free 15 day trial of the Freestyle LIBRE 2 plus, but currently this scheme is on hold. Here’s the link to try when hopefully the trial is offered again:

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott



Dexcom also offer a free trial of their Dexcom one + here

The Dexcom ONE+ CGM (Continuous Glucose Montoring) system | Dexcom

Edited to update info on Libre free trial.
 
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I was put on insulin right away because I was diagnosed T1 initially, I was only on it for a couple of months until my diagnosis was changed to T2, whatever happens for you medication wise remember there’s no shame in needing any meds to help you control your diabetes. The important thing is that you have good control by whatever means. For some no matter how hard they try they will need meds & that’s absolutely fine. It’s not a competition, it’s your diabetes and it has to be something you can sustain for life, if that means you personally need meds then that’s what you need. At the moment I don’t but that could change for me & any one of us & if I need meds in the future then I need meds - end of. All you can do is your best
 
Hi and welcome.

The second test is needed because there is some "acceptable error" in standard HbA1c tests (but that is fairly small and wouldn't explain your high reading of itself) and there is a small possibility of a completely off-the-wall reading - I've had one in over five years. However your fingerprick tests tend to confirm that you have high blood glucose at T2 diagnostic levels.

Food - and this is really the starches and sugars (carbohydrates) in food - are the biggest single influence on your overall blood glucose levels. However our livers are continually making and adding glucose to our systems to keep us at what they understand required levels to be. If we've been running on higher blood glucose for a while, livers take that to be the new normal, and need time to be persuaded that lower levels are OK. So your liver right now will be doing its best to keep your BG where it is. It can take quite some months to change, as livers are slow learners.

One of the issues with the official NHS approach to T2 is that there is zero expectation that a diagnosed T2 can return to normal BG levels. The HbA1c "target levels" are well out of normal ranges, and the recommended pattern is to slow the progression of the condition by medication, changing it as necessary and as the condition develops.

So when I went in for my first post-diagnosis HbA1c and had normal BG, the diabetic nurse nearly fell off her chair. I'd had no medication, and had done it by (very) low carb eating, going for around 20-25g carb/day. There's about that much carb in one apple. I stopped eating the high carb high volume foods such as bread, cereal, potatoes (and other root veg), pastry, pasta, rice, fruit, anything sugary, and beer. I've pretty much continued that style of eating since. My last out of range HbA1c was in January 2020, and I've also since lost the 90lbs I'd gained as an undiagnosed T2. All the symptoms (I had a lot, painful and distressing) went very quickly.

I'd also recommend a system of blood testing. In one sense your doctor is right - just taking (eg) one reading a day won't tell you much. Instead I'd suggest using the tests to understand the impact that various foods have on your BG. The evidence from people on the forum is that carbs affect us all in different ways, and our systems differ in how we deal with them. So there's no certainty that how wheat bread (as one example) affects me would be any reliable clue as to how it affects you. It might be the same, and it might be totally different. You need to find out what works for you. I can cope with some carb from beans and legumes OK, but the carb in pastry is rocket fuel for my BG.

The standard pattern is to test before you eat, which gives you a baseline, and then again two hours later. You are not testing to see how high you go. The peak BG is usually around 45 minutes after first bite, and that represents your body raising BG by digesting carb to glucose, while at the same time your insulin system is lowering BG by converting it to glycogen and adding to to body stores.

At the two hour point your insulin system should have done a good enough job dealing with the glucose to get you back close (within 2mmol/l is close enough) to where you started. If you're higher than that, the insulin system couldn't cope with the incoming glucose - ie, too many carbs in the meal.

Best of luck. This forum is a great resource and asking questions is encouraged. I picked up a copy of a book recently that might be of some help to you at this stage - it's written by a NHS consultant endocrinologist called David Cavan and it's pretty comprehensive in its coverage of T2.

Thread '"How to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes" (2022) Dr David Cavan'

This is an extensively rewritten version of Dr Cavan's 2014 book "Reverse your diabetes - the step by step plan to take control of type 2 diabetes". I don't mean to imply it's just been updated - it has, in most places, but there are several significant alterations. The original book was written when "low-carb" was being widely described a a "fad diet" and without the benefit of the considerable body of research that's been accumulated on restricted carbohydrate diets since then. That at least has thankfully changed.

In particular, the book now identifies and demolishes seven "myths"...
 
Hi @LouT and welcome to the forum.
Like @KennyA I'm another T2D in remission for over 5 yrs i.e. if some GP checked my blood without looking at my patient record, they wouldn't even think I was pre-diabetic. Unlike Kenny, I had no symptoms other than slowly but surely gaining weight during the decade or so that I was considered to be pre-diabetic. Though I did have a couple of small skin tags - which I still do now, just even smaller. But then I was not diabetic for long before I discovered this website and a Low Carb way of eating. My doctors knew I was pre-diabetic for many years so they were checking me for full T2D every year and so my HbA1C never got very high. It would have been perfect had they not pushed me towards eating Low Fat food rather than Low Carb.
I was always quite slim (even at my heaviest I was barely overweight by 2lbs), when I read the 2 main lifestyle routes to T2D remission I was much more receptive to Low Carb than to an 8 to12 week starvation diet. I bought a Blood glucose meter and tested before each meal and the 2hrs later which confirmed that Low Carb would work for me (it may not work for some people). Using the BG meter I discovered that I needed to stay below around 40gms of carbs per day, so soon my day's meals were constantly hitting the 20gms -40gms which I would have previously exceeded with breakfast alone!
When I asked my surprised Doctor why they didn't advise either Low Carb or even the 'Newcastle diet' to their T2D patients I was told it was because no patient before me had ever done them for long enough to get a result. Small wonder people had either not tried or given up before seeing results, because both BG home testing and Low Fat were discouraged and any slim T2D's would be resistant to the 'Newcastle Diet' when needing to keep faith for 6 months until they scheduled a post diagnosis HbA1C.

You will have questions and need encouragement with whichever path your diabetes takes you on. We are all different and I can't know if what works for me will do so for you, but one thing I can guarantee is that a working Blood glucose meter is your own personal expert in your own diabetes - it has no agenda to push and so will not lie to you!
 
Thanks for the advice, as you say it’s my diabetes and what works for others may not work for me, and I need to get it under control by whatever works best for me,
 
Thanks @ianf0ster and @KennyA for the useful advice and information,
I can’t see that the second HbA1c test is going to be much different to the first one as they are only 10 days or so apart from each other,
Hopefully once I get that result, I won’t have to wait too long to see my GP, and get a plan in place and the referral to the diabetic clinic etc, although several people seemed surprised that I hadn’t been sent to hospital with the high HbA1c and the sugar levels being high or at least started on something
Been feeling a bit rough today but I think that is partly stress and high sugar after eating the wrong things for dinner,
 
People's experiences on diagnosis vary. Quite often people are simply given a prescription for metformin and told they'll be contacted in 6 months.

I was offered metformin in January 2020 and didn't take the offer. My next contact with the health service was April 2020 when my BG was normal. I didn't have an eye or foot check until many months later. I've never seen a GP or a doctor in relation to the T2 - all my contact has been via a diabetic nurse.
 
I get what you are saying, I’m just going by what the GP said when I saw her on Tuesday and what she has put on my notes,
 
Rachox said:
If you’d like to try a free 15 day trial of the Freestyle LIBRE 2 plus follow this link:

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott
Click to expand...
you might want to perhaps remove the above in links for the timebeing the trial is on hold for the freestyle libre within the uk alongside a couple of other countries as well. no eta when it will be reintroduced
 
grantg said:
you might want to perhaps remove the above in links for the timebeing the trial is on hold for the freestyle libre within the uk alongside a couple of other countries as well. no eta when it will be reintroduced
Click to expand...
Thanks for letting me know. I”ll edit my post now.
 
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