Newly Diagnosed, not yet started on whatever is necessary

[thumper_ke]

Been to Dr, and diagnosed with Type 2. She wont start me on meds until after Christmas and New Year. My initial Blood Glucose test was 14, the second test result I havent yet seen. Also have high Cholesterol. Result was big shock, and she signed me off till the New Year. :shock:
Does Diabetes and high cholesterol also cause pains all over? :cry:
What can I expect to happen when I go to my Appt with the Dr on the 8th Jan?

 

[hallii]

Re: Newly Diagnosed, not yet started on whatever is necessar

What will happen when you see the doctor?

I have looked into my crystal ball and I can see that you will have a good outcome.

Your partner will have some good news and your future looks very good.

Soon your BGs will fall and you will feel better, your aches and pains will ease as your BGs fall.

Seriously, she will offer some form of medication both for your high chloresterol and BGs.

You need to modify your diet by reducing your carbohydrates and animal fats and taking more excercise.
You should lose weight if you are overweight.

These simple changes could be all you need, if they are successful (and there are many on here who have acheived very good results by making these changes) then you may not need any medication.

Its is up to you, you have to take control and manage your own diabetes, the doctor can help but it's your job to manage it day to day.
If you don't get your BGs down to acceptable levels then a doctor will prescribe medication and increase the doses until your BGs come down.

Have a read through the advice that will appear soon, all the answers are there, apart from the obvious and most important one, your own determination to succeed.

You have to be self motivated and determined to stick to the diet etc.

So go for it, do not wait for the appointment, but tell the doc. what you are doing and what you hope to acheive, she will be able to assist with advice and guidance.

Gypsie Rose Lee (AKA Hallii)

 

[daisy1]

Re: Newly Diagnosed, not yet started on whatever is necessar

Hi Thumper and welcome to the forum

This is the information that hallii referred to - it was written for new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask all the questions you like and someone will be able to help.


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.

 

[Daibell]

Re: Newly Diagnosed, not yet started on whatever is necessar

Hi. Diabetes and high cholesterol should not cause any pain apart from advanced diabetes where nerve damage has occurred but that wouldn't be for some years and only if blood sugar control is bad. At the appointment your doc will do the usual blood pressure and weight measure. He will check your feet for loss of sensitivity (nerve damage). If you haven't yet had an HBa1C blood test done, he will probably order one within 3 months to check your average blood sugar over 3 months and it really needs to be below 6.5% in old money. As Hallii has said you may be offered medication or he may wait for a few months. It will probably be Metformin if anything which helps a bit with reducing glucose and appetite. Apart from that, diet and exercise are the key. If the doc says have carbs with every meal, politely ignore it as NHS bad advice. Keep your carbs high fibre and low-GI and perhaps below 150'ish gm/day.

 

[thumper_ke]

Re: Newly Diagnosed, not yet started on whatever is necessar

Well, have been started on 1g twice daily metformin as well as 40g simvastatin. Already had a second hba1c and the results were really good. I think my Dr is keeping a strict eye on me as she also wants me to have another blood test in 2 months.
current hba1c is 8.2%, and cholesterol has taken a dive from 7.2 to 4.8. Also lost around 12lb in total since December. Doing OK, but still wish this weight would start to move again. Tried to be extra good and start exercising on the wii, but kinda did my hip in hula hooping, so have to drop back to the boring walking, and step exercises Dr told me off for trying to do too much, but I want to lose this extra weight!