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Newly Diagnosed with Type 2

S

Steven J

Newbie
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2
In the last 2 weeks I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I had been feeling very tired, thirsty and needed the toilet a lot. I had this for quite a few weeks but didn't do anything until I googled an itch I had "downstairs" which said it could be related to diabetes.

After reading about diabetes symptoms I seemed to match all of them I called my doctor to raise my concerns and get tested. After blood was taken I today found out that my reading was 120 and was told I should aim for 48.

I was given various printouts with food to avoid etc.

After speaking to a friend who also has Type 2 he said it would be worth getting a monitor. What has confused me looking at them they seem to show readings of 5.8 which seems strange when I was told to get to 48 and im currently 120!

Will start looking into help even more which is how I discovered this forum which could help me a lot.
 
The monitor provides a snapshot of your current actual blood sugar in mmol/l, and the figure from the docs is HbA1c, which is a measure of your average blood sugar over roughly a 3 month period. This is based on the amount of glucose stuck to your red blood cells, which have a life span of around 3 months, hence providing an average measure. These two types are measured in different units and so have different values.

Take a look elsewhere on this site, it will give you the various thresholds for both types of measure (sorry, can’t remember off the top of my head), but 120 for HbA1c is very high and indicative that your blood glucose has been very high for some time. Mine was 87 on diagnosis, and down to 34 after 3 months of following a strict low carb diet, so the good news is that you can really turn things around for yourself if you change what you eat.

The monitor is best used to find out how various foods affect you, test just before and 2 hrs after a meal - if the rise is less than 2 mmol/l then generally that is a ‘good’ food. Any higher and it’s too carby. As you settle into things, you can apply your own limits within that if you like, for example, I prefer to keep my meal spikes within 1mmol/l if I can, and overall I personally don’t want ever to see my monitor readings above 6.5, tops. My first few readings were 17 mmol/l when I was diagnosed but came right down within a couple of weeks in response to my change of diet.

So welcome, do have a mooch around the site and look into a low carb way of eating, which so many people here have adopted with fantastic results. Feel free to ask any questions, someone will surely answer.
 

Welcome to the best little forum no one 'wants' to join.

A world of decent information from those who have ..Been there & done that.

As said two different measurements.

If ya like football, see HBA1c as the table at the end of season.
that seasons finishing position.

The meter reading are the match results,
So you can see where your tactics are wrong and adjust.

Forums a good un,
Help & advice is only a list away

And friends bang on about testing.
Like driving blind, otherwise.
 
Steven are you from the U S???...... the Doc probably checked your blood with a meter....120 isnt bad at all.....generally your glucose should be between 60 and 100....it may go up to 140 for a normal healthy person when you eat but should come back down after couple hours...glucose in the U S is measured ....mm/DL.......
In UK its measured ....mmol/L.........
A1c is measured as a % over a 3 month period.....2 charts hopfully will help you.... ....
 
Last edited:
Hi, and welcome to the forum. Yes, HbA1c of 120 is high, but there are people on here with higher starting readings who've successfully brought them down. Have a look at this link: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/what-is-hba1c.html

You've been told to aim for 48 because that's below the level at which T2 diabetes is diagnosed. "Normal" HbA1c for non-diabetics is below 42. I absolutely would get a meter and test and record what food does what to your system. The six steps below were what helped me and they might help you.

1. You need to unlearn all the standard NHS healthy eating advice, all the assumptions made by the media, your family and friends about what's healthy and what's not. I do mean all.


2. As Type 2 diabetics we are not, by definition, good at handling carbohydrates. Some of us are better than others at it but we all have the same problem. Eating carbohydrates causes our blood glucose to rise out of control and that causes us physical damage.


3. Eating carbohydrates, of any kind, is therefore potentially going to cause us a problem as Type 2s.


4. Just how big of a problem depends on the individual.


5. Test your blood glucose and record your results to find out what your pattern and tolerances are. Then cut the things that cause the rises.


6. Nobody will do this for you. Only you can do this.
 
Still coming to terms with this and feeling very low about it. Need to read up on it all more but at the end of the day its because I've not looked after myself for years and I'm a fat **** that I've brought this on to myself. For years I tried to lose it and never had the motivation and I'm now being punished for it. Totally my own fault and I deserve it
 
Hi Steven please stop blaming yourself you may well have been programmed to be insulin resistant whatever weight you become. There are lean T2s and obese folk who don’t get Diabetes. Having said that it will be hugely helpful to shed weight and if you follow a low carb diet that is very likely to happen. Read around this forum, take a look at the DietDoctor website which has really helpful infographics about carbs in food. There is a thread on this forum “What have you eaten today” which will give you lots of ideas about low carb meals. Keep posting and asking for support here and you will be another success story. Virtual hug and good luck. You can do this.
 

Just no. Weight gain is a symptom of T2 diabetes and if you have the wrong genetics a so called healthy modern diet (full of carbs) will make you fat and T2. So quit the blame, please.

T2s have a genetic metabolic disorder that makes it hard for them to process carbs. They become insulin resistant, so have to produce more and more insulin to cope with their diet. Unfortunately high insulin levels plus high blood sugars lead to weight gain, which tends to lead to higher insulin resistance, and you can see you are on a T2 merry go round that is just going to lead to more weight, higher blood sugars and higher insulin resistance.


Cutting the carbs can reduce your blood sugar and your weight.

Good luck.
 
You haven't brought it on yourself. Some thin people have T2 and some fat people haven't. You are (according to your diagnosis) insulin resistant and the rest follows, particularly if you've been following the current carb-pushing advice on what "healthy eating" means. You do have an opportunity to do something about it now. It doesn't mean you'll ever not be insulin resistant, but you can lower your blood glucose, avoid harm, reduce symptoms and severity, and even lose some weight. Up to you.
 
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