Newly diagnosed

[DeannaFoot]

Newly advised following a blood glucose level of 51 ! Had a very short call
From a diabetic nurse to say I had been diagnosed as type 2 ! She gave hardly any discussion or guidance and just pointed me to this website ! help where do you start ?
Should I be checking blood daily she didn’t mentioned this at all !
So what do you do first ? Feeling overwhelmed and unsupported
Thank you

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome to the (large) world of diabetes. First don't panic. You will find it useful to test your blood to find out what foods affect you and to keep an eye on your blood sugar. Test perhaps once a day 2 hours after a typical meal? Get a glucose meter. Buy one with the lowest cost test strips such as the 'Codefree' on Amazon. Make sure you keep the carbs down in your diet as these turn to glucose in the stomach raising blood sugar. Fats and proteins are fine. There are many books about food some of which are rubbish. 'Carbs and Cals' is pretty good and can be downloaded to the phone. Ignore anything that talks about Calories or Low-fat. Ask away on anything else.

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome.

The good news is that you found Thi site. This site has been much more help to me in dealing with my diabetes than my doctor . If in doubt I trust this site.

Yes you should test your blood sugar levels. How else can you lower them? Yes it is possible to lower them. Read the link below it is really helpful.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/

Good luck and welcome.

 

[walk39isl]

Ask for a financial assessment by gp - you may be able to get free test strips, lancets and meter. Also the diabetes.co.uk log books are good - £8.98 for five or your gp may provide Roche ones. The nurses and gps never do give out much info as they had to train and pay for it in medical school...! The diabetes log books are for after and before meals testing. Four to six times a day is the norm after about 8 years of meds. Most hospitals test on ward once a week and testing before meds in morning and at night is advisable. Accuchek Performa test strips are available on the nhs if your gp agrees to it after financial assessment but Accuchek Aviva test strips were discontinued.

 

[Resurgam]

As a type two you are unlikely to get a meter and strips from the NHS - and you might even be advised not to test.
Your levels are fairly low and you might well be able to return to normal levels just by being more aware of the carbohydrates you are eating. A few alterations might well be all that is required. You might like to get hold of your own meter, I use a Tee two from Spirit Healthcare as it is cheap to get the supplies for it, and used it fairly frequently at first, checking most meals, but now I only use it once in a while as I know how I will react with most foods.