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Newly Diagnosed

E

emz89

Active Member
Messages
29
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Hi Everyone, I am 33 and was only diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes yesterday. I have my first appointment with the Diabetes team tomorrow.

It was rather unexpected although both parents have Diabetes. I thought it would be something that may affect me much later in life.

My Hab1c is 76. The Dr told me to expect medication.

I've been such an emotional mess. The tears just keep flowing. I have have taken a few days off work to try and get my head around it all.

I have such terrible fatigue but always assumed I am a tired person. Regularly get headaches and just feel meh. Worried about my vision and blurry eyes. Had an eye test a year ago and they said i just had dry eyes.

The Dr did say I may not realise how unwell I feel until I feel better. My GP has been amazing. Diagnosed Wednesday and in with the Diabetes team 2 days later.

I am hoping the feelings pass
 
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Welcome @emz89
Fatigue is a fairly common side effect of high blood sugar, all that glucose sloshing around in your blood instead of giving you it's energy.
Have a look at the link below for the nutritional thingy, for ideas on how to get your life back
 
You are on the young side for type 2. Did you have other indicators it was type 2? Overweight/weight gain, poor diet, increasing levels over a long period of time. Did they consider type 1 indicators other than age? Weight loss, rapid increase in levels, a history of autoimmune conditions? I’m not saying your diagnosis is wrong just that a few drs/nurses still think T1 can only be diagnosed in children and go straight to T2 for all adults. Perhaps ask tomorrow how they can be sure it’s T2, for reassurance it’s been considered and disregarded for valid reasons.
 
HSSS said:
You are on the young side for type 2. Did you have other indicators it was type 2? Overweight/weight gain, poor diet, increasing levels over a long period of time. Did they consider type 1 indicators other than age? Weight loss, rapid increase in levels, a history of autoimmune conditions? I’m not saying your diagnosis is wrong just that a few drs/nurses still think T1 can only be diagnosed in children and go straight to T2 for all adults.
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I've never really had bloods taken before. Just some in 2018 which were fine. I initially went to the doctors about my hair thinning which he diagnosed as telogen effluvium. They done bloods and tested lots of things. They now think the diabetes has triggered the shock to my body causing that.

I am vitamin D deficient also. Had 2 lots of bloods first hba1c was 73 and the next one was 76.

I am a little overweight but nothing extreme if that makes sense.

As far as I know nothing else considered as such.
 
emz89 said:
I've never really had bloods taken before. Just some in 2018 which were fine. I initially went to the doctors about my hair thinning which he diagnosed as telogen effluvium. They done bloods and tested lots of things. They now think the diabetes has triggered the shock to my body causing that.

I am vitamin D deficient also. Had 2 lots of bloods first hba1c was 73 and the next one was 76.

I am a little overweight but nothing extreme if that makes sense.

As far as I know nothing else considered as such.
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Telogen effluvium is common after any shock physical or emotional. I’ve had it twice So it could be diabetes but that tends to be a bit slow in onset in T2 to cause it, unless the emotional shock of diagnosis causes it. Low vitamins and minerals might do it (did they check ferritin and is it way above minimal levels? or just haemoglobin?). Thyroid is another one to cause hair loss. Covid, even mildly, is another very common reason for TE these days which can also devastate vit D and iron.

None of that though gives any indication of diabetes type. In your shoes I’d ask them to explain their reasoning and if they’d be willing to get the antibody and cpeptide tests done to be sure. If nothing else it’s a baseline if presentation changes over the next few years and T2 treatment proves resistant
 
HSSS said:
Telogen effluvium is common after any shock physical or emotional. I’ve had it twice So it could be diabetes but that tends to be a bit slow in onset in T2 to cause it, unless the emotional shock of diagnosis causes it. Low vitamins and minerals might do it (did they check ferritin and is it way above minimal levels? or just haemoglobin?). Thyroid is another one to cause hair loss. Covid, even mildly, is another very common reason for TE these days which can also devastate vit D and iron.

None of that though gives any indication of diabetes type. In your shoes I’d ask them to explain their reasoning and if they’d be willing to get the antibody and cpeptide tests done to be sure. If nothing else it’s a baseline if presentation changes over the next few years and T2 treatment proves resistant
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Apart from the vitamin D everything else was okay. They did do very comprehensive bloods.

I am meeting the diabetes nurse tomorrow so will ask some more.

Will I have to monitor my levels?
 
emz89 said:
Apart from the vitamin D everything else was okay. They did do very comprehensive bloods.

I am meeting the diabetes nurse tomorrow so will ask some more.

Will I have to monitor my levels?
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Them saying they are ok is not the same as them being optimal. A reference range is what a lab typically expects to see, not what your body functions best at. Many people feel best at one end and quite awful at the other end of the “normal” range of many things. Eg B12 bottom range is typically around 160 ish. Most experts consider anything under 500 non optimal. Japan treat anyone under that level and have far lower levels of b12 deficiency caused issues. Ferritin has a lab ref from about 13 up as “normal”. Yet the nhs also define anything under 30 as iron deficiency (whateve the haemoglobin and anemia status might be). How can both of those things be true simultaneously? Many world experts consider closer to 100 as optimal. Remember it’s sick people being tested on the whole and it’s perfectly possible for whole populations to be widely deficient. Ask for actual numbers or view them on the nhs app. It’s taken me over a decade to get iron deficiency taken seriously.

As for monitoring they probably will tell you not to bother. That is because the official guidance fails to recognise how useful it is in learning what various foods do to your levels, and it would be prohibitively expensive to get everyone testing Willy nilly without understanding how to do it usefully in T2. Unlike in T1 it’s not to avoid hypos or to judge insulin doses which is the only use the NHS see for it.

Almost all T2 in here will tell you to ignore that advice not to test and do it anyway, but in a structured way that tells you something useful. Ie before a meal then 2 hrs later. You compare the two and look for a rise of less than 2mmol. This is to mimic a normal non diabetic person’s response of being back close to baseline after most meals at this time. If it’s higher then you didn’t cope with the glucose/carbs in that meal and need to reduce them. Also you ultimately want that after meal figure to be under 7.8mmol as that’s the average blood glucose equivalent of the diagnostic hba1c level of 48mmol, set there because higher than that increases the chances of complications significantly. Sadly you’ll probably have to buy your own kit. @Rachox has some links to the more affordable options.
 
emz89 said:
Will I have to monitor my levels?
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Do you drive a Car? You monitor your speed. Do you look at the clock to see if you're early or late? Do you.... Monitoring tells me if Im spiking or Im within my target or not. But I guess we're not talking about the necessity or not. I had to come to terms with the fact I have got a condition that's labelled Type2 Diab. For me, this was the scary part.

Welcome to Team T2!!
 
Estragon said:
Do you drive a Car? You monitor your speed. Do you look at the clock to see if you're early or late? Do you.... Monitoring tells me if Im spiking or Im within my target or not. But I guess we're not talking about the necessity or not. I had to come to terms with the fact I have got a condition that's labelled Type2 Diab. For me, this was the scary part.

Welcome to Team T2!!
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It was more can I expect to be given a monitor, or is it something I need to look into buying.

I know when my parents were diagnosed they were just given them but that was a while ago
 
Hi @emz89 and welcome to the forum. Thanks for the tag @HSSS

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.



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 pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
 
Rachox said:
Hi @emz89 and welcome to the forum. Thanks for the tag @HSSS

Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.



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 pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
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Thank you. Do the GPS issue monitors or not so much?
 
emz89 said:
Thank you. Do the GPS issue monitors or not so much?
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For type 2 diabetes only very few GPS in the UK prescribe meters. It’s worth asking as a few do, you might be lucky.
 
I like the sound of your GP!

This is the worst you are going to feel. Hugs. You will be astonished at how quickly you feel physically better, which will boost you feeling emotionally better. This is the first few steps of a long journey, but everyone here knows and empathises how this is. Do read around and ask anything you'd like to know more about. Knowledge, as I often say, is power.
 
Outlier said:
I like the sound of your GP!

This is the worst you are going to feel. Hugs. You will be astonished at how quickly you feel physically better, which will boost you feeling emotionally better. This is the first few steps of a long journey, but everyone here knows and empathises how this is. Do read around and ask anything you'd like to know more about. Knowledge, as I often say, is power.
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The more I actually think about it I realise that how I feel is not normal at all. I've been waking a lot with night sweats and headaches.

I occasionally have episodes where I get hot, shaky and dizzy and feel faint. I always put them down to the bus home being too hot or busy etc. Perhaps I've been having hypos and never though anything of it?
 
emz89 said:
The more I actually think about it I realise that how I feel is not normal at all. I've been waking a lot with night sweats and headaches.

I occasionally have episodes where I get hot, shaky and dizzy and feel faint. I always put them down to the bus home being too hot or busy etc. Perhaps I've been having hypos and never though anything of it?
Click to expand...
Hypers, more likely: high blood sugars rather than low. (They feel similar, though). The others are right.... Once you start tackling this, you'll start feeling more human, less like a wrung out towel.

Seriously... This is a good thing. Now you know what's wrong, you can do something about it. And your HbA1c is similar to mine upon diagnosis, so... Cut the carbs and you could be, without medication, back to normal levels in no time flat. You're going to be fine, honest.
Hugs,
Jo
 
JoKalsbeek said:
Hypers, more likely: high blood sugars rather than low. (They feel similar, though). The others are right.... Once you start tackling this, you'll start feeling more human, less like a wrung out towel.

Seriously... This is a good thing. Now you know what's wrong, you can do something about it. And your HbA1c is similar to mine upon diagnosis, so... Cut the carbs and you could be, without medication, back to normal levels in no time flat. You're going to be fine, honest.
Hugs,
Jo
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Its posts like these which give me hope, the shear positivity of the people who have gone back into the normal range...Its like a roll call for all of us who have been diagnosed that we can do this..
 
I had my first appointment. Told to monitor my blood pressure for a week. Started metformin once a day for 2 weeks then twice a day.

I have another appointment in 3 weeks to review. Also, they have booked in foot check. I got given a better living guide and told to take a urine sample in.

I asked about blood glucose monitoring and she said no, it isn't needed. If it is a cost thing and it would be useful I would rather they said the NHS doesn't fund it.
 
emz89 said:
I asked about blood glucose monitoring and she said no, it isn't needed. If it is a cost thing and it would be useful I would rather they said the NHS doesn't fund it.
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Totally agree. But then they’d be admitting they aren’t helping us as much as they could be. Not going to happen.

Was any mention made about your age and eliminating type 1/lada?
 
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