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Newly diagnosed

S

stewil007

Newbie
Messages
2
Hi all,

Well, a little about myself, male, 38, married, 2 kids - that should do for now.

My story, during September/October i started noticing more and more regular trips to the loo and a constant thirst, this was then added to by a water infection. So off to the doc's i went thinking a course of antibiotics and i'd be on my way.

The doc did a strip test and signed me off for 2 weeks as he said i had diabetes and wanted me to go to a specialist for further tests- i'll be honest even after 3 months i still don't fully understand what is happening to my body and why, that is more down to my ignorance of the condition - so during the 2 weeks off work i had various blood tests and meeting s with consultants to finally get told they weren't 100% sure whether i had type 1 or 2, they initially put me on 40mg of glicazide to get the readings down, this was put up to 80mg twice a day and after my final consultation, i was also put onto metformin - 500mg a day to be raised to 2000mg over time.

First thing i did for myself was start to cut sugar out of my diet, no more sugar in my coffee, big cutdown on choccy bars - that sort of thing. I was given a meter on prescription to keep tabs on my levels and if i'm honest i'm probably living >10 most of the time. Before the glicazide i was up regularly up at the 20 mark and i think my Hb1Na (or whatever its called) reading was approx 13.

I am struggling with the glicazide, i don't like the effects it has, a few weeks ago, my sugar was high (17) just before a meal, so i had my metformin and 80mg glicazide and my sugar crashed to 2.6 within a few hours - the diabetic nurse was surprised at how quickly it crashed as glicazide is meant to be slow release.....so i've stopped taking the glicazide for now and am trying to control the readings with metformin, diet and some exercise.

I know i'm not quite there, as i've said, my readings are regularly around 10, so there is work to do or take a lower dose of the glicazide to help get the readings down.

Anyway, i think i've rambled on enough for now, i'll try and update and post as much as i can in due course - especially when i get the results of my blood test to confirm what type i am.

Thanks for listening, you've been a great audience.
 
Hello Stew and welcome to the forum ... I'm a Type 2 since last August so I'm on Metformin and LCHF diet as per this link http://www.dietdoctor.com/LCHF which I got from some very helpful people when I first came to this forum. Eating this way has brought my BS down to almost normal levels within 3 months. I'm not saying that happens for everyone but certainly cutting down on your carby foods is a good step to take. If you don't want to cut them out at least cut them down. But I must say that once you cut out the carbs and I'm talking about bread, pasta, rice, not just sweets and bikkies etc, you miraculously no longer get cravings for them, at least that's what happened to me and I'm sure a few others will say the same. I had a very sweet tooth before I cut the carbs and now I just feel sick at the thought of sugar, so it's amazed me.

I can't give you any advice on Type 1 because I'm Type 2 and have only just got my head around that, but I'm sure Daisy will be along soon to give you all the standard information which I'm sure you'll find useful. Keep posting and let us know how things develop. :wave:
 
Hi Stew and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information that Grace mentioned which we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask all the questions you like and someone will be along 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.
 
Hi. It looks like your surgery has a done a lot already and more than many to try to define your diabetes type. As the Gliclazide caused a hypo level it implies your pancreas is still in a good state and perhaps the Gliclazide can be adjusted to get the balance right. Metformin doesn't reduce blood sugar by much but is good to take anyway. Gliclazide isn't normally prescribed in an SR version. The normal one tends to work over a period of about 10 hours and is typically taken just before a meal. Do take the carb advice you've been given and use the meter 2 hours after a meal. The typical tests the GP can do to try to define late onset T1 rather than T2 are c-peptide to measure your insulin and GAD to test for the most common antibody that can cause islet cell death; may be these tests have already been done as your HCPs seem to be on the ball.
 
Thanks for the responses, always good to know there are people out there who share your condition, who are willing to talk/advise.

I think over the last week i've started to turn a corner on my readings, generally during the day i am around 7.5, but i'm still high at night and in the morning, usually 10.5 at night and 10 in the morning - i think i'm going to have to start using small doses of glicazide to get that down, start with 40mg at bedtime and see what happens.

I like the idea of the LCHF diet, altho it will be a bit of a struggle to finds replacements for potatoes/pasta/rice/bread as the main part of my diet....as this is what i have brought up on since a kid!!

I saw my occupational health advisor at work the other day, whose advise was to get out and do a bit more exercise.....this i can agree with, i know i'm too sedintary at the moment, but as i am moving into a proper flat as opposed to b&b'ing it (work away from home during the week), i should be able to get more settled with my diet and exercise regime. I also plan on cycling to work which is about 4 miles from where i will be living, so plenty of opportunity to get fit!!!

I wouldn't say i was overweight, but my diabetic doctor said i could do with dropping about 10% of my body weight - 95kg down to 85kg and hoping with my new lifestyle i'll be able to get down to that in no time. If thisalso helps regualte my diabetes, then i'm on board!
 
stewil007 said:
I like the idea of the LCHF diet, altho it will be a bit of a struggle to finds replacements for potatoes/pasta/rice/bread as the main part of my diet....as this is what i have brought up on since a kid!!
Click to expand...

White bread spikes me up into the 10s but rye bread, which is usually a mixture of rye and wholemeal wheat, doesn't. I substituted white rice with brown rice, chewy but it can be used just like white. I also eat pumpernickel and dark rye ryvita. All these grains take much longer to digest so you don't get the spikes. I am in the 7s if I eat these. There are also some wholegrain pastas around, though I have yet to experiment with those. If you have a meter, try switching to these and see what the effect is. They may not work for you but they do work for many others so they are worth a go. They are all just that bit chewier than their refined grain counterparts so they also have the effect of making you feel that you have eaten something substantial.
 
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