shazl1 said:
hi i was diagnosed on monday as having type 2 diabetis.I have loads of questions im dreading the diabetic clinic i eat a health diet anyway so what stuff they going to tell me to stop eating :|
Also do i have to do a blood sugar count every day? cause i am terrible with blood however small a drop i faint.Will the diabetic clinic send me an appt or should i of done that? i knw it could b worse but this id defo the end of my life as i knw it and i knw im not going to cope with this atall.
Hi shazl1
You're me a year ago, and I'm still here :wink: The first thing to remember is that diabetes is a very individual disease: it's different for everyone. As hanadr said, take pen and paper (and someone to hold your hand if you want to) with you to the diabetic clinic.
Everyone's idea of a healthy diet is different - mine is wholefood vegetarian plus lean meat. Talk (and listen) to the dietician, but take what they say as a starting point, not as "this is how it must be". It might be an idea to keep a food diary for a while, making notes of how you feel after different foods. Of course, if you're in the lucky position of having enough testing strips, you can also check which foods raise or lower your blood sugar. There's something about my beef stew recipe, in which I use pearl barley, that almost guarantees a lower than average blood sugar reading the next morning... But one thing I can guarantee you about diabetes and diet: two diabetics, three opinions! :lol:
Testing strips: I don't know whether it's because I live in Wales, or because I have another long-term health issue (HIV), but my GP automatially gives me a pack of fifty strips a month. At first I used to sit in front of the computer monitor with my thumb poised over the "go" button of the finger pricker for long, long minutes at a time. Now I barely think about it. You just get used to it.
Your doctor, if s/he's doing the job properly will already have forwarded your details to the diabetic clinic, so just sit back and wait for "the call". Reminds me - I must make an appointment for my Hba1c test tomorrow. That's the test that averages out what your blood sugar has been like for the past couple of months. You might like to try and get an appointment with a dietician sooner rather than later.
I don't think I'm breaking any confidences if I tell you a little about me and the two other diabetics I know of in our little village (only about a hundred people live here). I'm in my (very - you don't know how important that "very" is!) early fifties, on permanent sick because of the HIV thing. I keep pretty active, partly because I've got two lovely rottweilers who need exercise, and partly because I'm the village's "guy who knows about computers". There's a farmer's wife, a few years younger than me, who's very involved with eisteddfod matters, and when she isn't, she's up to her knees in muck thanks to this weather, sorting out the animals. And then there's a dear, dotty old lady, thin as a rake, who can talk the hind leg off a donkey, who likes to sneak the odd chocolate bar behind the doctor's back. All of us probably older than you, but with different lifestyles and different approaches to diabetes, and we're all managing.
For what it's worth, every week I have an evening when diet gets as far as the window but doesn't quite get out of the window. Twice a week I eat with friends and we take it in turns to cook. I make food that I consider to be good for diabetes, high blood pressure and so on on Sunday nights, and then on Wednesday nights Louise turns out something fabulous that is rarely that different to what I'd make if I had her recipe book. And Louise isn't thinking "diabetes, diabetes, Steve's got diabetes", just "good healthy food".
Stop worrying - and if you can't stop worrying, at least share your wories with us: chances are at least one of us knows precisely what you mean!
take care
Steve
