no surprises...

Greetings! I've been reading so thought I'd post

It didn't come as a surprise, I was diagnosed with Type 2 in March. I have strong family history on my dad's side of the family and I had gestational diabetes in 1997. I had some insulin resistance a couple of years ago. I am over 45, overweight and don't take enough exercise.

I had a blood test in January after getting some chest pain, which turned out to be a combination of muscular pain and anxiety - I have been living with unacceptable levels of stress for some time and there is very little I can do to reduce this at the moment. I attended the cardiac clinic and they found no evidence of heart disease, which was a relief.

I'm looking on my diagnosis as an opportunity to "clean up my act". My GP wanted to prescribe Metformin, but we struck a deal that I will try to manage my condition without medication for the next 3 months. The last 2/3 years has been a bit grim as I have had caring responsibilities (now stopped) and my diet and exercise have been woefully inadequate.

The blood tests I had in February had a slightly raised cholesterol and a fasting blood sugar of 8.7. I then had a series of fasting blood tests and it has come down from 8.7 at the start to 6.9 last week. When I saw my GP a couple of weeks ago I'd lost 7 kilos in weight in the 5 weeks since my previous appointment with him and he was very pleased with my progress.

I have made a lot of dietary changes since February. I have eaten porridge with a high proportion of oat bran daily and started chromium and Vit E supplements and i have started to drink green tea (aiming for 6 cups a day, but I have no idea what size a cup is). I have cut out virtually all added sugar and started cooking properly again, lots of vegetables, especially raw, and reducing my carbs (but I have days, like today, when I fall of the healthy living wagon). I'm mainly following a low GI diet and I'm looking at the carb content of everything. I have also started to exercise regualrly and have bought an exercise bike.

I work full time and I'm a single parent of an almost 12-year-old (who has a busy life) and this affects how much time I have. However, we are now both eating a more Mediterranean diet and he is looking forward to doing some cooking. We have considered going dairy free for a while as we have been advised that this may help his concentration (he is dyspraxic and gets frustrated very easily), although this isn't likely to be permanent thing. I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian since August 1985.

I'm generally healthy and generally resistant to the medical model which does not have all the answers and I have used homeopathic medicine and other complimentary therapys. I'm having regular shiatsu massage at the moment as I hurt my back last year and have been involved in several minor car accidents in the last 2 years and got a whiplash injury (I think there is a target on the back of my car given the number of time I have been rear ended :x )

At this stage, I'm trying to avoid medication. I'm working on reducing my blood sugar and losing weight - I need to lose half my bodyweight :shock: and I think this is my priority, as my fasting readings have come down I think I'm heading in the right direction. I'm now in the merely insulin resistant range rather than positively diabetic, :roll:

I asked about blood glucose monitoring at the beginning and my GP didn't think it was worth it. However, I have done a lot of reading around and I have decised that this is something I need to do because I want to understand what happens after I eat. my GP is willing to support this by prescribing testng strips, butobvioulsy not the quantity I was considering. I want try and stabilise my readings and avoid the extrtemes that seem to be associated with the serious complications. I hope I have caught this soon enough to do this, I think I'm still making insulin and I'd rather not burn out my pancreas.

I'm hoping to use the community here for a bit of mutual support, because I'm falling off my healthy living wagon on a fairly regular basis and because I want to understand my condition better. Information is power and all that. Looking forwards to getting to know you.

thanks for the welcomes

I now have my first diabetic clinic appointment scheduled for early June.

While I'm eating a much healthier diet now, I have been comfort eating the last few days :? due to lots of stress and it isn't about to let up. Although the stuff I'm comfort eating with is not quite so carb rich as it used to be! And I am continuing to lose weight - my 12 year old commented on this only yesterday, he is doing the hug test and seeing how much further his arms will go around.

I'm looking at how much I can do to make changes within my existing lifestyle right now. I'm not about to start eating meat or slaughterhouse products again, this includes fish and seafood. If I can get the changes I want - my blood glucose under control - by doing this, then I won't be considering any more major changes to what I eat, but if I can't bring it under control I may have to consider further changes. The very thought animal flesh makes my stomach turn now - it has been over 25 years since I last knowingly consumed animal flesh of any kind. Its all trade offs in the end...

I have found a lot of online resources for GI and low-carb diets and I have bought a couple of recipe books, but I'm working on the principle that you can't have too much information. And today I'm leaning more towards Glycaemic Load anyway.

i'm interested in what people say about why being vegetarian and diabetes don't necessarily mix... This isn't the message that comes over from the information pages of this website. Where would I find other diabetic vegetarians on this site?

I'm trying to decide what kind of blood testing meter I want to buy. Cost effectiveness is a big issue as I want to to a lot more tests than my prescription will allow, at least while I get to grips with what sends my blood sugar up to unacceptably high levels, so I know that I will have to buy extra strips. Thoughts welcome, or directions to a suitable thread here...

I have some numbness on the balls of both my feet at the moment. In the right foot, the numbness has gotten worse over the last 6 weeks, but it was originally related to an injury that has never healed properly (ultrasound treatement last year improved it a bit) as a result of one of my numerous rear-ending car accidents over the last couple of years. However, it has got slightly worse in the last couple of months and I have some numbness on the ball of my left foot too. I'm not sure if this is related to neuropathy or simply changes in my footwear as the weather has warmed up and I'm wearing different shoes and I have lost so much weight and perhaps also from the fat pads on the balls of my foot.... Last year I was assessed for various things, including something called a Morton's Neuroma which proved negative, but the symptoms I have could be related to that and I know ther eis lots of other stuff that isn't necessarily related to neuropathy... I think it is time to see my podiatrist again...

Thanks again 8)