Officially Diagnosed Yesterday

[blueprudence]

Hello board

Just here to introduce myself seeing as I'll definitely be spending more time here. I was told on Thursday last week that I'd more than likely got Type II but it was confirmed with the second blood test results yesterday.

My first fasting test gave result of 22 and the second one 12.4 (due to extra Metformin and no carbs!). My Hca1doodahthingie was 125 and my cholesterol 6.

Am upset and angry and determined to see this bloody thing off. How dare it!!! :evil:

Sadly it wasn't wholly unexpected that I'd get it as my father had type II and died of complications, I have PCOS and the related insulin resistance since at least 2001 and I'm a wonderful yo-yo dieter swinging within a range of + or - 8 stone! :lol: At least I gave up smoking 7 or 8 years ago.

Have to buckle down now to achieve firstly good control, then reversal. First 7 books on the subject are in the process of winging their way to me so I can become fully conversant and am dithering about whether to buy the blood glucose meter I think I want or to wait to see what the practice nurse gives me next week - can I wait a week even??? :shock: I want to know what food is doing to my levels now! :lol:

Hope to learn lots from fellow fighters and pay that knowledge forward when I'm not so green about everything.

Jules

 

[noblehead]

Welcome Jules

Daisy should be along shortly with the information given to all newbies.

 

[daisy1]

Hi Jules and welcome to the forum

Here is the information which we give to new members which Noblehead mentioned. I hope you will find it useful. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will 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.

 

[staycalm&hopeful]

hi jules :thumbup:
I was diagnoised nine years ago type 2 and i still learning! the people on this forum are pretty unigue and personally i class them
has my second family for support.The best to you on your diabete journey
DEBS i

 

[MCMLXXIII]

How:lol:
There's you're official Amerindian welcome.

 

[Finzi]

Hi Jules! Welcome. I have PCOS too, and I got diagnosed after having a routine test to check my HbA1c because of it. So I'm quite grateful to my GP surgery cos I would not have thought to ask for a test. I'm a yo yo dieter too (but hopefully not any more )

Re the meter, to be honest I'd just get one if you want one, because its incredibly useful to have two, so it wouldn't be wasted even if your nurse did give you one (which is not guaranteed, but mine did).




Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (11mmol), now between 5 and 6 mmol. 13kg lost so far

 

[blueprudence]

Awww, thank you all for the nice welcome and for some jolly easy to understand info too Daisy - the GPs should give that out as the first factsheet - very comprehensive but succinct too.

One of things I've noticed about the diabetic advice from the medics and the community at large is that there is an awful lot of contradictory advice about especially on the subject of what we're meant to eat or not for best control. Hoping that I can get a basic point to work from with your help and fine-tune with the help of BG readings on each food to start with. Seems tricky to balance the dosage of Metformin if I'm lowering the BG with dietary changes.

Oh Finzi, nice to make your acquaintence, isn't it a bummer having PCOS and type II? Darn hormones. My GPs never did anything at all to check my BGs despite the family link and me being insulin resistant for 13 years. :roll: Still at least I've been on some Metformin (although I did use to skip the full dose and just take 1 x 500mg) while I've been diabetic which has hopefully protected my organs a bit. How long after your diagnosis did you start low carbing? Did you try just doing low GI or anything else first? A huge congrats on the weight lose too - that's amazing! Please will you be my PCOS/Type II guru, you're obviously doing a lot right! :thumbup:

Thank you again - toddling off for a wander around the boards now.

 

[Finzi]

Hi Jules!

Thanks for your nice words! They came at a really good time cos I was feeling a bit low yesterday.

I was never given metformin for my PCOS, I wish I had been. I had Clomid for a while, when we were trying for a second baby, but then nothing. My PCOS came on really suddenly when I was about 25. I'd never been dead skinny, about a size 14, but all of a sudden over one summer, without any change in diet or anything else, I ballooned, put on about four stone in two months. The other reason I think hormones played a part in my weight control is that when I was pregnant, I couldn't put on weight no matter what I did. Seriously, I was like one of those ladies in the Slimming Magazines, I'd start the day with doughnuts and cookies, fish and chips for lunch, chocolate and crisps in the afternoon, Chinese for dinner washed down with ice cream. And the weight kept dropping off, I ended up about 3 stone lighter at nine months pregnant than I had been when I started. But then the minute he had been born it piled back on again, despite me breast feeding (although I admit I was eating a lot as well). Since then I'd been the classic yo yo dieter, lost a few stone with weight watchers a couple of times, but always regained it within six months or so.

I started low carbing as soon as I was diagnosed and don't find it too hard. The biggest and fastest weight loss was in the beginning and there are undeniably plateaus where I don't lose for four or five days. But on average now I'm losing about a kilo per week. I'm happy with that because I feel that weight lost more slowly stays off better. And because I don't find the eating style difficult, I don't get too cross or frustrated if its slow because I'm eating plenty to keep me satisfied. I tend to get more down if blood sugars are playing up!