One thing you wish you knew...

[Tel14]

If you could go back to when you were first diagnosed, is there one thing you know now that you wish you had known/ been told back then? Can be anything, big or small, but something you have found really useful in managing your diabetes?

 

[xfieldok]

I found this forum
Job done.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

If you could go back to when you were first diagnosed, is there one thing you know now that you wish you had known/ been told back then? Can be anything, big or small, but something you have found really useful in managing your diabetes?

Carbs are the sole problem. Ditch 'em. (That would've shaved months off of my post dx depression and misery!)

 

[sgm14]

There are a few things that I know now that I wish I had known from the start

1. That my eyesight was going to get worse before it got better.
   
2. I'm different, because everyone is different.
   
3. Don't know if anyone actually said it to me, but being told to test my blood sugars two hours after meals, led me to believe that what happened when you ate, is that your blood sugars immediately shot up and then after a while it started to come down again and that everything was fine as long as your blood sugars were back in range after roughly two hours.When I got the freestyle libre, I discovered that a lot of the times when I was in range after two hours, it was simply because my blood sugars had not spiked yet and were still rising. I must have spent many hours out of range without being aware of it.

Four and a half years in and there are still a whole load of things that I wish I knew.

 

[bulkbiker]

I wish Id known how much healthier I'd be at the end of it!
Would have made any early wobbles go away immediately.

 

[Brunneria]

If you could go back to when you were first diagnosed, is there one thing you know now that you wish you had known/ been told back then? Can be anything, big or small, but something you have found really useful in managing your diabetes?

Hi,

In other posts you have mentioned at you are not sure whether you are LADA or T2. Have you had any results through on that?
The reason I ask is because I am sure that if you ask someone with LADA and someone with T2 your question, you will probably get very different answers.

Personally, I can only answer from my own point of view, which is as someone with reactive hypoglycaemia who teetered on the brink of a T2 diagnosis before I clamped down even harder on the carb intake. But I think one thing that I wish I had known earlier, and that I think applies to all of us with any form of blood glucose dysregulation, is that there are a lot of health care professionals out there who hold a lot of contradictory views on how to treat you, and have varying amounts of knowledge on the subject. Some encourage dietary choice, others encourage eating what you like and medicating to compensate. Some see diabetes as a steadily progressive and degenerative condition, others see it as a hurdle to be dealt with as part of an otherwise normal life. Some blame you. Some support you. Some dismiss you. Some admire your handling of the condition...

And you never know what the healthcare professional's attitude and belief system will be, until you attend an appointment with them. So it is well worth you learning about your own condition, causes, ways of eating, treatment options and methods, lifestyle choices, etc. etc. Then you will have a secure knowledge base on which to rely in case your healthcare professional give you advice that does not sit right with you.

 

[Mike d]

That statins were so dangerous

 

[HSSS]

for a type 2

All this

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/th...ish-i’d-been-told-at-type-2-diagnosis.173817/

 

[Chook]

Mine is that what, for me, would be a life changing diagnosis was of no real interest to my doctor and his team and that I shouldn't have followed their advice unquestioningly.

i wish I had done my own research much earlier. It could have saved me several years on meds and insulin that I could do without by eating a healthy low carb diet.

 

[ziggy_w]

As a T2, I wished I had been given hope and been told that many of us T2s, no matter how the levels initially at diagnosis, can return to normal blood sugar levels (or reverse this disease or put it into remission -- however you want to word this). Instead, my GP told me that, for me, there would be no other choice but to go onto insulin at the next quarterly meeting.

This feeling of hopelessness almost caused me to give up. I bless my stars for not listening to him and having the stubbornness to do some research and embark on a low carb diet.

 

[Tophat1900]

The risk of diabetes with steriod use (Prednesalone) post transplant. Not a word about how this could happen.

 

[Flora123]

That ALL carbs are potentially a problem.

As someone diagnosed who is slim and was following a whole food plant based diet, it was a huge shock to be diagnosed with T2, particularly as refined carbs, sugar etc was not in my diet other than a very occasional treat. Fortunately I found this forum and returning to eating meat and following Keto WOE has (for now) reversed my T2.

 

[VashtiB]

I was lucky and found this site early so I was able to get the information I needed early. What I wish I'd believed earlier is that I am capable of doing very low carb and that eventually the overwhelming sadness of low carb would really lessen. I could read all the posts in the world but until I had gone really low carb for a period I didn't believe I could keep doing it. I'm not really a fan of meat but actually I can eat it (or fish or eggs) every day and survive. The cravings have basically gone most of the time. I still miss the things I used to eat but have lost weight without counting calories- something I didn't believe was possible. The other thing I wished I believed earlier is that cut the carbs and you will be less hungry- not intuitive to me at all but I can stop eating feeling satisfied with a lot less food (different food) than earlier. It is possible to get to the afternoon without feeling starving.

So for me it's not what I wished I'd been told but what I wished I could have believed earlier- would have saved many many tears.

Oh and also- it isn't completely my fault and I don't deserve it because I was overweight- this disease can contribute to being overweight so less shame.

 

[JohnEGreen]

Mine much the same as @Tophat1900 no transplant but long term prednisolone at high doses and not being told it was prednisolone induced diabetes until seeing a diabetes consultant about a year after diagnosis.

@sgm14 your item #3 is why I normally test 1 hour after eating and then at 2 hours sometime even again at 3 or more hours, I have never trusted the theory that short term high peaks of BG are harmless.

 

[Tophat1900]

Mine much the same as @Tophat1900 no transplant but long term prednisolone at high doses and not being told it was prednisolone induced diabetes until seeing a diabetes consultant about a year after diagnosis.

@sgm14 your item #3 is why I normally test 1 hour after eating and then at 2 hours sometime even again at 3 or more hours, I have never trusted the theory that short term high peaks of BG are harmless.

I agree with the testing mentioned by yourself and @sgm14 - if I didn't test past the two hr mark I would be in for a rude shock when I got around to testing again.