Hello, I'm 32 and I was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I am so scared. I don't know what to do or who to talk to and it feels like I'm alone in this. I don't have anyone to talk to about this and I feel so alone. If someone out there could be a friend I would be so grateful. I'm so scared and exhausted and having just one person to talk to about this would make such a big difference in my life right now.
Please Someone
- Thread starter pb&cj
- Start Date
- Messages
- 5,206
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
Hi @pb&cj
Welcome and DON'T PANIC - this is very supportive forum and I'm sure some folks will be along to give you some ideas and offer tea and sympathy.
You are not alone by any stretch of the imagination.
What has your doctor or diabetes nurse told you so far?
Regards
Urb'
- Messages
- 17,255
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Hi @pj&cj welcome to the forum no one wants to belong to!
You are definitely not alone, this platform reassured, informed and helped me on diagnosis in ‘17.
The Metformin you have been prescribed will not control your diabetes on its own. Loads of us here change our diet to put back blood sugars back to normal. Here is a good guide written by one of our members:
josekalsbeek.blogspot.com
You are definitely not alone, this platform reassured, informed and helped me on diagnosis in ‘17.
The Metformin you have been prescribed will not control your diabetes on its own. Loads of us here change our diet to put back blood sugars back to normal. Here is a good guide written by one of our members:
The Nutritional Thingy
There’s a few things you should know. 1. Practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested , so not just straight sugars, but starches...
josekalsbeek.blogspot.com
JenniferM55
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 611
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hi @pb&cj, welcome to the forum. Think most of us here have stood in your shoes at some point. Personally I didn't have a clue, but with many thanks to this forum I've managed to be in control of my diabetes. I'm confident you'll soon be in control too.
If you have any questions, fire away, one of the members here will no doubt have had the same question.
If you have any questions, fire away, one of the members here will no doubt have had the same question.
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Welcome aboard. First and foremost forget all the horror stories you've heard about diabetes, and also forget everything you think you know about healthy eating.
if you can give us a few more details, ie weight, current diet, test results, although, the medical profession are notorious for lack of detail.
You will learn a lot along the way, but there is loads of time to do so, probably about 50 years in your case.
You'll find most of us here are quite a bit older than you, but we've all had pretty much the same journey. We all have variations on how we deal with our diabetes, but we are all determined to overcome it. you will come to a point where it is an irrelevance, which occasionally throws a curve ball at you, but probably nothing someone here has not encountered.
RELAX, the journey is just beginning, and it's usually a slow one.
if you can give us a few more details, ie weight, current diet, test results, although, the medical profession are notorious for lack of detail.
You will learn a lot along the way, but there is loads of time to do so, probably about 50 years in your case.
You'll find most of us here are quite a bit older than you, but we've all had pretty much the same journey. We all have variations on how we deal with our diabetes, but we are all determined to overcome it. you will come to a point where it is an irrelevance, which occasionally throws a curve ball at you, but probably nothing someone here has not encountered.
RELAX, the journey is just beginning, and it's usually a slow one.
- Messages
- 3,858
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hi and welcome
This is the largest online diabetic community in the world and there is always someone around. You can ask questions, as many as you want, and about whatever's troubling you.
I think the first thing you need to really get hold of is that you can control this, relatively easily. You may need to sacrifice some of the things you like, and I do think some willpower is needed, but it is doable.
Have a look at the "Success Stories" section of this forum.
Success Stories and Testimonials
Lowered your HbA1c? Lost some weight? Maybe you’re proud of something someone else has done. Whatever it may be, share it here!
www.diabetes.co.uk
You'll see lots of examples from people who have been down the road ahead of you. Best of luck.
I’m only 10 days in from diagnosis and was equally terrified.
The support and advice from this forum is incredible. Take time to read as many posts as you can. Focus on what you eat - the rest then falls into place.
You are definitely not alone. Good luck!
The support and advice from this forum is incredible. Take time to read as many posts as you can. Focus on what you eat - the rest then falls into place.
You are definitely not alone. Good luck!
Hi @pb&cj. I was where you are now in July when I was diagnosed. You've found the best resource there is in this forum, so many amazing people, and so much information available on how to make things better.
Take a look around and whenever you're ready ask any questions you have.
Take a look around and whenever you're ready ask any questions you have.
I was given Metformin and getting referred to a specialist. She told me about all the issues that can come up from me doing various things while having diabetes. It was a lot to hear in one sitting.
I'm 88kg, I just started a fairly low carb diet, getting it mostly from vegetables. I have some oatmeal in the morning. I've been testing myself with the finger prick machine. I'm very scared cause my fasting blood sugar was 229mg this morning.
How long have you been low carbing, and how low do you think you are. eating Oatmeal and vegetables would suggest to me you are probably eating a lot more carbs than you realise. 229mg is about 11 mmol, high but not totally desperate. as you continue low carbing, you will find that fasting figure dropping, but it is rather slow to drop, as it is your liver, which has been used to higher levels, trying to get you back up to what it sees as normal. Eventually it will learn that lower is better. The important thing is what your levels are like throughout the rest of the day.
Oh should I not eat oatmeal? I've been low carbing for approx 4-5 days now. I'm sorry if the next things I write are stupid but my knowledge is very limited on this so please please be patient with me. I was under the impression that the metformin would make it drop quickly (My doctor went into depth about hypoglycemia symptoms). Does lowering it take time? Like if its still in the 200s should I not freak out? Also I walked after lunch and dinner yesterday, waited 2 hours and they came out to 221 and 228 respectively. So over time your body learns to work with lower blood sugar?
- Messages
- 17,255
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Unfortunately this isn’t true, Metformin is quite a mild drug, it doesn’t work to directly lower the level of glucose in the blood so therefore there is very little risk of hypoglycaemia, rather it works on the liver to not chuck out glucose so much. It’s effect is gradual but never works dramatically.
There are no hard and fast rules to this. We all have different tolerances, metabolisms, insulin resistances etc. If you're testing before a meal and 2 hours after, this will tell you whether it's a meal that's compatible with your own situation and reducing blood glucose.
The only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask and spend time stressing about instead. It's daunting and a steep learning curve with diabetes, don't ever be scared to ask questions.
Essentially yes. However, it's about lowering your blood glucose in a controlled and steady way, it's not a race as such. Lowering too quickly can cause some side effects too.
With that said, low carb diets (particularly the very low end of less than 20g a day) help to reduce your blood glucose, which starts to reduce the stress on your pancreas by allowing it to slow insulin production down, and your liver might also start to play ball and reduce the amount of glucose it pushes out into your system. So, steady reductions are good and allow all of that to happen, hopefully without side effects, and any diabetic side effects you currently have will also reduce or go away in time too.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on this. I was stressing out because my numbers were not going down drastically. I appreciate your help so much!
Testing after 2 hours shows whether a meal has caused your blood glucose to go up a lot, not much, or sometimes (zero carb meals) not at all. The reason the advice is to wait 2 hours is that this is the amount of time a "normal" non-diabetic person can digest food and reduce blood glucose back down to normal levels. During those 2 hours, even non-diabetics can spike high, depending on the meal. The difference is that non-diabetics can deal with the blood glucose efficiently, but diabetics can't.
Your approach with carbs is entirely down to you. I went very quickly to 20-30g of carbs per day after diagnosis. It wasn't easy, but it's do-able. However, my diabetic symptoms included unquenchable thirst and frequent urination (every 45-60 mins, day and night). I was desperate to stop that, it was horrendous not sleeping for those weeks. Within 2 weeks of reducing to 20-30g of carbs a day, those symptoms stopped for me. Within 3-4 weeks, all diabetic symptoms were gone for me. For you, it depends what your current situation is in terms of symptoms. You can take it slower, but you do need to reduce your blood glucose levels as an end result. It's also worth mentioning that if your levels don't reduce quick enough for your doctor's liking, they will also likely increase medication dosages and add additional medications potentially too.
Oh I see, and if I walk after a meal would that make the results invalid? Like its not accurate because I walked?
I also have been feeling extremely thirsty and using the restroom frequently. I will try to reduce my carbs down. I will research more on how many carbs the things I've been eating actually have. Thank you so so much for all your help. It has been really helpful, I feel so much more in control of what I have to do. I don't feel so alone anymore
You can't make a result invalid by anything you do. I suppose you could argue that if you want to gain a truly accurate picture of your own insulin response to a meal, you should probably sit perfectly still like a monk for the entire 2 hours. However, for me at least (and I suspect many others), that's not something I do. Walking after meals is actually recommended in a lot of official advice, it can help with the digestion of a meal and reduce blood glucose. At the end of the day, if walking works for you (it does for me) and you enjoy it, don't stop doing it.
Keep researching, knowledge is your best friend with diabetes management. Don't be a stranger and keep any questions you have coming!
Thank you so much Paul, I don't know what I did to deserve someone helping me this much but it means the world to me. I feel like I can finally breathe and not feel so depressed for the first time in forever. Thank you so much for being the person that you are.
If I may ask, how did you cope with the stress of this? I just feel depressed and so sad every single day. My partner keeps telling me that she loves me and that we'll get through this together but I can't help thinking terrible things like, "I'm so broken, is she just wasting her time on me?"
