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Questions from a newbie, just diagonosed with diabetes

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keano1

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Hello, I have just registered on the forum after doing an internet search.

After a recent 2 hour glucose test at my GP I have today been contacted by the practice nurse to be informed that I have a reading of 12.7 I understand that makes me diabetic & i need to visit the GP again for more advice about what this will mean for me. I am still a bit shocked to be honest with the diagnosis as I didn't have a clue about my condition.

I have a few questions I was hoping some kind people might be able to help me with:-
1) with a change in diet & an increase in exercise can I expect to ever get back to 'normal' .I'm 51 y.o, male & overweight :oops:
2) I'm an HGV driver & understand that I might not be able to continue work in the future as a result of being diabetic. Is that the case? Any other HGV drivers had the same problem? Must admit this is what worries me the most.
3)what 'complications' are likely to be experienced with the condition? If any
4)have seen a few people say that having diabetes has been a 'wake up call' & not a reason to be down about it. Has it change anybody's life for the better?

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.
Martyn :D
 
keano1 said:
Hello, I have just registered on the forum after doing an internet search.

After a recent 2 hour glucose test at my GP I have today been contacted by the practice nurse to be informed that I have a reading of 12.7 I understand that makes me diabetic & i need to visit the GP again for more advice about what this will mean for me. I am still a bit shocked to be honest with the diagnosis as I didn't have a clue about my condition.

Hello Martyn, hope we can provide most of the answers between us on the forum.

I have a few questions I was hoping some kind people might be able to help me with:-
1) with a change in diet & an increase in exercise can I expect to ever get back to 'normal' .I'm 51 y.o, male & overweight :oops:

You can get to normal blood sugar levels, & can live a normal life, but you must always consider yourself diabetic. Sorry for the bad news, but its a malfunction of the pancreas that cannot be reversed at present.

2) I'm an HGV driver & understand that I might not be able to continue work in the future as a result of being diabetic. Is that the case? Any other HGV drivers had the same problem? Must admit this is what worries me the most.

You need to ask your Dr. You should be OK as long as you can maintain good control without insulin. That does need attention to diet & possibly tablet medication.

I'm not HGV though I've got a full licence (including minibus) until March when I reach 70. I informed the DVLA & insurance & they merely noted my condition without restrictions.

Put an HGV query as a new thread, so others can answer.

3)what 'complications' are likely to be experienced with the condition? If any

With good control, complications can be delayed for many years. Hazy eyesight & tiredness are most likely to concern you. Good control needs a blood test meter & testing before you set out & at reasonable intervals. You should be able to get the test strips on prescription. Ask your Dr.

I've had problems with tiredness when driving for years. That condition improved with better control - through a reduced carbohydrate diet as recommended by Fergus & others on this forum.

You will have to be careful with food bought out & packed lunches - sandwiches, chips & buns, & Yorkies will raise your BS readings.

4)have seen a few people say that having diabetes has been a 'wake up call' & not a reason to be down about it. Has it change anybody's life for the better?

It is a wake-up call to improve diet & lifestyle. Healthy living in response to the diagnosis will change your life for the better.

I was diagnosed 8 years ago (at 61) & my helpful Dr computed my probability of a heart attack at 25%. That is reduced to 16% so diet & metformin tablets have kept me well & active. However, early this year complications set in in the form of leg muscle pains which threatened my active life & my driving. These pains cleared with the diet change. I shall be playing tennis on our all-weather courts this evening!

Hope that will enable you to see the diagnosis in a positive light.


Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.
Martyn :D
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Hi Martyn welcome to the forum.

1) with a change in diet & an increase in exercise can I expect to ever get back to 'normal' .I'm 51 y.o, male & overweight
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Once a diabetic always a diabetic ,I'm afraid! However,with a change of diet and exercise you can get your blood sugar levels right down to near those of someone who is not diabetic and thus avoid complications.

I'm an HGV driver & understand that I might not be able to continue work in the future as a result of being diabetic. Is that the case? Any other HGV drivers had the same problem? Must admit this is what worries me the most.
Click to expand...

If you have to take diabetic medication that may cause you to ' hypo' that is become ill suddenly because your blood sugar levels fall below 4 then you would have to inform the DVLA about this.If you can control your diabetes with diet and certain of the other diabetic medications such as Metformin that do not cause hypos then I think you are OK there.Check out the DVLA website.

what 'complications' are likely to be experienced with the condition? If any
Click to expand...

If your blood sugar levels continue to be over 7.5 for a long time then you will ,inevitably develop complications.Lose of feeling in feet and hands,eye problems etc.Again a good reason to get it under control quickly to stop complications happening.

have seen a few people say that having diabetes has been a 'wake up call' & not a reason to be down about it. Has it change anybody's life for the better?
Click to expand...

Have a good read round the forum ,Martyn,particularly the 'Success stories 'thread and you will see that it has changed a lot of lives for the better because we have become fitter and healthier to control the diabetes.
 
Hmmm, tough time to be diagnosed I imagine.

I was dignosed 6 months ago, so I guess I'm still fresh enough to rememeber how I felt, but just about experienced enough to have a decent grip on the long term...

1) Yes - it is possible to maintain broadly normal blood sugar levels with the correct diet and exercise. There are varying opinions on how to do this, adn you'll need to experiment. For what it's worth, I and some others have found that restricting the amount of carbohydrates we eat has been a very good way. By doing this, my HBA1C (the measurement of glucaose in your blood over the last 3 months) was 6.6 at my first post-diagnosis reading. Tomorrow I find out what my second HBA1C will tell me.

2) I'm not an expert here - there are driving implications if you're on insulin, I seem to recall these are stricter for HGV drivers, but as I understand it if you're not on insulin then you're probably okay (check the DVLA site for proper details).

3) Lots - good blood sugar control is an effective, but not guranteed protection against complications. Basically, you control the things you can and hop that you're not one of the cases that gets complications anyway.

4) It's definitely a wake up call - of course you'll be down but that's natural, eventually you make a decision to get over that and control it, or you don't. Is my life better with Diabetes? No definitely not, I still resent not being able to eat what i want, when I want it. It spils family events and general socialising, but I can live with it, because I have to. given the choice I would be rid of it in a second.

I'm slightly different than most sufferers as I was not/am not overweight, or particularly bad diet-wise, so it is possibly more of a wrench for me than others, albeit for different reasons.

I struggle to MAINTAIN weight, 99% of sufferers (*not a real fact!!) have the opposite problem.

Essentially, it's something you will need to get a grip of, and deal with it over the long term. You're right in the zone for being diagnosed, I was 36 when I got it so I'm one fo those fairly unusual cases!

All the very best, it isn't the end of the world, but it will change your life. Stick around here and we're all willing to help :)
 
Looks as if we were all posting at the same time & are in agreement :!:
icon_th_6.gif
 
keano1 said:
Hello, I have just registered on the forum after doing an internet search.

After a recent 2 hour glucose test at my GP I have today been contacted by the practice nurse to be informed that I have a reading of 12.7 I understand that makes me diabetic & i need to visit the GP again for more advice about what this will mean for me. I am still a bit shocked to be honest with the diagnosis as I didn't have a clue about my condition.

I have a few questions I was hoping some kind people might be able to help me with:-
1) with a change in diet & an increase in exercise can I expect to ever get back to 'normal' .I'm 51 y.o, male & overweight :oops:
2) I'm an HGV driver & understand that I might not be able to continue work in the future as a result of being diabetic. Is that the case? Any other HGV drivers had the same problem? Must admit this is what worries me the most.
3)what 'complications' are likely to be experienced with the condition? If any
4)have seen a few people say that having diabetes has been a 'wake up call' & not a reason to be down about it. Has it change anybody's life for the better?

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.
Martyn :D
Click to expand...

You sound a bit like me, I'm 49 nearly 50 HGV driver too :D You must inform DLVA, drivers med group you have diet controlled diabetes. Its not a big problem to you or them. I reported it and no action has been taken against me even though I also have sleep apneao as well. They just record it and you can carry on driving. Failing to report can land you with a huge fine and possible loss of licence. If you go onto meds or insulin you will need to re report and they will review with your Doctors.

You can reduce you blood sugur levels to normal or very near normal by following a healthy diet. I would reccomend the GI Diet by Rick Gallop. You will hear a lot about reducing carbs on here too. I have reduced my intake by cutting out bread and potatoes, but found that rice and pasta hardly afffect me. Everyone is differant so you should get a test meter and do some tests. Test before food and then 2 hours after, if you are way too high then don't eat that food again, its a trial and error thing. I have also tried to cut back my portion size a little. I can now get results as low as 4.8 and with the correct food rarely go above 5.5 after food which is considered normal (ish).

As for exercise, thats more difficult because of the hours we work but I try and go for a run every day now of about 5 miles (I'm not working much at moment) but started with just a brisk walk of about an hour. My weight is coming off I'm down from nearly 18 stone to about 16 &1/2 now, and thats since October :D

Good luck to you, its just a wake up call to you, not the end of your driving.
 
Hello, I have just registered on the forum after doing an internet search.

After a recent 2 hour glucose test at my GP I have today been contacted by the practice nurse to be informed that I have a reading of 12.7 I understand that makes me diabetic & i need to visit the GP again for more advice about what this will mean for me. I am still a bit shocked to be honest with the diagnosis as I didn't have a clue about my condition.
12.7 is far from being the highest BG(Blood Glucose) we’ve heard of, but it’s firmly in the diabetic range. Non diabetic is about 5_

I have a few questions I was hoping some kind people might be able to help me with:-
1) with a change in diet & an increase in exercise can I expect to ever get back to 'normal' .I'm 51 y.o, male & overweight
Nothing will return you to Non-diabetic. You’re stuck with it and must learn to handle it
2) I'm an HGV driver & understand that I might not be able to continue work in the future as a result of being diabetic. Is that the case? Any other HGV drivers had the same problem? Must admit this is what worries me the most.
ONLY if you turn out to need to use insulin, will your license be restricted. Therefore; it’s worth trying all other avenues
IF your doctor follows NICE guidelines, you should be given 3 months of lifetime change to see what that accomplishes and then be offered Metformin. If that combination isn’t enough, another oral medication can be added. Then if it still isn’t enough, I would ask to try Byetta, but that’s looking ahead
What you can do for yourself is to try a seriously reduced carbohydrate diet. Look up dsolve and diabetes101 and find out what a carb is and where they hide( I(f you don't already know). Then cut them to the bone. Essentially cut out sugar and reduce to as low as you can, bread and baked goods, potatoes, rice, pasta and cereals. Eat meat, fish, eggs, and cheese and green vegetables. In fact the Atkins diet would suit.
3)what 'complications' are likely to be experienced with the condition? If any
If you can get your BG down to the 5s, you should manage to keep the complications at bay, but don’t be too surprised if a check shows changes have already happened in your eyes. Good BG control can minimise them
4)have seen a few people say that having diabetes has been a 'wake up call' & not a reason to be down about it. Has it change anybody's life for the better?
I personally have taken up exercise, mainly walking. I’m now a much slimmer granny than I was.

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.
Martyn
 
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