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Starting to hit me.

C

CalicoBec

Well-Known Member
Messages
124
Location
East Sussex
Hey all,

I don't really know how to start this post, or what I expect from it. As some of you know i was diagnosed on friday with type 2 diabetes, going to see the diabetic nurse tomorrow morning. At first I saw it as a postive thing because i was going to start feeling better and it was going to force me to change my life for the better, and I still think that but...yesterday and today i'm feeling a bit down and it's about all the food that I want but now can't have ever again. I feel so stupid about it but i can't help thinking about all this bad food that i want to eat, and the fact that I cant' eat it ever again in my life is...strange. The more I try not to think of it, the more I start to think about it, i'm hoping it will pass, i'm sure it will? My bf has stayed home today cos he was so worried about how down I was :? I feel like such an idiot, it's only food, its far better to be diagnosed so I can be healthy and enjoy my life again...is this normal??

If you have read this far, then thankyou :) I think i just needed to vent how I was feeling, get it out there in cyber space and off my mind maybe lol

Becca
 
Hi Becca

It's still early days, you were only diagnosed on Friday, and have probably had a lot to take on board. I'm sure things will settle down and eventually will just feel like normal after a while. It's probably only natural that you are having an off day, so soon after being diagnosed.

There is lots of scrummy food out there you can eat, and I hope you may even manage a little treat now and again. I noticed in your other post that you had pork chops and salad for your dinner last night, which got me thinking mmm! nice - I wonder how she did that e.g. did she do the pork chops with mustard?? and I wonder what kind of salads she did?? because there are so many different things we can do with lovely fresh ingredients.

That's nice that your boyfriend has taken the day off to support you.

Take Care!
Orchid x
 
Ah Becca, if you look through the posts you'll find your not alone with this train of thought. It's like grieving for your old life. There is a silver lining in that you'll be healthy and well again and of cause SPECIAL because all us diabetics are special, we have a whole network of mates to rival facebook!! and we all know how you feel. This will pass so chin up and eat to live, not live to eat. x
Dee.
 
Hi Becca,
I think most of us would be lying if we said we hadn't felt like you do, at sometime. Even now, I still get the occasional hankering for something I can't eat. I don't drink, don't smoke but I always loved my food.I think it's about finding acceptable alternatives. That way you don't feel you are missing out.
Slowly, you will start to find things you CAN enjoy, only perhaps in a different way. I have just discovered Fergus's lovely cake recipe (see it in the recipes thread). When it was smothered in cream and finished with fresh raspberries, it honestly didn't taste much different to a normal fresh cream sponge cake. It didn't put my readings up at all, so now I'll be looking at ways of varying the filling/topping.
To begin with I found the hardest thing was eating out. You go into a restaurant, eat what you can have but spend half your time looking at what they are eating at the next table..... the things you can't eat anymore, especially the puddings. I actually stopped eating out for a while because I couldn't handle that.
Now, we eat out again. I try to eat sensibly and deliberately don't look at the food on other tables.
I have one course (I'm full after one course these days) and if I really cannot go without a few potatoes or whatever, I give half the portion to my hubby, who happily polishes off extra. That way I'm not tempted to have TOO much of a bad thing.
It is very early days for you and you have a lot to get your head round but honestly, if you can find some alternatives to the 'treats' you enjoyed previously, it will make it so much easier for you. Take a look in the recipes thread and choose something that appeals to you. Make it, enjoy it and I hope soon you'll feel more positive. It takes time but you'll get there. Promise.
All the best,
chocoholic.
 
We've all been there Becca. As the others have said, it takes a while to come to terms with what's happened to you but I'm sure you soon will. As for food, diabetes has led me to try recipes that I'd never have attempted otherwise and I now enjoy mealtimes more than I ever have. My wife's a big diabetes fan, too!

Trust us, it really does become easy to cope with pretty quickly.

Best of luck.
 
Hi Bcca
Feelin down, so soon atfter diagnosis is normal.And you don't have to go without favourite foods for ever. remember you can have a little bit of anything. So how about planning in an occasional tiny bit of something you really want as a treat. Even if it's a high carb food, a tiny portion doesn't add up to many carbs.
 
Hey everyone,

thanks so much for replying to me, it does make me feel better that you have all felt this way too, makes me feel less silly! All your positivity has really helped too, I mean if you have all felt this way and can now give me kind words and ways to help get though it then that in itself means I can get though it too :)

I really liked all your suggestions, I'm not really much of a cook but I do have things to bake cakes in (shut in a cupboard haha) so maybe one day this week my bf and I can dust them off and try some of those recipes :)

I used to smoke and drink (socially ofc lol), as well as eat badly! But I found that as i got out of my early 20's I gradually just stopped drinking of my own accord and I gave up smoking just before xmas of my own accord because i was sick of it, so I don't miss those things, the thing i'm really hankering after right now is a cream cake for some bizarre reason, i've not had one for months and now that I can't have one, i really want one!! lol I want one of those doughnut ones with the cream and jam down the middle, I can't get it out of my head! I also think, if i gave in and had this cake i want so much, what would the next craving be? So there is no point giving in because something else will just replace it. Still, bf did get me some dark chocolate to have earlier, just a little bit and it was lovely.

Did anyone else feel a pressure to look like everything was fine to family and friends? I know that if for example my mum knew that i was feeling a bit sad she would start some over the top worrying and really i'm just wallowing a bit, i think as Dee said i'm grieving for my old life, because all the food that i love is on my bad list lol Probly how i ended up this way in the first place! I love carbs, I love sugar, I love junk food lol It really is a whole life change foodwise for me and its what I need but not really in my heart what I want, but then when i think about it, what i want even less is to be ill or lose my sight or my feet etc etc just because I didn't take care of my diet.

I'm rambling lol

You have all really made me feel better i promise, I'll get out of this funk and enjoy being special :wink:

Becca
xxx
 
Ramble as much as you like Becca!! :D :D If it helps then go for it,we're all felt like this at one time or the other and still do ,on occasions.
 
I have this childish feeling that I think i need to get out of my head, I was just sitting here thinking that in a way I feel betrayed by food! All my life it's been that secret friend that cheers me up when i'm sad, or I congratulate myself with if something has gone well, and the whole time it's led me down a path that I was unhappy with (being overweight) and now that i'm 'sick', it's done a runner and left me to cope alone. Now I know that food doesn't have a personality, and food hasn't let me down, but my inner child or whatever you want to call it, feels dumped and misses it's friend lol I think the more I get my head around the fact that all that has gone is unhealthy stuff, that didn't make me happy at all, that I can move on.

I think by writing that down I can let it go, I can leave it here in the internet space and get back to being positive, being healthy and taking control of my situation. I see the diabetic nurse in the morning, I hope she is as nice as my dr!
 
DIY cognitive behavioural therapy! Seriously, that's exactly the approach you need to take if you're going to get your diabetes under control. It's surprising how quickly you can adapt to a change in diet; I used to survive on a diet of Mars bars and Coca Cola but now, just the thought of swallowing that garbage induces nausea.

Keep your chin up, lady; diabetes is only a disaster if you allow it to be.
 
Thankyou :) that is very true, I feel more positive this morning, I think i just needed to get all that out of my head so it's gone!

I was looking at my cat this morning, my little grey cat minky was hit by a car a few years ago, the driver drove off and left her with a smashed pelvis, the vet didn't know if she would be able to survive at all at first, then said she would after a big operation and a lot of aftercare from me. I had to keep her in a cage for a few months, and let her out for an hour at night to 'walk' her. Why am I talking about this? Well...as weird as it sounds, that is a massive thing to happen to an animal and not once did she feel sorry for herself, she was always fighting to go, even the vet said it was her fighting spirit that saved her, so if she can be like that and she's just a little cat, then so can i as a big intelligent human type being lol

Off to see the nurse this morning, hopefully she will give me the blood testing stuff so i can start to get a grip on what i can and can't eat, and get control :)
 
Hi Bec,
Congratulations, in a very small space of time you have discovered that you are going to rule your diabetes, its not going to rule you. Yes it has its restrictions and every day you have to make choices as to what direction you are going to take regarding food, but doesn't life throw things at us every day, where we have to choose, at least with diabetes you know what to choose and it'l be the right choice.
With regards to that delectible cream doughnut slice, you know you can live without it and when temptation is too strong set yourself a challenge, if you resist for 1 day, treat yourself to something inexpensive like a new shampoo/nail file, or after 2 days a new shade of nail varnish, things that will cheer you up and make you feel good and take your mind off it.
take care,
Suzi x
.
 
hey Suzi that's a really good idea :D I just might do that, just gotta figure out what i want hehe

I went to see the nurse today, she was very nice and gave me an accu-chek thing to check my lvl's, she said do it twice a day, but as she's given me 50 strips (to use as i want as she said) I think at first I will test more than that just to get a complete idea of what my body is doing, then maybe in a month go down to twice a day, does that sound excessive or sensible? She's booking me in to see someone about my feet and i have to see her again in a month, she told me about a thing for newly diagnosed at my local hosp too, they run one each month, but as it's on a monday i won't be able to go till April, but the nurse said that's fine because by then i will have more questions to ask because i've been living with it longer! I'm going to start testing my lvl's tomorrow, as I obv didnt' do one this morning lol Tomorrow i'm going to try a small amount of potatoes and see what my body does, fingers crossed i'm ok with them cos i love them!

On another positive note, I feel a bit better today, no so lethargic, so tomorrow i'm going to go and visit my friend in her coffee shop for a few hours, something i haven't done since before xmas cos i felt too ill!
 
Hi Bec,
I know how you feel, or I did, and there are all sort of decisions to be made - but there is an upside.
I was never one to have had cream cakes in any quantity before being diagnosed, and thought that
I would miss so much of the foods that I used to eat, but now, having gone to a lowcarb diet I actually have real thick double cream on some blackberries or strawberries, with a tiny bit of splenda sprinkled on top twice a week ! I have the occasional packet of pork scratchings, Mmmm,
and bratwurst, and more cheese than I did before, and I am losing weight (and I have a lot to lose). So chin up, and everyone on here is ready to support you and offer the kind words that we all need to hear from time to time - well that's what I have found, anyway. :)
 
I was lucky I suppose in that I have always been surrounded by good cooks and had access to many different cuisines.

The carb cravings can be hard to break at first but after a few weeks they should diminish. My food history gave me a way of looking at things that you might try to adopt: instead of thinking about the things you can no longer eat, think of the things you can eat *instead*! I've put a lot of things down as things I ate in the past and have now had enough of, and replaced them with more of the other things, and different new things.

Try doing this

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm

and reading this

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/d-day.html

then dig through the stickies and the food forum for some ideas for replacements
 
Hi Becca

Glad you are feeling better. We all know what you mean about food as before it was just food and you just ate it, now its like FOOD, aggghhhhhhhh, will it kill me when Im 64!! :lol:

Ive been told repeatedly by DSN and even recently endo not to deny myself things because I will burn out.Of course, they dont know me so dont know that I was a world class dieter and depravation of goodies is par for the course LOL. In all seriousness though,I was told to just eat what i want at christmas ( ie selection box :shock: ) and just write it off.
I personally dont want to get into the habit of having that mentality but if you are desperate and it would make you feel better, then give yourself a little something., Maybe not a jam donut but half a kit kat, or small bowl ice cream now and again. ALso, i find sugar free jelly with fruit in it and cream is good, Also peanut butter hits the spot for me. Or even a hob nob. My current fav is coffee with double cream cause I find it nigh impossible to adjust to tea and coffee without sugar so cream helps a bit.

I also make my own biscuits and add peanut butter, or 85% cocoa powder, or cinnamon and they are MAGIC so, you will adapt,. Might take a bit more effort than before but you will get there, and you will be dead proud of yourself when you do

L xx
 
Hi Becca - You are now at the lowest point for a diabetic. From here on, the only way is up. Don't think that there are foods you can never eat again. As a Type 2 you can eat almost anything, just in smaller quantities. Depending on your medication, you can even have a Big Mac and chips. Just not every day. Remember, you can always have a little treat, but you'll work out soon what you can eat a lot of, what you can eat in small quantities, and what you can eat in tiny quantities. Once you get used to the idea that you're Type 2, you'll get used to eating selectively, but not too selectively. I love Eccles cakes, but I have about 1 a week, when I'm in England. When I'm at home, I take a helping of chips instead. Simple - once you get the hang of it.
 
That's not a bad idea, I think maybe it's best I get my lvl's to normal but then maybe I could have a treat, that would be something to work to also?
 
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