Stupid diabetes. Sorry - stupid diabetic.

[JoeClarke]

Hello. My name is Joe, I am 49 and at the moment I live in Turkey but I am from London. I teach English at a local school and have two daughters, a 16 year old who is in England and a 9 year old who is here in Turkey.

This is a blog I did somewhere else but I thought I would let it stand as an intoduction here. Well, I like to recycle.
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I thought my blood pressure was a bit high. I’d been getting what I thought of as stress headaches. I’d put them down to letting the little b******s at school get to me. Why they were suddenly getting to me so much now wasn’t clear, but I had been short tempered and devoid of patience recently.

Anyway I must have been worried somewhere deep down because I went to the doctors. I normally avoid going to the doctors unless something is actually bleeding.

It turns out that the diabetes that I have cheerfully considered under control, because I have cheerfully been ignoring it, is back. It’s back…and this time it’s personal.

I was diagnosed five years ago with type 2 diabetes. I went on drugs for it and for high blood pressure. When I moved to Turkey three years ago I stopped taking the drugs. I seriously felt better than I had done in years. I lost a lot of weight, was exercising more and my diet was a billion times healthier. Plus I had cut down on my alcohol consumption to the extent I stopped thinking of myself as border line alcoholic. And for the past three years I was fine. Honestly really fine.

The past couple of months though I have been ill quite a lot. Just low level feeling ****, taking to my bed, wiped out type ill.

So I went to the doctors and did some blood tests. My blood sugar is ridiculously high. So welcome back to the drugs.

In a way it is good. Perhaps my short temper and constant exhaustion may not be just me getting old. Maybe the drugs, along with me taking the condition seriously and watching what I eat and drink and exercising in a more organised way will bring me up to a happier, healthier state.

Perhaps. Maybe.

 

[daisy1]

Hi Joe and welcome to the forum I'm afraid you can never ignore your diabetes but if you control it well you won't notice it too much. It's never a good idea to stop taking medication if you haven't agreed this with your doctor first. I'm sure you are starting to feel better now you are taking medication again, which you obviously need. To help you get back on track, here is some basic advice which you could follow, written by the Forum Monitors for new members. Even though you are not newly diagnosed, I think some things in here will be useful to you.

Here is the advice that Ken and I, as Forum Monitors, usually give to newly diagnosed Diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

For more information on CARBOHYDRATE see here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20306

This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.


As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!

For TIPS FOR STRIPS see here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19002#p173253

If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2011 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking and before meals).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l...(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals........................no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals......................... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do at least 30 minutes moderate exercise a day, it can be split into 10 min sessions to start with. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Finally a few QUESTIONS TO ASK AT DIABETES CLINIC.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17091



Sue/Ken.