I have just been diagnose with type 2, im sure I've had it a while I haven't been given a monitor or shown how to monitor my blood sugar. I don't know what to eat, drink, My feet feel terrible its like my socks are creased and im walking on the creases but they are not. I know I need to lose weight as im 106.2 kg one of the exercises I want to do is walk but im not sure if it will make my feet worse. I feel a bit frightened I just wish I knew all the dos and don'ts so I could start putting things right before its too late
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
terrible feet, stones in socks
- Thread starter terry2bet
- Start Date
Bluetit1802
Legend
Hi Terry and welcome aboard.
The problem with your feet sounds very like diabetic neuropathy caused by high blood sugar levels. The good news is you may be able to reduce this feeling by reducing and controlling your blood sugar levels. In the meantime, you need to keep checking your feet for cuts, corns and so forth. Some people find taking R-Alpha Lipoic Acid helps enormously. I hope you mention this to your doctor/nurse.
As for monitoring, it is very unusual for Type 2s to be given meters and strips on prescription. Most of us have to buy our own and find these invaluable in helping us to formulate a suitable way of eating. We can explain how best to use them.
An essential "do" is to change your diet by cutting out the obvious things that contain sugar, and also by learning about the role of carbohydrate. As all carbs convert to glucose once inside the system they are just as bad as refined sugar so it makes sense to reduce the amount you eat.
Perhaps you could tell us what your diagnostic HbA1c result was and which medications you are taking for diabetes? Otherwise it is a bit difficult for us to help you.
I will tag @daisy1 who has some excellent information for newcomers. Do read it.
The problem with your feet sounds very like diabetic neuropathy caused by high blood sugar levels. The good news is you may be able to reduce this feeling by reducing and controlling your blood sugar levels. In the meantime, you need to keep checking your feet for cuts, corns and so forth. Some people find taking R-Alpha Lipoic Acid helps enormously. I hope you mention this to your doctor/nurse.
As for monitoring, it is very unusual for Type 2s to be given meters and strips on prescription. Most of us have to buy our own and find these invaluable in helping us to formulate a suitable way of eating. We can explain how best to use them.
An essential "do" is to change your diet by cutting out the obvious things that contain sugar, and also by learning about the role of carbohydrate. As all carbs convert to glucose once inside the system they are just as bad as refined sugar so it makes sense to reduce the amount you eat.
Perhaps you could tell us what your diagnostic HbA1c result was and which medications you are taking for diabetes? Otherwise it is a bit difficult for us to help you.
I will tag @daisy1 who has some excellent information for newcomers. Do read it.
Resurgam
Master
- Messages
- 10,205
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Do read the information in the sheet Daisy will post when I tag her @daisy1 as by altering your diet you should find that your blood glucose can be controlled. Lots of people eat low carb and have normal results.
Don't think that you are doomed to complications and a miserable existence for the rest of your days - I have found a whole new lease of life since diagnosis. My feet were a bit swollen and the skin darker than it ought to have been, but I thought that I'd try warm baths before bed to get the blood flowing, and it seems to have been beneficial. My shoes are all too big though.
Type twos usually have to buy their own glucose meters and fund the strips etc, - but I would not have been able to alter my blood glucose levels quite so exactly and see the progress I made without one.
Don't think that you are doomed to complications and a miserable existence for the rest of your days - I have found a whole new lease of life since diagnosis. My feet were a bit swollen and the skin darker than it ought to have been, but I thought that I'd try warm baths before bed to get the blood flowing, and it seems to have been beneficial. My shoes are all too big though.
Type twos usually have to buy their own glucose meters and fund the strips etc, - but I would not have been able to alter my blood glucose levels quite so exactly and see the progress I made without one.
AM1874
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,383
- Location
- West Lancs
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Not much
Hi @terry2bet
You have made a good move coming here. Since joining this forum the folks here have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead. So ask your questions and be assured that you will receive the answers that you need .. in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly.
Managing and controlling your diabetes through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..
I see that @Bluetit1802 and @Resurgam have already tagged @ daisy1 for you and I would suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. and the following Diet Doctor websites ...
Low Carb Intro and Information
Low Carbs in 60 Seconds
I strongly recommend that you get yourself a meter for testing .. I suggest that you try the website at:
https://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/
for the SD Codefree meter, which costs £12.98 (you don't pay VAT) or:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/
who distribute the TEE 2 meter, which is free.
I have both for comparative purposes and I have never found any significant difference between them. Unless you are prescribed test strips by your doctor (unlikely), the costs of testing comes down to the ongoing charges for test strips and lancets. I'm testing 3-4 times a day which works out at around £10 to £12 per month for either of the two packages above but, more importantly, I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them
Hope this helps
You have made a good move coming here. Since joining this forum the folks here have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead. So ask your questions and be assured that you will receive the answers that you need .. in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly.
Managing and controlling your diabetes through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..
I see that @Bluetit1802 and @Resurgam have already tagged @ daisy1 for you and I would suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. and the following Diet Doctor websites ...
Low Carb Intro and Information
Low Carbs in 60 Seconds
I strongly recommend that you get yourself a meter for testing .. I suggest that you try the website at:
https://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/
for the SD Codefree meter, which costs £12.98 (you don't pay VAT) or:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/
who distribute the TEE 2 meter, which is free.
I have both for comparative purposes and I have never found any significant difference between them. Unless you are prescribed test strips by your doctor (unlikely), the costs of testing comes down to the ongoing charges for test strips and lancets. I'm testing 3-4 times a day which works out at around £10 to £12 per month for either of the two packages above but, more importantly, I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them
Hope this helps
welcome here terry2bet 
you can learn to eat the low carb style and keep blood glucose low in normal level , but it takes the will to do it too, we are here for help informations and support ... many people in here do the low carb eating style or lower carb or maybe even the ketosis-eating style ...and some also do intermittent fasting.
when i started out I was 114-117 kg and I could hardly go for a walk myself... so I went 1000 calories to a start and tried to walk as much as I was able to every other day , and I fast got results when it came to loosing weight and eating less carbs, but not low enough in carbs I found out when I got a meter to measure my blood glucose... then I started to measure my morning blood glucose before breakfast and 1 to 2 hours after meals and found out to eat things that didn´t raise my blood glucose much like cheese, nuts avocadoes tomatoes and cucumbers and all kinds of meat and most green vegs and started eating LIDLs protein rolls instead of ordinary bread ... and found diabetes "sweets" that was okay to eat.
I did the intermittent fasting and did chew a lot of sugarfree gums to standthe many hours of not eating from 19 o´clock in the evening til next day at 12 o´clock this is called intermittent fasting where one does not eat for more than a time-window of 7-8 hours in a day and fast all the other hours, this does lower ones insuline and makes it much easier for the body to start burning body-fat so I will recomend you to do that also it will help you greatly ..some do drink coffee with fullfat cream for breakfast as a substitute for the food one can not eat there...
try doing that for some month and be strickt about it I am sure it will help you very fast
you need to count the number og grams of carbs you eat and try to get at least under 100 grams to start with but if you go under 50 grams a day it is much more effective. and all the kilos will rattle off
good luck and keep asking questions you need an answer too
you can learn to eat the low carb style and keep blood glucose low in normal level , but it takes the will to do it too, we are here for help informations and support ... many people in here do the low carb eating style or lower carb or maybe even the ketosis-eating style ...and some also do intermittent fasting.
when i started out I was 114-117 kg and I could hardly go for a walk myself... so I went 1000 calories to a start and tried to walk as much as I was able to every other day , and I fast got results when it came to loosing weight and eating less carbs, but not low enough in carbs I found out when I got a meter to measure my blood glucose... then I started to measure my morning blood glucose before breakfast and 1 to 2 hours after meals and found out to eat things that didn´t raise my blood glucose much like cheese, nuts avocadoes tomatoes and cucumbers and all kinds of meat and most green vegs and started eating LIDLs protein rolls instead of ordinary bread ... and found diabetes "sweets" that was okay to eat.
I did the intermittent fasting and did chew a lot of sugarfree gums to standthe many hours of not eating from 19 o´clock in the evening til next day at 12 o´clock this is called intermittent fasting where one does not eat for more than a time-window of 7-8 hours in a day and fast all the other hours, this does lower ones insuline and makes it much easier for the body to start burning body-fat so I will recomend you to do that also it will help you greatly ..some do drink coffee with fullfat cream for breakfast as a substitute for the food one can not eat there...
try doing that for some month and be strickt about it I am sure it will help you very fast
you need to count the number og grams of carbs you eat and try to get at least under 100 grams to start with but if you go under 50 grams a day it is much more effective. and all the kilos will rattle off
good luck and keep asking questions you need an answer too
daisy1
Legend
- Messages
- 26,457
- Location
- Switzerland
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Cruelty towards animals.
@terry2bet
Hello Terry and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. It could help you to have a look at the Low Carb Program, link below. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.
Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.
Hello Terry and welcome to the Forum
Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. It could help you to have a look at the Low Carb Program, link below. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
- Reduce your carbohydrate intake
- Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.
Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
- structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
- self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.
- Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
- Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
