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The first two weeks...

phil1966

phil1966

Well-Known Member
Messages
661
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
First a bit of background: I'd been feeling a bit rough for a while (general aches, peeing a lot, thirsty, etc) and with both my parents being Type 2 (my mother had it for 10 years before passing away with pancreatic cancer a few years ago and my father has recently been diagnosed), I recognised the symptoms and got myself a meter. However, I wasn't quite prepared for the result of the random test - BG of 23.7!

This was late on a Friday night, and the next morning, I did a fasting test convinced that the previous night was a blip. Unfortunately, it wasn't and my fasting BG was 17.9, so off to the doctors I went where the very nice GP told me I probably had T2 (I'd worked that out for myself by then) but wanted to do some blood tests to make sure. She took the blood and asked me to deliver it to the lab straight away as they had no courier service on a Saturday and she wanted the results as quickly as possible. I took them and waited with dread for the call, which duly came in at 3:00pm - confirmation that I was indeed a type 2 diabetic. She had given me a prescription for Metformin in the morning and told me to get it and start on one tablet per day and increase to 2 after a week. I then got the first bit of good news - I didn't realise prescriptions were free for diabetics and I used that bit of news to comfort myself and look for positives (I'm a very optimistic person and try and find positives in everything)

I spent most of the rest of the weekend reading up on diet, treatment, etc (including this excellent forum) and downloaded MyFitnessPal and MySugr for my phone so I could feel in control of my condition and not let it control me

Fast forward 2 weeks and things are definitely looking up - I've got my BG down into the fives and haven't felt as good as this for months: Aches I'd put down to middle age (I'm 48) have started to disappear and I have loads more energy than I have had for ages. I was already quite active (I take the dogs for a brisk walk twice a day, play five a side once a week and also run the line for my daughter's football team) but my diet was terrible: I had a real weakness for carbs and ate far too much bread and other baked goods. In the last 2 weeks I've eliminated bread, cakes and pasta completely, replaced white rice with brown and have rediscovered the joys of fish and vegetables. I'm sticking to around 1,500 calories a day (with less than 100g of carbs and around 15g of total sugar) and keeping an accurate food diary and BG log. One slight complication for me is I am severely allergic to tree nuts so that avenue is cut off to me, but I am OK with seeds and I've been really enjoying snacking on Pumpkin seeds :)

I've also found out what I can and can't eat - potatoes are OK in small quantities as is porridge and oats in general - bacon in a Staffordshire oat cake is a real breakfast treat now! However, wheat causes a huge spike (which is why I've cut out bread and pasta

I must admit I was in a pretty dark place a fortnight ago and I realise I'm still at the start of what is a lifelong journey but I'm definitely feeling much healthier, fitter and happier now and can look forward with optimism
 
Hello Phil and welcome to the forum,

What a positive and inspiring first post from a newly diagnosed! Well done for taking this disease by the throat and trying to strangle it from the outset. I hope your motivation continues. All I can say is well done and a big clap from me, so far!
 
Hi Phill and welcome

Well done on getting things under control so quickly.

Many of us have found that being diagnosed with diabetes has forced us to turn our lifestyle and diets around and ended up healthier and fitter as a result.

Just a couple of words of warning though. Don't get complacent and don't allow yourself to be disappointed when despite all your efforts the diabetes is still there. When first diagnosed fueled by fear and a subconscious need to cure ourselves, it is reasonably easy for us to take action.

The trick is to turn these actions into healthy habits that we can stick with for life.

So once again, well done but make sure you do not lower your guard, diabetes is a vary patient and crafty adversary.

All the best

Pavlos
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Hello Phil and welcome to the forum,

What a positive and inspiring first post from a newly diagnosed! Well done for taking this disease by the throat and trying to strangle it from the outset. I hope your motivation continues. All I can say is well done and a big clap from me, so far!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I do try and remain positive with most aspects of my life and there is no way I'm going to let this beat me - I view it as a wake up call to warn me I was doing severe damage to myself with my lifestyle but hopefully I've been given time to change that lifestyle for the better before too much damage was done.


pavlosn said:
Hi Phill and welcome

Well done on getting things under control so quickly.

Many of us have found that being diagnosed with diabetes has forced us to turn our lifestyle and diets around and ended up healthier and fitter as a result.

Just a couple of words of warning though. Don't get complacent and don't allow yourself to be disappointed when despite all your efforts the diabetes is still there. When first diagnosed fueled by fear and a subconscious need to cure ourselves, it is reasonably easy for us to take action.

The trick is to turn these actions into healthy habits that we can stick with for life.

So once again, well done but make sure you do not lower your guard, diabetes is a vary patient and crafty adversary.

All the best

Pavlos
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not going to get complacent about things and I know the chances are I will forever be one cream cake away from issues, but I feel almost as if I've had an epiphany in the last two weeks: I've seen very clearly the difference between a healthy diet and an unhealthy one and the healthy route is the one I intend taking for the rest of my life!
 
Hello Phil and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like 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 over 100,000 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

Reduce your 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

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

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
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

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 bloodglucose 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.
 
Hi Phil,I think you are showing a lot of bottle! We all need help and I think you know better than most that's true! Keep strong and let us know how your bs's are going ,your post is invaluable well done!
 
Wow phil amazing for taking control....
Well Fri I had no breakfast (wasnt hungry)
1 staffs oatcake with 15g cheese and 1 piece of bacon... 2hours later increase of 5 ... a bit of oatcake envy ;)

Only carb stuff I have had witb little effect is brown rice...
Have had wholemeal pasta, bread and potatoes white and sweet woth no joy...
 
image.jpg To the forum Phil.Keep Well Andrea.
 
Thanks for the warm welcomes to everybody - I'm still finding my feet around the forum but do hope to be able to contribute more in the future :)
 
Hi and welcome Phil, great to have yet another positive guy on board.

All I will add is carry on eating to your meter...it works.
 
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