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TOTALLY SHOCKED!!!!

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WILSONJJ

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Apologies if you have had similar messages before. I am a 41 year old female just diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I am so shocked. I now realise just how many symptoms I had been ignoring - my high sugar levels were picked up on a routine urine test - and feel really stupid. I am a couple of stone overweight and determined to lose it. However, I have been given Metformin straight away as my sugar levels are so high based on my blood test results.

I know that this condition can be managed successfully and I know that it will be up to me to do this but I am tearful and very very shocked - quite unlike my normal happy go lucky self. My hubby has been great and very supportive as have other family members. However, I'm struggling to put on a normal face when I feel so ******. Feeling a bit pathetic even writing that to be honest as I feel I should be getting a grip.

Julie
 
Welcome to the forum, Julie. We’ve all been there, the numbness, the shock and especially the not being well if blood sugars are really high. Please ask us a lot of questions, that’s what we are here for.
Once your blood sugar levels start to come down you will start to feel like your old self again!!Please have a good read round the forum and you will pick up lots of helpful info about diet and how to reduce your blood sugar levels so that you feel better.
 
Ahh, your just feeling a bit like we all do from time to time. You have made the right step first by coming here for information. Have a read around or ask some questions, don't matter how daft you might think they are, someone will have gone through the same and be able to help.

What you need now is some basic information and some education about what to do next. Try the GI Diet to start and cut back on carbs. Get a test meter and do some testing of your blood before eating then two hours after. Remember everybody is differant and what works for one might not work for evrybody :D

Also try a little exercise, light to start with if your not used to it and build up gradual. Most of us need to loose a few pounds (or stones in my case). Exercise and diet seems to help most of us on here.

Good luck to you, and don't forget to ask questions, there are some very knowledgeable folk on here.
 
Apologies if you have had similar messages before. I am a 41 year old female just diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I am so shocked. I now realise just how many symptoms I had been ignoring - my high sugar levels were picked up on a routine urine test - and feel really stupid. I am a couple of stone overweight and determined to lose it. However, I have been given Metformin straight away as my sugar levels are so high based on my blood test results.
Metformin is a very safe medicine. However, it can't reduce your BG by a huge amount. Reducing your carbs and increasing your exercise will help

I know that this condition can be managed successfully and I know that it will be up to me to do this but I am tearful and very very shocked - quite unlike my normal happy go lucky self. My hubby has been great and very supportive as have other family members. However, I'm struggling to put on a normal face when I feel so ******. Feeling a bit pathetic even writing that to be honest as I feel I should be getting a grip.Your BG id high, it won't be making you feel any better. Once you get it down near norrmal and settle into the routine of good control, you'll wonder why you ever felt so bad.
Has the doctor given you any suggestions yet?
 
I was totally shocked with a similar diagnosis at 61.

8 years on & I feel well & have maintained my activity. I have just come in from playing tennis on our outdoor all-weather courts. White with frost but the astraturf was not slippery :D After a few games the gloves & faux-fur hat came off.

You'll soon feel better.
 
Thank you for all your replies. Reading them has helped me to feel a bit better already.

I was only diagnosed properly today. My first blood test reading was 9.8 two weeks ago (Fasting blood test) and the GP asked me to wait for the result of the Glucose Tolerance test carried out on 23/12. This was 11.8 at the start of the test and it was decided not to proceed any further. The DR gave me the second test result today and advised me to take Metformin straight away as well as clear diet and exercise advice. I had expected the GP to let me try to manage with diet and exercise alone but she wants me to get my sugar levels under control with medication first.

I have been so tired and Christmas has been a bit of a washout really. Having always considered myself as very healthy (although a bit overweight) and a stranger to the GP's surgery, I'm now going to be regularly monitored and referred to a range of people and that has been a shock. However, I guess I need to stop wallowing and get on with it!!!

Some questions that I have are as follows:

1) Is it likely/possible that I may be able to come off medication if diet and exercise measures are successful or is this unlikely?
2) Do I now need to inform my Life Insurance company of my condition and will my premiums rocket?
3) Although I have no family history of Diabetes, should my siblings now be tested or is this unnecessary?
4) Is it useful to take blood readings using a meter? GP said it was personal preference but as my PCT will not pay for testing strips, this could be expensive? Is it worthwhile?

Thanks to everyone.

Julie
 
From what I understand :roll: if you get your levels down you can decrease the meds or come off. But you must keep them down.

Yes get a blood test meter and test, find out what sends your levels up and avoid it in future. Everyone is differant and thats important to remember. Bread and potatoes take me high but rice and pasta don't. I've also discovered a small, very small amount of chocolate doesn't take me up. (I had 3 quality strret). But as I said everyone is differant and its important that you find out what doesn't suit YOU. Meters are relativley cheap I found Sainsburys was about the best :lol: but test strips are horrendusly expensive. I got the meter then asked the Dr for strips, explained why I needed to test (you shoudn't really have to) I played on the HGV bit for me. I was prescribed 50 but no more. It gave me the chance to do some testings on the things I eat most often.

I'm now well under control with diet, I follow the GI diet and have cut back on some carbs too. I also take regular exercise. Theres no reason why within a couple of months or less, you couldn't be in full control too and feeling a whol;e lot better.
 
WILSONJJ said:
I had expected the GP to let me try to manage with diet and exercise alone but she wants me to get my sugar levels under control with medication first.
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Sensible doctor!

IMNSHO it is essential that you test a lot at first until you get some idea of what you are doing, after a while you can probably cut down as you become more controllable and more confident.

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

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

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

should get you started!

Many but not all people find they can reduce or even eliminate medications once they get a handle on the diet and exercise parts of the trilogy, indeed in the States where early and proactive medication use is more prevalent than here it's not uncommon for people to improve faster than their medical professionals were expecting and soon become overmedicated
 
Hello there

On December the 3rd 2008, which was my 46th birthday I joined the totally shocked club when I was diagnosed with type two diabetes. My weight is about right, I do not consider my life style particulrly unhealthy and we do not have a history of diabetes in the family.

I have been told to try diet and exercise for three months and am awaiting some education classes through my GP. There is a lot of information out there and I am looking forward to hearing what the dietician has to say re my individual case.

No doubt you are experiencing various emotions I did and still am doing. It can be a roller coaster and I am now treating this as a motivator to improve my lifestyle e.g. eat better, exercise more, unfortunately drink less (or nothing if the dietician says so!) and appreciate things more.

One article amongst many I can recommend on this forum is the "two glasses of wine" posted by loobyloo under "diabetes, mind,body and soul" it works for me. I have found the forum to be very good and was pleased to read the replies to my question under products and "books".

Reading all the horror stories isn't usefull as they are the worst case scenario, I have been told that this condition can be managed. Someone summed it up in terms of writing the next chapter of a book (our life) we can determine what the chapter contains and how long the book lasts.

Hears to an epic novel.

WaG
 
WaG said:
Hello there

On December the 3rd 2008, which was my 46th birthday I joined the totally shocked club when I was diagnosed with type two diabetes. My weight is about right, I do not consider my life style particulrly unhealthy and we do not have a history of diabetes in the family.
Click to expand...

Any history of cardiovascular disease? In some families people die of heart attacks before they get diagnosed, commoner in the past when the diagnostic levels for diabetes were set much higher
 
Dear Trinkwasser

Thankfully no history of cardiovascular disease but there is a history of high cholesterol, which I have inherited from my dad along with my receeding hair line (he has a lot to answer for!). Having said that he is 76 and in very good shape so it is not all bad.

The cholesterol is being treated with statins (40mg) my blood pressure is good and I am sure that my new life style will help with the sugar, fat and pressure. All this will probably lead to a longer life, certainly longer than if I hadn't been diagnosed this early.

WaG
 
WILSONJJ said:
2) Do I now need to inform my Life Insurance company of my condition and will my premiums rocket?
Julie
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Hi Julie,

I think all your questions except this one have been asnwered by others. You don't need to inform your life insurance company and your premiums will not change. When you take out life insurance the insurers accept that none of us are going to remain healthy for ever and the risk that you may develop a medical condition is built into the premium that was set when you first took out the policy. This is why it is always cheaper to take out life insurance at a young age - the older you get then the closer you are to dying, so the premuims are proportionately higher!

Of course it is different if you want to take out additional life cover or to start a new life policy. In that case you would have to disclose your diabetes because this is something that your insurer will need to know of in order to assess how much risk you now pose to them.

It is different with car and travel insurance. You must inform insurers for both these types of cover because, unlike life insurance, their risk in insuring you is reassessed every year.
 
I think you've had all your questions answered I just wanted to welcome you and say that many of us have had that "shock" moment and it can be horrible BUT this forum is brilliant for sharing information and experience and you've taken a great first step in hooking yourself up here ... all the best, Jemx
 
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