what happens next?

[Ripelda]

Hi. I am newly diagnosed, type 2, with a fasting level of 17. So far I have had no symtoms of diabetes ( no strong thirst, no weightloss, no excess peeing etc). My doctor sent me for tests after a routine eyetest had some weird results. I do have pain in my stomach that gets worse when I eat. My G.P. gave me Metformin on Monday, but after taking a dose that evening, I started to shiver, and then fell asleep for twelve straight hours, only getting up twice to pee. (I normally sleep for about 7 hours without waking). I told the G.P. and he said to stop taking them until I see the practice nurse. So, as I have no idea whats going on, what happens next?

 

[PickledPepper]

I had a high reading like yourself a few months ago after suffering from the typical symptoms you described.

My first piece of advice to you is....cut down the carbs in your diet in a big way for the time being.

As for your reaction to Metformin. Did you take it with a meal?

What happens next is that you will need to fine tune your diet to keep your blood sugar levels steady and within an acceptable range. This will involve testing on your part, using one of those home tester machines which analyse a drop of your blood. This way you will be able to see exactly how particular meals are effecting you. This can be costly at first but it is a worthy investment to help you get to grips with the condition.

In the end you will have to make informed decisions with regard to your shopping. Type 2 is heavily influence by diet, therein lies the key to your controlling the condition.

I'm sure one of the regulars here will be posting the standard advice given to all newbies real soon.

 

[PickledPepper]

Here's that advice I spoke of earlier. Read it carefully:

"Welcome to the forum. here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.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.

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

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.

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 !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous."

 

[Synonym]

Hi Riipelda and welcome to the forum.

The above advice is really helpful if you follow it carefully. Have a good read around the forum and ask any questions as they come up. Hope things get sorted out for you really soon, let us know how you get on.