What to expect?

Hi
I was diagnosed before xmas. You will get appointments for feet check and eye check. They will ask you attend a course on how to manage your diabetes. The nurse will probably try to put you on metformin and other medications for blood pressure and cholesterol.
My experience was that the metformin made me very ill. My advice is ignore the dietary guidelines which still push carbs as being your main source of calories. Look up the forums here for low carb high fat LCHF diet. Natural fats not processed. Ditch the carbs such as refined flour sugar etc. Buy a blood glucose meter and find out what carbs you can tolerate and what effect they have on your body. They will not give you one unless you are taking insulin or type 1. Read as much as possible.
I have my next blood test next week and I hope I have got control.
You will see a lot of forum members have got control with diet and exercise.
Ask plenty of questions , there is lots of help.

Go along to the clinic and listen to what they have to say. It seems that there is little consistency in the NHS as to what you will be told. Some doctors suggest a low carb approach which a lot of us find helps control our errant blood sugars whereas the majority just trot out the usual Eatwell guide which says eat lots of carbohydrate and low fat (which most people know just doesn't work very well).
Have a read of the success stories thread on this forum to get some ideas. Depending on your personality and determination there are a few directions you could take. Personally I cut out virtually all carbs from my diet, lost weight and achieved decent control. Others did ultra low calorie for 8 weeks to loose weight and visceral fat quickly and some of them have had ongoing success with that. It is quite likely your HCP's will not be aware of either of these ways of eating to help control your blood sugars but you may be one of the lucky ones..
A lot of us also buy our own Blood Glucise Meter so we can test and see which foods are worst at raising our blood sugars so we can avoid them in future. Your HCP may or may not recommend doing this but you are very unlikely to be prescribed a meter (although I guess it is worth asking).
It's also a good idea to ask for a print of of all your results so you know where you are starting from so you can track progress.
You have come here and joined up so we can guess you are quite interested in controlling your condition. The HCP's may try and give you medication and may mentions statins.. you will need to do your own research and make some decisions about those yourself although we can advise once you have all your numbers..
Good luck!

Listen to and take the advice of medical professionals first and foremost. Don't do anything you are told on this forum without first talking to your healthcare professional, what works for others may not work for you. Diabetes is a very individual condition.

You don't need to cut out carbs completely, everything in moderation is the key.

Above all, don't stress out too much, it's not the end of the world and diabetes really isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Hi @engie1967 I am tagging @daisy1 for you who will be along shortly with information which I think you will find to be very helpful. You have already received lots of info from previous posters but I'd like to add that although things may seem a bit overwhelming just now you will soon pick things up and learn how to control your diabetes. Welcome to the forum

Hello @engie1967 and Welcome to the Forum . Agree with what all the above members have said.
And just to say take things in your own pace, one day at a time. Do you have a Blood Glucose Meter at all?

mist said:

Listen to and take the advice of medical professionals first and foremost. Don't do anything you are told on this forum without first talking to your healthcare professional, what works for others may not work for you. Diabetes is a very individual condition.

You don't need to cut out carbs completely, everything in moderation is the key.

Above all, don't stress out too much, it's not the end of the world and diabetes really isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

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So when my HCP told me that Type 2 was a progressive and chronic condition and that I would end up on insulin and that I should eat starchy carbs with every meal I should have sat back and said ok?

I'm sorry but I disagree.. you as a Type 1 may have had great service from your HCP''s. My experience was that they know less than I now do about my condition. So who do you suggest I listen to? People who have Type 2 and control it well or a doctor who was trained 30 years ago and has not learned anything new since and follows NICE guidelines blindly who will make my condition worsen over time.

bulkbiker said:

So when my HCP told me that Type 2 was a progressive and chronic condition and that I would end up on insulin and that I should eat starchy carbs with every meal I should have sat back and said ok?

I'm sorry but I disagree.. you as a Type 1 may have had great service from your HCP''s. My experience was that they know less than I now do about my condition. So who do you suggest I listen to? People who have Type 2 and control it well or a doctor who was trained 30 years ago and has not learned anything new since and follows NICE guidelines blindly who will make my condition worsen over time.

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What works for you may not work for others, don't push your ideas onto others, especially new members. Be responsible in your responses, everyone is different, remember that.

mist said:

What works for you may not work for others, don't push your ideas onto others, especially new members. Be responsible in your responses, everyone is different, remember that.

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I tell what is the least likely thing to work.. and that is the advice that the OP will be given by his HCP unless he is extremely lucky..
I have not "pushed my ideas" on others I have outlined a couple of ways that as Type 2's we can control our condition. If they don't work for you as a Type 1 then that's fine.. don't do them. But I will not stop explaining what has worked extremely well for me and a whole load of other people who are members of this forum.
Of course everyone is different but the successes of Low Carb seem to me to be obvious so a newly diagnosed Type 2 could do so much worse than try it out for a few months to see the results.

bulkbiker said:

I tell what is the least likely thing to work.. and that is the advice that the OP will be given by his HCP unless he is extremely lucky..
I have not "pushed my ideas" on others I have outlined a couple of ways that as Type 2's we can control our condition. If they don't work for you as a Type 1 then that's fine.. don't do them. But I will not stop explaining what has worked extremely well for me and a whole load of other people who are members of this forum.
Of course everyone is different but the successes of Low Carb seem to me to be obvious so a newly diagnosed Type 2 could do so much worse than try it out for a few months to see the results.

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I think we all know what has worked for you and how pro low carb you are, we get it.

I'm simply stating to the OP that above all else, listen to and take the advice of their diabetes team and or GP. They can always try new strategies and diets once they have a better understanding of the condition and what does and doesn't work for them.

Many new posters are scared and don't need to have extreme diets pushed on them or be told conflicting information. Just be mindful of your responses.

bulkbiker said:

So when my HCP told me that Type 2 was a progressive and chronic condition and that I would end up on insulin and that I should eat starchy carbs with every meal I should have sat back and said ok?

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I agree with what you're saying here ... but I also agree with @mist . We should listen to the doctors - that doesn't necessarily mean doing what we're told. Just like it's not a good idea to do everything people tell you to on the internet

It's better to get both sides, look into it, think about it, and then figure out what we think will work best for us.

mist said:

What works for you may not work for others, don't push your ideas onto others, especially new members. Be responsible in your responses, everyone is different, remember that.

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Go back and read BulkBikers 1st post.
He did not 'push' anything and to claim that he did is twisting his words.
He explained what a lot of type 2s on this forum do, and encouraged the original poster to do their own research and listen to all advice before making up their own mind, based on their own information gathering.

mist said:

Listen to and take the advice of medical professionals first and foremost

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Listen... sure.. Take their advice.. only if you are aware of the implications..

If you actually read what I wrote rather than what you thought I wrote....

bulkbiker said:

Go along to the clinic and listen to what they have to say

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Well I'm sure that has confused the OP sufficiently so I will say no more.

@daisy1 will be along in a while with some excellent general advice on controlling carbs and adjusting to life as a diabetic. All good stuff.

And please come back and let us know how your appointment went at the clinic. They vary a lot across the country, so it is always good to hear how it went.

There are many individuals on this forum that continuously repeat/push their ideology diets, views, Nairns unseeded oatcakes. Burgen bread and so on. It's inevitable and we just have to put up with it, or get out of here and leave the "protagonists" to get on with it! lol

mist said:

I think we all know what has worked for you and how pro low carb you are, we get it.

I'm simply stating to the OP that above all else, listen to and take the advice of their diabetes team and or GP. They can always try new strategies and diets once they have a better understanding of the condition and what does and doesn't work for them.

Many new posters are scared and don't need to have extreme diets pushed on them or be told conflicting information. Just be mindful of your responses.

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Hi,
Hope all is well?

I whole heartedly agree!
Gain an understanding, using the advice & meds from the professionals as a "starting block".
Making informed bespoke tweaks to managment once the facts & figures come in.

How are you doing registering for that surgery? Did you find one in the end??

There should be no arguments on a thread started by a complete newbie asking questions. It must be very off putting and could result in them never coming back. De-railing is counter productive, confusing, and rude.

engie1967 said:

For the last few months, I've had conflicting blood test results but have finally had a T2D diagnosis confirmed and I have my first diabetic clinic tomorrow.

What should I expect? How is my life about to change? Is there anything I should now so differently?

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Your life is going to change, or at least your eating habits are, but most of us Type 2s looked at our diagnosis as the kick up the bum we needed to get our lives back on track. I know I did and in a weird way I was very grateful for it..

First and foremost, find out what the test results were that led to your diagnosis - your HbA1c or whatever other tests you had as that is your starting point. Either obtain the test result print outs or see if your surgery puts them on-line.

Read right through the main website and follow all the links. Learn as much as you can about diabetes, what all the tests are, what the numbers mean, what numbers you need to be aiming for, which medications are generally prescribed, and what to expect next. Read Daisy's post when she arrives and take note of what it says. You will find it useful.

Good luck

Lets get back to answering @engie1967 opening post:

QUOTE="engie1967, post: 1398053, member: 311809"]What should I expect? How is my life about to change? Is there anything I should now so differently?[/QUOTE]

Hi @engie1967 and welcome to the forum. It is a shock when you are diagnosed as diabetic and takes a bit of time to get your head around it all. There is a lot of conflicting views and advice on how to treat it. The 'official' NHS advice is to continue to eat carbohydrates. But starchy carbohydrates like pasta, bread, potatoes and rice turn to sugar in our bodies so aren't really good for Type 2 diabetics.
Many of the T2s on here have adopted a Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) approach to eating which has worked in reducing our blood sugars, contrary to the NHS view that T2 is progressive, inevitably leading to more meds and ultimately insulin.
All I can say is that LCHF is working for me. You should read round the threads and decide for yourself.

Hi and welcome. As you will have seen the posts have varying views on the subject of diet. Listen to the GP and nurses but when it comes to diet bear in mind that the body converts all carbs to glucose and these raise blood sugar and can increase weight if you have too many. Once you have bought your meter this will show what foods affect you most and by how much. Eat to your meter is good advice and hence you can choose the diet that suits you. If you have excess weight then you will have insulin resistance and thru weight reduction it will enable your body to start using your own insulin efficiently again. Sadly it is a fact that the food industry drives government dietary guidelines hence the need to be cautious and surgeries are obliged to follow these guidelines, but some medics are prepared to go against the tide.