• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Hi, I'm an 'Old' Newbie

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Barrowman

Barrowman

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
When I say 'Old' I mean I'm 78.

Just recently been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes much to my dismay, now its back to school to learn how to cope with this new situation I now find myself in. I think learning and understanding all this new jargon I'm reading is going to confuse me for a while yet and so I better keep on reading before I ask any silly questions.....

Oh, and by the way, I'm James and send good wishes to all fellow sufferers.
 
Hi James - welcome to the club no-one ever wanted to join! You could do a lot worse than register for the DUK Learning Zone - and of course ask any questions which occur to you. No question (seriously) is considered silly!
 
Hello James. I'm newly diagnosed also. Just a few weeks ago. There are three things that I have found out.

1. There are plenty of people in this forum that thay will certainly give you plenty of support and direction.

2. You will probably need to keep pushing your medical professisonals to get your appointments, medication and referrals.

3. Don't try and rush to get information from the internet. We are all different in the way in which we need to manage our condition; That was the best advice that the nurse gave me. I was panicking between doctors and nurses appointment having read some of the stuff that's out there!

Good luck with it and hopefully you will be on the right track soon enough.
 
Welcome to the forum @Barrowman

...and as if the medical jargon weren’t enough, there’s forum jargon too!

If you are struggling to separate your BG from your BTDTGTTS this might help?

forum.diabetes.org.uk

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Here is an alphabetical list of acronyms and abbreviations you may come across on the forum: Health-related A1c - Shortened version of HbA1c the blood test that checks average BG over previous 6-12 weeks ADA - American Diabetic Association Basal - 'Background', long acting insulin (eg Lantus...
forum.diabetes.org.uk forum.diabetes.org.uk

:D
 
trophywench said:
Hi James - welcome to the club no-one ever wanted to join! You could do a lot worse than register for the DUK Learning Zone - and of course ask any questions which occur to you. No question (seriously) is considered silly!
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply and welcome, I have already joined the Learning Zone. now I only have to work out which silly questions to ask first.....😉
 

Thank you for the welcome @everydayupsanddowns and a special thank you for the abbreviations list, I've printed it off for future reference, no doubt it will come in very useful.​

James
 
Hi James. I'm new too. I was overwhelmed at first and to be honest, I still am from time to time, but people have been so helpful on here I honestly don't know what I would have done without the advice and support. I've completely changed my eating habits (apart from a bit of chocolate that I just can't give up but I've changed to dark chocolate). What was you hba1c level? Did they give you medication? Mine was 50 so I am currently trying to reduce it so that I am in remission.
 
Thank you @Paul D I will bare your good advice in mind. It's so easy to get involved in information from other websites that you lose track of what is right and wrong advice...I'm staying here now.
 
Lynne888 said:
Hi James. I'm new too. I was overwhelmed at first and to be honest, I still am from time to time, but people have been so helpful on here I honestly don't know what I would have done without the advice and support. I've completely changed my eating habits (apart from a bit of chocolate that I just can't give up but I've changed to dark chocolate). What was you hba1c level? Did they give you medication? Mine was 50 so I am currently trying to reduce it so that I am in remission.
Click to expand...
Hello @Lynne888 'Overwhelmed' is not the word I would have used. It will take me a while to come to terms with it I'm afraid.
I only started posting yesterday and already have some excellent advice I will use in the future.
Mmnn - Chocolate - I'm missing it already....:(
I don't think I've been given my Hba1c level, It was 16.9 when I first started using my own test meter but now it's down to an average of 6.4 so my original Metformin tablets were doing the job for me at the time but my body didn't like them so they were changed to a single tablet once a day.
Good luck with the remission, that's got to be my aim also....
 
Oh chocolate seems to be fine - just not the sugar laden sort with extra sugary bits.
I should warn you that by learning to like high cocoa chocolate you might forget how much to eat and like me only have a square once in a while.
I have to confess, @Barrowman , that I found it a doddle to get rid of the high glucose levels, as I like eating low carb foods and so that is what I did - job done in a few months.
 
Hi @Drummer. Although I've always liked a bit of chocolate I seem to be managing very well without it at the moment.
In the six weeks since being told I'm diabetic I've managed my GL down from 16.9 to an average of 5'9 which I'm happy with, not aware what it should be to get into remission so I guess I will have to wait until I see my diabetic nurse again.
Spend a lot of time reading labels in the supermarket finding items that are okay for me to eat.....:D
Good luck with the dancing - good exercise.
 
Those are good numbers @Barrowman - it took me a while to get down to under 7 as I had been pushed to eat high carb foods and I had a rock hard liver - it must have been so relieved to be able to start to tip out the glucose and get rid of it. I was almost spherical.
I do like eating low carb - I had to wait for it to cool down a bit, but I just had steak and stirfry - Lidl's finest - about 1/3rd of a 750gm bag of frozen stirfry is fine for me. It is just over 5 gm of carbs per 100gm of the product, so no problem with the carb content. I had some ice cold diet coke with a splash of dark rum, and now my coffee is cooling in front of the fan.
Once you have sorted out which things are low carb then it will become a lot easier to shop for the things you can eat.
 
I like the idea of the steak stir fry it’s on wife's shopping list for Tuesday already @Drummer.
The trouble with low cabs for me is that I don’t like veg or salads and can’t handle much of either - but I’m trying.
 
I don't like salads much either, but I'm quite happy with lettuce and cucumber with my ham/cheese sandwich

I eat a lot of veg, but it's a bit boring so I stick some chile infused olive oil over them which brightens them up a little.
 
Barrowman said:
I like the idea of the steak stir fry it’s on wife's shopping list for Tuesday already @Drummer.
The trouble with low cabs for me is that I don’t like veg or salads and can’t handle much of either - but I’m trying.
Click to expand...
The trick is not to eat too much of the same thing so you get fed up.
I used to have three different shopping lists and used them in turn, so I'd get chicken or pork, beef or lamb, and then the third week one of what I'd not had for two weeks, and the veges etc would be different - even now, decades later I rarely buy tomatoes and mushrooms in the same visit to the shops. That way it is always something new.
Do try herbs and spices with your veges - just a pinch to add a zing. I have a nice aromatic curry powder in the pantry and a box of herbs - they all add to the variety.
 
Hi Barrowman,

Welcome to the club that everyone wants to leave! I got diagnosed as type 2 in 2011 but got misdiagnosed and found out last year that I actually have LADA which is treated as type one.
It can be a bit of a minefield when you first get diagnosed but there are lots of great advice on here.
The best advice I can give is try and walk for half an hour a day.
Learning about carbs and how they affect you blood glucose levels is the key.

There is a book called “8 week blood sugar diet” which has some great recipes in.

Keep asking questions and good luck…. Your levels seem much improved!
 
Yes that’s how I find veg @picitup we had Brussels and broccoli last night and then I warmed up some bar-b-q sauce and I dipped them in that, made them a bit more palatable.
 
So they taste nice and are just as good for you 🙂
 
picitup said:
So they taste nice and are just as good for you 🙂
Click to expand...
So tomorrow I’m trying it with cauliflower and green beans.🙂🙂
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top