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Type 2 newbie

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

Dragon

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello I have very recently be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. (2 weeks ago) advice please.
Just a bit confused as all I have been told by my doctor is “you need to take 4 metformin tablets a day and go on a low carb diet, lose half a stone and it could go away and come back in 3 months for another fasting blood test”

though people with diabetes should be testing there blood sugar!
I know when I had gestational diabetes 10yr ago I was testing my blood three times a day, why do I not have to do it now?

low carb diet, how many carbs should I be having in a day!

I feel that it is going down the same route as when I was pregnant and got no information or help to control my blood sugars to the point that they were getting out of control.
I also have an under active thyroid and MS witch affects my balance an sometimes my ability to do exercis.

thank you
 
Has the GP advised you to start straight away on 4 Metformin or gradually build up to that dose? Usually building up is recommended as that can reduce the risk/severity of side effects.

If you are aiming to follow "low carb" then that usually means under 130g total carbohydrates per day. Keeping a food diary for a while can help with that, recording estimated carbs in the different foods you eat. Remember that if you are eating any foods with American nutritional labels you need to remove "fiber" grams from total carb grams, for UK labels with "fibre" it's not needed. Cutting down on portions of high carb foods like pasta, rice, bread, potatoes and increasing portions of lower carb veg like broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, aubergine can help.

Blood glucose targets are very much stricter for Diabetes while pregnant (including Gestational Diabetes) and for some reason NICE currently recommend that Type 2 Diabetics are only issued with a blood glucose machine and test strips prescription if on a medication that can cause hypos (like glicazide or insulin). Most of us do prefer to test as that can help to work out how many carbs per meal our bodies tolerate without blood glucose staying high at the 2 hour post meal mark (you don't need to worry about 1 hour post meal if you're not pregnant). You can buy a meter and test strips if your GP won't prescribe and you would like to test - the ongoing cost of test strips is the biggest one so it's a good idea to check for the price of those before picking a meter. As a diabetic you are entitled to buy them without paying VAT on them.

Are you happy to tell us what your HbA1c for diagnosis was? That can help to indicate how much intervention you may need to make.

I'll add a couple of links - the first one is to dietary approaches, some people prefer to lose weight (if they have it to lose) to try to reduce visceral fat around the liver and reduce insulin resistance with or without following the low carb approach that you are asking about.


This second one is a carbohydrate table which can help with estimating those carbs especially if you are eating foods without labels

 
Did your GP not offer you a choice of taking medication or trying to control T2 through diet & exercise?...
 
Bear in mind that we don't (yet) know what Dragon's HbA1c was @MrPixels - there may be a reason that Dragon was started on medication straight away
 
Welcome to the forum @Dragon

Sorry to hear you’ve been left a little confused by your appointments. Unfortunately it!s not all that uncommon an experience. I don’t think an introduction to T2 really fits within the 10 minute slot that Drs are forced to limit folks to these days :(

But glad you have found the forum. We may not be medically qualifies, but there are literally centuries of lived diabetes experience here, and you can get the benefit of advice from hours and hours of appointment time that others have had 🙂

For a good overview of T2, you might like to register for the Learning Zone (orange tab in the menu above), or for a more personal take, members here have found Maggie Davey’s Letter to the Newly Diagnosed or Gretchen Becker’s book T2 Diabetes, the first year, very helpful. You can work through gradually and they will give you a solid starting point.

In terms of monitoring your levels - targets during pregnancy are different. But yes, many forum members find self monitoring to be a huge help in optimising their food choices. Partly because people can react to the same foods in very different ways - so it can be impossible to tell which sources of carbohydrate will ‘spike’ your BG levels without checking for yourself.

If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have comparatively affordable test strips at around £8-10 for 50

Diabetes UK have produces this low carb meal plan which may give you some hints and ideas for meals.

Low-carb diet and meal plan

Eating a low-carb diet means cutting down on the amount of carbohydrates (carbs) you eat to less than 130g a day. But low-carb eating shouldn’t be no-carb eating. Some carbohydrate foods contain essential vitamins, minerals and fibre, which form an important part of a healthy diet.
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

And keep asking away with any questions as they arise too 🙂
 
Hi and welcome
Lots of helpful advice above. You can get an app for your phone which measures your cals and carbs per meal and day. I got one when I was diagnosed and still use it daily to keep myself on track. I measure most of my foods in a glass bowl on digital scales, so I'm not guesstimating portion size (Not salads and above ground veggies).
Also regarding exercise, there is a lady in my aquafit class with MS. She stays near the poolside, does the whole class and says she finds it beneficial. Most pools also have a seat which can lower and raise people who can't manage the steps. My pool does 2 evening classes for working people as well as day classes.
Best wishes
 
42istheanswer said:
Has the GP advised you to start straight away on 4 Metformin or gradually build up to that dose? Usually building up is recommended as that can reduce the risk/severity of side effects.

If you are aiming to follow "low carb" then that usually means under 130g total carbohydrates per day. Keeping a food diary for a while can help with that, recording estimated carbs in the different foods you eat. Remember that if you are eating any foods with American nutritional labels you need to remove "fiber" grams from total carb grams, for UK labels with "fibre" it's not needed. Cutting down on portions of high carb foods like pasta, rice, bread, potatoes and increasing portions of lower carb veg like broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, aubergine can help.

Blood glucose targets are very much stricter for Diabetes while pregnant (including Gestational Diabetes) and for some reason NICE currently recommend that Type 2 Diabetics are only issued with a blood glucose machine and test strips prescription if on a medication that can cause hypos (like glicazide or insulin). Most of us do prefer to test as that can help to work out how many carbs per meal our bodies tolerate without blood glucose staying high at the 2 hour post meal mark (you don't need to worry about 1 hour post meal if you're not pregnant). You can buy a meter and test strips if your GP won't prescribe and you would like to test - the ongoing cost of test strips is the biggest one so it's a good idea to check for the price of those before picking a meter. As a diabetic you are entitled to buy them without paying VAT on them.

Are you happy to tell us what your HbA1c for diagnosis was? That can help to indicate how much intervention you may need to make.

I'll add a couple of links - the first one is to dietary approaches, some people prefer to lose weight (if they have it to lose) to try to reduce visceral fat around the liver and reduce insulin resistance with or without following the low carb approach that you are asking about.


This second one is a carbohydrate table which can help with estimating those carbs especially if you are eating foods without labels

Click to expand...
I have been advised to increase over 4 weeks
 
42istheanswer said:
Has the GP advised you to start straight away on 4 Metformin or gradually build up to that dose? Usually building up is recommended as that can reduce the risk/severity of side effects.

If you are aiming to follow "low carb" then that usually means under 130g total carbohydrates per day. Keeping a food diary for a while can help with that, recording estimated carbs in the different foods you eat. Remember that if you are eating any foods with American nutritional labels you need to remove "fiber" grams from total carb grams, for UK labels with "fibre" it's not needed. Cutting down on portions of high carb foods like pasta, rice, bread, potatoes and increasing portions of lower carb veg like broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, aubergine can help.

Blood glucose targets are very much stricter for Diabetes while pregnant (including Gestational Diabetes) and for some reason NICE currently recommend that Type 2 Diabetics are only issued with a blood glucose machine and test strips prescription if on a medication that can cause hypos (like glicazide or insulin). Most of us do prefer to test as that can help to work out how many carbs per meal our bodies tolerate without blood glucose staying high at the 2 hour post meal mark (you don't need to worry about 1 hour post meal if you're not pregnant). You can buy a meter and test strips if your GP won't prescribe and you would like to test - the ongoing cost of test strips is the biggest one so it's a good idea to check for the price of those before picking a meter. As a diabetic you are entitled to buy them without paying VAT on them.

Are you happy to tell us what your HbA1c for diagnosis was? That can help to indicate how much intervention you may need to make.

I'll add a couple of links - the first one is to dietary approaches, some people prefer to lose weight (if they have it to lose) to try to reduce visceral fat around the liver and reduce insulin resistance with or without following the low carb approach that you are asking about.


This second one is a carbohydrate table which can help with estimating those carbs especially if you are eating foods without labels

Click to expand...
My HbA1c is 68 looking back over my medical notes I have been borderline T2 for a couple of years
 
Felinia said:
Hi and welcome
Lots of helpful advice above. You can get an app for your phone which measures your cals and carbs per meal and day. I got one when I was diagnosed and still use it daily to keep myself on track. I measure most of my foods in a glass bowl on digital scales, so I'm not guesstimating portion size (Not salads and above ground veggies).
Also regarding exercise, there is a lady in my aquafit class with MS. She stays near the poolside, does the whole class and says she finds it beneficial. Most pools also have a seat which can lower and raise people who can't manage the steps. My pool does 2 evening classes for working people as well as day classes.
Best wishes
Click to expand...
Hello, what is the app.called please ?
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome and all the advice, I have printed off carb table as I think that will be very helpful and have got my self a BG meter, as I tested using my friends and it was 9.8 so feel that I need to check it.

how often do people test?
when do they test?

Thank you again for so much help as I don’t seem to be getting much from the GP
 
There are a number of reasons why people test but the important thing is you make use of the information it gives you.
People test before and 2 hours after eating to see if their meal is tolerated (not too carbohydrate heavy) aiming at no more than an increase of 2-3mmol/l or as levels come down no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hr post meal. Once you establish a meal is OK you wouldn't need to test that meal again.
They also test in the morning which gives a fasting reading and can track progress from day to day, week to week.
Also it is useful if people feel unwell as that can be if blood glucose is too high or too low.
 
Specs said:
Hello, what is the app.called please ?
Click to expand...
I use NutraCheck which is UK based and offers a free 7 day trial, then there is a small monthly fee. There is an app only version, and a more expensive app and website version. There seems to be a discount offer on at present. There is also MyFitnessPal which is USA based and offers the same service for free. I tried both before making my choice.
 
It’s GP experiences like yours that make me so very grateful that mine is very enlightened, switched on and supportive when it comes to diabetes care.

Anyway, loads of superb advice above. Personally I have found the blood glucose meter to be invaluable and has shown me what foods have no impact on my BG and what I should totally avoid. Potatoes in my case are on the no-go list but surprisingly I can tolerate pasta.

I’m following a low carb diet and it’s really suiting me. I’ve not felt hungry at all.

Definitely use this website and forum as support. There is so much information available on here. No question is silly, so just ask it and it will be answered sensibly and without judgement. Take care.
 
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