Amigo
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
This time last year it was the day before I received my Type 2 diabetic diagnosis. I walked into the GP surgery oblivious to what he was going to tell me and I received the diagnosis like a physical blow that caused deep distress.
It pained me so much because part of me was in denial and I feared diabetes because it's a familial condition and I've lost friends to it. As I already have blood cancer, I knew that the two conditions make seriously bad bedfellows and both 'feed' into infection quite dangerously. I'd been very ill some months before and inexplicably they tested for everything but diabetes 🙄
I cried and stamped around feeling a combination of guilt and anger. What could I eat, how would I cope, what happens next? But I've suffered some devastating health blows in the past so I decided to dust myself down, kick myself up the backside and embrace this new reality. The one thing I did realise was that there's no running away from it and denial certainly isn't an option.
So I surfed the net, found the good and knowledgeable folk on here, ordered Dr. David Cavan's book (very useful), started testing and stopped filling my face with carbs! Self testing has been my saviour to be honest. There's no hiding from the reality of what you stick in your mouth if you test honestly. I started enthusiastically propelled by fear. Initially my morning levels were in the middle 8's and I read the morning results on this site feeling like a bit of a failure. But gradually, the lower carbs and more exercise started to work. I found 'permissable' ways to have a little cheat so that I didn't feel totally deprived. And gradually over the next 6 months I lost nearly 2 stone in weight. One particular day, a pair of trousers (I'd kept to slim into like you do), fell onto the floor when I put them on and it felt fantastic!
The most important change was I felt able to walk much better. How had I ever allowed myself to believe burning feet and aching legs was my daily reality? The medics had colluded to some extent in convincing me it was due to spinal degenerative changes. But the answer was much simpler and yet more complex.
So I'll wake up tomorrow, on diagnosis day, a much healthier woman than a year ago (which is perhaps a strange thing for someone with cancer to say) but I can't alter that or control it. Experience this year has shown me that even without meds, I can control the diabetes to safer levels and hopefully that will continue. My Hba1c was 52 this time last year and 41 last time it was taken. I don't know if I can sustain or even improve on that but I do know I don't ever want to go back to the position I was in this time last year!
Thanks for all your support and guidance everyone! It's a sod of a condition but better for living with in collective understanding! 🙂
It pained me so much because part of me was in denial and I feared diabetes because it's a familial condition and I've lost friends to it. As I already have blood cancer, I knew that the two conditions make seriously bad bedfellows and both 'feed' into infection quite dangerously. I'd been very ill some months before and inexplicably they tested for everything but diabetes 🙄
I cried and stamped around feeling a combination of guilt and anger. What could I eat, how would I cope, what happens next? But I've suffered some devastating health blows in the past so I decided to dust myself down, kick myself up the backside and embrace this new reality. The one thing I did realise was that there's no running away from it and denial certainly isn't an option.
So I surfed the net, found the good and knowledgeable folk on here, ordered Dr. David Cavan's book (very useful), started testing and stopped filling my face with carbs! Self testing has been my saviour to be honest. There's no hiding from the reality of what you stick in your mouth if you test honestly. I started enthusiastically propelled by fear. Initially my morning levels were in the middle 8's and I read the morning results on this site feeling like a bit of a failure. But gradually, the lower carbs and more exercise started to work. I found 'permissable' ways to have a little cheat so that I didn't feel totally deprived. And gradually over the next 6 months I lost nearly 2 stone in weight. One particular day, a pair of trousers (I'd kept to slim into like you do), fell onto the floor when I put them on and it felt fantastic!
The most important change was I felt able to walk much better. How had I ever allowed myself to believe burning feet and aching legs was my daily reality? The medics had colluded to some extent in convincing me it was due to spinal degenerative changes. But the answer was much simpler and yet more complex.
So I'll wake up tomorrow, on diagnosis day, a much healthier woman than a year ago (which is perhaps a strange thing for someone with cancer to say) but I can't alter that or control it. Experience this year has shown me that even without meds, I can control the diabetes to safer levels and hopefully that will continue. My Hba1c was 52 this time last year and 41 last time it was taken. I don't know if I can sustain or even improve on that but I do know I don't ever want to go back to the position I was in this time last year!
Thanks for all your support and guidance everyone! It's a sod of a condition but better for living with in collective understanding! 🙂
