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Hello Everyone

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karl8228

karl8228

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
hi to all. im newly diabetic type 2! i found out because i have strange blisters on my foot/legs which the foot turned to holes and now im all wrapped up from the nurse!! but im not healing which sucks.. eating antibiotics like there going out of fashion. i started dieting 10 days ago which hit hard because all the sugar coming out !! headaches and more. but feeling great now. im taking metformin which i dont feel a thing taking them so are they working? i dont no as i have not spoke to anyone about this until now.. pretty worried to be honest as not sure what to eat or drink... ive just gone straight in to water only and 3 meals a day really healthy ones! but then ive seen people taking about eat 6 times a day little but often ? i dont no what im doing.
 
Welcome to the forum Karl.
Yes, it is a problem knowing what to do.
As a diabetic we have to manage carbs. It's not food that makes out sugars rise. It's carbohydrates. Potatoes, rice, bread, pasta etc. You can eat some. How much of which, and what with, is the question. (I'm still figuring it out!)
Get a meter and self test. Test before and 1-2 hours after eating. Keep a food diary and a record of your levels. That way you can see what affect food has on your BG levels. Along with any changes. Hopefully you will see a pattern.
 
Hello Karl and welcome to,this very helpful forum. I was diagnosed type 2 last September and like you hadn’t a clue at the beginning! I didn’t really get much help from my diabetic nurse and have learned most of what I know from here. I cut out the sugars right away and then learnt about carbs which came as a surprise. I thought a healthy breakfast was a bowl of cornflakes but how wrong I was! Cereal, white bread, white pasta and rice and potatoes are all the carbs which will generally spike your blood sugars so best avoided until you get used to things. A lot of diabetics type 2 are told they do not need to test but I don’t see how you would know what foods spike your blood sugars if you don’t. The meter that is recommended on here is the Codefree which you can get from Amazon and somewhere else I can’t remember but someone will be along to provide a link as I’m not sure how to do that! They recommend that one as the strips are the cheapest around. I drink sugar free coke and sugar free squash, and still have my tea but with sweeteners. I switched to wholemeal bread but the small sliced loaves but do miss my marmalade. There is a thread here all,about food which would be helpful to you and make sure your nurse refers you for a diabetic awareness course as that will prove helpful. Mine omitted to do it for me and I’ve only just got booked on to one. My initial blood test, the hba1c showed a reading of 73 which is quite high, and in six months I’ve got it down to 40 which is classed as non diabetic, which I’m chuffed about. Doesn’t mean I can stop being sensible though! Sorry you’re having problems with your feet, but the sooner you get your levels sorted the better placed you’ll be for them to heal and at least not get any worse. Ask away as there are some lovely people on here with a lot more experience than me.
 
thanks for your reply's my blood come back at 57 which in comparison is low. i do tend to eat jacket studs and i have switched to wholemill bread plus brown rice aswell. i have kept a food diary because i wanted to show the nurse what im eating!! now your saying Carbs!!! i think ive completely wasted a week on my diet!! i have just looked on amazon and found the test kit and i have bought it so ill wait and see what that says. does the nurse check your blood on the visits?
 
That’s good, and you’ve made a good start on the eating. I had the hba1c test last September and had another in March so I assume my surgery does them every six months. I haven’t actually had any contact with my nurse so have done it alone except for this forum. But I test every morning at least before eating anything and my morning levels average less than 6 which I think is good. Keep it up!
 
Hi Karl, welcome :D
I’m also a relatively new type 2, I spent my first week eating jacket spuds, pasta thinking they were healthy foods, then I found this forum and read a little, enough too realise carbs were the bad guys, so then I spent the next week feeling miserable as there was nothing nice to eat so I may as well give up or starve....sulking I read more, then I read even more and I realised there was loads of ideas for different kinds of food here so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad! I learned to test to see what worked for me or didn’t and now I am really enjoying my food, don’t crave sugar anymore, and feel SO much better! Take your time to read the suggested threads, use your testing strips to see what works for you, it most of all, ask questions, as often as you need to 😉
 
karl8228 said:
does the nurse check your blood on the visits?
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Flakie said:
I had the hba1c test last September and had another in March so I assume my surgery does them every six months
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Finger prick test: this will not be done by the practice.
HbA1c: (blood taken from the arm and sent away) Usually this will be taken a week or two before a review. This will allow time for the results to come back before the actual review. How often the HbA1c is done may be different to how often you see the nurse. It may be done 3 monthly (the minimum time for a useful result?), six monthly or yearly. The same goes for meetings with the nurse.
 
karl8228 said:
i have kept a food diary because i wanted to show the nurse what im eating!! now your saying Carbs!!! i think ive completely wasted a week on my diet!!
Click to expand...
You can try showing the nurse, see if you get any guidance from them. Don't rely on it though.
 
I personally had a face to face with the DN after I was diagnosed last September then had a follow up phone call. Then I had another call after I’d refused to take the Metformin so she could have a go at me, and haven’t heard from her since. I asked if I was due another blood test in March which was six months but didn’t speak to her, just the receptionist who confirmed I was due, had it done and it appeared on my online access. No comment or request for a review at all. Not bothered actually as she was so unpleasant I don’t particularly want to see her again. If I have a problem I’ll ask to see my GP.
 
Flakie said:
I personally had a face to face with the DN after I was diagnosed last September then had a follow up phone call. Then I had another call after I’d refused to take the Metformin so she could have a go at me, and haven’t heard from her since. I asked if I was due another blood test in March which was six months but didn’t speak to her, just the receptionist who confirmed I was due, had it done and it appeared on my online access. No comment or request for a review at all. Not bothered actually as she was so unpleasant I don’t particularly want to see her again. If I have a problem I’ll ask to see my GP.
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I always see my GP for my reviews...I saw the DSN at our surgery once & that was enough.
 
I don’t think we even have one. I just see a nurse at the surgery but it’s very straightforward and once a year.
 
Maybe I’ll get called up after a year then. Not holding my breath!
 
I lowered my BG levels to normal and my feet are small and pink again - they had puffed up on the 'cholesterol lowering' diet, and gone rather dark and a bit crusty, by eating low carb - and I think that the HCPs are sulking a bit. I've not seen my dr since being diagnosed. Best way maybe - got sorted out by my own efforts.
Those holes in the feet do not sound very nice - Keep taking the tablets, and if anything seems to be going wrong shout long and loud for attention. I hope that if you get your diet right and your BG levels more normal that they will start to heal.
I have a self imposed limit of 10 percent carbs, and started out with 50 gm of carbs a day as maximum. I eat twice a day, early and late, and feel great.
These days I go out teaching again - morris dancing on Mondays, Maypole and longsword on Wednesdays more morris dancing on Thursdays, and to various events at the weekends so I am glad I had the good shoes in the back of the wardrobe...
For some people the low carb diet is a bit of a pain, but I'm skipping around like a Spring lamb on it.
 
Hi @karl8228 and welcome to the forum. I hope you get your feet sorted out pdq.

You mentioned brown rice, I thought eating brown rice and brown pasta would be OK when I first came on here, but it was pointed out to me that brown anything (including bread) is only slightly less bad than white. A good substitute for rice is cauliflower rice, most supermarkets stock it now. And a bread most of us can tolerate is Burgen bread (made with soya and linseed) I love it and it is only £1 at Asda.

Have a good look at the other sections, especially food and carbs for helpful tips. Good luck!
 
thanks all for the advise guys 🙂 i will try to cut carbs are see how it goes for a few weeks! i hope i dont have a problem as im a massive meat and spud fan! my foot is pretty bad and i hope to god after losing weight i do heal up as i really dont want to lose limbs! all i keep reading is people losing limbs and going blind. im seeing my nurse today so fingers crossed she can help with most of the questions i have! (keep strong everyone)
 
Welcome to the forum, the best way to see what you can tolerate is to test, as it can be different for all of us. I can tolerate porridge, some people cant. I have also found I can tolerate the Hovis lower carb seeded bread 2 slices, but I have to be careful not to eat too much of it. Portion size is another factor with carbs, hence why I only eat 2 slices of the lower carb bread. There are also some fantastic recipes on here for lower carb alternatives to bread and pastry.

Good luck with your appointment today, but don't be surprised if the DN advises a low fat diet which most of us have found didn't work or help with our diabetes. I am lucky my DN nurses does recommend a lowish carb diet, but not cutting carbs out completely.
 
well i had my nurse visit today and i must say it was totally pointless! all she said was lose weight and come back in 3 months.. even tho i asked about dieting and more! didnt think it would be so basic! oh well. i had my other nurse appointment about the holes in my foot and the nurse did say she is worried as it is getting worse and no sign off healing... now im panicing.
 
Oh Karl that's rubbish 'advice', I would be tempted to see a doctor about your feet to allay your concerns. Big hug. x
 
Hi @karl8228. Well, you might as well ask the cat for dietary advice!😱 Not very helpful at all. In fact, most GP's know nothing about diet & some even admit to that. I see you like meat, which is good. It won't affect you BG levels, just make sure it's high quality & not full of filler. Wholemeal carbs can still spike, just take a little longer to do so. How do you feel about cauliflower? Well, it's a low carb & very versatile veg. I have cauli rice (which is lovely stir fried with egg), it's also good as a potato alternative when mashed with cheese & butter. Don't worry about the fats in this stuff. These are healthy fats, despite what you may have been told. They will not higher your cholesterol or fur up your arteries or make you fat (unless you eat too much, of course).🙂
 
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