Newly diagnosed

[Mandz]

Hi
Just been diagnosed with type2a few days ago and the enormity of it has just sunk in , so now I’m scared, I’ve had a lot of serious illness in my 61 years , cancer (twice) ,chronic arthritis and too many operations to count,but this diagnosis scares me me the most . I came away from the doctors with a prescription for Metformin and information that someone will be in touch with me , could be the Tooth Fairy for all I know !
So now I’m waiting for a letter/ phone call , in the meantime I haven’t a clue as to what I should be doing, any advice would be greatly appreciated !

 

[Northerner]

Hi
Just been diagnosed with type2a few days ago and the enormity of it has just sunk in , so now I’m scared, I’ve had a lot of serious illness in my 61 years , cancer (twice) ,chronic arthritis and too many operations to count,but this diagnosis scares me me the most . I came away from the doctors with a prescription for Metformin and information that someone will be in touch with me , could be the Tooth Fairy for all I know !
So now I’m waiting for a letter/ phone call , in the meantime I haven’t a clue as to what I should be doing, any advice would be greatly appreciated !

Hi Mandz, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did it come about?

First things first - don't be scared! Although diabetes is a serious condition the good news is that it can be managed very well and the adjustments you make in order to manage it can lead to you feeling much happier and healthier than you may have felt for some time 🙂 To get a handle on things I would recommend starting off by reading Maggie Davey's letter, which gives a good overview. I would also highly recommend getting hold of a copy of the excellent Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, which is a very well-written and positive guide to these early weeks and months 🙂 In order to manage diabetes you need to understand it and how it affects you personally. Basically, it is chiefly concerned with your carbohydrate consumption, since it is carbs that will raise your blood sugar levels the most (things like rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, sugary and floury products etc.). This doesn't mean you need to exclude these things entirely from your diet, but you will need to find out the type and quantity of things that your body can tolerate well - these tolerances can vary considerably from person to person, which is why it can be difficult to give out a 'one-size-fits-all' list of food items.

In order to discover your tolerances it is necessary to test your blood sugar levels before and after eating as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S using a home blood glucose meter. If you haven't been given a meter and strips then it is worth finding your own for a while as you determine your tolerances and tailor your diet so it gives maximum flexibility at the same time as being kind to your blood sugar levels 🙂 If you need to buy your own then the cheapest option we have come across is the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50. Start a Food Diary, and write down the amount of carbs in everything you eat and drink, and if you get a meter, write down the blood sugar readings before and after eating. All this can take a little time as you will probably have to try things more than once to see the true patterns, but it is worth doing as it will set you up properly for understanding how to keep your diabetes under good control 🙂

Also, if you can get in some regular exercise then that will really help, not so much by losing weight (if you need to), but by making your body more sensitive to the insulin you are producing - this can really help in bringing your levels under control 🙂 Something like a brisk daily walk after lunch would be fine, but whatever you can manage will help - try to find something you enjoy! 🙂

Please ask any and every question you may have - nothing is considered 'silly' - and we will do our best to help you out 🙂 I'm so pleased you found us so soon, and hope that we can assuage your fears and make your future look much more positive 🙂

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum Mandz. I am sorry to hear about your diagnosis,
but pleased that you have joined us, where there is plenty of help and support.

First thing to say is that whilst Diabetes is a serious condition it is manageable. In T2 Diabetes your body is not able to process the glucose that is in your blood, as there is either not enough insulin being made or your body is not able to use th einsuoin very well (insulin resistance). The metformin that you have been prescribed will help your body make use of the insulin that your body is making.

The glucose in your blood will come in part from your liver, which tricked out a background level, but most of it will come from the carbohydrates that you eat. Whilst his includes sugar, it also includes things like pasta, potatoes, rice and the more obvious cakes and sweets.

Many people on here with T 2 find it helpful to test their glucose levels so that they can gather information about what impact different foods have on them. The test strips are often not prescribed in the NHS for T2, so if self funding the cheapest one available is SD Codefree. As far as I know these are only available by ordering online.

The book: Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker is recommended by many on here with T2. It takes people through each aspect of manageing your condition with clear explanations.

I am sure that others will be along with personal advice soon.
Just remember that this is a manageable condition.

 

[SB2015]

Snap!! I should type more quickly.

 

[Mandz]

Hi Mandz, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how did it come about?

First things first - don't be scared! Although diabetes is a serious condition the good news is that it can be managed very well and the adjustments you make in order to manage it can lead to you feeling much happier and healthier than you may have felt for some time 🙂 To get a handle on things I would recommend starting off by reading Maggie Davey's letter, which gives a good overview. I would also highly recommend getting hold of a copy of the excellent Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, which is a very well-written and positive guide to these early weeks and months 🙂 In order to manage diabetes you need to understand it and how it affects you personally. Basically, it is chiefly concerned with your carbohydrate consumption, since it is carbs that will raise your blood sugar levels the most (things like rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, sugary and floury products etc.). This doesn't mean you need to exclude these things entirely from your diet, but you will need to find out the type and quantity of things that your body can tolerate well - these tolerances can vary considerably from person to person, which is why it can be difficult to give out a 'one-size-fits-all' list of food items.

In order to discover your tolerances it is necessary to test your blood sugar levels before and after eating as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S using a home blood glucose meter. If you haven't been given a meter and strips then it is worth finding your own for a while as you determine your tolerances and tailor your diet so it gives maximum flexibility at the same time as being kind to your blood sugar levels 🙂 If you need to buy your own then the cheapest option we have come across is the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50. Start a Food Diary, and write down the amount of carbs in everything you eat and drink, and if you get a meter, write down the blood sugar readings before and after eating. All this can take a little time as you will probably have to try things more than once to see the true patterns, but it is worth doing as it will set you up properly for understanding how to keep your diabetes under good control 🙂

Also, if you can get in some regular exercise then that will really help, not so much by losing weight (if you need to), but by making your body more sensitive to the insulin you are producing - this can really help in bringing your levels under control 🙂 Something like a brisk daily walk after lunch would be fine, but whatever you can manage will help - try to find something you enjoy! 🙂

Please ask any and every question you may have - nothing is considered 'silly' - and we will do our best to help you out 🙂 I'm so pleased you found us so soon, and hope that we can assuage your fears and make your future look much more positive 🙂

Thanks for all your knowledge and I will be ordering the books from Amazon . My partner has Type 2 as well but he doesn’t seem to follow a diet and I think. Just wings it to a certain degree we rarely eat meals together as he works silly hours and eats when he can , he has told me all about carbohydrates and sugar which I knew about and by the way pasta and rice are my favourite things to eat so it’s just getting into the mindset which will be very hard .

 

[JMyrtle]

Try cooking the pasta, rinsing it in cold water to remove as much starch as possible so it's completely cold and then reheating.
By doing that the structure of the carbohydrate is changed, converts to blood glucose much more slowly and doesn't raise your blood glucose as much.

 

[Mandz]

Try cooking the pasta, rinsing it in cold water to remove as much starch as possible so it's completely cold and then reheating.
By doing that the structure of the carbohydrate is changed, converts to blood glucose much more slowly and doesn't raise your blood glucose as much.

Thank you for your help

 

[Madeline]

I’ve bulk cooked a shedload of wholewheat pasta and brown rice, portioned them up, and frozen them. Makes life a little easier, and saves faffing with scales all the time. I freeze them in ziplock sandwich bags, flattened out and stacked they take up very little space.

 

[JMyrtle]

Do you find the pre cooking trick works with rice as well?
I also find new potatoes in moderation ( proper new potatoes dug and cooked straight from the garden not stale stuff off a supermarket shelf,) don't affect my blood glucose at all.
Same with apples, picked from the tree and eaten at once no problem, couple of days in the fruit bowl allowing sugar to change to starch blood sugar readings sky high.
The moral of this seems to be the fresher the better.

 

[Madeline]

Definitely works with rice too, I just wish it worked with bread. Actually, I wonder if toasting it would work - I will experiment and update.

Apparently it works with potato too, frozen then reheated mash. Again I’ve not tried.

I’d love an apple tree, or newly dug potatoes. Sadly mine are both via nice Mr Waitrose, who is my one indulgence.

 

[Mandz]

I’ve bulk cooked a shedload of wholewheat pasta and brown rice, portioned them up, and frozen them. Makes life a little easier, and saves faffing with scales all the time. I freeze them in ziplock sandwich bags, flattened out and stacked they take up very little space. I’m just really confused about what I can eat,what I can’t eat, how much I can eat.
I’m really hungry and I’m so use to eating whatever I like , right now I’m craving bread as I haven’t had any since I was diagnosed at the beginning of the week , I’m also getting conflicting info I shall definitely try freezing wholemeal cooked pasta .

 

[Madeline]

I’m only a couple of weeks in too, so I really understand - I felt like I was swimming in information that I just couldn’t take in because of a bad case of the brain fogs. I started off by buying some books, there’s a few really helpful ones recommended on here, and tried to keep my carbs to a total max of 40g per meal with no snacks in between. I’m now down to 40g carbs at breakfast and dinner, with lunch being very light on carbs, usually salad and something like tuna or chicken.

 

[JMyrtle]

Snack wise, cheese, olives and nuts, preferably not roasted or salted but with care if you have a "delicate" tummy.
Celery with cream cheese and hummus with raw carrot is also good but not too much as sometime carrots can raise levels a little.
But never, ever grapes.

 

[Madeline]

Snack wise, cheese, olives and nuts, preferably not roasted or salted but with care if you have a "delicate" tummy.
Celery with cream cheese and hummus with raw carrot is also good but not too much as sometime carrots can raise levels a little.
But never, ever grapes.

Thank you! What about eggs, are they ok? I have very low cholesterol, so I’m not worried about that factor

 

[Mandz]

I’m only a couple of weeks in too, so I really understand - I felt like I was swimming in information that I just couldn’t take in because of a bad case of the brain fogs. I started off by buying some books, there’s a few really helpful ones recommended on here, and tried to keep my carbs to a total max of 40g per meal with no snacks in between. I’m now down to 40g carbs at breakfast and dinner, with lunch being very light on carbs, usually salad and something like tuna or chicken.

Hi Madeline
I was diagnosed a week ago tomorrow and feel that I was just sent away with no information and just a prescription for Metformin .
I am gradually letting all the information sink in but have also found conflicting info , I will be attending a diabetic clinic at my doctors so hopefully this will help . Like you I have reduce my carbs to very small amount , also sugar to zero , the only thing I really really don’t want to give up is wine , I don’t have it everyday but when I do I really enjoy it . Good luck x

 

[Madeline]

Same here, I’ve had one appointment with a practice nurse, who extolled the virtues of non white carbs, gave me a leaflet, and sent me on my way with a prescription for metformin.

Everything I’ve learned has been from on here, and self education. This forum is an outstanding resource.

Good luck x

 

[Drummer]

I was diagnosed two years ago.
Possibly some type two people can eat high carb foods but I can't. To get normal numbers I need to eat low carb foods, but that has meant a significant weightloss.

 

[Madeline]

A week here, 2 days with a meter, and I’ve already halved my morning porridge consumption, and learnt that I definitely can’t even eat biscuits that are supposed to be suitable. And I’ve moved on from my pyjama bottoms sliding down to needing new jeans for the same reason. Very low carb is definitely helping.