A confused newbie

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Sarah1983

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Type 2
Hi all, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a couple of weeks ago and got out of hospital on Friday. Apparently it's standard procedure here to be admitted to hospital for some reason but god knows why because although they managed to get my blood sugar stable while I was there it's got to start all over again now I'm home and not simply sitting in a hospital bed 22 hours a day 🙄

I'm on Metformin and insulin injections at the moment but they say there's a chance I may not need the injections later if I get rid of my excess weight and do regular exercise. Everything's a little confusing right now, probably not helped by the fact that I'm living in Germany and speak little German and that they measure glucose levels in the hundreds where everyone else seems to do it in the single figures :confused:

Really struggling with it dropping lower than they've told me it should be at the moment. But the levels they've told me to aim for seem to be higher than the recommended levels, found a converter and it seems they've got me aiming for between 6 and 11 rather than 4 and 7 :confused: I speak to the specialist on Wednesday again so will have to ask about it then.

Glad I found this forum, hopefully I'll be able to get rid of some of the confusion, get my blood sugar under control and get rid of the 80lbs I've been trying to lose for the past 2 years but which has refused to shift so far.
 
Hi Sarah, welcome to the forum 🙂 Dividing the 'hundreds'-type reading by 18 will get the type of reading used in the UK, and vice-versa. As for your target range, this may be intended to bring your levels under control gradually rather than aiming for a steep drop - they will probably recommend lower readings later when you are regularly achieving the current ones. It's actually kinder to the body to have a more gradual fall in levels, so I wouldn't worry too much about it for now, but also it's not a problem if your levels are sometimes below this. What sort of insulin are you on, and how many injections?

Have a read of Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter and get a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker if you can, in order to get a good understanding of what it all entails. You need to analyse your diet to see exactly what you are eating, particularly the amount of carbohydrate in everything you eat and drink, so start a food diary and then look for areas where you might be able to improve things by substitution or by reducing portion sizes of things like rice, potatoes, pasta, bread and other major carb items - bulk up meals with more veg or pulses. Remember, it is all carbs that will raise your levels, not just sugary items 🙂 Also, have a read of Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S for a guide to efficient testing, making sure to record your results in your diary.

Exercise will most certainly help, so find something you enjoy and perhaps set yourself small, achievable goals - try not to get overwhelmed by everything, you don't have to achieve everything overnight, it's more of a marathon than a sprint - you need to make adaptations to your diet and activity levels that you can sustain long term. Pop into our weight loss section for lots of support and ideas about losing that weight.

If you have any questions please let us know! 🙂
 
Ah thanks, I did wonder whether it was an "aim for this for now and we'll look at reducing it more later" sort of thing but it hasn't been explained, nor was I told what normal levels are. I'm on ActRapid 3 times a day and Protaphane at night. I've been keeping a food diary for a while as I've been trying to lose weight so will keep that up. Have bought the kindle version of the Gretchen Becker book so will have a read of that. Will have a read of the links too.

Exercise...ugh, dirty word here lol, I've not managed to find any exercise I really enjoy so far. I do a good 2 hours or more of walking with my dog almost every day though. And I walk to the shops, doctors etc since I can't drive. I've been looking at the couch to 5k program since I could do that with Spen and it wouldn't seem like exercise for the sake of exercise because I can tell myself it's for his sake :D
 
Dog walking is good! And if it can become dog-jogging then even better! 🙂 I'm not familiar with those insulins - are you injecting the ActaRapid before each meal, in fixed doses?
 
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Hi Sarah

Couch to 5k is great, I am on week 4 and can't beleive I can now run for 5 minute intervals. I struggled to run for a minute before. I do it 3 times a week and go to zumba one night a week. I was diagnosed with type 2 about two months ago and even with UK doc's its very confusing, so I really feel for you. I have not been given medication, but am trying to control with diet and exercise, I have my next blood test in July, so fingers crossed its come down and I don't have to go on medication. Good luck hope you figure it out. 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum Sarah1983 🙂

Since no one has yet suggested it, why not try Geocaching if you like walking and think the idea of finding hidden things sounds fun 🙂
 
Hi Sarah,

There's not much useful i can add other than the walking with a dog = brilliant excersize (oh and i love Germany, i've been to the Eiffel regin many times).
 
And just to add to my confusion, the army med centre doesn't stock the strips for the meter the hospital gave me so they've given me a different meter. With English measurements. My doctor needs the German measurements, I guess I'm going to be doing lots of converting. They also don't stock the pens the hospital had me using so are going to change those too. Same insulin, just a different type of pen. As though things aren't confusing enough lol.

Thanks for the welcome all 🙂 I might look into Geocaching when I return to the UK, it'd be like a treasure hunt :D

Germany is lovely. It would be even more lovely if I didn't have problems with the language. Been trying soooo hard to learn but people speak soooo fast and my pronunciation makes them laugh. I could happily tell them that I'm 12 years old, have 2 brothers, am Pisces, like to go to the cinema and various other useless things I learned at school but none of that helps me in real life lol.
 
Sarah1983 said:
Hi all, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a couple of weeks ago and got out of hospital on Friday. Apparently it's standard procedure here to be admitted to hospital for some reason but god knows why ...
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It's because all the hospitals, GPs etc claim on one of the several insurance policies. There are a couple of state insurance schemes and many private insurance schemes and when you go to your GP or to the hospital, they claim off your insurer. If you are english, they claim off what used to be called E111. When my son was born in Germany, they were trying to get my wife to stay for a couple more days purely because they can claim the extra fee off the insurer. Here in the UK they can't wait to get rid of you.

They still have schemes where if you are run down, you get sent off to some posh hotel in a Kurort and pampered for ten days. The insurers pick up the bill. Always in pleasant locations like Bad Sachsa in the Harz, by a lake or on the sea.
 
Guyfrombrum said:
oh and i love Germany, i've been to the Eiffel regin many times.
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I been a few times to see the roman archaeology, and the occasional weinfest in Cochem. It always fascinated me that the quernstones, used for milling wheat, found in some parts of yorkshire came from the Vulkaneiffel, from the mines around Mayen, rather than the nearby Pennines where they were produced around Wharncliffe near Sheffield.
 
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