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Advice needed - diagnosed today

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Vvv777

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I got diagnosed type 2 diabetic today. The Dr gave me Metformin and Alogliptin, one a day of each. Then said come back nxt week I will give you Trulicity and showed me how the injection works.

That's it end of appointment

I got the prescription and went home. But I'm confused. I have no idea anything about diabetes. I mean it's not a huge shock because I am very overweight but I was shocked at the clinic to be told and I just wondered home. But now I'm home I have so many questions. And why these 2 drugs. And why the Trulicity injections starting next week. And what do I eat or not eat etc what else do I need to know about this condition.

Any advice please
 
Oh wow. That's a lot to take in at once. Sounds like your medical team were pretty unhelpful. You've come to the right place for help and others will be along soon to advise on the drugs prescribed to you. Do you know what your HbA1c level was? This is a number of 30 or above. Mine was 88 a couple of months ago and some people are a lot higher.

What made you go in for a blood test?
 
EllsBells said:
Oh wow. That's a lot to take in at once. Sounds like your medical team were pretty unhelpful. You've come to the right place for help and others will be along soon to advise on the drugs prescribed to you. Do you know what your HbA1c level was? This is a number of 30 or above. Mine was 88 a couple of months ago and some people are a lot higher.

What made you go in for a blood test?
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My number was 70. I recently got diagnosed with lupus and was having some blood tests done for that and they did my blood sugar too. I don't know what this is relevant to tho is it high low what or what it indicates. Oh I've just been given a prescription and left to myself
 
Now that is something I can answer: 30-42 normal range 42-48 pre-diabetic, 48+ diabetic. Diabetic levels mean that your pancreas is either producing a lot of insulin that doesn't work properly or is not producing enough to deal with the sugars in your blood from what you are eating. Some of the symptoms may include tingling and numbness in extremities (feet particularly), thrush if you are a woman, hyperglycaemia, irritability, inflammation, constant thirst or raging thirst and a lot of trips to the loo and difficulties in getting over infections and injuries. It can also affect kidney and liver function (I've got that too apparently) and can make your vision blurry.

From my experience you ought to be referred for a retinopathy appointment for your eyes and referred on to a diabetes learning course so you may need to prod the GP.

So sorry to hear about the Lupus diagnosis as well - that's rough.
 
Anitram said:
I'm a bit confused about the Trulicity as I thought that is usually given after other diabetes medicines have been tried without success but other more knowledgeable members might be able to.
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I think Trulicity slows digestion so may have been prescribed to assist weight loss?
 
Welcome to the forum.
Oh my they sound very unhelpful . Back in the day when I was first diagnosed T2 my Hb1ac was much higher than yours and I was only on Metformin.
Will you be seeing/ speaking to one if the diabetic nurses at your practice anytime soon .

In the meantime, don’t panic, ok , withe the right info diabetes is a condition that can be managed well, you will get lots of info from folks here .
 
EllsBells said:
Now that is something I can answer: 30-42 normal range 42-48 pre-diabetic, 48+ diabetic. Diabetic levels mean that your pancreas is either producing a lot of insulin that doesn't work properly or is not producing enough to deal with the sugars in your blood from what you are eating. Some of the symptoms may include tingling and numbness in extremities (feet particularly), thrush if you are a woman, hyperglycaemia, irritability, inflammation, constant thirst or raging thirst and a lot of trips to the loo and difficulties in getting over infections and injuries. It can also affect kidney and liver function (I've got that too apparently) and can make your vision blurry.

From my experience you ought to be referred for a retinopathy appointment for your eyes and referred on to a diabetes learning course so you may need to prod the GP.

So sorry to hear about the Lupus diagnosis as well - that's rough.
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Thanks for that. I don't have any diabetes symptoms so I think that's why I was surprised. Am I meant to make an optician appointment? What else do I not know? It's worrying that I was given drugs and sent home
 
Ljc said:
Welcome to the forum.
Oh my they sound very unhelpful . Back in the day when I was first diagnosed T2 my Hb1ac was much higher than yours and I was only on Metformin.
Will you be seeing/ speaking to one if the diabetic nurses at your practice anytime soon .

In the meantime, don’t panic, ok , withe the right info diabetes is a condition that can be managed well, you will get lots of info from folks here .
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks. No I have no further appointments with Dr or nurse. Just the drugs. And told to come back nxt week for the Trulicity
 
Vvv777 said:
Thanks for that. I don't have any diabetes symptoms so I think that's why I was surprised. Am I meant to make an optician appointment? What else do I not know? It's worrying that I was given drugs and sent home
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No, your GP will make a referral to a retinopathy unit. Glad you have none of the symptoms - I had the works and they weren't fun.
 
Vvv777 said:
Hi, thanks. No I have no further appointments with Dr or nurse. Just the drugs. And told to come back nxt week for the Trulicity
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I thought you said in the first post that you have to go back next week?
 
Vvv777 said:
Hi, thanks. No I have no further appointments with Dr or nurse. Just the drugs. And told to come back nxt week for the Trulicity
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May I ask where about in the uk you are, I don’t mean actual area , just country , as what you’ve been told about meds seems rather ott at the moment to me unless it’s something to do with Lupus, please bare in mind I am no medic .

As for the eye checks your Gp practice needs to refer you to a specialist clinic.
 
grovesy said:
I thought you said in the first post that you have to go back next week?
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Oh yea sorry I didn't mean to confuse you. Of course that is an appointment He said come back to get the injections. But he isn't there nxt week, he said he is off for a week so I think maybe a different Dr or a nurse will give me them. But he made no mention of diet or weight or important info I shud know, just come back to get the injections.
 
Ljc said:
May I ask where about in the uk you are, I don’t mean actual area , just country , as what you’ve been told about meds seems rather ott at the moment to me unless it’s something to do with Lupus, please bare in mind I am no medic .

As for the eye checks your Gp practice needs to refer you to a specialist clinic.
Click to expand...
I'm in Manchester, UK

As far as I know these drugs don't interfere with the lupus drugs, I'm just on hydroxychloroquine
 
Vvv777 said:
Oh yea sorry I didn't mean to confuse you. Of course that is an appointment He said come back to get the injections. But he isn't there nxt week, he said he is off for a week so I think maybe a different Dr or a nurse will give me them. But he made no mention of diet or weight or important info I shud know, just come back to get the injections.
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You need to write down questions you have when you go nest week.
Just bear in mind the Eye Screening others have mentioned are separate to an opticians one, and they are not always held in Eye Clinics.
 
grovesy said:
You need to write down questions you have when you go nest week.
Just bear in mind the Eye Screening others have mentioned are separate to an opticians one, and they are not always held in Eye Clinics.
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What sort of stuff should I be asking? I am completely new and know nothing about diabetes so it makes it hard to ask anything
 
What 1 or 2 pieces of advice would you all give to a completely new to diabetes person. Knowledge, experience or questions to ask, stuff to keep on top of thanks in advance
 
There is an orange tab at the top of the page' 'Learning Zone' - click on that, read the Type 2 info and learn a lot! - as well as asking questions here.
 
Lupus is an auto immune condition, same as Type 1 diabetes, but not Type 2 diabetes.
 
Keep a note pad and just jot down anything which comes to mind.

Ask about symptoms, treatments, complications from/with the Lupus, weight loss, potential treatment plans if nothing changes, potential treatment plans if you can get your blood glucose levels under control.

Ask about an appointment with the Diabetes Nurse in the practice.
Ask about the diabetes courses which are available too.

You may quickly discover that the info and the support is there but that you have to ask for it. Coming here is a great start because we can point you in roughly the right direction.

And if there's anything you want to ask in here then ask. Anything you don't understand or get frustrated by is all fair game in here!
 
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