Am I in the right place? Tommy1974

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tommyj1974

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Type 2
1st question - is this the correct place for posting or should I go out to the main board for advice??

2nd Question - from reading various documents Im a bit confused about carbs and food? Alot of posters say they have to stay away from carbs completely - like no spuds/pasta/bread etc - if I had to stop eating spuds and pasta I think I would die! Telling an Irishman he cant have potatoes is like telling a Chinese man he cant have rice! Stereotypes aside, I read on the diabetes.org site that you must have potatoes/pasta/rice as part of a balanced diabetic diet - who do I believe and in the absence of a monitor how am I meant to tell if I am 'particular-food adverse'?

3rd Question - I do have this for life don't I? Thats the sad part - no matter what I do now I will always have this hanging over my head. Its like punishment for the 'good living' over the past 15 years. I feel like why didnt I stop doing a,b or c earlier. Why didnt I start doing d,e and f earlier. Now its too late.

4th thing (not question) - just me being selfish and Im really sorry for the older readers - Im just feeling sorry for myself - every time I see the diabetes guides with pictures of older people on them I say to myself - I shouldnt have got this at 35 - why me?
 
hi tommy, this is the main board!

some people find that certain foods 'spike' their blood glucose levels after eating them. with type 2s who don't use insulin, they may choose to avoid that particular food - but it is personal choice.

as for feeling sorry for yourself - feel free 🙂 this is a wonderful place with people who know exactly what you're going through. new research is showing that there might be a type 2 'gene', and it isn't about what you did or didn't do - you may be genetically predisposed to type 2. sorry, i know that isn't much comfort!

welcome to the boards 🙂
 
Hi Tommy, diabetes is a complex disease, so there is no one sure-fire solution that can be adopted by all. You will find as time goes on that we all react differently to different things, so it really is a case of finding out what works for YOU. By that, I mean that you need to find the right compromise in your life between the differnt things that may have an effect on your diabetes.

Many people adopt an extreme low carb diet, and are happy with this as it may keep their BG under control without the need for excesive medication, or they may not be very active. Some people find that they can eat a moderate-carb diet, as long as they also take frequent exercise to increase their insulin sensitivity. Others find that losing weight helps. Whatever you read, you should consider as 'guidelines' not 'rules'. The only rules are the ones that you will make for yourself, and you will also occasionally break them to give yourself a much deserved treat or reward.

You said you used to be fairly active? If you can return to this then your diet will be much less affected.

You do have this for life, despite claims that you can cure yourself by following a certain regime. You can minimise its impact though, so that you will probably be healthier than many without diabetes - it's true! It's early days for you yet, so you're bound to still be in shock and maybe denial also - it's an overwhelming thing to appreciate quickly. And it isn't a disease of the older generations, it can affect anyone young or old.

p.s. I moved Tommy's post here, in case people are wondering about his first question!
 
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I'd just like to say that I'm actually happy that I've been diagnosed with diabetes ...... (er, let me rephrase that) ..... I'm actually healthier now than I was before I was diagnosed with diabetes.

I'm more active, I eat more healthily (which includes everything that I had before, including potatoes :D, but just in healthier portions) and I'm now looking forward to October when I'll have reached my target weight and can go out and buy myself a completely new set of clothes (meanwhile, my current ones will just have to hang on me in an unsatisfactory manner).

Who's to say how our condition will progress, but so long as we do our best (most of the time) from now on, there's no reason why we shouldn't live well in the future.

Good luck and be well,

Andy 🙂
 
Hi Tommy - just popped back to your other thread to see how you got on this morning :( Hopefully next week will go better. I bought my own meter from Boots and started testing myself anyway when the nurse wouldn't let me have one. Four months down the line I don't test quite as much as I have a fair idea of what foods I can't tolerate and the strips are expensive. You will learn so much on here by reading the threads you will probably be teaching your nurse next week! 😛 It does get better ... honest 🙂
 
hi and welcome to the forum

please dont beat yourself up about why me at the age of 35 as i was only 37 at diagnose and thought the same thing we all have good and bad days and the good thing is you are allowed here on boths days and shout or have a laugh..🙂
 
Hi Tommy

Answer 2: I'm not suprised, the whole to carb or not to carb thing confused the heck out of me when i was first diagnosed. The first forum i found was very aggressivly low carb, and left me in tears. Luckily i found this one gives a much more balanced view. Like you, the prospect of giving up or drastically reduceing my carb intake fills me with dread. It's one of the reasons that i'm not too bothered i'm on Metformin for, because at least i don't have to get paniccy about it. Basically carbs are converted into sugar by your body, eventually, they take longer to convert than sugar and vary greatly in the rate at which they release energy (this is why athletes eat pasta), some are slow release and some are fast release. Your body needs energy from sugar to function, it just doesn't respond well from having too much. I think (and correct me if i'm wrong here folks) it's all about how much energy releasing food you put in your mouth and how efficently you burn it off. I personally don't eat much sugar, in fact, i hardly eat any, but i'm not too choosy about carbs. Some people prefer to eat more sugar and less carbs.
The official NHS advice, as you've seen, is to reduce sugar and eat some carbohydrates, some people have found that they find it easier or it wporks better for them,to do the opposite, that's all. Buy a glucose meter, they're fairly inexpensive ( under 20 quid?) and will help you make an informed choice.. Test before eating and two hours after eating and see how food affects you.
3) Yes, unfortunately you are stuck with this for life, as we all are. Well, there are some people who claim to have fully recovered from Type 2 diabetes, but i'm guessing that they've simply reduced their insulin resistance by enough to stop taking tablets or worrying about it, usually by dieting and losing wieght. Diabetes is a progressive disease, it tends to get worse, in my opinion people like that may have it for now (and good on them for doing so) but it will probably come back in the future. Either than of they're on a strict diet regime for life, which is basically having diet controlled diabetes right?

3 and 4) This isn't your fault. It's not punishment for a life of excess and greed at all. It's just one of those things, you came up "unlucky" on the great lottery of life. I too worried that since i now had the same medical condition as two of my 80+ year old grandparents, it must mean i was in the same general state of health. (I had just turned 33 when i was diagnosed) Wrong!!! It's probaly their fault i've got it, inheriting the "most likely to get diabetes" gene from both sides of my family at once. ;-). I manage not to hold it against them ;-). The world alas, is also full of energetic, healthy and thin people with diabetes and sendentary, unhealthy, overwieght people who haven't got it. Don't feel bad about feeling bad, it's natural. It's a stupid, annoying disease that can affect anyone, and although you can't see it, you can't escape it. It gets us all down at some time or another and the first few months are the worst part. I never thought i could cope with being diabetic, i really did think it was a one way ticket to madness when i was first diagnosed (i sat in the doctor's office and thought "don't let it be diabetes, don't let it be diabetes.." and gave myself a spliting headache.I'd only gone in for some antibiotics for my suspected "urinary tract infection" which mysteriously dissapeared after i was given insulin....and that was only because i'd been freaked out by my blurry vision). But somehow, a year and a half later i'm still here, i'm still vaguely sane (only vaguely but i always was a little crackers) and i've gone down two dress sizes (look, i'm a girl, it's a big deal, especially since i gave up chocolate, hehehe.) It still annoys me (today a couple of my workmates were complaining about how many "sins" various chocolate bars and sweets were in the slimming world scheme, at least they can leave slimming world if they like....) but i get by.
As my DSN once told me, the fact that i'm worried about my diabetes is in fact a good thing, it shows that i'm taking it seriously.

Sorry that went on a bit, but hope it helps. You're not alone, you can do this.

Rachel
 
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