Anyone up for answering random questions? :D

[DDWeaver]

Hi all, yet another newbie here.

I received a diagnosis yesterday but I don't have an appointment with my GP for another fortnight, so I am sort of bimbling around trying to work out what to do with myself.

I already have a list of a million questions to ask her, but I thought maybe you lovely folks might be able to help with some of the ones that are less specific to me...

• Are there any OTC remedies, vitamins or supplements that I should avoid because they're known to have an adverse effect on blood sugar? When I was diagnosed with asthma, for example, I was told I should avoid ibuprofen.
• Are there any sort of minor seeming issues or concerns that someone without diabetes would be able to manage at home that I should ask for support with or be more mindful of now?
• Has anyone tried something like the Zoe testing programme and app? They claim to offer personalised diet advice & support based on short term continuous glucose monitoring and a gut microbiome assessment, but reviews either 5 or 0 and it is NOT cheap. I tried searching the forums for posts but I think the search was picking up any time anyone had used the word 'zone'...
• Is there anything you wish you'd known at the start of your diabetes experience?

 

[Drummer]

Hi all, yet another newbie here.

I received a diagnosis yesterday but I don't have an appointment with my GP for another fortnight, so I am sort of bimbling around trying to work out what to do with myself.

I already have a list of a million questions to ask her, but I thought maybe you lovely folks might be able to help with some of the ones that are less specific to me...

• Are there any OTC remedies, vitamins or supplements that I should avoid because they're known to have an adverse effect on blood sugar? When I was diagnosed with asthma, for example, I was told I should avoid ibuprofen.
• Are there any sort of minor seeming issues or concerns that someone without diabetes would be able to manage at home that I should ask for support with or be more mindful of now?
• Has anyone tried something like the Zoe testing programme and app? They claim to offer personalised diet advice & support based on short term continuous glucose monitoring and a gut microbiome assessment, but reviews either 5 or 0 and it is NOT cheap. I tried searching the forums for posts but I think the search was picking up any time anyone had used the word 'zone'...
• Is there anything you wish you'd known at the start of your diabetes experience?

As an ordinary type 2 I found that all I needed to do was go back to eating according to Atkins, no more than 50gm of carbs a day, and that sorted it.
I was prescribed Metformin and Atorvastatin which I took for around 5 weeks and was so very ill - but that was just a diversion, and I never needed them anyway, and I have mostly recovered from their effects.
I don't tend to take remedies, but have only read of problems with added sugar in some things.
The low carb way of eating is really simple and I find it very easy to do - you might like to spend a few pennies or Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution - the 2003 edition is the latest one I think - there were millions sold so probably still available. No need for anything fancy or expensive.
Depending on how far into the realm of diabetes you have come you might like to use a blood glucose tester to see what you can and can't eat and still stay in normal numbers. I found that once I reduced my carbs so that meals did not take me over 8mmol/l at the 2 hour mark I could then stick to those meals and see my numbers gently reduce down and down as my metabolism recovered.

 

[MrPixels]

As an ordinary type 2 I found that all I needed to do was go back to eating according to Atkins, no more than 50gm of carbs a day, and that sorted it.
I was prescribed Metformin and Atorvastatin which I took for around 5 weeks and was so very ill - but that was just a diversion, and I never needed them anyway, and I have mostly recovered from their effects.
I don't tend to take remedies, but have only read of problems with added sugar in some things.
The low carb way of eating is really simple and I find it very easy to do - you might like to spend a few pennies or Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution - the 2003 edition is the latest one I think - there were millions sold so probably still available. No need for anything fancy or expensive.
Depending on how far into the realm of diabetes you have come you might like to use a blood glucose tester to see what you can and can't eat and still stay in normal numbers. I found that once I reduced my carbs so that meals did not take me over 8mmol/l at the 2 hour mark I could then stick to those meals and see my numbers gently reduce down and down as my metabolism recovered.

Suspect Statins are on the list of things my GP wants me to take, what's the general concensus? yes or no?

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi all, yet another newbie here.

I received a diagnosis yesterday but I don't have an appointment with my GP for another fortnight, so I am sort of bimbling around trying to work out what to do with myself.

I already have a list of a million questions to ask her, but I thought maybe you lovely folks might be able to help with some of the ones that are less specific to me...

• Are there any OTC remedies, vitamins or supplements that I should avoid because they're known to have an adverse effect on blood sugar? When I was diagnosed with asthma, for example, I was told I should avoid ibuprofen.
• Are there any sort of minor seeming issues or concerns that someone without diabetes would be able to manage at home that I should ask for support with or be more mindful of now?
• Has anyone tried something like the Zoe testing programme and app? They claim to offer personalised diet advice & support based on short term continuous glucose monitoring and a gut microbiome assessment, but reviews either 5 or 0 and it is NOT cheap. I tried searching the forums for posts but I think the search was picking up any time anyone had used the word 'zone'...
• Is there anything you wish you'd known at the start of your diabetes experience?

Welcome to the forum there is lots of information here but all of it might not apply to you as how you manage your condition will vary depending on what your HbA1C is, that is how far you are into the diabetes zone. The threshold for diagnosis is anything over 47mmol/mol so if you are not far above that then some dietary changes may well be sufficient, if a lot higher then you may be prescribed medication which alongside the dietary changes will help bring down your blood glucose.
So depending on those factors the suggestions may well differ.
However many find a low carbohydrate approach is successful in both losing weight if you need to and reducing blood glucose, this link will help you with some explanation if that is a way that you want to consider.
Other people find a low calorie or shakes based regime suits them. Whatever you choose has to be enjoyable otherwise it will not be sustainable.
There are various things that as diabetic that you need to be careful of and that is your feet and eyes so you should get appointments for retinal eye screening and also a foot check. Wounds can take longer to heal if blood glucose is high and potential for infection, oral hygiene is also important.
A good investment is a home blood glucose monitor so you can check the impact of food and meals on your blood glucose and check progress day to day, week to week or if you feel unwell. As Type 2 most surgeries don't prescribe so people self fund. Inexpensive monitors and test strips can be bought on line. The GlucoNavii or Spirit TEE2 are a couple with the cheapest test strips.
The book or app Carbs and Cals is also useful as it gives carb values of a portion sizes of a whole range of foods.
There are other apps people use Nutracheck or myfitnsspal.

 

[pinkjude]

I use the Gliuco navii to test my BG as the starter kit including everything you need is only about 12.00 and if diabetic you can claim the VAT back. I went on to the website for my health authority and found out my GP surgery subscribes to something called second nature which is a programme for those with diabetes so I joined for free. My diabetic nurse booked me on a day course for my type of diabetes( everyone should get this). I joined the low carb programme and that has definitely helped me. Lots of support including zoom meetings weekly where a coach joins you to ask and answer questions. You do pay but I have found it very useful. Drink plenty of water, move as much as possible. You have done the right thing by coming to this site as you get so much support.

 

[Catbanj]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I bought the Glucorx meter. https://www.glucorx.co.uk/shop/glucorx-q-meter/ It is easy to use, just gives you a result so no confusing buttons etc and the test strips are affordable.

I decided to test loads, to work out what I could eat and what caused me a problem.

At the start I tested
- waking and then two hours after breakfast. This allowed me to see the impact of different foods- I picked something that worked for me and had the same thing every day while things settled down. Initially I was aiming for an increase after two hours of 2 or less .... now it's usually unchanged because I know what to eat and what not to eat.

- before lunch and two hours after. Again, I cut out things that made my sugar spike and stay high.

- before dinner and two hours after.

By doing this I worked out what foods are ok for me and which aren't..... and that's the problem. What works for one person could cause problems for someone else because we are all so different. I have porridge for breakfast and it drops my levels, others say it is rocket fuel and causes a long spike for them.

I paid about £24 for a years subscription to Nutricheck and record EVERYTHING I eat. I aim to eat 130g or carb or less. Some people set a far lower target- I couldn't fit that into my life so went for 130g as it is not too restrictive. I also have an app on my phone to track my blood test results, so I can spot patterns.

It can seem too much to deal with at times, so pick one thing and fix that. Then, move on to the next. you will find what works for you.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Has anyone tried something like the Zoe testing programme and app? They claim to offer personalised diet advice & support based on short term continuous glucose monitoring and a gut microbiome assessment, but reviews either 5 or 0 and it is NOT cheap. I tried searching the forums for posts but I think the search was picking up any time anyone had used the word 'zone'...

Welcome to the forum @DDWeaver

Zoe gets something of a mixed response on the forum.

As I understand it, it grew out of a study looking at the impact of gut biome / microbiota and possible impact on how your body responds to food (and whether one could predict the other).

What we see regularly on the forums that different foods suit different people well, and there can be a seemingly bewildering variations from the same foods. What is less clear, after further investigation of the initial study, is how much of this can be predicted from microbiome.

There’s some discussion on this thread

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/waitrose-seeded-wholemeal-rolls.102031/#post-1196940

Which links to (probably?) the original study behind Zoe. It does seem that quite a lot of the “personalised advice” boils down to being fairly standard mainstream recommendations.

The forum’s common method of ‘eat to your meter’ seems to me to be arguably a more direct and pragmatic way of modifying a person’s menu for better BG outcomes - using a BG meter to check immediately before eating and again 2hrs later and altering portion size / carb source to aim for a ‘meal rise’ of no more than 2-3mmol/L from before to after.

In terms of OTC remedies and minor things… these can become more important over time (eg paying special attention to your feet). Plus some regular innocuous things may need to be dropped if you start on certain meds (like grapefruit doesn’t seem to get on with Statins)