Diagnosed on Thursday

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Namaste

Namaste

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello
I'm new here and newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I'm trying to get my head round the dietary stuff and to rethink my meals. We have diabetes in the family so it is not totally new but having to stick to a regime is my downfall in many areas of life so I'm not sure how I'm going to manage long term.
I've joined the boards to be able to ask for help and advice and for support from people who understand.
Thank you
Jane
 
Hi Jane welcome to the forum. I am a type 1 so possibly not the best for advice, but there are loads of folk on here who will be able to help you with any questions you have. I just wanted to say "hello"....Tintin
 
Hi Namaste, welcome to the forum. There's a good deal to learn and it can be daunting, even when you know a little already. Here are a few links to help you get started:

Type 2 Diabetes; The First Year, from Amazon
Jennifer's Blog, and
Maggie Davy's Open Letter (PDF)

If your doctor/nurse won't give you a meter and strips I suggest you buy your own as testing BGs is one of the most important tools in lowering blood glucose levels. You can get a decent cheap one here whose strips won't bankrupt you.

As for diet, many of our members (including me) have found lowering our carb intake works very well, but we all react differently to foodstuffs so testing is vital to finding out what foods are safe for us. Cutting down on spuds, rice, pasta and white bread is a good idea though as carbs convert to glucose very quickly and can raise blood sugars horrendously. Have a look in our "Food/carb queries and recipes" section for ideas and answers.

And, don't hesitate to ask any questions you have, there'll be someone along who has an answer or an idea.
 
Hello
Thank you so much for the quick replies. I've been looking at the links in the FAQs and have printed the letter and downloaded the book onto my Kindle. So this evening is an educational evening with that reading material and my notebook.

It was very interesting reading the first few pages of the book as a Kindle preview on Amazon. It said that it's not my fault that I've got diabetes and that my weight gain and constant hunger might be because of hte diabetes and bad sugar management rather than the cause. That makes me feel a bit better. I've spent the last 48 hours blaming myself.

Will let you know how I get on with my education evening!

Jane
 
Another welcome from me! 🙂 You have done very well to find us so quickly; it took me 11 years after my diagnosis :( (well, to be exact, three years after this forum was founded).

You will find us a helpful and friendly lot; feel free to ask any question (no question is regarded as "silly"), or to have a moan about anything (not necessarily D-related) if you need to.
 
Don't blame yourself. In spite of the media hype, research is showing there is a genetic issue involved and it's not plain greed. Diabetics are NOT all lazy, greedy, couch potatoes.
 
Welcome, I am a newby too so have little advice to offer as yet. The boards are friendly though and full of very interesting information and good ideas. I am still in the process of perusing he low carb recipe section 😉
Dee
 
Welcome to the forums Jane 🙂
 
Welcome from me to ...remember no question is regarded silly here ...so ask away 🙂🙂
 
Hello everyone
Thank you for the warm welcome. I have a question:
I've downloded the Carbs and Cals app to my phone and I really like it for helping me to estimate portion sizes (which I am rubbish at) and logging my carbs. As type 2 and controlled by diet do I need to log ALL the carbs in everything (such as fruit) or do i only need to worry about rice/pasta/bread etc?
I already have a blood glucose meter (I've been borderline for a while) and it's the AccuCheck Nano. I am happy using it but it is expensive to get strips. Has anyone had experiences with buying strips off E-Bay or have any tips on finding cheaper ones? The other one recommended on here would be a lot cheaper to run, I know. I'm a bit reluctant to ask my GP for strips on prescription as I'm already on a lot of other medication which is expensive (and which may well have contributed to developing diabetes in the first place - sigh!).
Thank you
Jane
 
Before my diagnosis was changed from T2 to LADA/1.5 (slow onset T1) I had to buy my own and, being on benefits, I did so from eBay a few times. You'd normally pay around half price, but I had some serious concerns in that you can't know where the strips have come from, they may have been stolen or it could be they come from folk who over order and then sell their excess. Also I've heard of folk buying this way who found their strips were out of date when they arrived, though that never happened to me.

You may also be able to buy the strips direct from Accucheck cheaper than from a pharmacy. It may be worth checking that out.

Carbs and Cals is a great app and I love it but you only really need to count every single carb if you're on an insulin regime. A close ballpark figure should do for your purposes. You should remember though that all fruit contains sugar and should be a treat rather than a daily thing, just like the spuds etc. Sigh. Fruit has been the hardest thing for me to give up and I haven't really managed it as I still treat myself to some berries here and there, which I can cover with insulin.
 
Berries actually tend to be the lowest carb of all the fruits. plus they sort of go a long way.

Big pot of Greek yoghurt, two spoons of frozen berries, defrosted/slightly warmed by nuking in the microwave, lovely juice flowing - dollop some yog on top of the fruit, stir and savour.

Piggy feeling and tasting pudding (or indeed, breakfast) fit to set before the King !
 
Hello
Thank you again for the replies. I've ordered a new meter with the cheaper strips.

Day 3: Have been testing, testing, testing. Bloods ranged from 5.1 to 12.6. I found that muesli and pasta (not at the same meal lol!) raised it the most. However, I spent the afternoon with a very good friend. When I arrived at her house she greeted me by telling me she had been on the BBC website to find a recipe that was diabetes friendly and cooked it for me. I was really touched. The lamb in pita bread with salad and yoghurt was delicious and we folloed this with cherries on the beach. My blood levels were actiually lower after this meal than before, which I think was also affected by walking through Essex mud trying to reach the sea to paddle.
I've been hungry today and crunching ice cubes to help. However, this evening I gave in and ate cottage cheese. It helped a lot and only a few carbs. The Carbs and Cals app is proving brilliant and I've logged everything. It also sets calorie and fat and fruit/veg targets for the day to help with weight loss so I've set them for infomration rather than following rigidly at the moment.
So, one day down with testing etc. I've now finished all the pre cooked meals from last week so am properly onto low carb cooking now. Stir fry tomorrow with noodles but need to remember to cut the pack in half.
I'm oscillating between despair and coping and determination and giving up. There's jsutso much to take in.
Jane
 
Sounds as though you're getting a handle on things Namaste. As an aside, I understand some health food shops sell noodles made from mushrooms and you can use alternatives such as shredded courgette or carrot if you want to reduce your carb load even further.
 
Thanks Alison. I will check out the shredded veg. I'm afraid I have a bit of a phobia of mushrooms so don't think I'll be buying those noodles but I will go and investigate the health food shops for other alternatives. Are soba (buckwheat) noodles any better?
Jane
 
I honestly don't know, I've never tried them. Perhaps one of the others will, I have a problem however with most cereals except oatmeal so I'd guess their might be, you'll need to try it and see.
 
Hi Jane,
welcome to the forum, like you there was diabetes in the family so my diagnosis was not unexpected. However, I was never happy with the idea of eating so much carb, my family members with diabetes were carb counting type I diabetics. Unfortunately it took 17 years of doing what the GP and hospital dietician advised for me to realise that they were just plain wrong. I cut out rice/bread/pasta/potato and it was relatively easy possibly because I was well used to giving things up, like alcohol. These are all things that I don't miss at all, but if I fancy some toast or a bit of rice, I don't obsess about it, I'll have some. The outcome has been brilliant and it's what keeps me on the straight and narrow. I no longer have to take Gliclazide or Januvia, and even better still I stopped taking statins which had been the curse of my life. After more than six months without those drugs my recent HbA1c was 6.4 and my total cholesterol was 5.4. I know for a fact that when I get back into swimming 3 - 5 times a week, that will drop even more. Walking would also be good, except I have arthritis in both knees, so not the easiest exercise.
As for your question re: logging carbs, I can only say that I do but it's as a result of me recording everything I eat and putting into a PC program called "Weight by Date", so I know that I'm only consuming about 80gms of carb a day, much less than the 300 gms or more which my previous GP and dietician recommended.
All the best, you know where to come.
 
Hi Jane, it is a shock in the beginning, but definately get easier, diagnosed 5 years ago, type 2 to start, on insulin after 1 year.....from the very beginning my Dr. said, being diabetic you can get free prescriptions, I have an exempt card.....thought this was standard so maybe you could check this out? 🙂
 
Welcome Jane
I buy my strips from e bay as the Doc will only let me have 50 a month which isn't really enough for me. I always ask the seller what the use by date is and I find theyre cheaper if you can by them in bulk. Ive never had a problem yet and have quite a few boxes squirreled away 🙂
You sound like youre pretty clued up already ...so good luck with it all 🙂
 
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