Father diagnosed with Diabetes

[Ssheilas2000]

My father has been diagnosed with mild Type 2 diabetes. He does not need medication and does not test himself. He is 82 and very independant, he does not want me to come to any appointments with him, but I am struggling to find out how to help him with this condition.
He goes regularly for blood checks at the GP which are "acceptable" but has been twice recently for other hospital appointments where they have done a finger prick test and he has been told the reading is "very high". He has been recommended for cataract surgery but the consultant is unwilling to carry out the surgery whilst his diabetes is "out of control". It is taking weeks for information to pass between the consultants and the GP and I feel we could be being more proactive in reducing his levels but really do not know where to start.
Any suggestions on how to proceed would be gratefully received.

 

[Northerner]

Hi Sheila, welcome to the forum 🙂 It must be very difficult for your father to come to terms with the changes required to manage his diabetes well at his age (he is the same age as my father). If he is not testing himself, but fingerprick tests are showing high, then the best thing he can do is to modify his diet so that it includes food that digests slowly, thereby releasing its glucose into the blood at a steady and even rate. Avoid any 'white flour' products or any high sugar products as these will 'spike' his blood sugar levels (make them rise high very quickly and then drop quickly again). I'd recommend looking at the following books ob the GL (Glycaemic Load) Diet, as this is a regime most suitable for people with diabetes, particularly if they are not on medication. Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=7719
http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=7337

It would really help him if he could get a blood testing meter and test first thing in the morning befre eating, and an hour or two hours after eating to see how his meal has affected his levels. He should also pay close attention to portion size - keeping a food diary will help you both get a good picture of what he is actually eating (people are often surprised!) so you can spot areas where you might want to reduce the amount of carbohydrate and substitute vegetables instead, which have less of an impact on levels.

One thing to bear in mind - there is no such thing as 'mild' diabetes. His diabetes may not need medication at present, but he still needs to take just as much care of his diet and activity levels as any other person with diabetes. How active is he? If he is able to manage a walk of 30 mins or so a few times a week this will be a great help in controlling his levels.

Please feel free to ask any questions - nothing is considered 'silly'! - and we'll do our best to help 🙂