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Feeling lost

NickyCB

NickyCB

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Pronouns
She/Her
Hi all,
Diagnosed 6 weeks ago and started metformin 2 weeks ago.
I was give my prescription, a link to a booklet and put on a 4 month waiting list to help with my diet.
My nurse (male aged 50) said as a 56 Yr old female (2 kids, post menopause) i should be more like him and not pee in the night
That was the sum of his advice and mental health check on me.
Can I ask to change nurse, get more help on safe food?
I am still spiking at 10.5 even on low carb days.
I feel lost and guilty as he said I should have taken better care.
I'm the 6th in my family with T2 and I have had Psoriasis all my life too.
 
Hi and welcome, sorry to hear you've not been supported well by your HCP's.
Maybe go back to your GP and ask if they have a specialist diabetes nurse, some do.
There is lots of good info, including healthy recipes on here (diabetes uk website), check out the learning zone, top of the page.

If you can share a few more details, you will get more suitable advice, eg: are you on any medication? what was your last HbA1c level? if you have any other significant health issues, if you need to lose weight, how much exercise you do and what sort of things you currently eat, etc, etc. If you don't want to share info, thats fine too.

HbA1c level of 41 or below is deemed to be normal, non Diabetic.
HbA1c levels of 42 to 47 are deemed to be Pre Diabetic.
HbA1c levels of 48 or above is deemed to be Diabetic.
GP's generally want to see two HbA1c level blood tests, (each three months apart), in the diabetic range before officially diagnosing, (unless the figures are really high!)

General dietary advice (for type 2's) is to reduce carbs, thats all carbs, not just sugar, so bread, pasta, rice, cake, starchy veg, eg: potato, sweets, crisps, biscuits, alcohol, cake, baked goods, etc.

Also worth checking out a couple of other websites for healthy and diabetic friendly recipe / food ideas:
Lowcarbfreshwell website.
Sugarfreelondoner website.
Plus lots of good recipe idea on here (Diabetes UK website) too.

Some books that are often recommended as good reads for diabetics include:
Life without diabetes - Prof Roy Taylor
Carbs and Cals book (in conjunction with Diabetes UK)
Giancarlo Caldesi cookbooks
The Real Meal Revolution- Prof Tim Noakes

Its a lot to take in, so give yourself some time to absorb all the info, etc. And everyone is different, so what works for one person may not work for another, so eventually you end up finding what works for you.
Theres so many people on here who are living with every type of diabetes, so ask away if you have questions, someone will usually have a good answer......

Please keep us updated and let us know how you get on.
 
HI @NickyCB and welcome to the forum - sorry to hear you haven't had the best care from your healthcare team but unfortunately it can be a bit of a postcode lottery - you could ask to see a Dietician (they were a big help for me even though I'm type 1) - all of the suggestions @pjgtech has given are excellent and worth a look - Psoriasis is nasty too, but a routine blood test after a diagnosis for that was what led to my Diabetes diagnosis so in a way it was a blessing in disguise! Please ask any questions you may have - we're al here to help and support each other, and no questions are regarded as "silly" - Glad you have found us
 
The nurse who done my bloods said, "lets hope they come back ok as you don't want to spend the rest of your life in the toilet weeing then sitting around the house not doing anything as the meds will do it all for you".

I thought that was a bit un professional
 
NickyCB said:
Hi all,
Diagnosed 6 weeks ago and started metformin 2 weeks ago.
I was give my prescription, a link to a booklet and put on a 4 month waiting list to help with my diet.
My nurse (male aged 50) said as a 56 Yr old female (2 kids, post menopause) i should be more like him and not pee in the night
That was the sum of his advice and mental health check on me.
Can I ask to change nurse, get more help on safe food?
I am still spiking at 10.5 even on low carb days.
I feel lost and guilty as he said I should have taken better care.
I'm the 6th in my family with T2 and I have had Psoriasis all my life too.
Click to expand...
Once you get into the habit of dealing with diabetes it isn't so bad.
When you write 'spiking' what is that exactly? Are you testing at the 2 hour point after starting to eat? That seems to be a really useful measure of how things are going.
Diabetes doesn't take days off, I'm afraid. For me every day is a low carb day, for over 8 years now, but I get the reward of not having to worry about my type 2.
 
This isn’t an uncommon situation where you are just told to get on with it. I would look to see if there is a local diabetic group in your area. This can be found on here. There are several online courses you can do which will cover quite a lot of the diabetic issues. Try this one: https://bertiediabetes.com/ it is applicable even though it is based around type 1
 
Sorry to hear you’ve had a less-that-optimum first interaction with your diabetes nurse :(

Over the years I think most of us have had some howlers of appointments over the years - but some good ones too. And those can be with the same HCPs!

To get you started you might want to register an account with the Learning Zone (orange tab in the main menu) which will give you a good overview of T2 diabetes and can be tailored to your needs. Additionally, for a more personal take, you might like Maggie Davey’s Letter to the Newly Diagnosed .

The NHS Freshwell project is also a resource that many of the forum who are looking for a low carb apporach have found helpful. It has lists of foods grouped by their likelihood of raising glucose levels.

lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk

Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home

lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk

Good luck, and keep asking questions as the crop up 🙂
 
Ian Robinson said:
The nurse who done my bloods said, "lets hope they come back ok as you don't want to spend the rest of your life in the toilet weeing then sitting around the house not doing anything as the meds will do it all for you".

I thought that was a bit un professional
Click to expand...
😱
 
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