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My very recent Type 2 diagnosis was given to me by the surgery Diabetes Nurse and not a GP who told me she was unable to answer my 'clinical' questions... would welcome other peoples thoughts on this
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but you have come to the right place for help and support.
Practice nurses that have been trained to monitor and supervise the diabetic patients at the practice sometimes have more knowledge than GPs so they are not necessarily a lesser person to deal with your diagnosis and often have case conferences with a GP, consultant or DSN which you will not necessarily be aware of. He/she should be able to answer basic questions on the subject though or direct you to someone who can, but if you want answers, you might get a better response from this forum as we have a members with a huge depth of knowledge and experience and understand how that diagnosis feels.... usually somewhat overwhelming.
Firstly it would help to know your HbA1c result and if the nurse has prescribed you any medication? It also helps to know if you are overweight to a greater or lesser extent and how you came to be diagnosed or if you have been suffering any obvious symptoms. If you have not been given your HbA1c result, then you should be able to get it by ringing the receptionist at your GP practice.
Hi and welcome from another T2. As @rebrascora says it would be helpful to know a few more details so we can give you more personal advice. We will of course help you in any way we can and don’t hold back on any questions you may have be they big or small x
Diagnosed T2 HbA1c Nov19 52: ReTest Nov29 52 - previously creeping up from 38 to 40 but with a 2015 Test recording 50.
Weight increasing 2015-2019 (no details please but size 20!) while following FODMAP (2016plus) then advised to reintroduce all Gluten foods (August-November2019) while pursuing FBC with diabetes & cholesterols
via GP (authorisation not given until November2019) - I was reporting 'issues' including noticeable inflammation levels increased (Fibromyalgia!?) and changes of diet
Cholesterols meds prescribed Jan2019 then increased Oct2019 by GP in accordance with NICE guidelines.
Prescribed Metformin started end December.
Bit overwhelmed.
Thanks for those details @Chief LightoFeet , it helps us to see where you are on the diabetic scale. I see you are following the FODMAP diet so do you suffer from IBS? A lot of us, not all, follow a low carb approach. Carbs turn to sugar and obviously as diabetics we need to avoid as much sugar as possible so bread, rice, pasta and potatoes need to be reduced as much as possible. Most fruits with berries in the name are ok along with coconut and obviously things like cakes, biscuits, sweets need to be avoided. However we are usually fine with meat, eggs, cheese and green leafy veg plus lots of other things. There are lots of recipes on the site to help you out. Also a lot of us have a blood glucose meter to monitor what is good and bad for us. Sadly we all react differently to different foods so what one can have another can’t eg I’m ok with a small amount of potatoes but can’t touch pasta.
There are lots of lovely people on the site who are more than happy to help with any advice and support you need to please ask any questions at all. I hope the above has given you a little start into how a lot of us do things but it may not be the way for you if you have other medical issues.
The other good thing about going low carb is it makes it easier to lose weight.
Kind regards to you. Sue
Hi, Welcome to the forum.
I was diagnosed T2D with an HbA1C of 53. I got it down to 45 in 4 months of Low Carb 'Way of Eating' - no medication, no dieting, no additional exercise.
I note that Dairy and several fruits are considered bad for those on FODMAP, but the fruits (berries) that are OK for T2D are also those allowed on FODMAP.
While Carbs are the biggest cause of High Blood Glucose, there are many other (lesser) causes which include:
Illness
Injury
stress
Statins, Steroids
Lack of Sleep
Lack of Exercise.
Hi and welcome to the forum. I also followed the low carb path and was back in normal range within 3 months, i was the same dress size as you when I started and within 6 months (and little effort) dropped 4 stone 😱 Cost me a fortune in a whole new wardrobe 🙄 I wouldn’t go back to eating carbs now, no matter what, I feel SO much better and happier in general although on diagnosis I was convinced I would starve to death for sure!! We are a friendly bunch so do ask any questions you might have, no such thing as a stupid question 🙂
Hello and welcome,
Yes it is very confusing and difficult, but as you can see there are many folks on the forum who are very willing to try and help.
Please keep posting and tell us how it's going, and I hope you get better help from your medical team soon.
Welcome @Chief LightoFeet this is a great place and as you can see great advice! ^^^
I am sorry that you feel your diagnosis should have been with a GP, different surgeries have different ways, sometimes if the GP isn't a designated Diabetic specialist they may not have the broad/specific knowledge to help.
Personally I am lucky we have 2 GPs and a DN. However, and this should make you feel better - my diagnosis came from the secretary.
I saw a clinical practioner and asked for bloods, 2 days later I had a voicemail saying to call urgently (results are a week usually).... so I call up and the secretary (Dr.s not the Receptionist) said - Oh yes, it is about your diabetes.
To which there was silence before I whimpered I don't have it and she said (rather unsympathetically) - Well it appears you do!
So when I saw GP the next day and she had a good bedside manner it was sort of all wasted.
The important thing is - you have the news now and hopefully the support of the Diabetic Nurse and all of us!
Sorry to hear your practice nurse wasn’t very forthcoming with information. Sometimes Practice Nurses haven’t had all that much training, certainly not the years and years it takes to train a fully blown Diabetes Specialist Nurse.
For a good introduction to diabetes you might like to start with Maggie Davey's letter, which many members of the forum have found extremely helpful in the beginning. For a little more detail, Gretchen Becker’s book Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year Is highly recommended my folk here and is written in a clear and accessible style.
One question you almost certainly have is ‘what can I eat’ and the answer, like many things connected to diabetes is more complicated than many sources would have you believe. Diabetes is a very individual condition and there’s no ‘one size fits all’. It’s not simply a matter of avoiding sugar and sweet things, neither is it a matter of avoiding all carbohydrates forever.
The amount of carbohydrate in your diet will certainly have the biggest effect on your blood glucose levels, but it’s important to realise that we all have our own individual tolerances for different types, amounts and sources of carbs (partly down to our unique ‘gut flora’). So part of learning to manage your diabetes is learning your own body's tolerances for your different food choices so that you can find out what works for you in a way that is sustainable long term and allows you to enjoy your food (https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food).
Most members here find the most important tool they have access to in terms of improving their BG results around food is to use a BG meter with a simple ‘before and after meal’ framework as described in Alan S’s Test, Review, Adjust .
If your surgery are reluctant to prescribe a BG meter for you (some will only provide to people at risk of hypos, but partly this is a cost-saving measure) re are affordable self-funding options like the Caresens or the SD Codefree which have strips at approx £8 for 50 (where you can pay more than £25 for a pot of strips for other brands).
Thanks for those details @Chief LightoFeet , it helps us to see where you are on the diabetic scale. I see you are following the FODMAP diet so do you suffer from IBS? A lot of us, not all, follow a low carb approach. Carbs turn to sugar and obviously as diabetics we need to avoid as much sugar as possible so bread, rice, pasta and potatoes need to be reduced as much as possible. Most fruits with berries in the name are ok along with coconut and obviously things like cakes, biscuits, sweets need to be avoided. However we are usually fine with meat, eggs, cheese and green leafy veg plus lots of other things. There are lots of recipes on the site to help you out. Also a lot of us have a blood glucose meter to monitor what is good and bad for us. Sadly we all react differently to different foods so what one can have another can’t eg I’m ok with a small amount of potatoes but can’t touch pasta.
There are lots of lovely people on the site who are more than happy to help with any advice and support you need to please ask any questions at all. I hope the above has given you a little start into how a lot of us do things but it may not be the way for you if you have other medical issues.
The other good thing about going low carb is it makes it easier to lose weight.
Kind regards to you. Sue
Gosh, thank you everyone for all your pertinent advice, support and the warmth of all your greetings!
All of your posts have helped both to inform and 'calm' me.
My hands may not feel to be the ones 'holding the wheel' right now but after reading your posts do feel I am 'back in the driver's seat'....very important for us all!
Picking up the 'language' from your posts like 'T2D' and BG (checks before/after meals framework sounds smart)
Links to relevant publications and previous posts also very, very helpful
I do have serious IBS.
Clinically advised to now adopt strict Gluten Free is easing severity of symptoms; but introducing Metformin was hard on the system - 4 weeks in and body readjusting! FODMAP issues means have to remain careful about fruit and veg choices and agree 'berries' seems to be the solution for the present (but guessing I will have to watch portion size with BG)
Milk - finally found Almond works best for me.
Eggs - reaction can be severe so careful where I buy - pick up organic where I can.
All posted suggestions about 'Low Carbs' are very, very helpful and will be taken on board (makes better sense of reading it here!).
With weight reduction issues - will aim to also tackle 'Portion Size' & 'Occasional treat' attitude (struggle!) - realise I should be measuring my beloved morning porridge (ready packets not as nutritious/enough fibre for me).
Phew! lot of adjustment to make - glad I have you all! Many thanks. Speak again soon.
While Carbs are the biggest cause of High Blood Glucose, there are many other (lesser) causes which include:
Illness
Injury
stress
Statins, Steroids
Lack of Sleep
Lack of Exercise.
Maggie Davey's letter, which many members of the forum have found extremely helpful in the beginning. For a little more detail, Gretchen Becker’s book Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year Is highly recommended my folk here and is written in a clear and accessible style.
WOW!!! As a newbie I truly appreciate your link to 'Maggie Davey's letter' and having read that Alan S tracked it down and 'Northerner' posted it....am equally grateful to them all. From 'Maggie's letter' I have now cut and pasted myself a clear 'Plan' and immediately ordered from my local library the recommended book, B. Becker "The First Year T2D"
also within your signpost found the Glossary of Terms - a great help! 🙂🙂🙂
With weight reduction issues - will aim to also tackle 'Portion Size' & 'Occasional treat' attitude (struggle!) - realise I should be measuring my beloved morning porridge (ready packets not as nutritious/enough fibre for me).
Sorry to have to inform you, but any form of oat porridge isn't an ideal breakfast for a T2D.
All those 'heathy whole grains' contain carbs, they just take a bit longer to digest than the refined ones !
Sorry to have to inform you, but any form of oat porridge isn't an ideal breakfast for a T2D.
All those 'heathy whole grains' contain carbs, they just take a bit longer to digest than the refined ones !
Low carb porridge:
mix together an egg and one tablespoon of coconut flour, a pinch of psyllium flour and a pinch of salt.
Melt one ounce of butter in a pan, remove from the heat and add in the mix a little at a time, stirring. If it doesn't thicken, warm it gently until it does.
If done on constant heat I find that the butter can be overheated, and I can taste it.
Add 4 tablespoons of cream (can be coconut cream) and serve.
When I read your HbA1c results were 52 and 54 in November, I was very surprised you were prescribed Metformin. Like you I had been hovering at pre-diabetes levels, then got a reading of 57 last August. I am very lucky with my GP surgery as they have a specialist diabetes nurse. She immediately said she would not prescribe, but I should try and reduce my level with diet and exercise, as that was their policy for Type 2 under 60. Like many others have reported I went down to 48 in just 3 months, by following a low carb diet, and doing 4 Aquafit sessions a week. As a bonus I got a nice toned bum and lost 17 pounds! You are entitled to 15 free annual checks and free medication now, and you should be referred to a training course like DESMOND, X-PERT, or OVIVA. I suggest you ask to be re-tested in 3 months to see what your levels are. I hope you can balance your other conditions and medications with a low carb, gluten free diet. Someone mentioned porridge being carb heavy. I mostly have a poached egg with grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, no bread. Another option is natural Greek yogurt with 80gm berries. Best wishes
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