Hello I'm new to Type 2

[shellbell64]

Hi,

Ive been pre diabetic for nearly 5 years. i went on a course via the gp and i learnt a lot about food and portion size. unfortunately my yearly MOT at the dr showed that last year my blood results went up from 44 to 47 and this year to 49 despite following all dietary advice.
i have an appointment with a diabetic nurse in January.
i have been finger pricking and getting readings of 8.9 to 10.6 in a morning. this site shows over 7 is regarded as high, but the leaflet with my finger prick test says anything under 10 is borderline. i am getting confused as to what is right and wrong.
can anyone tell me what happens at the 1st diabetic nurse appointment please.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi,

Ive been pre diabetic for nearly 5 years. i went on a course via the gp and i learnt a lot about food and portion size. unfortunately my yearly MOT at the dr showed that last year my blood results went up from 44 to 47 and this year to 49 despite following all dietary advice.
i have an appointment with a diabetic nurse in January.
i have been finger pricking and getting readings of 8.9 to 10.6 in a morning. this site shows over 7 is regarded as high, but the leaflet with my finger prick test says anything under 10 is borderline. i am getting confused as to what is right and wrong.
can anyone tell me what happens at the 1st diabetic nurse appointment please.

Welcome to the forum
Sadly the advice on some of the courses for newly diagnosed or pre diabetes prevention does seem to be a bit outdated and sticks with the standard NHS advice which does not work for many people as it is still too high in carbohydrates for many to tolerate which is why a GP surgery developed the Freshwell program which advocates a lower carb approach which has been successful for many. Have a look at this link https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
It is based on a suggested no more than 130g carbs not just sugar per day as a good starting point it is not NO carbs but some find they need to go lower. Unless you need to for other medical reasons there is no need to have low fat.
Hopefully you will be given opportunity to turn it around without medication for 3 months, your morning readings do seem a little high for an HbA1C only just in the diabetic zone, which your aim would be in the 4-7 mmol/l range, though morning readings can be the last to come down.
As you have a monitor you could do some strategic testing of your meals to see how well you tolerate the carbs by testing before you eat and after 2 hours when an increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l or no more than 8-8.5mmol/l will indicate the meal is OK if more than that it was too carb heavy. You will learn a lot by doing that for a few weeks. You would be aiming at 4-7mmol/l before meals.
At your appointment you will probably be weighed, have blood pressure taken, have your feet and feet pulses checked and be referred for retinal eye screening and discuss diet. Fore armed is forewarned re the diet as they may be not as progressive as the approach in the Freshwell program.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome from me too.

Sorry to hear you are not seeing improvement with the changes you have made.
Can you give us an idea of what you are typically eating (and drinking) for breakfast, lunch and evening meal and any snacks? Some of the dietary advice on these courses can be a bit outdated, depending on which course. For example the NHS still mostly promotes porridge as a suitable breakfast option for people with diabetes when for some of us it is anything but suitable. Similarly, wholemeal bread and pasta and brown rice are often recommended when they are almost as high in carbs as the white versions and sweet potatoes are as high in carbs as ordinary potatoes. Also beans and lentil can be OK for some people but cause other peoples' BG levels to spike quite high. If we have an idea of what you are eating and apparently isn't giving good results for you we can perhaps suggest alternatives which may work better.

 

[shellbell64]

Welcome to the forum
Sadly the advice on some of the courses for newly diagnosed or pre diabetes prevention does seem to be a bit outdated and sticks with the standard NHS advice which does not work for many people as it is still too high in carbohydrates for many to tolerate which is why a GP surgery developed the Freshwell program which advocates a lower carb approach which has been successful for many. Have a look at this link https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
It is based on a suggested no more than 130g carbs not just sugar per day as a good starting point it is not NO carbs but some find they need to go lower. Unless you need to for other medical reasons there is no need to have low fat.
Hopefully you will be given opportunity to turn it around without medication for 3 months, your morning readings do seem a little high for an HbA1C only just in the diabetic zone, which your aim would be in the 4-7 mmol/l range, though morning readings can be the last to come down.
As you have a monitor you could do some strategic testing of your meals to see how well you tolerate the carbs by testing before you eat and after 2 hours when an increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l or no more than 8-8.5mmol/l will indicate the meal is OK if more than that it was too carb heavy. You will learn a lot by doing that for a few weeks. You would be aiming at 4-7mmol/l before meals.
At your appointment you will probably be weighed, have blood pressure taken, have your feet and feet pulses checked and be referred for retinal eye screening and discuss diet. Fore armed is forewarned re the diet as they may be not as progressive as the approach in the Freshwell program.

thankyou for all of that info i will try doing bloods at a different time. i already have heart and disability issues and i take a lot of medication for that, so despite what i eat i have a constant battle to keep to around 13.08 stone.

 

[shellbell64]

Hi and welcome from me too.

Sorry to hear you are not seeing improvement with the changes you have made.
Can you give us an idea of what you are typically eating (and drinking) for breakfast, lunch and evening meal and any snacks? Some of the dietary advice on these courses can be a bit outdated, depending on which course. For example the NHS still mostly promotes porridge as a suitable breakfast option for people with diabetes when for some of us it is anything but suitable. Similarly, wholemeal bread and pasta and brown rice are often recommended when they are almost as high in carbs as the white versions and sweet potatoes are as high in carbs as ordinary potatoes. Also beans and lentil can be OK for some people but cause other peoples' BG levels to spike quite high. If we have an idea of what you are eating and apparently isn't giving good results for you we can perhaps suggest alternatives which may work better.

i have serious food allergies so i am restricted on what i can eat and drink. breakfast is usually weetabix, no sugar and just a drizzle of semi skimmed milk,or no breakfast at all. i have 9 raspberries and a brew, with a sweetener. lunch today was 2 slices wholemeal bread with boiled egg, lettuce, 1 slice ham and a brew. dinner to night is 4 veg, small scoop mash, 2 small roast spuds, left over lamb from yesterday and a drizzle of gravy. i eat a lot of jacket spud with salad and chicken for Dinners, Lunches are usually wholemeal bread salad and meat like chicken , ham or tinned salmon. i drink a lot of water. no fizzy drinks, no juices. i dont drink alcohol due to medication. i can only eat, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, apples or banana due to allergies. i cannot eat curries or things with additives. i like a few walnuts instead of crisps.if i do have chocolate it is usually something like just 3 maltesers - yes i can really do that unlike my husband who is a malteser grab machine, or 3 cadbury choc fingers as a treat. portion size is small. im at a loss on what else i can tweak. i have to be careful as i am disabled - wheelchair user- and do struggle to lose weight, however my gp said i have done well to maintain at 13-08 for the last 4 years. any suggestions will be gratefully received.

 

[Leadinglights]

i have serious food allergies so i am restricted on what i can eat and drink. breakfast is usually weetabix, no sugar and just a drizzle of semi skimmed milk,or no breakfast at all. i have 9 raspberries and a brew, with a sweetener. lunch today was 2 slices wholemeal bread with boiled egg, lettuce, 1 slice ham and a brew. dinner to night is 4 veg, small scoop mash, 2 small roast spuds, left over lamb from yesterday and a drizzle of gravy. i eat a lot of jacket spud with salad and chicken for Dinners, Lunches are usually wholemeal bread salad and meat like chicken , ham or tinned salmon. i drink a lot of water. no fizzy drinks, no juices. i dont drink alcohol due to medication. i can only eat, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, apples or banana due to allergies. i cannot eat curries or things with additives. i like a few walnuts instead of crisps.if i do have chocolate it is usually something like just 3 maltesers - yes i can really do that unlike my husband who is a malteser grab machine, or 3 cadbury choc fingers as a treat. portion size is small. im at a loss on what else i can tweak. i have to be careful as i am disabled - wheelchair user- and do struggle to lose weight, however my gp said i have done well to maintain at 13-08 for the last 4 years. any suggestions will be gratefully received.

There are a few foods there which could be the source of the problem, bread, potatoes, bananas are all pretty high carb and foods which many of us tend to avoid but whether that is the case for you you will only know by testing as suggested before eating and after 2 hours and see what the difference is.
Obviously it is tricky if you have allergies but testing also enables you to find what is fine as well as what is not too good.