hello..newbie here!!

[kazz45]

hi all
kazz here, 45, female from uk and i am so pleased to have found this forum, my mum was diagnosed a couple of years ago as type 2 diet controlled diabetes, around the same time as she had a couple of strokes, she's now 81 and so far her blood sugars have all returned as normal, they only do her HBA1C yearly and they dont seem to do any more than this...she loves her ice cream and her cake, i've often worried that she eats these far too much but i do find it difficult to say no to her as she eats them daily, after meals but at lunch time she will only eat cake!! at night she eats 2 or 3 pieces of chocolate after her ice cream
im amazed that her blood sugars are within normal range, and i do wonder if she is in fact diabetic because surely her blood sugars would be a lot higher??
they've told us NOT to use the blood glucose kits as they wouldnt give a true reading and the diabetic nurse hasnt seen her since last year...i've asked them about seeing the diabetic nurse and they dont seem bothered!!!
yet when she was first diagnosed they said they would only see her yearly anyway when they did her HBA1C??
anyway, just to say hi, sorry its a bit rambling!!
😱🙄

 

[Northerner]

Hi kazz, welcome to the forum 🙂 Well, I have to say that the notion that a meter would not give a 'true' reading is a bit of nonsense - why would the reading be wrong for her when it would be right for me? What would be important would be the time that the reading was taken in relation to the food she has eaten. The best way to find out how much food has raised blood sugar levels is to take a reading before eating, then another at one or two hours after eating. Things like cake will probably raise levels to a peak at about one hour, so this will give the best indication of how your mum has tolerated her piece of cake. It can also be helpful to take a reading when she wakes up, known as a 'fasting' reading, as this will give a good idea of her general levels.

Do you know what your mum's HbA1c is? It may be that it is not too much above 'normal' and so she is able to tolerate most foods fairly well. They also allow a higher level for elderly people as complications from diabetes may take decades to develop and as long as the risks are small this may give a broader and more flexible diet and quality of life than trying to maintain the much tighter control that they would expect of younger people.

What I would say is that it's OK to have ice cream and cake, in moderation, and preferably as part of a main meal rather than n their own, this will lower their impact on blood sugar levels.