Hello

[Wren]

I'm new to the forum but not to Type 2, being diagnosed several years ago and most likely pre-diabetic for ages before then. The penny dropped when I was thirsty ALL the time, then realised I had no appetite, was desperately tired and had lost an awful lot of weight. I started at nearly 24st so no problem there really. Took myself off to my GP who did a finger blood test and found my BS level was 21.7! He asked me to take a couple of weeks and adjust my diet which brought me down to 11.2 He then started me on Metformin but, sadly, other meds followed along with a glucose monitor.
I've suffered with Psorasis since my teens and Depression since my 30's. I've added Fibromyalgia, Anxiety attacks, Arthritis, High BP and Anaemia to the mix over the last few years too.
I've also been strictly Vegetarian since my 20's and 90% Veggie most of my life. The latter mainly due to my Mom having a meltdown on how/what to feed me, so I agreed to eat chicken breast and fish. Growing up around a Farm (Dad being a Farm Worker) caused me to connect the dots between the animals and food at an early age, and I didn't like it.
Anyway, due to the combination of Diabetes, Psorasis and Arthritis there's a lot of inflammation in my blood, so not good. I've also spent the majority of this year in Diabetes burnout, not caring what I ate and not attending any Diabetic appointments. I dug out my blood sugar monitor tonight and discovered my strips had expired at the end of 2018 (also needs a new battery)
However something happened a couple of weeks ago which shocked me back to reality, so here I am. Looking forward to getting back on track with all your support and advice.

If anyone's wondering why I'm posting after 4am;
a) I took early retirement at 55 so no job to worry about. I'm now 57.
b) I have insomnia (30+ years of Night Shifts will do that!)
c) And according to the local Neighbour Watch Group there were " bare....bare...burglars" about! At the top of our road, no less, and my partner works nights.

 

[Martin9]

Hi @Wren welcome to the forum
Sorry to hear of all your problems, but good to hear you’re looking to get back on track, there are many here who I’m sure have ‘fallen by the wayside’ on their journey and I’m sure your multi conditions haven’t helped at all.
Anyway if you need any advice or just some support feel free to ask any questions or just vent your frustrations feel free.
There are many supportive members here who have helped me with my history of T2 diabetes over the last year and a half or so so I’m relatively new here but have found this forum invaluable ..
Regards
Martin .

 

[CathyB]

Hi, welcome to the forum, everyone is really friendly and supportive so we will all help you stay on track if that’s what you want

 

[Toucan]

Hello Wren, welcome to the forum. There is a lot of knowledge and experience within the group, and I'm sure you will get help and support.
You certainly have many issues to cope with, but you succeeded in getting your Blood Sugars down before, so hopefully you can follow that through again.
Hope you get strips and battery sorted out for the monitor soon, as many of us find that monitoring what foods effect our blood sugars is a good step forward.
Very best wishes with getting back on track, and please let us know how it goes.

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome to the forum. 🙂 I'm avid to know what shocked you back to reality!!

 

[Greymouser]

Hi and welcome to the forum, hope you can get to grips with things now, but I am afraid you need to reduce the carbs etc. If you have any specific questions, I am sure someone will have an answer, maybe even me.

 

[Docb]

Hi Wren and welcome. Not a nice list of things to cope with but if there is something to hang onto it is that you can do things to deal with the diabetes and you can have some confidence that they will work. Also, by measuring blood glucose you can monitor progress directly and this is a great motivator.

So, it is good to hear that you are going to make a determined effort to sort your diabetes and you never know but it might help with your other conditions. My route to most things is to have some sort of plan in my mind. Do you have one? If not, here are some things to think about.

Do you need to lose weight? Being overweight is pretty well recognised as being a probable contributor to diabetes and getting your weight into a normal range for your height is a good thing.

Do you do much exercise? Exercise seems to be a good thing and it does not have to be sweaty work outs at the gym. A bit of walking every day is as good a place as anywhere to start.

Medications. You sound a bit worried about the idea of medications. The medications for diabetes are tried and tested and effective for most who use them. You can get benefit from them at the outset but can then be reduced or even eliminated when the lifestyle changes begin to take effect.

Are you going to control carb intake? Generally a good idea because the carbs turn into the glucose that your system is having problems coping with. As a vegetarian this needs a bit more thinking about than it does for us omnivores. Can be done and you can get loads of ideas from fellow veggies on this forum.

Are you going to monitor blood glucose? Used well it is a very powerful tool because it gives you quick feed back to show you what is working and what is not.

At the end of the day, your plan has to be something that is feasible for you. That way you can stick with it. If it is not working it can be changed.

Hope that helps to get you started.