Hello

[Rachelpoppet]

Hi, I was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. I take metformin once a day and have cut out as much carbs as I can and haven’t touched any chocolate or cake. I’ve been exercising most days walking and swimming alternatively. When my doctor rang to say I was diabetic he said I would need to see the diabetic nurse. Is this something I need to source on my own? Also how long did most people have to wait to speak to a nurse? I’ve spent hours on google and diabetic web sites but I have a million and one questions and I’m getting such conflicting information.

 

[Matilda-Rose]

@Rachelpoppet Theoretically you should should get an appointment with the diabetic nurse. Most surgeries have Practice Nurses that facilitate chronic health condition clinics. EG Heart Disease, Diabetes, Well Women, Well Men, Asthma etc. With the ways things are with Covid, many things are still running very slowly, so my personal advice would be to contact your surgery and ask to make an appointment. It may well be a telephone appointment, or Zoom call. With regard to looking up information, please don’t make the mistake I did and google 101 different sites. It’s of course only natural to want to be as informed as possible. I got myself in a right muddle joining various FB groups and ended up totally confused. Diabetes UK are undoubtedly the best resource to go to, and can be reassured their information is current and evidence based. I’m newly diagnosed (8 weeks), and had the advantage of seeing a Diabetic Nurse Specialist as I was in hospital for 9 days. It’s a lot to take in. Great that you have your questions for the nurse. If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to write them down, then when you have your appointment you can tick them off as they are answered, Do use the Diabetes UK Helpline also. I have fabulous support from them in two phone calls (they were long calls at the fault of myself). Hopefully you’ll get to speak to the nurse soon. Good luck with it, and rest assured we are all flabbergasted at the beginning. Best wishes

 

[Inka]

@Rachelpoppet Welcome 🙂 Some of your questions you might have to save for the nurse, but you can ask your questions here too. Nothing is ‘silly’ or too trivial.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Rachelpoppet

Well done on the terrific start you’ve made with cutting back on sweet stuff, and cutting down on carbs, plus the exercise you’ve started.

I would expect you to get an appointment with the nurse in your surgery before too long, but you may have to be a bit more patient, because of the pressures that GPs are under because of the pandemic.

For information, you might like to sign up to the Diabetes UK ‘learning zone’ (highlighted menu item above), which is packed full of helpful modules that you can work through in your own time 🙂

You might also find the ‘enjoy food’ section a helpful starting point

Eating with diabetes

If you, or someone in your family, has type 1, type 2 or another type of diabetes, you'll know that it can sometimes be difficult to know what to eat. Start here for the key information you need to make healthy food choices for a balanced diet.

www.diabetes.org.uk

Good luck, and keep asking questions of friendly helpful members here too 🙂