Hello

[Briarrose]

Hi ya

I am new to the forum but not new to Diabetes, but I guess I am in denial for it. I was diagnosed as a Type 2 by text message in 2020 lockdown, which upset me a bit as I did not have the chance to ask all the right questions. I was then sent for a Diabetic Nurse appointment who was quite brutal when I explained that I felt a bit unsure etc and basically told me that I was now a diabetic and had to get used to the idea. I was offered all kinds of medication by my GP but said that I wanted to try lifestyle changes first. During lockdown and the pandemic it has been pretty hard to do this and not much has changed ie not a lot of weight lost etc.

I guess for the most part I cannot get answers as to what I should expect as a diabetic ie symptoms and signs etc as a lot of what I suffer with could be down to being hormonal, menopausal, general malaise etc etc but unfortunately the Diabetes Nurse was not able to give me any of this information has not helped. I have tried to google but that is very generalised. I guess the biggest symptom and sign that I want is the losing weight but not so lucky for me - and as for the others most of which can be assigned to other "illness". As far as I am aware the only thing that made me a diabetic was a random blood test done in 2020. I have not yet had my yearly review as I cannot get through to my GP to make the necessary appointments etc. I did have the Eye test last summer and that can back all clear.

I guess I just need somewhere to have a bit of a rant and maybe get some more understanding that might make more accepting of my diagnosis and I hope that this forum might be the place to do this.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice offered.

Briarrose

 

[Drummer]

Hello and welcome.
You do seem to have drawn the short straw every time when it comes to GP and nurse and their explanation and advice.
If you are a plain ordinary type two then you can't cope with carbohydrate in the amounts considered not just normal but healthy too.
That is it - by reducing the daily intake of starch and sugars blood glucose and metabolism returns to something far more normal, and weightloss can be a side effect of that.
Living off protein and fat with a small amount of carbs from colourful veges, salad, berries and mushrooms usually results in improvement and ongoing better health for many type twos.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Briarrose 🙂 Sorry you had an unsympathetic nurse. That can be really upsetting. Type 2 is generally diagnosed by an HbA1C blood test, which is what you probably had. It would be good to verify this and to find out the number you got on this test, as that will show you how far into the diabetes zone you are.

The symptom of weight loss is usually associated with Type 1, which is a very different condition to Type 2.

To change your diet, the best way is to look at what you’re eating now/at diagnosis and see where you can improve things. This usually means cutting carbs and increasing green veg. Exercise can also help your insulin sensitivity, so keep active. Walking is great - you don’t need to join a gym.

 

[Leadinglights]

It is disappointing that better support is not being given by some surgeries but diabetes is such a fickle condition that one size fits all advice will not always be useful and people have to become their own expert. It is important that people take their diagnosis seriously and if allowed to try to address their blood glucose levels by life style changes they do exactly that.
To get a better understanding of managing your condition have a look at the Learning Zone (orange tab at the top) and have a look around the forum for ideas on how people address their high levels. Many go for a low carbohydrate approach so less than 130g per day but other regimes work as well.
You have to find the best way for you which is sustainable.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome from me too.

If you are thinking/hoping that there has been some mistake because you don't have any symptoms then you are likely kidding yourself. Many people with Type 2 diabetes don't have any obvious/sudden symptoms and the problem with that
is that it is easy to bury your head in the sand or convince yourself that there has been some mistake. Unfortunately the long term complications of poorly managed diabetes are extremely serious and life changing and once you experience those it's too late to turn the clock back. A diabetes diagnosis can be life changing in a positive way too. Some of us have used the impetus it gave us to lose some weight and get fitter and eat and drink healthier and possibly even put years onto our lives rather than shorted them. You do have to take it seriously and be committed to changing though and whilst it takes some effort at first, once you get into the swing of it, it becomes so much easier.

There are a couple of tried and tested routes you can take which can be mixed and matched to a certain extent.

The Newcastle/Fast 800 diet which is a very low calorie short term diet for rapid weight loss has shown about 50% success rate and usually involves meal replacement shakes for a period of 8-12 weeks I believe. You then need to maintain the weight loss which is probably the biggest challenge, especially if you are a Yo-yo dieter.

A low carbohydrate way of eating. This is not a short term "diet" but a way of eating for the rest of your life and involves cutting out not just the sugary stuff like cakes and biscuits and sweets but also reducing your intake of starchy carbs like bread and pasta and rice and breakfast cereals and potatoes. That may sound pretty drastic and I suppose it is until you get used to it and find all the nice low carb and in some instances higher fat foods that you can eat. It takes some getting your head around at first because we have been piling our plates and serving most of our food with carbs all out lives.... If you think about it, how much of our food is served in or on bread.... but you find ways to get around it and we can help you with that. We have also been cutting fat from out diet for most of our lives and been lead to believe that fat is bad for us and makes us fat when the truth may be quite different and the reduction of fat in our diet and an increase in carbohydrates may well be the main reason for our current diabetes and obesity epidemic. I certainly eat much more fat now than I ever did before and I can now fit into clothes that I bought in my 20s, I have much less joint pain and I feel younger and fitter than i have for 20 years which at 57yrs old is pretty impressive I think. Oh and most surprisingly, despite eating lots of cheese and cream in my coffee and fatty meat like belly pork and lamb chops, my cholesterol is reducing. I am not the only person to experience this so I don't think it is a one off. Best of all I don't crave those foods I used to overindulge in so I find my way of eating easy to maintain for the rest of my life.

One of the things which will help you to get an understanding of your diabetes and how your individual body responds to food is to get yourself a Blood Glucose monitor. Many people who self fund here on the forum recommend the Gluco Navii or the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. Both are available online (Amazon) for about £15 for the basic meter kit but you would be well advised to purchase a couple of pots of test strips (approx. £8 per pot of 50 strips) and a box of lancets.
This is probably the best investment you can make in your future health because it will enable you to "see" your diabetes, whereas at the moment you are blind to it, which makes it easy to deny or ignore.... until it is too late.

Testing just before and then 2 hours after a meal will show you how your body responded to that meal and enable you to make adjustments to the content of that meal next time you eat it, so that your body copes better. It can be quite helpful
(to act as a deterrent) to see what "naughty" foods do to your levels as well as very motivating when you see your numbers starting to steadily come down into range. I will never forget the night I ate a whole packet of Jacobs salt and vinegar crackers and my levels spiked up to 27 (normal range is 4-7) and I spent the whole night drinking pint after pint of water trying to bring it down. If you hit 30 it's usually a good idea to head to hospital and I would have been mortified if I had had to go to hospital because I had been a bit of a glutton! 😱 I also remember the joy of getting my first "in range reading" Neither of which I would have known about without a BG meter.

Anyway, I have probably overloaded you with info for a first post. Take things at your own pace. Diabetes is a marathon not a sprint as we say, but please don't ignore it or bury your head in the sand. It could be the gateway to a new healthier, happier and slimmer you.

PS. If you decide to get a BG meter don't forget to tick the box which asks if you are diabetic as this removes the VAT from the price.

 

[Briarrose]

Hi and welcome from me too.

If you are thinking/hoping that there has been some mistake because you don't have any symptoms then you are likely kidding yourself. Many people with Type 2 diabetes don't have any obvious/sudden symptoms and the problem with that
is that it is easy to bury your head in the sand or convince yourself that there has been some mistake. Unfortunately the long term complications of poorly managed diabetes are extremely serious and life changing and once you experience those it's too late to turn the clock back. A diabetes diagnosis can be life changing in a positive way too. Some of us have used the impetus it gave us to lose some weight and get fitter and eat and drink healthier and possibly even put years onto our lives rather than shorted them. You do have to take it seriously and be committed to changing though and whilst it takes some effort at first, once you get into the swing of it, it becomes so much easier.

There are a couple of tried and tested routes you can take which can be mixed and matched to a certain extent.

The Newcastle/Fast 800 diet which is a very low calorie short term diet for rapid weight loss has shown about 50% success rate and usually involves meal replacement shakes for a period of 8-12 weeks I believe. You then need to maintain the weight loss which is probably the biggest challenge, especially if you are a Yo-yo dieter.

A low carbohydrate way of eating. This is not a short term "diet" but a way of eating for the rest of your life and involves cutting out not just the sugary stuff like cakes and biscuits and sweets but also reducing your intake of starchy carbs like bread and pasta and rice and breakfast cereals and potatoes. That may sound pretty drastic and I suppose it is until you get used to it and find all the nice low carb and in some instances higher fat foods that you can eat. It takes some getting your head around at first because we have been piling our plates and serving most of our food with carbs all out lives.... If you think about it, how much of our food is served in or on bread.... but you find ways to get around it and we can help you with that. We have also been cutting fat from out diet for most of our lives and been lead to believe that fat is bad for us and makes us fat when the truth may be quite different and the reduction of fat in our diet and an increase in carbohydrates may well be the main reason for our current diabetes and obesity epidemic. I certainly eat much more fat now than I ever did before and I can now fit into clothes that I bought in my 20s, I have much less joint pain and I feel younger and fitter than i have for 20 years which at 57yrs old is pretty impressive I think. Oh and most surprisingly, despite eating lots of cheese and cream in my coffee and fatty meat like belly pork and lamb chops, my cholesterol is reducing. I am not the only person to experience this so I don't think it is a one off. Best of all I don't crave those foods I used to overindulge in so I find my way of eating easy to maintain for the rest of my life.

One of the things which will help you to get an understanding of your diabetes and how your individual body responds to food is to get yourself a Blood Glucose monitor. Many people who self fund here on the forum recommend the Gluco Navii or the Spirit Healthcare Tee2. Both are available online (Amazon) for about £15 for the basic meter kit but you would be well advised to purchase a couple of pots of test strips (approx. £8 per pot of 50 strips) and a box of lancets.
This is probably the best investment you can make in your future health because it will enable you to "see" your diabetes, whereas at the moment you are blind to it, which makes it easy to deny or ignore.... until it is too late.

Testing just before and then 2 hours after a meal will show you how your body responded to that meal and enable you to make adjustments to the content of that meal next time you eat it, so that your body copes better. It can be quite helpful
(to act as a deterrent) to see what "naughty" foods do to your levels as well as very motivating when you see your numbers starting to steadily come down into range. I will never forget the night I ate a whole packet of Jacobs salt and vinegar crackers and my levels spiked up to 27 (normal range is 4-7) and I spent the whole night drinking pint after pint of water trying to bring it down. If you hit 30 it's usually a good idea to head to hospital and I would have been mortified if I had had to go to hospital because I had been a bit of a glutton! 😱 I also remember the joy of getting my first "in range reading" Neither of which I would have known about without a BG meter.

Anyway, I have probably overloaded you with info for a first post. Take things at your own pace. Diabetes is a marathon not a sprint as we say, but please don't ignore it or bury your head in the sand. It could be the gateway to a new healthier, happier and slimmer you.

PS. If you decide to get a BG meter don't forget to tick the box which asks if you are diabetic as this removes the VAT from the price.

Thank you for such a brilliant post. I guess that most of my initial rant was about how I was diagnosed and the lack of information about what to expect etc. I still am not sure what symptoms to expect - though I think I have got the being thirsty and weeing a lot down pat - the one I really need is the losing weight but not so lucky with that one.

I have done a similar diet to the Newcastle one in the past - Lipotrim and managed to lose about 6 stone in 6 months or so, but that was in 2009 and I have never managed to get back into that frame of mind since.

I might look into the monitors as that sounds like it would be a great help.

Thanks again for such an informative post I will keep you updated 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

though I think I have got the being thirsty and weeing a lot down pat - the one I really need is the losing weight but not so lucky with that one.

The body generally doesn't kick the kidneys into action until BG levels are quite high (usually persistently mid teens) so you really need to find out your HbA1c result to assess if that thirst and weeing is possibly diabetes related or perhaps something else. Most Type 2s don't have noticeable symptoms, which is why it is so easy to ignore the diagnosis. Nodding off after a meal or feeling really weary is a common one but people tend to attribute that to getting older and perhaps being overweight.
It is generally only Type 1 diabetics who get the weight loss symptom and it is one of the obvious indications of Type 1 as oppose to Type 2. They are actually quite different conditions in a lot of respects but have a common theme of high Blood Glucose (BG) levels.

Wow! That is really amazing that you managed to lose so much weight!! Did you manage to keep it off or are you like me and slowly slide back to old habits once you reach target weight. If you are able to keep it off then the Newcastle diet may be best, but if you put it back on, then perhaps a completely different way of eating ie low carb, might suit you better.

 

[Leadinglights]

It is brilliant that you managed to lose that amount of weight before but there is quite a bit of evidence that they need to be backed up with a program of re-educating eating habit to make the weight loss maintainable long term.
The Newcastle type regimes are intended for limited time use to kick start people into a more sustainable way of eating which for blood glucose management is for life.
To establish a dietary regime (NOT A DIET) which is enjoyable is more likely to be successful and one which become just your new way of life.
I follow a low carb regime approx 70g per day, enjoy my meals, don't feel deprived of anything.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Briarrose

Glad that you are finding some of the suggestions and shared experiences of forum members helpful.

I think some degree of denial is pretty common. And perhaps especially with the unfortunate start to your diabetes journey, where information and clarity have been a bit hard to come by

Try not to feel too disheartened about your diagnosis. As you can see from others’ experiences, many forum members look back and can see that their diagnosis became a sort of catalyst for making all manner of positive changes - perhaps changes they had been intending to make for years!

People can look back and see that they have not felt as energetic, ‘fit and healthy’ for years!

Let us know how you get on, and what your HbA1c was that got you a diagnosis (it will be a number above 48), and keep asking questions as they arise 🙂

 

[Briarrose]

The body generally doesn't kick the kidneys into action until BG levels are quite high (usually persistently mid teens) so you really need to find out your HbA1c result to assess if that thirst and weeing is possibly diabetes related or perhaps something else. Most Type 2s don't have noticeable symptoms, which is why it is so easy to ignore the diagnosis. Nodding off after a meal or feeling really weary is a common one but people tend to attribute that to getting older and perhaps being overweight.
It is generally only Type 1 diabetics who get the weight loss symptom and it is one of the obvious indications of Type 1 as oppose to Type 2. They are actually quite different conditions in a lot of respects but have a common theme of high Blood Glucose (BG) levels.

Wow! That is really amazing that you managed to lose so much weight!! Did you manage to keep it off or are you like me and slowly slide back to old habits once you reach target weight. If you are able to keep it off then the Newcastle diet may be best, but if you put it back on, then perhaps a completely different way of eating ie low carb, might suit you better.

Hi
I managed to keep the weight off for about a year but then stress hit me hard work and family issues and it has all crept on again over the past few years. It is a shame because I know how much better I felt and I really would like to have that again but just cannot get my head back to it or any kind of "diet".... as soon as someone says you can't have something I want it all the more !

I will try again and am planning to do so in the next few weeks - because I really do have to do something and a diet like the Newcastle, Lipotrim, Exante etc etc do seem to be the best in terms of encouragement. When I have done WW or SW before - done everything I was supposed to in terms of points or colours or allowances etc and then being weighed to have lost 1/2 pound or even nothing at all is very disheartening, but at least with the VLCD there are losses each week - which is encouraging especially when you have an awful lot to lose.

I know that it is something I have to do for many reasons... so am going to be determined to do it.

 

[Briarrose]

It is brilliant that you managed to lose that amount of weight before but there is quite a bit of evidence that they need to be backed up with a program of re-educating eating habit to make the weight loss maintainable long term.
The Newcastle type regimes are intended for limited time use to kick start people into a more sustainable way of eating which for blood glucose management is for life.
To establish a dietary regime (NOT A DIET) which is enjoyable is more likely to be successful and one which become just your new way of life.
I follow a low carb regime approx 70g per day, enjoy my meals, don't feel deprived of anything.

Thanks... although previously there was a plan to be re-educated in my eating habits, due to massive work and family stress at that time it all went out the window so to speak. I need to look at it again as I found it the most successful way to lose the weight so got half the job done - just need to get the other half sorted out and fingers crossed turn it from the diet to a different kind of regime. Exercise needs to be upped also as I do hardly any. I have lots of ideas on what to do but lack the motivation and right head space so far... but I think that the amount of positivity that I have seen so far on this forum is going to be a great help. 🙂

 

[Briarrose]

Welcome to the forum @Briarrose

Glad that you are finding some of the suggestions and shared experiences of forum members helpful.

I think some degree of denial is pretty common. And perhaps especially with the unfortunate start to your diabetes journey, where information and clarity have been a bit hard to come by

Try not to feel too disheartened about your diagnosis. As you can see from others’ experiences, many forum members look back and can see that their diagnosis became a sort of catalyst for making all manner of positive changes - perhaps changes they had been intending to make for years!

People can look back and see that they have not felt as energetic, ‘fit and healthy’ for years!

Let us know how you get on, and what your HbA1c was that got you a diagnosis (it will be a number above 48), and keep asking questions as they arise 🙂

Thank you.. Yes it has been a bit of something to get my head around and seeing how nice and positive this forum seems to be I think that is going to be a great help. Hopefully I will get an appointment soon to check my bloods etc soon and then perhaps I will have a more positive experience from then on. 🙂

 

[Mrs Mimoo]

Thank you for such a brilliant post. I guess that most of my initial rant was about how I was diagnosed and the lack of information about what to expect etc. I still am not sure what symptoms to expect - though I think I have got the being thirsty and weeing a lot down pat - the one I really need is the losing weight but not so lucky with that one.

I have done a similar diet to the Newcastle one in the past - Lipotrim and managed to lose about 6 stone in 6 months or so, but that was in 2009 and I have never managed to get back into that frame of mind since.

I might look into the monitors as that sounds like it would be a great help.

Thanks again for such an informative post I will keep you updated 🙂

my 'result' was also sent by text message. I was devastated.