Hi. Diagnosed last week with Type 2.

[Jiminho77]

Hi Everyone.
Never really wanted to be on this forum (lol) but here I am.
Last Thursday I went to the doctor's with a sore shoulder (sport related) and as she hadn't seen me in a while she asked me if I had a y.other issues. Mentioned an itchy groin and that it was probably due to the psoriasis I get etc. She then asked other questions like how tired I am and my pee habits.
Then I was sent immediately for a blood test.

They phoned me Friday to come in so I knew it wouldn't be good news.
Was told I had type 2 diabetes with an Hb1Ac level of 70. To say I was shocked is an understatement. My mind was everywhere last weekend.
I've been put on Metformin. 1 in the morning with breakfast this week, 2 with breakfast/dinner the next, and 3 with breakfast/lunch/dinner the week after that.
I've an appointment with the Diabetes nurse 2 weeks on Tuesday. I don't know what'll happen there but I'm sure to find out.

Read that you can put this into remission and I'm absolutely determined to do so if I can help it.
I was 138.8kg last Friday and I'm 133.9kg today. I would ideally like to get to 100-105kg. I'm 6'5 tall and think that would be good for me at 47 years old.
I've been in the gym every day this week and sticking to a low calorie diet under 1600cals and 100g carbs. Hopefully this'll help.

Any help and support from you guys would be a great help.

 

[Drummer]

One thing which helped me determine what to eat was a blood glucose testing meter.
I went to Spirit Healthcare website, registered and then confirmed by email that I was diabetic as that allowed me to order their Tee 2 + meter, test strips and a box of lancets etc free of VAT.
Once I was seeing under 8mmol/l after meals I was losing weight and ended up in remission.
I did not count calories - that never worked for me.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Jiminho77

Sounds like you are off to a great start! Well done for upping your exercise, and keeping an eye on your carb intake, and calories should get your levels heading in the right direction.

When it comes to managing your diabetes, it’s best to make changes to your menu and activity levels gradually - partly because they need to be sustainable long term, but also because very rapid and sudden changes to blood glucose levels are harder on the fine blood vessels, and changing things more gently will give your body time to adapt. Maybe keep doing what you are doing, and see how things have been going after a little while?

Diabetes is a serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy. Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, quite a few folks on the forum look back and recognise they had been feeling quite worn down before their diagnosis. And that the changes they made, their new menu, and weight they lost have resulted in them feeling more energised, and that some long term niggles have resolved or substantially improved.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi Everyone.
Never really wanted to be on this forum (lol) but here I am.
Last Thursday I went to the doctor's with a sore shoulder (sport related) and as she hadn't seen me in a while she asked me if I had a y.other issues. Mentioned an itchy groin and that it was probably due to the psoriasis I get etc. She then asked other questions like how tired I am and my pee habits.
Then I was sent immediately for a blood test.

They phoned me Friday to come in so I knew it wouldn't be good news.
Was told I had type 2 diabetes with an Hb1Ac level of 70. To say I was shocked is an understatement. My mind was everywhere last weekend.
I've been put on Metformin. 1 in the morning with breakfast this week, 2 with breakfast/dinner the next, and 3 with breakfast/lunch/dinner the week after that.
I've an appointment with the Diabetes nurse 2 weeks on Tuesday. I don't know what'll happen there but I'm sure to find out.

Read that you can put this into remission and I'm absolutely determined to do so if I can help it.
I was 138.8kg last Friday and I'm 133.9kg today. I would ideally like to get to 100-105kg. I'm 6'5 tall and think that would be good for me at 47 years old.
I've been in the gym every day this week and sticking to a low calorie diet under 1600cals and 100g carbs. Hopefully this'll help.

Any help and support from you guys would be a great help.

Welcome to the forum, you will find lots of information but you have made a great start by looking at your carb intake and people find that keeping under 130g per day is successful. I would suggest you reduce your carbs gradually as a sudden drop in blood glucose can cause issues with your eyes and nerves, only temporary but annoying.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for low carb meals and menu ideas. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[Maz2]

Sorry to hear this. What a terrible shock for you. I was in a bad enough state being told mine was pre-diabetic at hba1c 42.

Many people here have managed to get it down successfully and will give lots of sound advice. I find Michael Moseley's books very helpful. Also David Cavan "Reverse your Diabetes." He means by that "getting better control". He is not suggesting everyone can or should be able to completely reverse it.

 

[mashedupmatt]

Hi @Jiminho77 and welcome to the forum - sounds like you have made a great start already and are taking positive steps to manage your condition - it is a shock but there are many many people on this forum who have been through or are going through the same - fire away with any questions you may have - glad you have found us

 

[pjgtech]

Hi and welcome, lots of good advice given already.
Looks like you have already made a positive start, its a lot to take in initially we've all been there!
Check out the learning zone on here, there's also loads of good recipes on the diabetes uk website, and more info on the eatfreshwell website and yet more good recipes on the sugar free londoner website.
Keep us updated and ask away if you have questions, there's usually someone on here who has some answers.
And yes, it can be put into remission, ask the diabetic nurse about the T2D pathway to remission scheme, also known as the Newcastle Diet.
Cheers

 

[Alan44]

Hi @Jiminho77 and welcome to the forum.

An Hb1Ac level of 70 is not off the scale, so no need to panic, we have had new members with readings in the 100's

You have had lots of good advice already, but I'm sure you will still have many questions, which we encourage you to ask.

Alan 😉

 

[JimmyBlue]

Hi @Jiminho77 welcome to the forums. That initial diagnosis is always a shock especially when the actual issue we went to the doctor for has nothing to do with diabetes. However, your response is the perfect one and similar to mine. Exercise and change in diet were the right decisions to get me back to 47 from 86 in three months so I hope you will find yourself in a much better position three months from now.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but the Freshwells app is a good source of recipes and ideas for low carb meals, including deserts. There are plenty of others out there including the SugarFreeLondoner website, although to be honest most Keto websites have useful recipes for things. Finally, The book Fast 800 Recipe Book by Michael Mosley's widow is a great source for low calorie tasty meals with low carbs as well.

 

[Maz2]

Hi @Jiminho77 welcome to the forums. That initial diagnosis is always a shock especially when the actual issue we went to the doctor for has nothing to do with diabetes. However, your response is the perfect one and similar to mine. Exercise and change in diet were the right decisions to get me back to 47 from 86 in three months so I hope you will find yourself in a much better position three months from now.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but the Freshwells app is a good source of recipes and ideas for low carb meals, including deserts. There are plenty of others out there including the SugarFreeLondoner website, although to be honest most Keto websites have useful recipes for things. Finally, The book Fast 800 Recipe Book by Michael Mosley's widow is a great source for low calorie tasty meals with low carbs as well.

Will second that. I have all of Michael's books, including the one you mention. Love the recipes. Clare Moseley has one for treats which is good too.

I think the SugarFreeLondoner website is very good and also freshwells which I picked up from here.

 

[Jiminho77]

So far, since I found out this past week or so I've been in the gym most days.
Diet is dialled in too. I'm determined to put myself into remission. I feel great tbh. No other symptoms. No getting up in the night to pee, no pins and needles. Nothing.
I bought myself one of those blood glucose monitors. Took a reading this morning after I got up. It was 5.3mmol/L. Hopefully that's good.
I've the diabetes eye test next week and the week after my first appointment with the diabetes nurse. Hopefully they'll all go well.

Jim

 

[Alan44]

So far, since I found out this past week or so I've been in the gym most days.
Diet is dialled in too. I'm determined to put myself into remission. I feel great tbh. No other symptoms. No getting up in the night to pee, no pins and needles. Nothing.
I bought myself one of those blood glucose monitors. Took a reading this morning after I got up. It was 5.3mmol/L. Hopefully that's good.
I've the diabetes eye test next week and the week after my first appointment with the diabetes nurse. Hopefully they'll all go well.

Jim

Well done you, great to see the determination.

5.3 by the way is not good, it's great !!

 

[Maz2]

That is a normal "starved" reading. My understanding is 6 or over would be a pre-diabetic reading and 7 plus would be a diabetic reading. I think one or two high ones in isolation are OK. Not sure of that last statement but maybe more experienced posters will put me right if necessary.

5.3 is certainly fine though.

Lucky you being able to go to the gym. I can't stand them I get so bored. I do go a couple of walks a day round by estate though and do Tai Chi once a week. Looking for other things too. Mind you I am 71 so would probably be the older person in the gym anyway even I did like them.

 

[Jiminho77]

So, I got a CGM ( Freestyle Libre 2)to see where I'm at so far before I go back to the doctor's in a month or so for my next HBA1C. Still trying to understand what all this info means.
Metformin was doing my guts in so I stopped taking it ( I know there's the slow release version and I'll ask for that when I go back for my next test) so just now I'm doing it the old fashioned way of plenty exercise and watching my diet. The last spike was a pancake my boys made with Nutella spread on it. DOH!! Tbh I wanted to see if it'd do much damage. I'll see over the next week or so the information this CGM will give me. Hopefully it'll help me get my HBA1C down so I can put this into remission.