Hi Everyone

[Spammy56]

Thanks for spotting that, my eyes have come out in sympathy with OH who has had his cataract operation this morning. It seemed to go well, very quick but now irritating him. He didn't sleep a wink last night, subconscious worrying.

Oh I get you my OH had a second knee replacement this week that hasn't gone according to plan, husbands eh, we could well do without the stress. My blood pressure is high enough thanks ha ha

 

[Leadinglights]

Oh I get you my OH had a second knee replacement this week that hasn't gone according to plan, husbands eh, we could well do without the stress. My blood pressure is high enough thanks ha ha

Oh dear, I have every sympathy with knees, I had an accident and ruptured my patellar tendon with a fracture of the head of the tibia which needed surgery and it is still not good two and a half years on.

 

[rebrascora]

If there was an obvious and dramatic change/worsening in your sight, the optician should perhaps have suggested you get checked out for diabetes before prescribing new glasses. Certainly some other members of the forum have come to their diagnosis as a result of an optician making the suggestion to go to the GP and get checked out, following an obvious change in their vision. Perhaps it depends if you regularly attend the same optician who would then be in a better position to spot a significant change when previously things had been relatively stable.

Your HbA1c of 91 is high, but it sounds like you are making all the right adjustments to your lifestyle so a big well done for that. The only thing I would say is that you might want to invest in a BG meter because that can be really helpful in terms of seeing which foods are particularly problematic and which you can get away with and in what portion size. We liken managing diabetes without a BG meter to driving without a speedometer. You are making what you think are all the right changes but our diabetes is all quite individual to our particular body and diet and lifestyle. Porridge is a classic example. It is often recommended by health care professionals and even DUK as being a good choice for breakfast due to it's slow release reputation, but many of us find through testing, that our individual bodies respond to it like rocket fuel and the glucose from it hits our blood stream fast and hard and sends our BG levels into orbit, whereas others find it does indeed live up to it's slow release reputation and suits them. Being able to test just before a meal and then 2 hours after, enables you to see how your body responded and if that particular meal was OK for you or if you need to reduce the portion size and bulk it up with something lower carb or if that particular food isn't worth the BG upheaval it creates because you don't like it that much anyway, or you do like it but it needs to be consigned to a very occasional treat. Being able to see in numbers, how your body responds to different foods as well as being able to track your progress over the weeks and months and gain motivation from seeing your levels drop, as well as seeing what those higher carb foods do to your levels being discouraging from eating them again..... My levels once hit 27 (range is 4-10) after I ate a whole bag of salt and balsamic Jacobs crackers not long after diagnosis and I thought I might have to go to hospital. I had been told to seek urgent medical advice if I hit 30 and my heart felt like it was trying to climb out of my chest at that level. Don't ever want to be that high again and it certainly put me off being tempted to buy them again, especially as once I open a bag, I can't stop eating them. I spent all night drinking water (and weeing of course) afterwards to try to bring my levels down and was still 22 by the morning. Lesson learned! Generally though, using a BG meter has been much more positive motivation than negative and an invaluable tool as many others here will testify.

If you decide to get a meter, the Spirit Tee2 or the Gluco Navii or I think the Contour Blue are the 3 generally recommended by people who self fund for reliability and economy of use. The meter generally comes with 10 test strips and 10 lancets which you will get through pretty quickly, so well worth purchasing a couple of extra pots of test strips and perhaps a box of lancets with your meter. Test strips are individual to that particular make of meter but lancets are mostly universal, unless you buy a particular brand of lancet.... the kit comes with a universal lancing device. The lancets are supposed to be single use but many of us reuse them multiple times and in fact we have a St Swithin's day tradition of changing your lancet annually on that day. That is extreme but I genuinely only change mine once a year on 15th July and have never got an infection in my fingers or even sore fingers from lancing them. If I am persuaded or tempted to test a member of the family or a friend I do of course change the lancet and that is the important thing, not to reuse a lancet that has been used on someone else.

Anyway, hope all that info isn't too overwhelming for you. Buying a meter online is cheapest and there are plenty of You Tube tutorials for using it, if you are unsure or having difficulties if/when you get one, but we can also give you lots of tips and tricks for successful testing if you are still struggling.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thanks for spotting that, my eyes have come out in sympathy with OH who has had his cataract operation this morning. It seemed to go well, very quick but now irritating him. He didn't sleep a wink last night, subconscious worrying.

He is getting pretty fed up as he can't see out of either eye, the optician was swapping a lens in his glasses but they were not ready by today and it has only been half a day.

 

[Drummer]

Hi
My HbA1c was 91 so doc put me on Metformin with meds for high blood pressure and cholesterol. I didnt have any of the normal symptoms you associate with Diabetes, I just felt so exhausted and every part of my body ached, at 56 i put it all down to age!! But it has been a kick up the pants, I have been low carb since I spoke with my Doctor and I do feel much better, minimal effects from meds, and i have signed up for the one million steps fundraiser. I do approximately 13k steps a day so may as well use them for some good. I started Pilates too at Doctors recommendation which I surprisingly enjoy. I haven't seen diabetic nurse yet, so don't have a plan as such apart from taking better care of myself and cut down on the bacon butties.
i am looking forward to getting to know everyone and learning.

My HbA1c was 91 when diagnosed, but I went low carb and was back in normal numbers for blood glucose very quickly, and HbA1c was 41 at 6 months.
I could not take the Metformin and Atorvastatin prescribed at diagnosis, I was really ill, but don't need any medication to stay at the top of normal year after year.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Spammy56

Sounds like you have made a great start! Hopefully you’ll get to see an encouraging improvement in your results when you next have a check-up

We have a few members in your neck of the woods I think, including our former forum admin @Northerner