Hi everyone

[Joyheaven]

Have recently been diagnosed with T2. Early stages so still learning - on Metformin to start but have no idea what my Hba1c number is as I wasn't told! Had my first post diagnosis blood test this morning so hopefully will know soon. After the first panic on being told I am now diabetic I have calmed down and feel ready to get advice and talk to fellow 'sufferers'.

 

[pav]

Welcome to the forum a place full of helpful people and useful information.

 

[Pine Marten]

Welcome, Joyheaven. This is a great place for info (as pav says) so fire away with any questions you may have, and someone is bound to know the answer 🙂

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome Joy from a fellow T2.
Make sure they know to tell you. Everything

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

Hi and welcome 🙂

 

[Martin Canty]

I have calmed down and feel ready to get advice and talk to fellow 'sufferers'.

Welcome Joyheaven, personally I don't feel as if I'm suffering..... I'm currently in the best shape I have been in for years.

 

[Greyhound Gal]

Hi @Joyheaven and welcome to the forum🙂

 

[Beck S]

Welcome to the forum! Always plenty of good help and advice from people around here.

 

[Susie P]

Welcome as others have said you will find plenty of good advice on here

 

[scousebird]

Hello 🙂

 

[Joyheaven]

Hi everyone and thanks for all comments. Have now been told that my level is 89 so am back to being concerned. Obviously I need to do a lot more as I thought just giving up all obvious sugars (chocolate, cake and biscuits, etc) together with the Metformin would start doing the trick but no. I have my beginners group session in two weeks time so hope will learn a lot more about what more i should be doing. It is good to know that I can come here to ask questions and talk once I know what it's all about.

 

[Stitch147]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Unfortunately its not just the obvious sugary sweet stuff we have to watch we also have to watch the amount and type of carbs that we eat as they just turn into glucose in the system. Some people go very low carb others go moderate. Its finding what works for you as an individual. Feel free to ask as many questions as you need to on here.

 

[Northerner]

Hi everyone and thanks for all comments. Have now been told that my level is 89 so am back to being concerned. Obviously I need to do a lot more as I thought just giving up all obvious sugars (chocolate, cake and biscuits, etc) together with the Metformin would start doing the trick but no. I have my beginners group session in two weeks time so hope will learn a lot more about what more i should be doing. It is good to know that I can come here to ask questions and talk once I know what it's all about.

Hi @Joyheaven, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'd recommend reading Maggie Davey's letter - it's a very comprehensive, easy to follow explanation of what it all means and how to approach tackling and improving things 🙂 I'd also recommend getting a copy of the excellent Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - a very positive and helpful guide through these early months 🙂 As @Martin Canty said earlier, once you have cracked this then you will no longer be suffering, but more than likely feeling better than you have for a long time due to the adjustments you make 🙂

Ideally, you should get a blood glucose meter so you can test your levels before and after eating so you can determine your tolerance to different things - this can vary markedly from person to person, so it's hard to just give people a list of what to eat and what to avoid. Have a read of Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S to understand how testing helps 🙂 If your GP/nurse won't supply a meter and test strips it's worth getting your own. Once you have established the kinds of things you tolerate well and what you need to reduce or avoid you won't need to test as much, but initially building up that knowledge can mean quite a bit of testing. Really though, without testing you would just be guessing. If you do decide to get your own, the cheapest option we have come across is the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50 (High St brands can charge up to £30 for 50 test strips 😱)

If you have any questions, there will always be someone here happy to help you out, so ask away! 🙂

 

[Mark Parrott]

Welcome.🙂

 

[jill55]

Hi there Joy and welcome ... I myself was diagnosed with a level of 121 at the end of september and last week had it down to 44 but my point is the advice here is invaluable and much more helpful than some so called medical folks !