Hi I’m nanny Jayne and have been diagnosed with type 2 a few weeks ago. Really upset about it. No h

[Nanny Jayne]

No advice given just script. I asked her if she needed to see me again to check on progress and for further prescriptions but was told , no need as metformin added to my repeats , I wasn’t given diet sheet .....nothing . Told as long as I take the meds I don’t need to alter diet at all, . My levels are pretty bad right now ( am using testing set from friend with type 2) feel unwell levels seem high no matter what I eat, can’t get appointment till August. How can I lower my level? It’s at least 17 and if I eat any carbs at all it spikes in high 20s feel tired and shaky

 

[Martin Canty]

long as I take the meds I don’t need to alter diet at all,

That's a load of Bull...... They will just give you more & stronger meds until they get your levels right.... It's the unhealthy amount of carbs that we are consuming that is contributing to the rise in T2 Diabetes. What we should be doing is cutting carbs to more acceptable levels. Sorry for being indignant but advice like that serves no purpose; we should be managing our D not letting them medicate it to achieve an artificial control.😡

BTW, welcome to the group.

 

[Ljc]

Hello @Nanny Jayne welcome to the forum, you will get lots of advise from people here, we know this condition from the inside not from text books etc. So ask as many questions as you need to, we’ll do all we can to help Just being told to rely on the tablets imo is dreadful, but you can deal with that later
I’m sorry to say that nurse has given you poor advise, Diabetes is a condition the we can do an awful lot to help ourselves .

Firstly it’s. Carbohydrates our bodies no longer handle too well , they turn our blood to syrup as do some fruits and fruit juice . Till you find substitutes you like fill up on veg that grows above ground and cut down on potatoes esp mash, rice, pasta, and bread esp white, breakfast cereals and things made with flour esp white.
We have no problems with protein and this is going to supprise you good fats, so things like dairy products including butter, cream and cheese needn’t be off the menu some nuts are low in carb , I love walnuts, eggs cooked anyway you like are fine.
If you eat meat, all meat is fine including high meat content sausages and burgers.

I’ll be back with some informative links in a mo, unless others beat me to it

 

[Ljc]

You should find thes links helpful.
Maggie Davies letter http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php

test-review-adjust by Alan S explains an effective way if testing to see how the various carbohydrates affect you as we are all different in this respect.

This book comes highly recommended, it’s written by Gretchen Becker who has T2 herself, she describes how she dealt with her dx (diagnoses) month by month for the first year.

This is one of the cheapest glucose meters we know of to self fund
It’s only available online

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codefree-G...fm-21&linkId=f39210144fdc26c27738e45b6d957003

I hope you find them helpful.

Many here have Burgen Soya @nd linseed bread or a high protein bread , some people are ok with wholemeal bread,

 

[Ljc]

Hi me again, their are a number of tests that you should h@ve regularly and some only once a year .unless they find a problem.
Actually 15 checks in all
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/15-healthcare-essential

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome to the forum Jayne from a fellow T2. I'm sorry to hear about your problems.
Are you keeping a food diary? My advice is to initially test to find out what is going on (before and 1 - 2 hours after eating). Keep a record of your levels along with your food dairy. Hopefully after a few weeks you will see a pattern.

Lets start with breakfast. Have you tried eggs; eggs and 1 brown pitta bread; bacon; eggs and bacon; or even a full cooked/Englsih breakfast?

 

[Maz2]

No advice given just script. I asked her if she needed to see me again to check on progress and for further prescriptions but was told , no need as metformin added to my repeats , I wasn’t given diet sheet .....nothing . Told as long as I take the meds I don’t need to alter diet at all, . My levels are pretty bad right now ( am using testing set from friend with type 2) feel unwell levels seem high no matter what I eat, can’t get appointment till August. How can I lower my level? It’s at least 17 and if I eat any carbs at all it spikes in high 20s feel tired and shaky

Welcome Nanny Jane. I am absolutely appalled at your being told you do not need to alter your diet as long as you take the meds. of course it is important to take them but surely it is a good idea to attempt to get some sort of control yourself. That is if you want to, of course. I have friends who are diabetic and borderline diabetic who don't want to alter their diets at all and, in the case of those who are diabetic, just want the meds to do everything. That is up to them and is their choice and I would not dream of telling them what to do or that they should do anything else. however, if you want to take some sort of control I would have thought you would have been offered some help.

As others have said it is things like sugary foods and breakfast cereal, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes you need to be careful of. It is a good idea to test what suits you as we are all different.

Some books I have found helpful are Michael Moseley's "Clever Guts Diet" and recipes and his 8 week Blood Sugar Diet and recipes. Also David Cavan "Reverse your Diabetes." He means keep control not literally reverse. Davina's sugar free is good too although I leave out the potatoes, rice etc. Tom Kerridge's Dopamine Diet is helpful although some think the recipes can be a bit messy to do.

There is a recipes section here which has some lovely food. Bubbsie and Wirelass have put loads of recipes up. Mark Parrott's Flaxseed Loaf is lovely. It is, I think, on Page 2 of the recipes section. Another site I like is dietdoctor.com. Hope this helps.

 

[Nanny Jayne]

Thanks to everyone who have offered advice. I would like to take control of my condition, I believe that I developed t2 following taking sertalin ( have stopped taking about two weeks ago) unfortunately I have several other long term health issues so I feel I may struggle to make progress with yet another but am determined to try. Attempted to get a gp appointment yesterday but have been told now booking for end of August, explained I was having trouble with my levels and am newly diagnosed and am worried about other long term meds I am on , not interested..... goes to prove I will have to take control of this on my own

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi @Nanny Jayne, welcome to the forum. I am appalled at the 'advice' you were given too, but I'm not surprised as it seems to be common.

This forum has much better advice, and I won't add here to what others have said as it's quite a lot to get your head round. Have a read around and take your time to get acquainted with the different sections and threads. There are lovely recipes, anecdotes, and generally useful information, so I wish you well on your journey with us! And by the way, many of us have become fitter and healthier than before diagnosis, so the future can be bright indeed 🙂

 

[CathyB]

Hi Nanny Jayne, welcome 🙂 you can totally take control of this, everything you need to know to do that is here so take your time and read as much as you can. As for the low carb diet, it’s really not that bad, I don’t miss carbs at alll now and I really enjoy exploring different kinds of food 😛 Breakfast for me is a couple of slices of Burgen bread, it’s a low carb soya and linseed bread that many of us use

 

[Alister]

goes to prove I will have to take control of this on my own

That is True for all of us, the medial community an only offer advise & suggestions (some are better than others) but at the end of the day it is our health in question & the final decisions have to be ours.
if you do not feel that your current medial team are giving the correct level of support remember you an change practice if you feel it appropriate (just a shame there is nothing on compare the mearekat yet it might make some of the Dr's improve)

 

[pav]

Like the others have said, the advice given to you was wrong. Doing a food diary is a good thing to do and if you could post what you eat you will get advice about it. We all tolerate or don't tolerate foods differently and can have a big difference to our levels.

It's good you have access to a meter at least for the moment, if you need or want to self fund testing the SD code free is about the cheapest to fund at around £8 for a pot of 50 strips where as some of the bigger names are £25 plus for a pot of 50.

As a type 2 on metformin most GP's won't issue test strips on prescription.

Any food that is highly processed like white bread will cause rapid spikes in levels. If your unsure how many cars there are in food Google search is pretty good at showing the amount of carbs in a particular food.

The lower the carbs the better it is for us, even with fruit there are carbs in them, some can't tolerate bananas and the ripper they are there are more carbs in one.

 

[Diabetes UK]

Hi @Nanny Jayne , sorry to hear that you received such unhelpful advice at your practice! It's great that you have found this forum and are already getting some good advice on here from everyone.
You mentioned concern about other long term meds? Could you speak with a pharmacy regarding your more immediate concerns? You could also call our Helpline who may be able to advise. They cannot give explicit medical advice, but may have information about metformin in combination with other medications.
Sounds like you are already doing the right things though and finding out what is needed yourself, it is just unfortunate that you did not receive good straight away.

Welcome to the forum 🙂

 

[Drummer]

As you are newly diagnosed and have high levels, I would advise avoiding anything which is over ten percent carbohydrate - just so you feel that you can take control.
I do not eat any grain, no potatoes or starchy veges and no high sugar fruits - my usual dessert, which I might have two or three times a week is a small amount of frozen fruit with very thick cream.
Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, shellfish are all very low or no carbs, so all sorts of salads with them are great this time of year, but there is a long list of lighter carb veges to enjoy roasted or fried. Basically, Dr Atkins was right all along. We are far healthier eating protein and fats rather than heaps of carbohydrate.
Contrary to what most dieticians will tell you, we do not need to eat carbs - there are no essential carbs.

 

[happyanna]

hi, I know how you feel as i was diagnised in March. This website has been v useful. I have just finished a 6 week xpert course run by my local nhs health clinic. See if there is one your doctor can refer you to. very useful and you get to neet others in the same position. I have just had my 3 m review and my reducing my carbs have gone form 52 to 45 (6.9 to 6.3) which is pre- diabetic range. I didnt think i could do it but you can but need advice and support to achieve it. I have also lost over two stone but a few more to go !