• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

I think ai have diabetes

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
A

AppleADay2010

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I was diagnosed prediabetes last year and since then I have been doing random blood tests myself. The last few months I have been feeling depressed and my diet became the worst its been (crisp, choc, pop, takeaways). The last 3 mornings my blood has been 12.4, 9.4, 9.2. I am making an appointment for an official test. I just don't know how I will manage to maintain healthy eating. I have done slimming World in the past but only for a few weeks. I feel overwhelmed and scared. I am 42 and feel embarrassed by what I have been eating.
 
Hi @AppleADay2010 and welcome! Many of us, myself included, have had less than ideal diets so don't feel embarrassed. It's what you do now that counts. Dig deep and start by making some small changes. There's loads of advice on here and friendly people to help you.
 
Hi @AppleADay2010 and join the many of us who are deeply embarrassed by our previous lifestyles. As carbs are the main culprit, I was horrified to think I'd have to do without my morning bacon butty or bagel, my lunchtime baguette or fish and chips and my evening meal served with a hefty portion of taters, rice or bread in some form. I honestly thought my life was over.

But I grasped the bull by the horns I cut out all my favourite foods. I was fortunately never into sweet stuff much, but I REALLY didn't want to give up chips and bread. To my astonishment though, after a few days of not eating my fave foods, I stopped craving them. It was seriously like a miracle and I know others on here have had the same thing.

I was right, my life was over, my old life and I now wish I'd done this 10 years ago but it took the diagnosis to kick me up the bottom. I've been given a new lease of life and I'm so much happier and healthier now.

BTW, you don't have to cut out all simple carbs completely, that's just the way I preferred to do it 🙂
 
Hi @AppleADay2010 Welcome to the forum.
Very difficult at the moment. Not surprised you are feeling depressed and that can then start comfort eating etc.
But at least you have recognised the problem. That is a major step. Now the small steps to improve your diet. As a type 1 not the best to advise you on that but I expect there will soon be many suggestions for you to think about and reject🙂
 
Welcome to the forum @AppleADay2010

Great that you have joined the community, and it shows that you are wanting to make some positive changes for a healthy future.

We are a friendly bunch with literally centuries of lived diabetes experience here, so ask away for hints and tips and share your own story, rant or let off steam. Folks here will instinctively ‘get it’ and it can be very different hearing suggestions of positive changes you can make from folks who are walking the walk (even if the content is quite similar), than feeling you are getting ‘told off’ by a Dr.

There is no room for shame or stigma when it comes to diabetes. Nobody asks for a diagnosis, and everyone makes mistakes and poor choices from time to time. The important thing is deciding what you are going to do next to begin to move in the right direction for you.
 
Hi @AppleADay2010 and welcome. Like @Vonny I cut the carbs out as much as possible and I also wish I'd made the changes to my life style a long time ago! I feel better now than I have done in many, many years and I also have my BG at reasonable levels. I basically cook the things I have always cooked but just remove the carb heavy bits. So a bowl of chilli or curry is just that - no rice. Sunday dinner is still a roast with veg but no potatoes or parsnips etc
 
Well, to use a couple of cliches, don't beat yourself up about it - tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life

I'm sure we all have regrets about things we have and haven't done, including eating junk food, and it's all to easy to start saying if only....... and I should have......

If only I'd smiled at that girl.....
I shouldn't have tried to take that bend at 80mph....

And so on, and so on. But that way lies madness

Let's not get bogged down with details for the moment.
Diabetes is the inability of the body to process carbohydrates properly. So to control diabetes you should remove the problem by drastically reducing the amount of carbs that you eat; note that this includes starchy things like bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, as well as the obviously sweet things like cake, sweets, and biscuits

To see the sort of stuff you can eat, look through old Threads in the Newcomers, Food & carbs, and Weight Loss Sections, and The Learning Zone (orange tab at the top of this page)
Besides the straightforward 'rules' you'll find an explanation of the how and why of diabetes; if you understand this, everything else falls into place

And as I've posted before, many people take diagnosis as the motivation to change their diet & life generally, cutting out processed food, junk food, swapping bad fats for good fats, getting some exercise - in fact all the healthy stuff we keep hearing about

You are right to be concerned, but if you try to calm down a bit (yes, easy to say I know) and make the changes you'll be OK; different to what you've been doing, but OK

No one knows exactly why, but depression is very common in people with diabetes, including myself, but you'll find that as you treat your diabetes, things will get better

Contact us again if you have any more questions, and to let us know how you're going on
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone thank you so much for taking the time to reply . I am feeling more positive. Perhaps now is the time to get on top of my eating and exercise etc like I have always wanted to do! I am reading as much as I can. Thanks again
 
I was diagnosed as a type 1. I felt very poorly. Way overweight. Terrible diet. No exercise. Ended up in hospital.

Given insulin pens and a BG tester but no useful advice.

And then...panic, depression, more panic. What to do?

I found this web site, read lots of the messages, and the penny dropped, well, it was more like a brick!

My life was not over, just changed and if I changed my life too then just perhaps things could be much better going forwards. Unfortunately I was looking at a huge mountain to climb.

I decided to look into my diet and frightened myself about what I had been eating, but from the messages on here it seemed that positive chane was not only possible but very beneficial.

Then they retracted the original diagnosis but couldn't work out what my diagnosis was. I was effectively abandoned by the NHS in terms of getting to the bottom of things.

Anyway, my new diet has sorted out my weight dramatically and I like the food I am how eating. I don't crave all the rubbish I used to eat and drink too. I am also off all insulin meds and feel really well and full of energy. AND my BG has dropped into a more sensible level (I dare not say normal because the readings are just finger prick tests not the longer term HbA1c).

What did I learn, we have to take control and responsibility for everything going forwards and stop ourselves wallowing in past regrets. Easy to say, harder to do.

The original diagnosis was a bombshell, but it led to so many better things.

If others can do it then...
 
What a positive and uplifting message @Gwynn

Well done for all the positive changes you have made. Hope it serves as an inspiration to others 🙂
 
AppleADay2010 said:
I was diagnosed prediabetes last year and since then I have been doing random blood tests myself. The last few months I have been feeling depressed and my diet became the worst its been (crisp, choc, pop, takeaways). The last 3 mornings my blood has been 12.4, 9.4, 9.2. I am making an appointment for an official test. I just don't know how I will manage to maintain healthy eating. I have done slimming World in the past but only for a few weeks. I feel overwhelmed and scared. I am 42 and feel embarrassed by what I have been eating.
Click to expand...
I know how you feel. I have always thought I had a good diet. I admit to eating a biscuit with a cup of tea and the odd bag of crisps and my husband and I did share a large bar of chocolate once a week. But I have always cooked and have followed the guidelines given for protein veg and carbs. I have also done slimming world and have lost loads of weight in the past which always goes back on. I have also realised not all the recipes on SW will be suitable for a diabetic. Please do not feel ashamed, there is so much hidden sugar in food. Once you get a better understanding of the condition things will improve.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top