Thank you for letting me join. I was diagnosed type 2 in October 2019. Had brief conversation Dec 2019 with GP nurse & nothing since until last week when I was asked to get a blood test. Last year I was given a very vague sheet about diet. However, I am a hopeless cook & since my wife died 3 years ago I suffer from depression. I am unsure about what sort of things I should eat. In the last few months I have been getting increasingly tired & have dizziness when bending. Also pain & edema in both hands. I have been told [ by unqualified lay people] that these can be symptoms of diabetes type 2. I have no means of testing my diabetes but am assuming it is getting worse because I am not managing to control it by diet - both through ignorance & reliance on ready meals . Any advice welcome. Thank you
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in the dark about my type 2
- Thread starter cadwr
- Start date
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If you go to the Learning Zone, the orange link at the very top of the page, there is plenty of information to help inform you about diabetes and what you can do to help yourself, including with diet.
If your surgery has not referred you, the you could try contacting a local DESMOND team on this page about taking one of their courses:
DESMOND is the N.H.S.'s education service for type 2 diabetics, and they hold education sessions where they explain diabetes, and what you should do and why. (You also get a ring binder of information to take home, so you do not have to remember everything they say). I think they offer online services now as well as the in-person sessions.
Specific information on food can be found here:
www.diabetes.org.uk
And this includes recipes which may sound fancy, but are all pretty simple to make. And if you perpare larger portions you can freeze meals so that you do not have to cook from scratch every day.
www.diabetes.org.uk
The main thing about lifestyle changes, diet and exercise, is wanting to make them. So it is a case of just trying them, and not being too hard on yourself when you do struggle. Something like starting out by just making meals from scratch on the weekends instead of a ready meal is a big step to start with.
If you are not confident about cooking, that way you can give yourself as much time as you need unlike a weekday evening when you may feel more rushed and tired. Once you get into the habit of cooking then it will be easier to start cooking at other times. Plus you might have frozen meals on weekends so you can eat something healthy you made rather than resorting to a ready meal.
When you were diagnosed you would have had a blood test called an HbA1c. This measures your average glucose level over the past three months, so is a quite reliable indicator of your normal glucose level. This then gets monitored semi-regularly to check on whether things are getting better or worse, and to decide if further treatment is needed or can be stopped.
I would assume your doctors would have wanted to check it after six months, but the whole Covid situation has delayed it until now. This will be the blood test you are being asked to do, so it will show whether your condition is worsening, and if so by how much.
But if you are on medication then that should have helped. If you were not prescribed anything then your levels may not have been too high when diagnosed. Although in both cases you should still make lifestyle changes to take control of your diabetes. You never mentioned being asked to lose weight, so I assume that is not a problem.
Tiredness is a symptom of high blood glucose, but dizziness is a symptom of it being too low. My first assumption for that would be low blood pressure, though it can have other causes. I am not sure about diabetes causing oedema, but that can be caused by high blood pressure! So I would recommend talking about your symptoms with your G.P. as they could be a sign of something else.
If your surgery has not referred you, the you could try contacting a local DESMOND team on this page about taking one of their courses:
DESMOND is the N.H.S.'s education service for type 2 diabetics, and they hold education sessions where they explain diabetes, and what you should do and why. (You also get a ring binder of information to take home, so you do not have to remember everything they say). I think they offer online services now as well as the in-person sessions.
Specific information on food can be found here:
Eating with diabetes
If you, or someone in your family, has type 1, type 2 or another type of diabetes, you'll know that it can sometimes be difficult to know what to eat. Start here for the key information you need to make healthy food choices for a balanced diet.
And this includes recipes which may sound fancy, but are all pretty simple to make. And if you perpare larger portions you can freeze meals so that you do not have to cook from scratch every day.
Recipe finder - Enjoy Food | Diabetes UK
The main thing about lifestyle changes, diet and exercise, is wanting to make them. So it is a case of just trying them, and not being too hard on yourself when you do struggle. Something like starting out by just making meals from scratch on the weekends instead of a ready meal is a big step to start with.
If you are not confident about cooking, that way you can give yourself as much time as you need unlike a weekday evening when you may feel more rushed and tired. Once you get into the habit of cooking then it will be easier to start cooking at other times. Plus you might have frozen meals on weekends so you can eat something healthy you made rather than resorting to a ready meal.
When you were diagnosed you would have had a blood test called an HbA1c. This measures your average glucose level over the past three months, so is a quite reliable indicator of your normal glucose level. This then gets monitored semi-regularly to check on whether things are getting better or worse, and to decide if further treatment is needed or can be stopped.
I would assume your doctors would have wanted to check it after six months, but the whole Covid situation has delayed it until now. This will be the blood test you are being asked to do, so it will show whether your condition is worsening, and if so by how much.
But if you are on medication then that should have helped. If you were not prescribed anything then your levels may not have been too high when diagnosed. Although in both cases you should still make lifestyle changes to take control of your diabetes. You never mentioned being asked to lose weight, so I assume that is not a problem.
Tiredness is a symptom of high blood glucose, but dizziness is a symptom of it being too low. My first assumption for that would be low blood pressure, though it can have other causes. I am not sure about diabetes causing oedema, but that can be caused by high blood pressure! So I would recommend talking about your symptoms with your G.P. as they could be a sign of something else.
Docb
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @cadwr, and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the problems you are having and hope we can help.
@Beka has given you some good starters and she is absolutely right that you should talk to your GP about the symptoms you are experiencing. Could be due to so many things that it needs a professional to get to the bottom of what is going on. I would expect him to check on the status of your diabetes by getting a HbA1c test done as part of his checks. I hope so because knowing that would be helpful in giving you some ideas on how to change your diet to help.
@Beka has given you some good starters and she is absolutely right that you should talk to your GP about the symptoms you are experiencing. Could be due to so many things that it needs a professional to get to the bottom of what is going on. I would expect him to check on the status of your diabetes by getting a HbA1c test done as part of his checks. I hope so because knowing that would be helpful in giving you some ideas on how to change your diet to help.
@Becka
Thank you. I think this forum is going to be very helpful! I will follow the links you have given me. Normally, my blood pressure is low, owing in part to Thyroid problems, & has been for many years, though until recently I have not experienced any significant dizziness.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Cooking for a type two is an ideal 'bachelor' regime - a good frying pan or even two, or a wok will provide many meals - I get frozen stir fry packs from Lidl to do in the wok, which is also ideal for scrambled eggs. I also buy packs of meat, beef steak, lamb and pork chops or steaks. I freeze them - it is easy enough to use scissors to cut off one end of the pack and extract one piece of meat if that is all you need. Packs of tomato, salad, celery sticks all keep for some days in the fridge, and if you long for mashed potato it is easy enough to substitute swede - which I prefer to potato anyway.
These days so many people cook from recipes but I find catering for my type 2 very straightforward and requires no messing about or measuring out.
These days so many people cook from recipes but I find catering for my type 2 very straightforward and requires no messing about or measuring out.
Thanks. I have a wok gathering dust. Good idea!
Felinia
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi and welcome
As you were diagnosed last October, I think you have been pretty poorly supported by your GP - they could not give COVID as an excuse then. You should have had your feet and eyes tested at the very least. Also you should have been allocated to a diabetic specialist - our practise has a specific nurse trained to look after diabetics, who can spend more time than a rushed GP. Please ask your GP practise what your HbA1c was last October so you have a starting point to compare with.
Becka has given you lots of helpful information, and you would be best advised to look at the Learning Zone here and enrol for the online DESMOND course. Drummer has also made some very helpful suggestions about suitable packages for non-cooks. I buy individual salads from places like Sainsburys or Waitrose and have them with boiled eggs, tinned tuna or salmon, cooked chicken. Dead easy! I also get meat packs. For example today I have defrosted a pork loin steak and am going to bake it in the oven with the juice I saved from a tin of tomatoes. I also get packs of microwaveable and frozen veggies. I'll serve the chop with carrot/swede mash (pack boiled and blitzed), cabbage/leeks (pack microwaved). None of these suggestions are the cheapest option, but probably cheaper than buying ready meals and simpler to prepare.
You will find that the main dietary suggestion is to reduce your carbs. DUK suggests less that 130gm a day and some people go a lot lower. I aim for 75gm a day with a little wiggle room - it's what suits me. It's not just the obvious cakes, biscuits, sweets, but white bread, white rice, white pasta, potatoes. I found looking at the back of all the packets less than fun, so got a downloadable app which has the measurements for thousands of foods, and keeps running totals for you by meal, day and week. It takes me a couple of minutes each morning to enter everything and that's me planned for the day.
Best wishes
As you were diagnosed last October, I think you have been pretty poorly supported by your GP - they could not give COVID as an excuse then. You should have had your feet and eyes tested at the very least. Also you should have been allocated to a diabetic specialist - our practise has a specific nurse trained to look after diabetics, who can spend more time than a rushed GP. Please ask your GP practise what your HbA1c was last October so you have a starting point to compare with.
Becka has given you lots of helpful information, and you would be best advised to look at the Learning Zone here and enrol for the online DESMOND course. Drummer has also made some very helpful suggestions about suitable packages for non-cooks. I buy individual salads from places like Sainsburys or Waitrose and have them with boiled eggs, tinned tuna or salmon, cooked chicken. Dead easy! I also get meat packs. For example today I have defrosted a pork loin steak and am going to bake it in the oven with the juice I saved from a tin of tomatoes. I also get packs of microwaveable and frozen veggies. I'll serve the chop with carrot/swede mash (pack boiled and blitzed), cabbage/leeks (pack microwaved). None of these suggestions are the cheapest option, but probably cheaper than buying ready meals and simpler to prepare.
You will find that the main dietary suggestion is to reduce your carbs. DUK suggests less that 130gm a day and some people go a lot lower. I aim for 75gm a day with a little wiggle room - it's what suits me. It's not just the obvious cakes, biscuits, sweets, but white bread, white rice, white pasta, potatoes. I found looking at the back of all the packets less than fun, so got a downloadable app which has the measurements for thousands of foods, and keeps running totals for you by meal, day and week. It takes me a couple of minutes each morning to enter everything and that's me planned for the day.
Best wishes
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If you are interested in seeing how your blood glucose is responding to the foods you are eating @cadwr, you can get hold of a relatively inexpensive meter, and use a framework like ‘test review adjust’ to begin making tweaks to your menu towards more in-range BG numbers 🙂
If you would like to try this approach and need to self-fund your meter, the most affordable options members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
If you would like to try this approach and need to self-fund your meter, the most affordable options members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Oh - I just thought that you might have problems with scissors to get meat out of the packaging once it is frozen. I think it might be easier if you can hack open the packs with a small sharp knife and put the individual pieces of meat into ziplock bags - the sort which have a zipper to open them not those fiddly interlocking sort. You might have to take pot luck as to if you are getting pork beef or lamb, but they are all good.
Hopefully a few weeks of low carb and you'll find an improvement.
Hopefully a few weeks of low carb and you'll find an improvement.
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