Lesley-Ann
New Member
Hi. I've just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It's come as a shock so if anyone has any suggestions where to start, I'd be very grateful.
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Just been diagnosed
- Thread starter Lesley-Ann
- Start date
- Status
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi Lesley-Ann, welcome to the forum 🙂 Very sorry to hear about your diagnosis 
It's bound to be a shock, and will take a while to sink in properly, but please don't start worrying or imagining all sorts of awful things. Diabetes is a serious condition, but unlike many others it can be controlled well and the necessary diet and lifestyle changes required to manage it can lead to a healthier outcome overall! Now you have been diagnosed you can start working on getting healthy, so the outlook is positive 🙂 I'd suggest starting by reading Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter - these will give you a good start in understanding what it is all about, and what you need to start doing to tackle it. I'd also recommend getting a copy of the excellent Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, highly recommended by many of our members.
Diabetes is chiefly about how our bodies process carbohydrates - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, flour-based products, sugary food and drink etc., so learning your tolerance for the various types, and in various quantities, is key to establishing a diet that is not only a healthy one for keeping your blood sugar levels under control, but also in retaining maximum flexibility so that you don't feel constantly deprived of the things you enjoy - it doesn't have to be a miserable life of salads and nut roasts! 🙂 Learning about your individual tolerances can only really be done by using a home testing meter. If you haven't been given one of these by your doctor, do ask for one. If they insist you don't need to test, I would ask them how you are supposed to know what foods affect you badly and what are OK - there is no alternative. If they still won't provide the meter and strips it's worth getting your own. The cheapest option we have come across here is the SD Codefree Meter with test strips at around £8 for 50. Writing a food diary, recording the amount of carbohydrates in everything you eat and drink, along with the meter readings will help you see where you might need to make adjustments to your diet 🙂
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns - there is a wealth of experience here and lots of friendly people who know how you are feeling right now, because it happened to them as well.
It's bound to be a shock, and will take a while to sink in properly, but please don't start worrying or imagining all sorts of awful things. Diabetes is a serious condition, but unlike many others it can be controlled well and the necessary diet and lifestyle changes required to manage it can lead to a healthier outcome overall! Now you have been diagnosed you can start working on getting healthy, so the outlook is positive 🙂 I'd suggest starting by reading Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter - these will give you a good start in understanding what it is all about, and what you need to start doing to tackle it. I'd also recommend getting a copy of the excellent Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, highly recommended by many of our members.Diabetes is chiefly about how our bodies process carbohydrates - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, flour-based products, sugary food and drink etc., so learning your tolerance for the various types, and in various quantities, is key to establishing a diet that is not only a healthy one for keeping your blood sugar levels under control, but also in retaining maximum flexibility so that you don't feel constantly deprived of the things you enjoy - it doesn't have to be a miserable life of salads and nut roasts! 🙂 Learning about your individual tolerances can only really be done by using a home testing meter. If you haven't been given one of these by your doctor, do ask for one. If they insist you don't need to test, I would ask them how you are supposed to know what foods affect you badly and what are OK - there is no alternative. If they still won't provide the meter and strips it's worth getting your own. The cheapest option we have come across here is the SD Codefree Meter with test strips at around £8 for 50. Writing a food diary, recording the amount of carbohydrates in everything you eat and drink, along with the meter readings will help you see where you might need to make adjustments to your diet 🙂
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns - there is a wealth of experience here and lots of friendly people who know how you are feeling right now, because it happened to them as well.
Hello Lesley-Ann. Welcome to the forum.
I still remember how I felt when I was diagnosed in October 2009. I definitely had a sense of my own mortality for a bit. Anyway, it gave me the kick up the proverbial that I had needed for some time. I started organising myself to eat more healthily (whatever that is .... it differs from person to person, but essentially I needed to eat smaller portions and more consistently) and take regular exercise. For me the exercise part was easy to sort out because I worked from home and was able to go for walks as and when I needed. But the same principles apply to anyone (I know a person who now walks 40mins to work and back home again .... that is easy to incorporate into a daily routine).
I was also lucky that my diabetic specialist nurse (DSN) gave me a meter and told me how to use it. That helped me enormously to identify which foods were ok and which were not. In addition, I was enrolled on a diabetes course (Xpert) within the month. That too was very helpful.
Everything eventually settled down and my new routines (which evolved as I gained more information) eventually resulted in my diabetes being diet and exercise controlled only, which it has been for five years now (and my latest blood glucose results are the best since diagnosis). That is not to say that it has been an easy linear route. There were ups and downs along the way, the trick is to keep at it, even when the downs come along.
Good luck and I hope you too get to grips with things.
Andy 🙂
I still remember how I felt when I was diagnosed in October 2009. I definitely had a sense of my own mortality for a bit. Anyway, it gave me the kick up the proverbial that I had needed for some time. I started organising myself to eat more healthily (whatever that is .... it differs from person to person, but essentially I needed to eat smaller portions and more consistently) and take regular exercise. For me the exercise part was easy to sort out because I worked from home and was able to go for walks as and when I needed. But the same principles apply to anyone (I know a person who now walks 40mins to work and back home again .... that is easy to incorporate into a daily routine).
I was also lucky that my diabetic specialist nurse (DSN) gave me a meter and told me how to use it. That helped me enormously to identify which foods were ok and which were not. In addition, I was enrolled on a diabetes course (Xpert) within the month. That too was very helpful.
Everything eventually settled down and my new routines (which evolved as I gained more information) eventually resulted in my diabetes being diet and exercise controlled only, which it has been for five years now (and my latest blood glucose results are the best since diagnosis). That is not to say that it has been an easy linear route. There were ups and downs along the way, the trick is to keep at it, even when the downs come along.
Good luck and I hope you too get to grips with things.
Andy 🙂
Lesley-Ann
New Member
Thank you so much for this. I will definitely look at everything you have suggested. It's nice to know I'm not on my own and can ask any questions I have on here. Thanks again. I've got some reading to do!
Lesley-Ann
New Member
Thanks Andy. I've been referred to a diabetic information course. Hopefully I will here flrom them shortly.
Amigo
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi Lesley, I was diagnosed this Feb and like Andy, am a firm believer in regular testing. Even now, the impact of certain foods or patterns take me by surprise.
Read the excellent links northerner has provided and I found the book. 'Reverse your diabetes' by Dr. David Cavan absolutely excellent and very readable for the newly diagnosed.
Emotionally it can be tough at first but see it as a wake up call that can be sorted and you'll do great!
Amigo 🙂
Read the excellent links northerner has provided and I found the book. 'Reverse your diabetes' by Dr. David Cavan absolutely excellent and very readable for the newly diagnosed.
Emotionally it can be tough at first but see it as a wake up call that can be sorted and you'll do great!
Amigo 🙂
Pine Marten
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Welcome, Lesley-Ann 🙂 . This is a wonderful forum and you will find loads of information & support here. Follow Northerner's excellent links and advice and you shouldn't go wrong ! Ask any questions, no matter how daft you think they might be...I do!
! Ask any questions, no matter how daft you think they might be...I do!- Status